[The Pharaohs: slave merchants or organizers of an efficient welfare system? Re-writing history through new documentation and research].
The Authors have studied documents dating from the era of the Pharaohs, that is to say: the papyruses of Ebers and Smith, and have come to the conclusion that the recent claims by some archaeologists that the Egyptian workmen who built the Pyramids, were protected by health regulations and not treated as slaves, is true. This is a new interpretation of Egyptian history, because up to now, it has always been thought that the workmen were slaves. The construction of the Pharaoh's tomb was a team work including members of the upper classes (architects, physicians) and the lower classes (masons, workmen) and was the demonstration of a contribution and a symbol of recognition from all members of the team to the head of the society (the Pharaoh), who was their employer and took their interests into consideration e.g. health regulations. The Authors have also deduced from other sources of information that a public health system and welfare organization, comparable to our present day Legislative Decree 626/94, did in fact exist in the ancient world.
Melino
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C
Dipartimento di Scienze di Sanità Pubblica G. Sanarelli, Università degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza.
Del Vecchio
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R
Druda
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L
D000076144:Egypt, Ancient; D006285:Health Planning / Q000266:history*; D049690:History, Ancient; D012940:Social Problems / Q000266:history*