Diary Of A Pyramid Labourer // Oldest Papyrus Discovered 2550 BC "Diary of Merer" // Primary Source

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  • Опубликовано: 19 сен 2024
  • Discovered in 2013 by Egyptologist Pierre Tallet and his team and called "the greatest discovery in Egypt in the 21st century", "The Diary of Merer" gives us an incredible account of the one of the processes behind the construction of the most incredible building in human history - The Great Pyramid of Khufu. The oldest written papyrus yet discovered, it takes the form of a daily logbook of an 'Inspector Merer' whose job is to transport limestone from the nearby Tura quarry to use as cladding for the pyramids in the construction's final stages.
    An enormous thankyou to Pierre Tallet for allowing us to use his translation from the hieroglyphs, and to Colin Clement for allowing us to use his translation from French into English.
    If this channel is something you like, if you think saving primary sources is important, head over to the patreon and join up!
    patreon.com/voicesofthepast
    - Don’t forget to subscribe to my brother's channel History Time, where he makes full length historical documentaries:-
    / historytime
    - Music courtesy of:-
    - Epidemic Sound
    - Voice actor & editor:-
    David Kelly
    We try to use copyright free images at all times. However if we have used any of your artwork or maps then please don't hesitate to contact me and we’ll be more than happy to give the appropriate credit.
    Thanks to:
    Djehouty [CC BY-SA (creativecommon...)]
    annemarieangelo
    Keith Schengili-Roberts

Комментарии • 1,3 тыс.

  • @zobblewobble1770
    @zobblewobble1770 4 года назад +1290

    “Better keep these reports short. It’s not like they’re going to be read to an audience of thousands 4500 years in the future.”-Merer, probably

    • @censorduck
      @censorduck 4 года назад +45

      It makes me wonder what part of my life will survive for archeologists to discover later.

    • @francisdrake6622
      @francisdrake6622 4 года назад +62

      @@censorduck Unless a hard drive with your personal information is located and it survived 4570 years...diddly and squat, I'm afraid. This is why I hate that those fools are tearing down statues. At least there will be a statue of SOMEBODY of our era sitting around. Short sighted fools, these communists.

    • @feiliormia
      @feiliormia 4 года назад +40

      @Francis Drake
      Lmao, tearing down statues doesn't mean we'll forget them, it simply means they'll be relegated to museums (whose purpose is to document historical information) rather than being in a place of honor when they committed human rights violations.

    • @censorduck
      @censorduck 4 года назад +39

      @@feiliormia As if we can trust left wingers not to revise history.

    • @vorynrosethorn903
      @vorynrosethorn903 4 года назад +6

      Cultural revolution done did nothing, no proof of the history ever exiting so China has no history. Therefore burning down all our own history is a perfectly valid idea, what did civilisation ever do for us.

  • @MrGuyJacks
    @MrGuyJacks 4 года назад +2147

    I liked the part he set sail for Akhet Kufu

    • @alecity4877
      @alecity4877 4 года назад +236

      my favorite part is when inspector Merer spent the night in tura

    • @christosvoskresye
      @christosvoskresye 4 года назад +104

      @@alecity4877 Tura SOUTH.

    • @rogana5158able
      @rogana5158able 4 года назад +15

      🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🥵

    • @blurglide
      @blurglide 4 года назад +45

      I liked when they’d sail up river for two days, then down river the next

    • @jetfowl
      @jetfowl 4 года назад +23

      Everyone knows that spending the night at She-Khufu was the highlight of his diary.
      She-Khufu.
      Ooooooh, yeah! I'mma luving She-Khufu!

  • @AkkadDaily
    @AkkadDaily 4 года назад +3061

    Bureaucracy confirmed to be boring since the dawn of time.

    • @GiveMeBackMyUsernameYouTube
      @GiveMeBackMyUsernameYouTube 4 года назад +150

      Makes you wonder about what kind of banter the sailors shared together between stops to pass the time.

    • @stofosaurus
      @stofosaurus 4 года назад +89

      It never was and never will be exciting... unless you have Asperger's or something.

    • @demeterruinedmylife3199
      @demeterruinedmylife3199 4 года назад +132

      Let’s just say the bureaucracy is supposed to be boring if the country itself is stable...

    • @jakedee4117
      @jakedee4117 4 года назад +26

      That's what made "time", some guy writing down what day and month it was and what ever hum-drum thing went on.

    • @porcupineracer2
      @porcupineracer2 4 года назад +7

      Jabberwocky probably have something to do with his “phyle”.

  • @joshuaDstarks
    @joshuaDstarks 4 года назад +1948

    Can’t wait for the film adaptation.

    • @ThePlayfarer
      @ThePlayfarer 4 года назад +120

      "Hello, I'm Merer, and this is my phyle. Ready to cast off?"

    • @Pseedholm
      @Pseedholm 4 года назад +43

      The sequel will be action packed.

    • @srjskam
      @srjskam 4 года назад +136

      "In a world where stones need hauling... there is one man who can _haul stones._ Inspector Merer and his phyle, this summer in _MERER_ "

    • @laciupacapra6272
      @laciupacapra6272 4 года назад +30

      @@srjskam Man of Stone!

    • @aaronbasham6554
      @aaronbasham6554 4 года назад +20

      Honestly, could be just an interesting short film, like showing the pyramids being built slowly as he does this and is just bored by something we see as interesting

  • @00Boogie
    @00Boogie 4 года назад +1115

    He is an extremely chatty man. Don't get him started or he'll never stop.

