Egypt tombs suggest pyramids not built by slaves

[Paullus Scipio]

Duncan wrote:

In fact, the correct answer is "No", it is not the word that Herodotus uses here, despite Paul's desperate rearguard action.

...it is NOT, and never has been, in dispute that Herodotus did NOT use the word 'slaves/douloi' on this occasion....the question rather is whether Herodotus, his readers, and the Greek world in general would have regarded what the Egyptian priests told H. as indicating that the 'pyramid builders' were the 'slaves' of Cheops.

The answer to this is a resounding "Yes!", and the words of Plato support this, and demonstrate this attitude which is fully expounded in Greek notions of "freedom", which can be found in texts such as that of Kurt Raaflaub which I referred to earlier......

The case is indeed closed, for the 'pyramid builders' were not 'slaves' as we understand the term, because they were not the chattels of Cheops and could not be bought and sold, but to Herodotus and his fellow Greeks they were indeed 'slaves' by definition, and it is because of this that Herodotus and his readers/fellow Greeks may be regarded as the origin of the 'myth' that the 'pyramid builders' were slaves....

Rumo wrote:

Were the Spartan helots slaves or not?

...although it is a digression, I have already dealt with this question....technically they were neither slave nor free, as Greeks recognised. In modern terminology they were 'state serfs', tied to the land ( cleros/estate) and compelled to give a set portion of their produce to their Lord, with few rights and freedoms, but able to accumulate their own wealth. They were not 'owned' by individuals, and could only be 'freed' from being bound to a particular 'cleros' by the state itself.......

Nor is this idea an 'Everest' type fallacy for, as far as we can tell, the idea of 'freedom' and 'slavery' was not unique to Herodotus and perhaps one or two other writers, but rather general across the Greek world ( see e.g. Raaflaub)....