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To: Reily
The use of slaves is mostly myth.

I think there's a line in the Haggadah about "when we were skilled trade union masonry workers in Egypt." Or something like that. Oh, wait....

We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and the L-rd, our G-d, took us out from there with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm. If the Holy One, blessed be He, had not taken our fathers out of Egypt, then we, our children and our children's children would have remained enslaved to Pharaoh in Egypt. Passover Haggadah.

In Flavius Josephus's history, it is claimed that, after Ptolemy I Soter took Judea, he led some 120,000 Jewish captives to Egypt from the areas of Judea, Jerusalem, Samaria, and Mount Gerizim. History of the Jewish War (75–79) and The Antiquities of the Jews. Encyclopedia Britannica website.

33 posted on 05/14/2024 6:04:02 PM PDT by frank ballenger (There's a battle outside and it's raging. It'll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls.)
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To: frank ballenger
Actually, since in Exodus they were described as brickmakers, which in the ancient world was a skilled practice. They were denied straw, and their brick production requirement was then increased. So, they were skilled labor of sorts, don't know if they voted to organize. What I said doesn't detract anything from the Exodus narrative. There were Hebrew military mercenaries (maybe slaves?) both at Elephantine and down south closer to present day Sudan. What's interesting they both seemed to have temples. Which in theory is forbidden. One of them survived until classical times, seemed to have been tolerated by the Jerusalem temple. Very little is known about the relationship. I still stand that slavery in Ancient Pharaonic Egypt was likely different from what we think of as “slavery”. Your example from Josephus which I have read before. Ptolemy Soter I represents Ptolemaic Egypt not Pharaonic Egypt. An apples and oranges comparison, 1000s of years between the two. Read this book Cecil B. Demille style slaves aren't needed! At least to build the pyramids! https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0500052115/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
41 posted on 05/14/2024 6:56:11 PM PDT by Reily (!!)
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