  • @pegzounet
    @pegzounet 4 года назад +808

    For all it's near infinite dullness, this kind of text makes the past more alive. Work logs are work logs, and boring administrative tasks are something a lot of us can relate to ^^

    • @AristonSparta
      @AristonSparta 4 года назад +40

      The past is VERY alive, and the more one learns about the past, the easier it is to feel like one is there. It is like mental time traveling.

    • @P7777-u7r
      @P7777-u7r 4 года назад +19

      I mean a mundane work log from now might give future archaeologists an insight into how weve done things

    • @ineffablemars
      @ineffablemars 4 года назад

      @freebeerfordworkers humans never change. amazing.

    • @TS-jm7jm
      @TS-jm7jm 4 года назад

      @freebeerfordworkers which record?

    • @LegionHimself
      @LegionHimself 4 года назад +2

      It's true eh. You know he wrote these entries as concise as possible because he wanted to go have dinner already.

  • @Ritualist89
    @Ritualist89 4 года назад +726

    This 100% how my field reports look like. Dry as a desert. Loving this.

    • @alihasanabdullah7586
      @alihasanabdullah7586 4 года назад +26

      Things were a little dry with near eastern civilizations anyway. Good for record keeping, bad for historical color

    • @Le-cp9tr
      @Le-cp9tr 4 года назад

      Ali Hasan Abdullah Hi ritualist. Thoth says Hello

    • @maycherryblossoms
      @maycherryblossoms 4 года назад +14

      How would your field reports look if you knew the logs you submit to your supervisor would be one of the oldest surviving written works of the 21st century? :P

    • @ineffablemars
      @ineffablemars 4 года назад

      pun intended?

    • @TS-jm7jm
      @TS-jm7jm 4 года назад +2

      @@maycherryblossoms mine would look exactly like that

  • @mahu1877
    @mahu1877 4 года назад +517

    Oldest written papyrus, and it's just some poor bureaucrat, bored out of his mind, filing official paperwork for the government. I love it.

    • @Bialy_1
      @Bialy_1 4 года назад +29

      He wasn't a bureaucrat... bureaucrats wouldn't be able to finish this job to this very day...

    • @txorimorea3869
      @txorimorea3869 4 года назад +29

      Oldest written song, talks about the ancient times.

    • @OstblockLatina
      @OstblockLatina 3 года назад +17

      Oldest DISCOVERED written papyrus.

    • @veronica_._._._
      @veronica_._._._ 2 года назад +5

      @@Bialy_1 lt's bugging me tho if he was a labourer why was he inspecting not dragging or sawing? and his FILE was it a papyrus checklist, or, did he literally file bits off the blocks to smooth them down, or were his nails getting ragged?

    • @ankhi3585
      @ankhi3585 Год назад +3

      @@veronica_._._._ It's a phyle (a team of people from the same tribe) not a file.

  • @MissingTrails
    @MissingTrails 4 года назад +665

    Inspector Merer - - - - - his phyle
    Name a more iconic duo, I'll wait.

    • @alecity4877
      @alecity4877 4 года назад +48

      spending the night at tura, name a more iconic location

    • @Ben-Hollingbery
      @Ben-Hollingbery 4 года назад +13

      Temba, his arms wide

    • @boyanpenev9822
      @boyanpenev9822 4 года назад +5

      Let the shipping begin.

    • @vulekv93
      @vulekv93 4 года назад +2

      @@alecity4877 Tura South!

    • @LouCars
      @LouCars 4 года назад +5

      What is a phyle?

  • @unifieddynasty
    @unifieddynasty 4 года назад +822

    Her: _I wonder if he is writing about me in his diary._
    Him:

    • @igbotimehopper64yearsago46
      @igbotimehopper64yearsago46 4 года назад +3

      @Amon Ra that seems like a legit thing the workers would ask

    • @klyanadkmorr
      @klyanadkmorr 4 года назад

      FTW heehee

    • @aureavita8653
      @aureavita8653 4 года назад

      @Amon Ra "GODDAMNIT WHY DIDN'T WE BUILD THEM CLOSER TO THE NILE DON'T YOU KNOW HOW HARD IT IS TO BUILD CANALS FOR ROCKS?!"
      -some construction guy

  • @hahahwhat
    @hahahwhat 4 года назад +421

    The people in the dislikes weren't invited to hang out with the inspector's phyle

  • @theoldar
    @theoldar 4 года назад +468

    This is the bread and butter of historical research.

  • @nerthus4685
    @nerthus4685 4 года назад +391

    If he had known we would be reading his work log 4500 years later, he would have said something like: "I Merer, Inspector of the great Pharaoh Kufu, performed great works for his pleasure. It was I who brought the stones down the mighty river, even the dangerous parts filled with crocodiles. The boat was once saved by a miracle of the goddess of the Nile Anuket.... "

    • @jellyfish0311
      @jellyfish0311 4 года назад +32

      He would've hired a ghostwriter to make it cooler

    • @leonl9123
      @leonl9123 4 года назад +50

      @@jellyfish0311 No, he would just have put more detail in the part where he set sail for Akhet Kufu

    • @aaronbasham6554
      @aaronbasham6554 4 года назад +16

      @@leonl9123 believe it or not, this is him writing for an audience 4500 in the future.
      His friend inspector Mesen who worked with the alien overlords didn't think it was interesting enough to write about.

    • @i.m.7710
      @i.m.7710 4 года назад +14

      I'll bet a lot of things happened but he knew to keep it simple it case someone in authority read it. Best to keep out of trouble and keep your position, especially when you see how many were treated. He probably only entered the actions he was paid for.

