Social Solidarity in Pharaohs' Era

By Ali Abou Dashish and Nawal Sayed

CAIRO, Feb. 4 (SEE) - French scientist Francois Daumas said, about the ancient civilization of Egypt, that the nominal goal of writing the history and civilization of Egypt is to bring the spirit of its creators closer and to reach the focus from which social, literary and artistic creations originated though after more than two thousand years.

The ancient Egyptian civilization took great care of the human being.

Through the scenes and texts on the tombs and temples, we found the ancient Egyptian keenness on the principle of justice and social solidarity.

Goddess Maat was the mistress of justice and truth and she adopted the motto of "feather". That's why judges in the Islamic era were portrayed wearing a feather on their heads as a symbol of being fair.

The ancient Egyptian holidays were great evidence of the idea of social solidarity as they slaughtered carcasses on holidays and distributed them to the poor to achieve the principle of social solidarity.

On the feast day, the ancient Egyptians slaughtered animals ; some were offered as offerings to gods and others were distributed to the poor and priests.

Social solidarity refers to meeting of members of the community on common interests.

Social solidarity in the ancient times appeared in different fields such as medicine, astronomy, architecture and other sciences which are being taught so far in international universities.

Inspired by the solidarity's principle, the national project during the reign of King Khufu was accomplished.

The tombs of the workers who built the Khufu Pyramid, which were discovered by famous archaeologist Dr. Zahi Hawass, revealed how those workers gathered to work together to achieve the pyramid's construction.

One of the most important examples of social solidarity in the ancient times is the workers of the monastery of Medina in Qurna, west of Luxor, where the workers lived and built royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings.

The King was keen to take care of those workers.

During the reign of Ramses III, the workers carried out the first strike in history. They filled complaints to the minister to provide food, drink and wages and refused to return to their work. Later on, their demands were met and they returned to work willingly.

The state at that time was keen to motivate workers to implement national projects, as well as the poor, the needy, the disabled too.

Therefore, Egypt is one of the first countries to implement the principle of social solidarity.