Who built the Great Pyramids? The grueling, hard working slave men, right? This essay will reason out with evidence why both slaves and higher class people built these magnificent works of architecture. Most people believe that the Pharaohs forced slaves and lower class citizens to work on the Pyramids with no pay. However, there is much controversy about this issue. Some Pyramid workers were actually buried next to the sacred Pyramids and respected for their work. If they were slaves, they wouldn't be honored with those gifts. On the contrary, only a minority of the workers were treated well and had high status: much evidence from early documents state that there were many slaves under poor conditions.
Sacred tombs for the workers were found near the Great Pyramids of Giza. The workers were said to be respected and well-treated, not at all like slaves. ¨The series of modest nine-foot-deep shafts held a dozen skeletons of pyramid builders, perfectly preserved by dry desert sand along with jars that once contained beer and bread meant for the workers' afterlife.¨ (Doc C: News Article on Zahi Hawass) These workers don't seem like slaves at all! This evidence proves that not all builders who worked on the Pyramid were slaves: some were even wished a safe trip to the afterlife. This shows that a certain percentage of the builders were rich and respected although the rest of the people were poor slaves not honored with tombs.
Since only some workers were wealthy, most others were not as lucky. ¨One hundred thousand lash-driven men poured out their sweat and blood for twenty years to complete this resting place which King Khufu considered fit for his royal remains.¨ (Doc B: Textbook) This and other evidence from Document A: Herodotus suggests that a hundred thousand Egyptian men were grueling hard in the sun to carry the limestone blocks of the Great Pyramids. They were often whipped, worked for long hours, and treated horribly. Doesn't that sound similar to slavery? The master would force them to mine stones and drag them over the desert sand; often times these workers would die early due to heat exhaustion and other unfortunate causes.
Even though evidence suggests that both Egyptian men and slaves built the Great Pyramids, historians acknowledge that there are many beliefs that only slaves worked on them. Slavery has been present, sadly, in almost all parts of history, so it is natural to believe that slaves built the Pyramids of Giza. However, there has been increasing evidence of both rich workers and slaves who built these magnificent structures.
In conclusion, both lower and higher classes built the Great Pyramids because of the sacred tombs that held the rich workers and the document evidence that suggests that the majority of the builders were slaves. Though most of the workers were slaves, a selected few were wealthy and respected.