    • @6036000
      @6036000 4 года назад +6

      I read that I Dan Carlin's voice

  • @alexeymorozov9915
    @alexeymorozov9915 4 года назад +696

    Spoiler: the guy picks up his stones, carries them to where they belong, goes back to pick up some more stones, and carries them as well. At some point some other guy also brings some bread. Sucks to be Inspector Merer.

    • @vonderloo3184
      @vonderloo3184 4 года назад +45

      Yes the titile is misleading. Filling merchant trade ships with stones for some type of commerce is not building pyramids, however.

    • @JHamList
      @JHamList 4 года назад +36

      dont forget his file

    • @RedDragon2326
      @RedDragon2326 4 года назад +17

      @@vonderloo3184 however it proves it was possible for ancient Egyptians to build the pyramids if they were transporting stones

    • @vonderloo3184
      @vonderloo3184 4 года назад +12

      @@RedDragon2326 perhaps they were building temples, or libraries, palaces, marketplaces, trenches, damms, etc also? Could be the stones were part of commerce in many areas of construction by the Pharoah's minions?

    • @jonnysith
      @jonnysith 4 года назад +50

      Just proves that there wasn't really anything exciting about the creation of the pyramids. Just monotony, routine, and repetition. Just like our 21st century lives.

  • @Cu-Co
    @Cu-Co 4 года назад +824

    I wonder if inspector Merer spent any of these days with his phyle.

  • @jayasuryangoral-maanyan3901
    @jayasuryangoral-maanyan3901 4 года назад +734

    I kind of love that people are surprised that doing hands on work to build a giant rock triangle isn't too interesting

    • @AuthenticGadzooks
      @AuthenticGadzooks 4 года назад +16

      Acshually, it's a pyramid, m'kay.

    • @ahmadtarek7763
      @ahmadtarek7763 4 года назад +12

      It's extremely normal for people to create massive structures only using old technology and innovation.
      Meanwhile if advanced aliens did it with their high tech machinery, that's where it gets interesting.

    • @censorduck
      @censorduck 4 года назад +11

      @@ahmadtarek7763 We got to the moon with computers the size of small rooms. Humans aren't known for thinking small. It's what I love about us.

    • @Hypogean7
      @Hypogean7 4 года назад +2

      @@censorduck The computers weren't that big just for the asthetic.

    • @censorduck
      @censorduck 4 года назад +1

      @@Hypogean7 I'm not sure what your point is, if you have one.

  • @the_yooper
    @the_yooper 4 года назад +558

    some say he's still casting off to this day

    • @stevetub2008
      @stevetub2008 4 года назад +1

      GamesAlot hahaha good one

    • @lZEOBA
      @lZEOBA 4 года назад +2

      Lyrics:
      “I’m a Great Stone Hauler..
      I haul mighty stone up the mighty mighty great river..
      I’m a Great Stone Hauler..
      But one day the mighty mighty great river took me under..
      And the said I died..
      But I’ll ride again! I’ll ride again!..
      I’m a Great Stone Hauler, and I’ll ride again! “

    • @arya31ful
      @arya31ful 3 года назад +1

      I think he's been spending nights at Tura these days.

  • @RabidBogling
    @RabidBogling 4 года назад +346

    'ate 'aulin' stones. 'ate castin' off. Love me Phyle. Simple as.

  • @HVLLOWS1999
    @HVLLOWS1999 4 года назад +1799

    Ancient Astronaut Theorist:
    -Aliens build the pyramids 70 thousand plus years ago with anti gravity tech!
    Reality:
    *Inspector Merer casts off from Akhet Khufu the next morning, spends the day with his phyle...*

    • @daithiocinnsealach1982
      @daithiocinnsealach1982 4 года назад +28

      Lol

    • @SammytheStampede
      @SammytheStampede 4 года назад +84

      Yep, truth is stranger than fiction.

    • @voidremoved
      @voidremoved 4 года назад +3

      you believe this writing do you? Nobody writes down lies...

    • @kertagin1
      @kertagin1 4 года назад +157

      @@voidremoved yes someone got together 6000yr old papyrus, shaved it and pounded it into usable sheets, mixed up authentic ink and scribbled down this riveting journal in a very dead languages written form. buried it out in the sands and hoped it would be found by the paid off archaeologists and linguists who have pored over this work for the last few years. do you have any grasp how retarded that is? even as bad plans go that is just wow so dumb (since the papyrus is accessible and finding the necessary texts to translate it are not that hard to get).

    • @qboxer
      @qboxer 4 года назад +33

      @@kertagin1 The Phyle is a lie.

  • @saidtoshimaru1832
    @saidtoshimaru1832 4 года назад +561

    History Channel: Day 15, inspector Merer meets with alien overlords.

    • @theblackadder4085
      @theblackadder4085 4 года назад +11

      Lol

    • @universalis8208
      @universalis8208 4 года назад +27

      They would then claim that they are sourcing that directly from the text while blatantly knowing it doesn't say that remotely even at all just like those morons do with sumerian tablets, but it's easier to convince lay-men of stupidity than other scholars.

    • @rachel_Cochran
      @rachel_Cochran 4 года назад +3

      😂😂😂

    • @Mysticist
      @Mysticist 4 года назад +19

      And yet I'm sure Merer would find some way to make that extraordinarily boring too XD

    • @frankfrunkenstichen3367
      @frankfrunkenstichen3367 4 года назад +4

      ....Interesting, that day is surprisingly absent here. WHOSE STONEWALLING THIS INVESTIGATION

  • @Syryu
    @Syryu 4 года назад +112

    "For you, the discovery of my logbook is one of the most significant discoveries in archeology, for me, it was day 23...." Inspector Merer

  • @lollerich
    @lollerich 4 года назад +203

    Remarkably unremarkable.

