In the Egypt of the twelfth century AC, the reign of the Great Ramses III, one would expect to meet many things: portentous tombs, pyramids, rich hieroglyphs and farmers pending the rise of the Nile to guarantee the prosperity of their crops. Images that fit well in the idea we have of ancient Egypt. If we look at the Deir el-medina From the year 1157 AC, a town of artisans located near the Valley of the Queens, we would nevertheless see something that seems to adjust less to that period: workers promoting a work strike.
And not anyone, The first of history.
In a remote place in Egypt … Set Maat (better known as Deir el-medinahis Arab name) was a prosperous populated with workers and artisans founded by Pharaoh Tutmosis i. It was located in a privileged place, near the Valley of the Queens and that of the Kings, in front of what is now the city of Luxor.
At first The settlement It had just a few dozen houses surrounded by a wall, but it grew and gain relevance. There, in their adobe houses, the workers and artisans lived who at first had An idea: Change the pyramids and mastied for a more protected sepulcher, excavated in the mountain itself.
Unexpected protagonist. Deir El-Medina could have gone down simply because of that, forever linked to the name of the pharaoh Tutmosis I, if it were not because in the mid-twelfth century AC it became an unexpected protagonist of one of the most relevant episodes of the world’s work chronicle.
The reason? A good day of 1157 AC (Up, downstairs) those same operators who dwelt in their adobe homes and dedicated themselves to shaping the real graves decided to plant. And in doing so they promoted the first work strike in history, a title that today He recognizes him Guinness World Records.
Where the hell is my salary? The artisans and workers of Egypt from 3,200 years ago were different from today’s workers. His motivations, no. What ended the patience of Deir El-Medina operators was the delay in the collection of their salaries, which they perceived In speciessuch as grain, cereals, dry fish, beer, vegetables or even The usufruct of certain cultivable plots.
As remember The green compassWe know that the workers began to protest when they had more than a week of collection delay. At 20 days the thing worsened and well entered the second month of delays the artisans decided to leave their tools and plant themselves. The problems however were not punctual. They crawled over several years.
AMENENKAHT tracks. If we know what happened in that corner of Egypt 3,200 years ago it is largely thanks to a scribe called Amenenkaht, who was in charge of taking good note of everything to inform when vizier. For him we know that the strike arose during the reign of Ramses III, who took the reins of the kingdom approximately between 1186 AC and 1155 AC it is believed that the problems with the workers of Deir el-Medina began Towards 1159 AC And they were dragging, without solution, until “the payment system of the workers of the necropolis collapsed completely”, Comment Egyptologist Toby Wilkinson.
“Year 20, second month of the flood, day 10. Today the work squad crossed the walls of the necropolis (the control post) shouting: ‘We are hungry!’ 18 days of this month go that (men) sit behind the funeral temple of Tutmosis III “, The scribe said in a document that is known today as the strike papyrus. It even echoes the bitter complaints of the artisans of the town: “If we have reached this point it is because of hunger and thirst; there are no clothes, there are no ointments, there is no fish, there are no vegetables …”
And what did they do? They said enough. They refused to wait more for a payment that was delayed and went to the city to the shout of “We are hungry!”making clear their demands in the temple of Ramses III and in the vicinity of Tutmosis III, where they came to camp. They even went to the Central Gray Warehouse of Thebes and blocked the accesses to the Valley of the Kings, which complicated that the priests and family made the offerings to the dead.
In a long pull and loosen they managed to pay back payments and everything indicates, slide Worldhistorythat in the end both parties reached an agreement so that the workers could collect their salaries as agreed.
Why is it important? The first reason is the historical relevance of protests. It is not crazy To think that before, in Egypt or even Mesopotamia, similar situations had been lived. And there is Who thinks that the first real strike was lived centuries later, in 494 AC, in Rome, with the Secessio plebis. The truth, however, is that the mobilization of the artisans and workers of Deir El-Medina was officially considered the first documented work strike to date. So figure In fact on the pages of Guinness World Records.
Beyond that ‘title’ the episode is relevant for its impact and Egypt. As Remember Joshua J. Mark In World History, in ancient Egypt there was a basic concept called ma´atthe individual, social and universal balance that deposited in the pharaoh a series of responsibilities, including the well -being of the population, the security of the borders and the fulfillment of religious rites.
Ramses III highlighted in the second, but his reign was marked by economic turbulence that complicated the payment to artisans. With this he found a peculiar situation: protests before which the authorities did not know very well how to react and that, in a way, “violated the principle of Ma´at.” A milestone that today highlights Deir el-Medina in history books.
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