After all these years emailing to and fro without ever meeting, Jane and I have finally got our act together and are meeting for lunch at the British Museum today. For some reason every time Jane has been in London and I've been in Luxor we have managed to miss each other. Regular visitors will know that Jane runs the wonderful Luxor News Blog. So that's my excuse for not updating the blog today! In fact I am supposed to be out all day tomorrow too, so it may not be done until Monday morning. But here's a lovely photo from Bob to add some colour to the morning if it isn't sunny where you are.
Cheers to all
Andie
The Ramesseum
West Bank, Luxor
West Bank, Luxor
Copyright Bob Partridge
4 comments:
Dear Andie;
Iam a college student conducting research for my paper on the relationships that the ancient Egyptians had with other cultures. I would like to know if you would be willing to provide me with some insight to a couple of questions that I have regarding the Egyptians and slavery. Did the ancient egyptians have a institutional system of slavery? Do many of the misconceptions about the Egyptians and slavery stem from religious beliefs of Chritians and Jews based on the accounts recorded in the Book of Exodus in the Bible and reinforced in Hollywood movies? And finally, if the Egyptians did pratice slavery, was it more like indentured servitude that came as aresult of conflict or empire expansion?
Any comments would be most appreciated.
Stephen
klah0002@metnet.edu
Hi
This is not my field at all, but your comment is visible to all visitors so maybe someone else will be able to assist.
You might be better addressing your question to the Egyptologists Electronic Forum (EEF). You will find a link to it in the links section on the right.
Cheers
Andie
Stephen, that is a good question. The Egyptian concept of slavery was not the whips and chains variety hollywood would have you believe. Even the Jews and Christians don't see it quite that way. Egyptian slaves were certainly conscripted to do manual labor, but some were raised as soldiers, and others went to Egyptian schools to be indoctrinated to the Egyptian way of life (most of these "slaves" were the result of the empire's expansion).
In America, when we hear the word slavery, we immediately think of the brutal variety from our own history. Slavery is best defined as the practice of making someone do something whether they want to do it or not. The Japanese caste system was a form of slavery. If you were borne into the Samurai caste, you were a Samurai. If you were born as a merchant, you were a merchant. Personal aspirations meant nothing. To bring it back home to today's time, think of the out of control spending the country has been engaged in for the last couple years. It only seems to get worse. Who has to pay for it? The taxpayer does. Whether we like to or not, we are forced to do this. This is also a type of slavery.
Anyway, I was at a symposium about eleven years back. Dr Bob Brier had touched on the Egyptian concept of slavery. It was really good.
I also reccommend emailing Dennis Forbes (egitor of KMT Magazine) with this type of question. He has always responded to my inquiries.
~Aaron
You will have to try and met Kat next :))
Post a Comment