    • @VoicesofthePast
      @VoicesofthePast  4 года назад +106

      Not one mention of our secret alien insect overlords

    • @lollerich
      @lollerich 4 года назад +14

      @@VoicesofthePast yet, still compelling in its own way

    • @sparky6086
      @sparky6086 3 года назад +5

      @@VoicesofthePast It's there, but it's in code

  • @82dorrin
    @82dorrin 4 года назад +167

    Woman: *Thinking* I bet he's thinking about other girls right now!
    Man: *Thinking* What the hell happened after they spent the night at Tura Noth...?

    • @Carewolf
      @Carewolf 4 года назад +12

      They meet the Sea people..

    • @82dorrin
      @82dorrin 4 года назад +4

      Of course they did.

    • @nulnoh219
      @nulnoh219 4 года назад +2

      @@Carewolf Sea people is code for the Ancient Astronauts.

    • @__prometheus__
      @__prometheus__ 4 года назад +2

      MrHan no it’s not

    • @pyrovania
      @pyrovania 4 года назад +4

      @@nulnoh219 more like the Phoenicians or Greeks.

  • @autumnicleaf
    @autumnicleaf 4 года назад +175

    Inspector Merer "I love stones; I work stones, dream stones, haul stones, got kidney stones, and in off times, I just get stoned."

    • @twilly999
      @twilly999 4 года назад +3

      Archeologists think ancient Egyptians probably did consume cannabis to get high, just sayin.

    • @stevenleslie8557
      @stevenleslie8557 4 года назад +3

      I have to admit that was a little funny

    • @OperationEndGame
      @OperationEndGame 4 года назад +1

      Read up on cocaine mummies... them Egyptians snorting coke lines on a stone tablet.

    • @hellsonion514
      @hellsonion514 4 года назад

      I have stone blood in my veins.

    • @mirzaahmed6589
      @mirzaahmed6589 4 года назад

      Shrimp

  • @DonMiguelinside
    @DonMiguelinside 4 года назад +345

    For him, it was just a logbook he had to manage for his supervisors or something like that. Imaging if he wrote a little longer entries...

    • @jbkhan1135
      @jbkhan1135 4 года назад +77

      World's oldest timesheet lol

    • @ReddoFreddo
      @ReddoFreddo 4 года назад +21

      Interesting, maybe they compared logbooks to each other to see if someone was lying or something.

    • @angela777K
      @angela777K 4 года назад +42

      Inspector Merer spends the day with his phyl.
      Gluttonously eats his dinner. Defiles himself in local brothel. Spends the night in Tura South

    • @aaronbasham6554
      @aaronbasham6554 4 года назад +5

      @@ReddoFreddo honestly...yeah, that makes sense. I could totally see them checking over his logs with their being a clause of God punishment or something if he lied.

    • @Joe-po9xn
      @Joe-po9xn 4 года назад +22

      "That dumbass Semir dropped a stone on his foot and can't walk. Had to take him behind the pyramid and put him down. Poor guy, I kinda liked him. Then proceeded to cast off from Akhet-Khufu, loaded with stone minus one laborer."

  • @andytuesday500
    @andytuesday500 4 года назад +123

    Exactly how much information I put on my daily reports in construction. Lol 😂.

  • @bretalvarez3097
    @bretalvarez3097 4 года назад +692

    Poor guy wrote like he had soviet-grade depression.

    • @bott3849
      @bott3849 4 года назад +3

      Lol right

    • @alberto2287
      @alberto2287 4 года назад +71

      In Soviet Russia, pyramid builds you

    • @MrCarGuy
      @MrCarGuy 4 года назад +45

      @@bott3849 I'd imagine hard labor over most of his life to build a giant pointed structure wasn't the best.

    • @CrazyLeiFeng
      @CrazyLeiFeng 4 года назад +45

      @@alberto2287 Slave labourers building Moscow's "seven sisters" (the Stalinist skyscrapers) put some eggs between bricks so certain sections of those buildings still stink but nobody knows how to find and retrieve the egg shells.

    • @MrCarGuy
      @MrCarGuy 4 года назад +15

      @Dodadeus Of course it may seem like he was managing or leading from someone who is unfamiliar with ancient Egypt, however the common workers (not slaves) could know how to write basic phrases. Workers wrote things such as being "friends of Khufu" and even about the processes of how they worked.

  • @_SkyEye
    @_SkyEye 4 года назад +510

    This is no common laborer - the fact that he could read & write says a lot about him, as writing was reserved for few and wasn’t taught to ‘common’ people.
    Other than that - sounds like an engineer lol, dry as the Egyptian sand

    • @ryankassulke
      @ryankassulke 4 года назад +52

      Labourering was definitely a 'common' job. It still is. Construction wasnt managed or administrated by the nobles. They hired companies to do work just like government does today. Lots of commoners could read and write they even studied other engineers work.

    • @universalis8208
      @universalis8208 4 года назад +31

      The Ancient Near East (and the ancient world in general) were largely oral traditional societies, as in, they had the capacity to maintain oral traditions and experiences through memorization over long periods of time. The people of the ancient world had memories that would put ours to utter shame and make us feel like neanderthals, most of them would be able to listen to an hour long speech and recite it back to you word for word.

