Deir El-Medina Strikes

nivertech•about 5 hours ago

In ancient Egypt, there were various trade unions, usually organized by profession

One of the most interesting was the thieves' union

Suppose someone stole yr carpet at night, and in the morning you'd go to the office of the head of the thieves' union, pay 25% of the carpet's value, and get it back. Much better than modern insurance!

n4r9•about 5 hours ago

Sounds a little like the Thieves' Guild in Discworld.

> The Thieves' Guild was established early in Lord Havelock Vetinari's rule of Ankh-Morpork. Lord Vetinari realised that what people crave is stability, and that, while it is impossible to stamp out crime altogether, it is possible to regulate it. The major gang leaders of the city were therefore called to the Patrician's Palace, where they agreed to be held responsible for ensuring a socially acceptable number of thefts.

> While initially the main money-making venture of Thieves' Guild members remained theft, albeit under strict guidelines and leaving a receipt, more recent books show a system of "insurance", whereby people may pay a fee directly to the Guild and therefore become immune to robbery for a specified period.

matttttttttttt•about 3 hours ago

> In 1156 BC, the workers' pay was late and a representative, Amennakht (or Amen-nakhte), a scribe, went to the mortuary temple of Horemheb and negotiated with officials to dispense 46 sacks of corn to restore peace.[10][12] However this was only a portion of the rations the workers had been promised.

Is that a mistranslation? I don't think Egypt had corn for a few more thousand years.

SequoiaHope•about 3 hours ago

I had to look it up. Apparently maize did not get to Egypt till around the year 1600 but in British English the word “corn” refers to any local grain. Eg these “Corn laws” refer to wheat: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_Laws

wvbdmp•about 3 hours ago

Before the American meaning became ubiquitous, corn used to mean (and still does sometimes) just any grain. In fact it also survives in other languages like German, where “Korn” is a singular kernel, or an uncountable amount of grain, as well as the figurative meaning in “film grain”.

VorpalWay•about 3 hours ago

In Swedish "korn" is a specific species of grain (called barley in English). For grains in general we use the term "sädesslag".

the-smug-one•about 6 hours ago

The "Past Lives" podcast just had an episode on the workers of Deir El-Medina.

mooreds•5 days ago

Earliest known labor strikes.

warshinder•about 4 hours ago

Apropos systems collapse, a recent theme here on HN it seems, perhaps being meme’d a bit to highlight the dangers, in systems thinking terms, of hyper-interconnected globalized system of trade. Or to explain Theil’s move to Argentina. Maybe Tech oligarchs are the new ship peoples?

Deir El-Medina Strikes

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