Egypt tombs suggest pyramids not built by slaves

[Paullus Scipio]

Rumo wrote:

however this is not the case here, because both Greek and English speakers have some distinct words to express notions such as 'man', 'Egyptian', or 'slave'.

....and this is where problems begin. Ancient Greeks had a number of definitions and words for 'slave', which in English is a single word, nor are the ancient Greek and modern European 'notions' of' Egyptian',' man' and 'slave the same.....

Duncan astutely pointed out that ???? actually means (also) 'spear' (and you can also check my Perseus link where you can find the definition of this word in several major dictionaries). And this is no slang, because the word with this meaning is widely used by many different ancient authors in what we regard to be a literary (standard) language.

Stating the obvious hardly shows astuteness on Duncan's part, especially since I didn't say 'Doru' did not mean spear. Nor have you interpreted my reference to 'slang' correctly. I meant that because the Greeks were fond of slang and used it, this was one of the ways in which a word in ancient Greek could change meaning over time. Another example is 'kontos' - a large pole, like a barge pole, used for poling ships off beaches. At first applied as 'slang' to a large two-handed cavalry spear, the word came to mean 'spear' in this sense too over time. So similarly a word for 'shaft' of a spear (Doru) came to mean the spear itself over time....

However in our case the translators should have no worries, ???? meant 'spear' even in the times of Homer: ???? ?????? ??? ?????? ??? ??? ????? (Od. I.256) = "with his helmet and shield and two spears"

Yes, Homer uses the word 'doru' to mean spear, though more commonly to mean 'shaft' - but he mostly uses the word 'aichme' to mean spear. ( aichme originally meant highest point; hence 'spearhead'; hence 'spear' generally. Strictly speaking you need an 'aichme/spearhead' AND a 'doru/shaft' to make a spear ! D lol: :lol:
Incidently, the short thrusting/throwing spears of Homer's day usually carried in pairs, and also used for hunting, that he labels 'doru' are NOT the same as the 'doru' - the long thrusting only spear, or Great Spear carried by classical Hoplites in Herodotus time...... another example of a word subtly changing meaning over time.

'Conquered' is not necessarily a bad translation, but 'enslaved' is closer to the original Greek.

'conquered' is actually a very good translation, because as I pointed out in my earlier post, to be 'conquered/become a war-captive' ( andropon) was synonymous in ancient Greek with 'enslaved' - so the two translations are equally good for in Greek they were the same.......

Arguably those girls were not war captives or any other type of slaves, yet they were dressed as ??????. For a coherent narrative, they must have some other status but that of a slave.

Since the girl in question is Pharoah's daughter , now a prisoner of Cambyses, she is just that - a war captive/slave. In dressing her as a 'slave' and sending her to fetch water, Cambyses was making that very point ( as well as humiliating her) to her father the Pharoah.
However, I understand your point, her previous status was 'princess' not 'slave' ( as in household maid/doulos ). I was making the point that, by Greek definition, ALL Pharoah's subjects (including his daughter) were his 'douloi', for ALL had to obey their Absolute Ruler and were hence not 'free' (eleutheroi ) in the Greek sense.