    • @_SkyEye
      @_SkyEye 4 года назад +18

      ryankassulke - I might be wrong (please correct me if I am) but writing in Egypt specifically was held as sacred/semi-sacred. They were a very rigid society in that sense.
      I’m not saying he was a member of the nobility, but he did report directly to the Pharaoh’s half-brother. Maybe he was a member of what we would consider today the upper middle-class.
      In Babylon, contrary to Egypt, writing was much more widespread and people from all walks of life knew how to read and write.

    • @ryankassulke
      @ryankassulke 4 года назад +18

      @@universalis8208 none of what you said is true.

    • @learrus
      @learrus 4 года назад +22

      You gotta be literate to be a labourer, or else you can't read plans and schedules.
      Not to mention Egypt had a calligraphy script for common usage.

  • @natjonestower3035
    @natjonestower3035 4 года назад +331

    Not terribly exciting, but still interesting to know that life 4500 years ago was just as mundane and terrible as it is now.

    • @nulnoh219
      @nulnoh219 4 года назад +52

      Same shit different week. Thousands of years later.

    • @ciello___8307
      @ciello___8307 4 года назад +20

      Probably more mundane. We have so much to entertain us today

    • @Triunity4
      @Triunity4 4 года назад +4

      Skye Higa entertainment is a form of control

    • @danielj233
      @danielj233 3 года назад +1

      Except without porn and RUclips.

    • @Mr.Obongo
      @Mr.Obongo 3 года назад +1

      @@ciello___8307 Yes but they were more imaginative

  • @amunra4015
    @amunra4015 4 года назад +82

    Every time he said "inspector Merer spends the day with his phyle" I imagine him actually holding a clipboard with a file attached to it.

  • @waltertaljaard1488
    @waltertaljaard1488 4 года назад +55

    He digs sixteen tuns, and what does he get?
    Another day with his phyle, and then to bed.
    Casts off from Khufu, and digs even more.
    He owes his soul to the Pharao's store.

    • @bojanatanaskovic2465
      @bojanatanaskovic2465 4 года назад +1

      Great :)!

    • @lZEOBA
      @lZEOBA 4 года назад +3

      “I’m a Great Stone Hauler..
      I haul mighty stone up the mighty mighty great river..
      I’m a Great Stone Hauler..
      But one day the mighty mighty great river took me under..
      And the said I died..
      But I’ll ride again! I’ll ride again!..
      I’m a Great Stone Hauler, and I’ll ride again! “

  • @AXALRZ
    @AXALRZ 4 года назад +175

    Great storyteller. Compelling journey. Lots of twists and turns.

    • @lZEOBA
      @lZEOBA 4 года назад +4

      😆🤣😂😂😂

    • @Nicodemus1971
      @Nicodemus1971 2 года назад +1

      Even the river is straight and boring

  • @peroz1000
    @peroz1000 4 года назад +121

    This is surely boring to us now, but there’s a great possibility that if by miracle everything written in the ancient world had survived till today the bulk of it would be even more boring.The ancients didn’t write just about what we now consider important.

    • @daithiocinnsealach1982
      @daithiocinnsealach1982 4 года назад +20

      It's all the fascinating stuff that the ancients didn't think worth recording or preserving that I am intrigued by.

    • @mrspeigle1
      @mrspeigle1 4 года назад +12

      Yeah, im remminded of mmy daily driver logs from back in the day when we had actual paper logs.
      Im sure the land fills have hundreds of them burried

    • @ReddoFreddo
      @ReddoFreddo 4 года назад +18

      If there was someone in the ancient world who did that, chances are very slim you'll find it, since most things that are written down for most of human history are just bureaucratic stuff. In fact in the case of cuneiform, that's why it was invented, to keep track of bureaucratic stuff, it had a very functional purpose.

    • @nerthus4685
      @nerthus4685 4 года назад +9

      At least with Greek literature, much of what could be considered "the best" has been preserved. There is a ton of badly written and poorly written literature which did not survive. It was not considered significant enough to copy or reference, though scraps are found.

    • @tomiantenna7279
      @tomiantenna7279 4 года назад +2

      We're lucky! Most writings were even more boring back then! A blessing upon us all!

  • @Le-cp9tr
    @Le-cp9tr 4 года назад +211

    Honestly, I was hoping it just said at one point “Ra dammit, the Pharaoh has me working 24 hours a day on making giant triangles in the middle of the desert and I don’t even get overtime.”

    • @MTd2
      @MTd2 4 года назад +8

      You earn in kind, rarely in money. In old societies, you are your job, if you get something you need, you get from designated people.

    • @not_suspicious
      @not_suspicious 4 года назад +6

      Lol Ra dammit

    • @CrazyLeiFeng
      @CrazyLeiFeng 4 года назад +2

      @@MTd2 You think now you are not your job?

    • @robjentzema7934
      @robjentzema7934 4 года назад +4

      Managers rarely get overtime. It is part of the job and paid for (monetary, power, prestige, responsibility). Also, highly
      conscientious people generally do not complain about work and just get on with whatever task is at hand.

    • @yaris684
      @yaris684 4 года назад +2

      Oh my Ra

  • @commandermcnash5137
    @commandermcnash5137 4 года назад +135

    UFOlogist: The aliens built the pyramids in a matter of hours using antigravitational technology
    Inspector Merer: I am a joke to you?

  • @thebrocialist8300
    @thebrocialist8300 4 года назад +250

    I guess these ancient aliens who built the pyramids weren’t terribly articulate. 👽🏗📝

    • @Vicorcivius
      @Vicorcivius 4 года назад +1

      Too bad this is not evidence of either aliens or humans building the pyramids, Simply the work log of a stone hauler. Nothing more, Nothing less.

