Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

Learn about First Strike in History


Fri 01 May 2020 | 04:33 PM
Ali Abu Dashish

Egyptians annually celebrate Labor Day, given their place in building different professions.

The ancient Egyptian artist had a prominent and effective role in directing these wonderful artworks that were built by the ancient Egyptian worker and engineer, which remain so far and is a unique witness to the brilliance of the ancient Egyptian in constructing the greatest civilization in the world.

Behind the artists, there were the workers, who are structural for various aspects of life, and the creators of a huge mass of civilized production; on the banks of the Nile, which considered the source of life in ancient Egypt, the first craft was birthed, agriculture.

Agriculture was an important and arduous work, which painted the main features of the Egyptian civilization.

Irregular farming was the most important feature in the life of the ancient Egyptian, afterward, they turned to the basic crafts to adapt to their environment.

Without the Egyptian workers, the pyramids would not have been created, nor would the temples and cemeteries have remained until now.

Also, we would have not learned about the wood and metal industries, as well as how to make pots, pottery, and gold.

The ancient Egyptian worker was the reason for the survival of these ancient handicrafts, managing, despite the lack of resources, to create the most beautiful things, which is a source of our pride- in short, we would have not seen the names of great kings if it were not for them.

The pyramids are one of the most important of their creations, which a geometric miracle for the Egyptian engineer and worker.

World-renowned archaeologist Dr. Zahi Hawass discovered a necropolis that housed the tombs of the pyramid builders, which proves to the globe that the Egyptian engineer and worker were the ones who built these eternal pyramids.

Among the most important industries in ancient Egypt is the following:

Stone industries: such as making statues and stone utensils, as well as making stone pieces from quarries.

Metal industries: such as gold, silver, etc., It has evolved, changed, and used in many artistic works such as the mask of King Tutankhamun.

Chemical industries: medicinal drugs.

Wood industries: such as the manufacture of home and funerary furniture.

Although the workers suffered the most from working under difficult conditions, they sometimes demanded their material rights. They carried the first strike in recorded history in the era of King Ramses III.

On the walls of the Habu Temple in Luxor, history recorded the first labor protest that dates back thousands of years.

The Egyptian workers gathered in the funerary temple built by Ramses III and declared a protest and sit-in against the king’s economic policy, which is based on excessively building extravagant temples, which weakened the economy at that time and delayed wages for workers in Deir el-Medina for two months.

King Ramses III complied with the demands of the workers and ended the sit-in, which is immortalized on the Habu Temple walls in Luxor.

Contributed by Yara Sameh