Earlier quoted context omitted.
Interesting that the dates are "Month 3 of Summer, Day 24" etc. The curious bit to me being the enduring use of 4 distinct seasons, when there are obviously other ways to mark a year. Is anyone aware of a culture that did/does not have exactly 4 seasons?
From my perspective, anything regularly periodic in nature is used to track time: the Sun (years, seasons, days, day/dusk) and Moon (months, weeks, King tides). Consider even the starfield (astrology: years, decades+). Four seasons makes sense in all of these contexts, and I hypothesize that there are a lot of patterns in nature that are well bucketed into 4 sequential, equal seasons. This is impossible for me to dem…
3,200-year-old Egyptian tablet records excuses for why people missed work
191–200 of 421 posts
Re: 3,200-year-old Egyptian tablet records excuses for why people missed work
#192Re: 3,200-year-old Egyptian tablet records excuses for why people missed work
#193We really are the same people. No measurable difference in IQ (as well as that can be "measured"). Only knowledge (some gained for us; some lost, too) and context are different. The tablet is a cool reminder of this.
IQ is a pretty arbitrary measurement, but I think a modern yankee in egypt would indeed have problem solving skills beyond their peers. Our education, formal and social, is quite a rapid process in the modern world and we basically give kids a free ride until around 18 so that they can focus on education rather than being forced to do menial labour. I think that as physical beings we're pretty similar to our ancient…
Re: 3,200-year-old Egyptian tablet records excuses for why people missed work
#194Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's common among many ancient cultures to treat equinoxes and solstices as events of great importance, as those mark the beginning of the season change, but not all regions experience seasons the same. Ancient Egyptians, while knowledgeable of astronomy, had only three seasons: Akhet (summer/heat), Peret (flooding, of the Nile) and Shemu (harvest). Notice the conspicuous absence of winter. https://egyptianstreets.co…
In particular the traditional Persian new year (Nowruz) starts in spring, and is celebrated throughout central asia as far as Kazakhstan.
Re: 3,200-year-old Egyptian tablet records excuses for why people missed work
#195The original with ALL of the excuses is at the British Museum here: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/Y_EA5634
> Year 40 Penduauu: month 1 of Spring, day 14 (DRINKING WITH KHONSU) "Khonsu, you have any good ideas?" "I have a bad one."
Re: 3,200-year-old Egyptian tablet records excuses for why people missed work
#196Earlier quoted context omitted.
Another phenomenon I’ve found curious is the cross-cultural definition of a week as roughly a quarter moon, and correlated names for days of the week. [1] Sunday Sun Sōlis Hēlíou 日曜日 Monday Moon Lūnae Selḗnēs 月曜日 Tuesday Mars Mārtis Áreōs 火曜日 Wednesday Mercury Mercuriī Hermoû 水曜日 Thursday Jupiter Iovis Diós 木曜日 Friday Venus Veneris Aphrodítēs 金曜日 Saturday Saturn Sāturnī Krónou 土曜日 [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N…
There's some ... but I think it misses two really important ones (and this is just off the top of my head): 1. The Romans had an eight day "week"; and, 2. The mesoamericans had a 260 day "week" (or, at best, interlocking 13 and 20 day "weeks"). I think the 7-day week is more of a statement about how effective the Judeo-Christian culture has imposed a modern week on the rest of the world.
The Beatles were Romans!
Re: 3,200-year-old Egyptian tablet records excuses for why people missed work
#197Earlier quoted context omitted.
Interesting that the dates are "Month 3 of Summer, Day 24" etc. The curious bit to me being the enduring use of 4 distinct seasons, when there are obviously other ways to mark a year. Is anyone aware of a culture that did/does not have exactly 4 seasons?
Another phenomenon I’ve found curious is the cross-cultural definition of a week as roughly a quarter moon, and correlated names for days of the week. [1] Sunday Sun Sōlis Hēlíou 日曜日 Monday Moon Lūnae Selḗnēs 月曜日 Tuesday Mars Mārtis Áreōs 火曜日 Wednesday Mercury Mercuriī Hermoû 水曜日 Thursday Jupiter Iovis Diós 木曜日 Friday Venus Veneris Aphrodítēs 金曜日 Saturday Saturn Sāturnī Krónou 土曜日 [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N…
Re: 3,200-year-old Egyptian tablet records excuses for why people missed work
#198The original with ALL of the excuses is at the British Museum here: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/Y_EA5634
67 ILL
49 WITH HIS BOSS
17 BREWING BEER
13 WITH AAPEHTI
8 WITH THE SCRIBE
6 MAKING REMEDIES FOR THE SCRIBE’S WIFE
5 WRAPPING (THE CORPSE OF) HIS MOTHER
5 OFFERING TO THE GOD
5 HIS WIFE WAS BLEEDING
5 FETCHING STONE FOR THE SCRIBE
4 WITH KHONS MAKING REMEDIES
4 SUFFERING WITH HIS EYE
4 OFF ABSENT
4 HIS DAUGHTER WAS BLEEDING
3 WITH HOREMWIA
3 WITH HIS BOSS DITTO
3 LIBATING TO HIS FATHER
2 WRAPPING (THE CORPSE OF) HIS SON
2 HIS MOTHER WAS ILL
2 HIS FEAST
2 FETCHING STONE FOR QENHERKHEPSHEF
2 BURYING THE GOD
1 WITH HIS GOD
1 THE SCORPION BIT HIM
1 STRENGTHENING THE DOOR
1 OFFFERING TO THE GOD
1 OFFERING TO HIS GOD
1 OFF ABSENT WITH THE SCRIBE
1 MOURNING HIS SON
1 LIBATING FOR HIS SON
1 LIBATING FOR HIM
1 LIBATING
1 EMBALMING HORMOSE
1 EMBALMING HIS BROTHER
1 DRINKING WITH KHONSU
1 BUILDING HIS HOUSE
Re: 3,200-year-old Egyptian tablet records excuses for why people missed work
#199I used to live in a scorpion-rich environment and can attest that a sting should disqualify one from manual labor for a day. I found that every time I was stung though the effects were less and less. The last time I was stung was a minor nuisance at most. I would advise, if you find yourself living with scorpions, to check your shoes, by shaking them out, before putting them on.
Re: 3,200-year-old Egyptian tablet records excuses for why people missed work
#200Earlier quoted context omitted.
Too bad evolution doesn't install basic learning as part of the default system. Humans at this point should just be a new container being launched with a default level of software pre-installed. Would we be more advanced as a species if we didn't have to constantly teach each new instance 1+1=2 so that each new instance already new multiplication tables from 1 to 25 type of thing?
Instead we are booted with old useless drivers like "Recognize snake"