    • @ahmadtarek7763
      @ahmadtarek7763 4 года назад +7

      @@Vicorcivius I get your point, but by the way he talks casually about the reports and how mundane the process was, you'd think he'd mention somewhere along his letter that aliens assisted in the construction process.
      Only response I can think of to this would be that people in ancient Egypt were so used to aliens that they found them more boring than inspector merer and his phyle.

    • @mikicerise6250
      @mikicerise6250 4 года назад +1

      Inspector Merer cast off from Akhet Kufu.
      Inspector Merer spent the day with his phyle collecting stones in Beta Reticuli, spent the night at Beta Reticuli.
      Inspector Merer cast off from Beta Reticuli to Tura, spent the night in Tura.

    • @ANTSEMUT1
      @ANTSEMUT1 4 года назад +5

      If alien's did actually construct the pyramid why the hell would they need human labour they could have had Robots do it.

    • @TheSaintArmando
      @TheSaintArmando 4 года назад +1

      @@ANTSEMUT1 why build robots if you have humans?
      (Robots made of flesh and Bones)

  • @alberto2287
    @alberto2287 4 года назад +179

    Day 30: Inspector Merer meets with Inspector Clouseau
    Day 40: Inspector Merer meets Director Krennic
    Day 60: Inspector Merer gets a laptop
    Day 61: Internal audit take Inspector Merer’s file
    Day 70: Pharaoh is displeased with Inspector Merer’s apparent lack of progress
    Day 71: Lord Vader finds new ways to motivate Inspector Merer. Last entry

    • @scottyj6226
      @scottyj6226 4 года назад

      @@christopherellis2663 but if I was, I'd show you the power of the dark side.

  • @wesley115777
    @wesley115777 4 года назад +52

    This isn't a diary but a "ship's log." Anyone who has kept a ships' log would recognize this.

    • @nzgkilla
      @nzgkilla 2 года назад +9

      Okay wesley115777 mr. ship log guy

    • @bobsmoot5106
      @bobsmoot5106 2 года назад +7

      Good point. Might not have even been written by this Merer character, but rather by his boat captain.

  • @AlexR2648
    @AlexR2648 4 года назад +42

    Imagine how mad he'd be if he came back to life today and saw that all the limestone cladding was missing.

    • @mitsvanmitsvanio6106
      @mitsvanmitsvanio6106 4 года назад +2

      Imagine though how proud he would be that it still standing there, also not all of the limestone cladding is missing.

    • @MrsSurrealista
      @MrsSurrealista Год назад +2

      LMAO

  • @ladgabriel1990
    @ladgabriel1990 4 года назад +86

    listening to this makes me feel like I'm getting constantly hit by Deja Vu of inspector Merer spending the day with the Phyle, loading stones.

    • @abhiv.f.1628
      @abhiv.f.1628 4 года назад +3

      Maybe you were mr inspector merer in a past life.

    • @luxborealis
      @luxborealis 4 года назад +3

      Just imagine it with the deja vu drifting song and it gets better.

    • @Mr.Obongo
      @Mr.Obongo 4 года назад +3

      No One oh man that would’ve sucked

    • @aureavita8653
      @aureavita8653 4 года назад +1

      @@abhiv.f.1628 sad life😔👊

    • @snickle1980
      @snickle1980 3 месяца назад

      Hey, phil! Up to see the groundhog?

  • @conundrumrecords6805
    @conundrumrecords6805 4 года назад +27

    Historian in training: later i'm gonna be like Indiana Jones.
    Later: spends his time reading about inspector merer and his phyle in Akhet Kufu

  • @marksman314
    @marksman314 4 года назад +52

    I wonder how Merer would feel to know that thousands of people around the world would be united in laughing in 4500 years about how boring his life was.

    • @chrisinnes2128
      @chrisinnes2128 4 года назад +8

      He would probably be laughing himself

  • @alpha3.146
    @alpha3.146 4 года назад +26

    Day 1. cast off from my home. Drive south to work. Worked all day.
    Day 2. cast off from my home. Drive south to work. Worked all day....
    Day 365. cast off from my home. Drive south to work. Worked all day. New year.

  • @qus.9617
    @qus.9617 4 года назад +31

    modern youtuber: Can't you make it more riveting my dear Merer?
    Merer: I don't even know who you are.

  • @JackieWelles
    @JackieWelles 4 года назад +57

    This is so fascinating! Even more knowing that this is someones diary, describing his work from 4570 years ago.... wow

    • @pavel9652
      @pavel9652 3 года назад +2

      Their work has survived all that time ;)

  • @AACLAGE
    @AACLAGE 4 года назад +88

    Inspector and his file, even then cannot live without excel...

    • @__prometheus__
      @__prometheus__ 4 года назад +2

      MDSsystems ok pleb

    • @AACLAGE
      @AACLAGE 4 года назад +4

      @MDSsystems you know what that means, no sail to Khufu.

  • @MateusMeurer
    @MateusMeurer 4 года назад +29

    As a non english native I set the subtitles on. And god, this algorythim is creative to come up with alternatives to 'Merer"
    Moreira
    Murray
    Maria
    Moreau
    Mayer

  • @sizanogreen9900
    @sizanogreen9900 4 года назад +47

    Lets just say he won't become a famous author... Oh wait, he kinda did.

  • @markmcarthy596
    @markmcarthy596 4 года назад +31

    His deep thoughts and wisdom are unsurpassed

  • @markuspfeifer8473
    @markuspfeifer8473 3 года назад +13

    The way you narrated it really brought the characters to live.

  • @congydave
    @congydave 4 года назад +24

    Dear Diary, today was a good day because the aliens came down and finished the job in 10 minutes.
    So we just watched and ate ice cream.

