Ancient tablet discovered to reveal bizarre sick day excuses used by workers building the pyramids

A 3,200-year-old tablet has revealed some of the wild reasons Ancient Egyptians gave for not coming into work

An over 3,200-year-old Egyptian tablet has exposed some of the gobsmacking reasons given by workers when they were absent from work.

Turns out we’re not the only ones who skive off work, but the Ancient Egyptians were at it too.

While building pyramids is certainly a lot more physically gruelling than most of our 9-5 office desk jobs, a tablet has since revealed some of the impressive reasons some Egyptians used to take a day off work.

The limestone tablet – known as ostracon – is in the possession of The British Museum, which has identified it as dating back to 1250 BCE.

The tablet holds the records of forty employees’ attendance in New Egyptian hieratic script written in red and black ink and counts every day each employee missed work and a reason they allegedly gave as to why.

And if you thought excuses like, ‘My dog ate my homework’ at school or ‘I overslept’ were pretty outrageous, just wait until you hear the imagination of a workforce of Ancient Egyptians.

The tablet documents absences of Ancient Egyptian employees  ( The Trustees of the British Museum)

The tablet documents absences of Ancient Egyptian employees ( The Trustees of the British Museum)

On ‘month four of Winter, day 24,’ as quoted by My Modern Met, one employee named Pennub missed work.

His reason? His mother was ill – which is fair enough really.

Other employees were also sick that day, listing their own illnesses – once again, very valid – however, it’s when the scroll gets to a worker named Seba when the reasons get a bit spicier.

Seba, well, Seba was bitten by a scorpion – a wild reason to say the least.

Other reasons were listed such as collecting stones and helping the scribe.

And they just get more peculiar – at least by today’s standards – from there.

There are some pretty wild reasons (Khaled DESOUKI / AFP) (Photo by KHALED DESOUKI/AFP via Getty Images)

There are some pretty wild reasons (Khaled DESOUKI / AFP) (Photo by KHALED DESOUKI/AFP via Getty Images)

The most outlandish reason of them all – many workers gave the reason for their absence from work as ‘brewing beer’ – clearly a group of employees with their priorities straight.

Despite how most of our employers would laugh us out the office should we even dare try to use such an excuse, ‘brewing beer’ takes on a lot more significance in Ancient Egyptian times.

The British Museum explains: ” In ancient Egypt, beer was so essential it was treated principally as a type of food – it was consumed daily and in great quantities at religious festivals and celebrations.

“Beer was an essential for labourers, like those who built the pyramids of Giza, who were provided with a daily ration of 1⅓ gallons (over 10 pints). Yet it still had divine status, with several gods and goddesses associated with beer.”

Some employees said they stayed home to help their ‘wife or daughter bleeding’ and no, this doesn’t mean they’d got in an accident, but needed help while menstruating – which I could definitely get behind.

Oh and many workers listed their reason as ’embalming relatives,’ which is basically just like when we take time off for a funeral.

Related Posts

People divided after passenger was forced to give up first class plane seat for a dog

The dog traveled in style… Much of the internet has been left divided after a passenger was forced to give up their first class seat for a…

Tesla recalls a staggering 700,000 vehicles over concerning fault that ‘increases risk of crashing’

Elon Musk’s electric vehicle company has noticed a potentially deadly flaw in three models Tesla has recalled nearly 700,000 cars after a potentially dangerous fault was discovered….

Justin Baldoni dropped by talent agency after Blake Lively sues for sexual harassment and alleged campaign to ‘destroy her reputation’

Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively starred alongside each other in the 2024 flick It Ends With Us Justin Baldoni has been let go by his talent agency…

People are just realizing the morbid meaning behind iconic barber’s pole

It’s not just there as a colorful decoration to adorn the front of barbershop windows If you’ve ever wondered what the striped pole outside a barbershop symbolizes,…

Jeff Bezos set to marry fiancée Lauren Sánchez in $600,000,000 wedding and the plans are mind-blowing

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos got engaged to journalist Lauren Sánchez in May 2023 Sources have revealed alleged details surrounding Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ wedding to Lauren Sánchez….

Parents of 10-year-old boy reveal vile nickname bullies allegedly called son before he took his own life

Sammy Teusch died by suicide on May 5, 2024 Warning: This article contains discussion of suicide which some readers may find distressing. The parents of a 10-year-old…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *