The worker in Deir el Medina
The worker in Deir el Medina
| The workers in Deir el Medina maybe were the first subjects of the
empire that had to endure the serious problems provoked by the
mismanagement of the last sovereigns of the ramses dynastied and by the
corruption that had damaged the base of the state. These men who worked in the royal necropolis went on strike more than once to have their pay for their work. In the ramses epoch, Deir el Medina was inhabited by brick-layers, stone-cutters, painters and sculptors who, with their families, were about a thousand people, whose maintenance depended on the salaries paid by the Crown for the work in the royal necropolis. The workers lived in small houses with a terrace and a cellar. He passed the whole “week” which in that epoch was of ten days, in the necropolis, digging the royal burials (called “Sites of the Truth”) after, at the end of the tenth day, they went back to their families. Their life was secluded- they had to keep their professional secrecy- but privileged compared to other social classes. Or at least, it would have been if the salaries (paid in kind) would have been always punctual. For the rest, their family life passed, as in other places, among serenity and misfortunes, hates and loves. |
View of the village of workers Deir el Medina
Close-up the rests of workers’ houses are seen
On the background the Theban mountain can be seen, of which the highest part was
known as “The Peak”.
