Throughout history strikes have been an important way for the exploited classes to fight back against their oppression. From railway workers to sex workers, from students to teachers, to screenwriters to farmers in each inhabited continent workers have went on strike to defend or obtain their rights. Strikes have been present throughout history, and today we’re looking at the earliest recorded strike in history – a strike that hit Deir el-Medina in 1157 BCE.
The Context
The strike took place during the reign of Ramses III during what is called the ‘New Kingdom’ – one of the periods in ancient Egyptian history noted for its domestic stability, and Egypt’s political and economic power in the eastern Mediterranean. However, by the time of Ramses III (r.1186-1155 BCE) the New Kingdom had began facing various internal and external issues, as expected from any expansive society that goes beyond its material base. Weakening power in Memphis helped Libyan tribes migrated into Egyptian territory in the north, imagine the Germanic tribes migrating into the Roman lands millennia later, and there was the invasion by the mysterious Sea Peoples. Who the Sea Peoples were, even if there were one group of Sea Peoples, is still debated nevermind why they began raiding Egypt and various other societies. Harvests were also impacted by the eruption of a volcano in Iceland which spread a layer of ash across the atmosphere.
At the top of Egyptian society was the pharaoh who served as both king and the religious intermediary between the gods and mortals. A key ideological force behind the pharaoh’s reign was the concept of maat, or ma’at. Similar to Confucianism in China or dharma in Hinduism, maat required the pharaoh’s subjects to pay him upmost respect but in return the pharaoh was expected to ensure the safety and wellbeing of their subjects. This rarely impacted the pharaoh’s rule but it was important in retaining stability. Below the pharaoh there were various classes with the very bottom being the peasants and slaves. G.E.M. de Ste. Croix in his seminal work The Class Struggle in the Ancient World argued that we should see ancient Greece and Rome as slave societies due to their reliance on slavery as a way to retain economic order and we see this in ancient Egypt. While chattel slavery did exist, this was largely reserved for prisoners of war and war captives, peasants could fall into slavery if they fell into debt. When not in debt peasants would vary their time between farming and taking part in state-controlled construction schemes as a form of tax. Finally, there were the artisans and literate classes who often directly served the interests of the court. Women’s position often varied over time and class, and pharaoh itself was not limited to men, but Egypt was still a patriarchal society. While equal before the law women in higher classes were barred from education and high roles in temples, and among the peasantry there was a tension between women and men as women had to rely on men for access to resources outside of the community.
Deir el-Medina
The site of Deir el-Medina is located to the modern city of Luxor on the west bank of the Nile which, during the time of Ramses III, was a workers’ village. As mentioned above, the farmers would be required to take part in a labour tax which Deir el-Medina, at the time referred to as Set maat, housed during this period. The site is very close to the Valley of the Kings which the workers were required to work in during their time as part of the labour tax. Deir el-Medina has offered archaeologists a staggering insight into the daily life of ancient Egyptians during the New Kingdom due to the preservation of so many houses. These include many pieces of pottery and papyrus which helps give us such a great insight – one such papyrus preserved was the will of a woman, showing how men and women had the ability to hold property on an equal basis. Andrea McDowell has wrote about how education took place within the town, with children taking lessons in between working on construction projects. Deir el-Medina seemed to be home to more artisans than other towns, so literacy was indeed taught in the schools and we see lots of records of poetry and religious texts. We also know that the workers were paid in grain and other goods.
Ramses III had managed to win a series of wars against the Sea Peoples and Libyan settlers which he wished to commemorate in a series of building projects. Doing so was a way for pharaohs to project their power over the empire, the use of resources served as a way to highlight the power and to create a lasting legacy for future generations. Ramses III was preparing for the celebration of thirty years of his reign which would see large feasts and a construction project to mark the celebration.