    • @mirzaahmed6589
      @mirzaahmed6589 4 года назад +3

      I'm guessing the ice cream was also made by the aliens.

  • @valentinusaurelius2259
    @valentinusaurelius2259 4 года назад +42

    This is way too close to my work reports.

  • @dionisos1991hel
    @dionisos1991hel 4 года назад +59

    Inspector Merer is goin' to be the next historical meme. I can see it coming.......

    • @AlexR2648
      @AlexR2648 4 года назад +1

      He's going to be the new Boar Vessel

    • @hellomoto2084
      @hellomoto2084 Год назад

      It never happened

  • @deeRay7292
    @deeRay7292 4 года назад +39

    Day 26, spent 6:09 6 minutes 9 seconds listening to inspector Merer spend the night at Tura North.

    • @martinm6368
      @martinm6368 4 года назад +5

      Wow, you give away the most dramatic plot twist of the entire story and don't even bother to place a spoiler warning?

  • @nulnoh219
    @nulnoh219 4 года назад +37

    I'm just imagining my work reports now surviving 4500 years. Being read by a future historian. I should start writing with some flair if i can be bothered.
    Day 10: On a beautiful morning, the birds are chirping, the sky is azure, the concrete for the ground floor is poured by a team of cheerful and jolly workers.

    • @jetfowl
      @jetfowl 4 года назад +9

      I added flair to my shift logs from 2001-2002. They started off with things like:
      "2 February 2002 - SSgt ; Lord of All He Surveys; Ruler of the World Entire; Light Unto All the Nations Therein; the Great, the Mighty, the Awesome; the Most Benevolent One; and the Giver of All Life and Knowledge hath decreed that... (insert rest of log entry here).

    • @scottyj6226
      @scottyj6226 4 года назад +3

      I hope someone finds the k-12 school notes, that my teachers took of me.
      1st grade: displays violent anti-social tendencies.
      2nd-8th grade: keeps withdrawing into self and has few friends.
      9th grade: he is now 6ft tall and most of the other children have stopped making fun of him.
      10th grade: he got the high score on a biology test out of 4 classes. Says he studied for once. Continues to struggle in math and excel in science.(if note taking weren't 10% of the grade he'd have an A)
      12th grade: He's 6ft 4in tall and is graduating on schedule. I'm going home to have a drink.

  • @roychen5235
    @roychen5235 Год назад +5

    People nowadays: It was impossible for people of that time to have transported the stones for the pyramids. They must have had help from aliens.
    Inspector Merer, 4500 years ago: Am i Joke to you?

  • @Gastogh
    @Gastogh 4 года назад +78

    View one. Viewer Gastogh watches video 'Diary of a Pyramid Labourer'. Leaves a like.

    • @SimonDoer
      @SimonDoer 4 года назад +11

      2 hours later. Sees Gastogh's comment. Likes comment. Casts off after responding to gastogh.

    • @EpicnessYeet
      @EpicnessYeet 3 года назад +2

      A year later, viewer SomeGames sees Gastogh's comment and likes, then sets off to other videos with his phyle.

    • @hellomoto2084
      @hellomoto2084 5 месяцев назад

      4 years later , viewer hellomoto sees Gastoghs comment , and leaves a reply to the commet of gastogh
      Then sets off to read others comments

  • @MrCantStopTheRobot
    @MrCantStopTheRobot 4 года назад +30

    Woah, small world, I'm subscribed to this inspector's Spotify. I listen to his playlist on my daily commute to Roshi Kufu from Tura South.

  • @andreaskallstrom9031
    @andreaskallstrom9031 4 года назад +21

    “Day 12: Chat with the Aliens. Receive instructions on anti-gravity. Sail up river. Spend the night there.”

  • @MrsRanchoFiesta
    @MrsRanchoFiesta 4 года назад +17

    I don't think you could honestly categorize this guy as a "labourer", he's more a general supervisor

  • @TheRiiiight
    @TheRiiiight 4 года назад +9

    Bronze Age civilizations were incredibly organized and planned out with a very clear chain of command for almost every job a person did. Someone having to keep a boring log of every administrative task makes a lot of sense.

  • @stewartgames6697
    @stewartgames6697 4 года назад +14

    Phyles are basically like a tribe, but organized around either a military or a labor obligation (they are similar in function to the Spartan strategos system). Inspector Merer was the chief and leader of a whole phyle of human souls, which could number between 500 to 6,000 workers.

  • @lethalwolf7455
    @lethalwolf7455 3 года назад +11

    The pyramid builders were well fed, well paid and were honored by their jobs. Farm meat was delivered to them in addition to local game and they also received vegetables, clean water, and beer. Their families were provided for as well. Back breaking labor, no doubt, but that was a great job in ancient Egypt

  • @edimbukvarevic90
    @edimbukvarevic90 4 года назад +14

    Came for the comments, not disappointed.

  • @DimitrisAndreou
    @DimitrisAndreou 4 года назад +11

    Knowing where you spend the night was very important back then, and so it is today. Such timeless values

  • @evershumor1302
    @evershumor1302 4 года назад +53

    He forgot to mention that he handed them over to the aliens

    • @jakedee4117
      @jakedee4117 4 года назад +11

      Stardate; 23:001 teleported to sector 9 picked up dilithium crystals, activated sleep-pod
      Stardate; 23:002 teleported to sector 8 initialized fusion reactor, activated sleep-pod
      Stardate; 23:003 teleported to sector 9 picked up dilithium crystals, activated sleep-pod
      Stardate; 23:004 teleported to sector 8 initialized fusion reactor, activated sleep-pod

  • @jakedee4117
    @jakedee4117 4 года назад +12

    I love this !
    It's a point of view we just don't get to see. Government jobs are always about the files and the papyrus work !

