Dieter Wildung, a former director of Berlin's Egyptian Museum, said it is "common knowledge in serious Egyptology" that the pyramid builders were not slaves. "The myth of the slaves building pyramids is only the stuff of tabloids and Hollywood," Wildung said. "The world simply could not believe the pyramids were build without oppression and forced labour, but out of loyalty to the pharaohs."
"No Jews built the pyramids because Jews didn't exist at the period when the pyramids were built," Amihai Mazar said, professor at the Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, says that myth stemmed from an erroneous claim by the former Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin, on a visit to Egypt in 1977, that Jews built the pyramids.
workers were not recruited from slaves commonly found across Egypt during those times. One popular myth that Egyptologists say was perpetrated in part by Hollywood held that Israelite slaves built the pyramids.
There were some Jewish slaves, Hebrew or whatever. There were also other slaves. Some were paid, some were not. To believe that not one person was a slave who built it is false. The reality is a mixture of the two. Egypt did have slavery. They used slaves in everyday life. Some who were not paid, but were "servants" people don't classify as slaves because they didn't do heavy manual labor. They were slaves.
Just like people today from Developing countries who are slaves in Arab countries are in fact slaves.
But, interestingly enough, those slaves who were paid or kept, actually worked for their money and food/shelter as opposed to sitting at home with a 72" wide screen and getting free money every month on a green card. Not advocating slavery, just advocating getting some work at the level of capability out of everyone involved here. {I'm probably on the wrong site.}
They find ceremonial building tools in mansions of wealthy Egyptians, indicating high status as being a family of builders. Not to mention if Pyramid building kept bankrupting their empire, where was all that government money flowing to?
Zahi Hawass has entered the chat:
https://archive.is/kUQUR
Dieter Wildung, a former director of Berlin's Egyptian Museum, said it is "common knowledge in serious Egyptology" that the pyramid builders were not slaves. "The myth of the slaves building pyramids is only the stuff of tabloids and Hollywood," Wildung said. "The world simply could not believe the pyramids were build without oppression and forced labour, but out of loyalty to the pharaohs."
"No Jews built the pyramids because Jews didn't exist at the period when the pyramids were built," Amihai Mazar said, professor at the Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, says that myth stemmed from an erroneous claim by the former Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin, on a visit to Egypt in 1977, that Jews built the pyramids.
workers were not recruited from slaves commonly found across Egypt during those times. One popular myth that Egyptologists say was perpetrated in part by Hollywood held that Israelite slaves built the pyramids.
It's mixed, the research.
There were some Jewish slaves, Hebrew or whatever. There were also other slaves. Some were paid, some were not. To believe that not one person was a slave who built it is false. The reality is a mixture of the two. Egypt did have slavery. They used slaves in everyday life. Some who were not paid, but were "servants" people don't classify as slaves because they didn't do heavy manual labor. They were slaves.
Just like people today from Developing countries who are slaves in Arab countries are in fact slaves.
But, interestingly enough, those slaves who were paid or kept, actually worked for their money and food/shelter as opposed to sitting at home with a 72" wide screen and getting free money every month on a green card. Not advocating slavery, just advocating getting some work at the level of capability out of everyone involved here. {I'm probably on the wrong site.}
They find ceremonial building tools in mansions of wealthy Egyptians, indicating high status as being a family of builders. Not to mention if Pyramid building kept bankrupting their empire, where was all that government money flowing to?