The Strike
What we know of the Deir el-Medina strike comes from a papyrus now held in the Museo Egizio in Turin and dates to the 29th year of Ramses III’s reign. A scribe called Amennakht, who seemed to be a shop steward, dated the record of the strike to ‘Year 29, 2nd month of Peret, day 10’ which translates to roughly October 13 1157 BCE. The workers were normally paid in food and other goods, but the rations had not been delivered 18 days after they were supposed to be paid. Smaller harvests due to the eruption of an Icelandic volcano and with food diverted to service Ramses’s wars meant that grain did not get to the labourers at Deir el-Medina. The papyrus said:
On this day [day 10 , 2nd month of Peret] the crew passed the five guard-posts of the tomb saying: “We are hungry, for 18 days have already elapsed in this month ;” and they sat down at the rear of the temple of Menkheperre.
For context, Menkheperre was a name for a previous pharaoh Thutmose III. Quite interesting is that this is also the earliest example of a sit-in strike or protest – something used to this very day, three thousand years later. This was especially problematic officials as it was showing maat for what it was – a way for the elite to ensure the loyalty of thr exploited classes. This was a double-edged sword for officials as it showed the pharaoh was not upholding his duty to his people, and therefore was becoming illegitimate. Panicked officials soon supplied the strikers with pastries but this only temporarily ended the strike as the labourers knew that this was not enough to sustain them in the lack of payment. The next day striking labourers took over the main grain storehouse in Thebes, scared off the ‘police’ chief Montoumes, and demanded an audience with either the vizier or Ramses himself. The back pay was paid which the labourers accepted but when they returned to Deir el-Medina they found out that the next payment would also be indefinitely delayed.
The strikers would then do the remarkable: they occupied the Valley of the Kings. This was a site where the pharaohs and important officials of the New Kingdom, including Tutankhamun, were buried, and was important for legitimacy. The dead held immense power and offerings were to be given to the dead, but the occupation of the Valley meant that this was not possible. When officials sent armed guards to oust the workers they threatened to damage the tombs causing the guards to back off. Among the labourers themselves the strike had granted a revelation. It was the pharaoh who was to maintain maat, but their strikes, which would continue over the next three years, were the only things ensuring their payment. Instead, throughout this Ramses had been preparing for his jubilee and it was unsure if he was even aware of the strike. It was becoming clear to the strikers, at least according to the author of the papyrus now in Turin, that it was themselves, not the pharaoh who was overseeing their care. It was an amazing case of labourers articulating their own autonomy and rejecting the authority of the ruling class. While they did not explicitly renounce the legitimacy of the pharaoh, it was a sharp attack against the concept of maat. While local officials themselves organised payment with workers from now on, labourers started rejecting the concept of maat. Starting under Ramses’s successor, Ramses IV, the Valley would be subjected to tomb robberies – in one generation it had gone from a sacrosanct site to one that could be targeted for raiding by an impoverished people.
Deir el-Medina’s strike shows that workers fighting for their rights is not a recent phenomenon. Again, their own ability to reject maat and acknowledge the reality of their material conditions highlights the ability of every culture to analyse their own oppression. From ancient Deir el-Medina to the Levellers to Haiti to Kronstadt and the strikes of today, the exploited are able to recognise their exploitation and resist.
Bibliography:
- Working Class History, Working Class History: Everyday Acts of Resistance and Rebellion, (Oakland: PM Press, 2020)
- ‘Records of the Strike in Egypt under Ramses III, c.1157 BCE’, libcom.org, (26/02/2007), [Accessed 01/05/2023]
- Susan Wise Bauer, The History of the Ancient World, (New York: W.W. Norton, 2007)
- Joshua Mark, ‘The First Labor Strike in History’, World History Encyclopedia, (04/07/2017), [Accessed 01/05/2023]
- Jean-Cristophe Antoine, ‘The Delay of the Grain Ration and its Social Consequences at Deir el-Medina in the Twentieth Dynasty: A Statistical Analysis’, The Journal of Archaeology, 95, (2009), 223-234
- Andrea McDowell, ‘Daily Life in Ancient Egypt’, Scientific American, 275:6, (1996), 100-105
- John Romer, Ancient Lives: Daily Life in Egypt of the Pharaohs, (New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1984)
Thank you for reading. For future blog updates please see our Facebook or catch me on Twitter @LewisTwiby.
Lewis Twiby's Past and Present 