  • @josephd.5524
    @josephd.5524 2 года назад +6

    Merer in retirement reviewing his journal: 'God my life has been do dull.'
    The entire planet 4572 year later:

  • @eustacequinlank7418
    @eustacequinlank7418 4 года назад +14

    I was expecting an entry along the likes of "I'm not sure what they are building over there, but it looks big".

    • @redpilled4781
      @redpilled4781 4 года назад +3

      I know, something would have been nice, like " The Queen visited the site today so we had to clean instead of haul stones".

  • @chandraravikumar
    @chandraravikumar 4 года назад +12

    Thank you very much for Primary Sources. A great help in understanding history as it is, and not as imagined by the secondary, tertiary, academc, text book sources. I suggest that they are given as analytical exercises to students of History.
    I still recall the day it hit me that history, even of 5000 years ago is not dead. I saw the image of a stele with Hammurabi standing in front of the deity Shamash or Marduk, receiving bis royal insignia from him. He is holding his hand across his mouth. The caption goes that it was a gesture of prayer. i recognized that action. We do that even to this day in India when we are standing in close quarters to a Sanyaasi, Mathaadhipathi (head of a sect), or an Aachaarya or very senior teacher, and conversing with him. This is to prevent our breath and fine spittle from touching them.
    If one listens carefully one can deduce much from this apparently repetitive monologue. This sounds more like a record of work hours and days rather than a diary. Among others another informative source you provided was that of Julius Caesar on the Druids.
    upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/64/P1050763_Louvre_code_Hammurabi_face_rwk.JPG/800px-P1050763_Louvre_code_Hammurabi_face_rwk.JPG

  • @markevans4002
    @markevans4002 4 года назад +6

    This is the most hilarious thing I've seen all week.

  • @stepanstepasha3538
    @stepanstepasha3538 Год назад +2

    This guy was basically a trucker of his day, and his entries are, accordingly, logs of what he carried and where he carried it to. There were crap ton of boats just like Merer's, ferrying various goods up and down the Nile. Helluva time they had too, the boats were basically made of relatively un-sturdy reed, and they had to worry about crocodiles and hippopotamuses, who wreak havoc still, but back then, were plentiful and did not mind a nice piece of human morsel for dinner. Hippopotamus in general is a helluva creature, easy to anger, and an average human without a pretty high powered rifle can easily be trampled or mauled to death. These guys were pretty damn brave!

  • @HerbertDuckshort
    @HerbertDuckshort 4 года назад +32

    So, the Egyptians didn’t work nights...some things never change. 😉

    • @sanjak689
      @sanjak689 4 года назад +14

      Tony Michaels doubt any civilization worked in night.

    • @qus.9617
      @qus.9617 4 года назад +7

      Night market vendors do though. Also Roman merchants by law moved their carriages into a Roman city when there was no traffic.

    • @ankhi3585
      @ankhi3585 4 года назад +1

      Probably not all that safe to navigate the Nile at night.

  • @anasevi9456
    @anasevi9456 4 года назад +23

    Well, no one ever accomplish anything truly great while writing a novel on the side.

  • @KarenMcAda
    @KarenMcAda 4 года назад +17

    The food delivery broke up the monotony just enough to make the rest of the story shine 😐

  • @rickshaw296
    @rickshaw296 4 года назад +26

    Love these videos of ancient daily lives of regular people. Keep it up!

  • @Shakads
    @Shakads 3 года назад +9

    If it was made today : "After three days of hauling stones, this inspector decided to spend the day with his Phyle. You won't believe what happened next."

  • @snorthsnorth6480
    @snorthsnorth6480 4 года назад +13

    Incessant hauling of stones, but, alas, no hint that he ever got his rocks off.

  • @KJRose-is3bu
    @KJRose-is3bu 4 года назад +25

    You load 16 tons and what do get....

    • @tomiantenna7279
      @tomiantenna7279 4 года назад +17

      "Join the pyramid building corp, they said... See the world, they said..."

    • @stevenleslie8557
      @stevenleslie8557 4 года назад +4

      ... another day older and you're deeper in debt 🎵

    • @praxis6172
      @praxis6172 4 года назад +7

      One day older and closer to Set?.

    • @hankbarcelona7314
      @hankbarcelona7314 4 года назад +8

      Osiris don't you call me, cause I can't go
      I owe my kha to the company store

    • @troglodyto
      @troglodyto 4 года назад +2

      @@tomiantenna7279 "i'd rather be sailing!"

  • @P7777-u7r
    @P7777-u7r 4 года назад +6

    "Name a more iconic duo ill wait"
    *Inspector Merer and his Phyle*

  • @turbo.panther
    @turbo.panther 4 года назад +5

    Well I for one am very impressed how you have made somebody's logbook sound interesting.

  • @johnmurdoch3083
    @johnmurdoch3083 4 года назад +7

    I picture some guy in a hard hat and short sleeve shirt and tie walking around with a clipboard.

  • @buggingtheshutter
    @buggingtheshutter 4 года назад +8

    Archeologists cite this instance as one of the first examples of a pyramid scheme

  • @thehalalreviewer
    @thehalalreviewer 4 года назад +9

    The best part was when they got food and bread delivered from Heliopolis.

  • @jamesoneill3922
    @jamesoneill3922 4 года назад +10

    Wow, sounds like he was really living the dream!

  • @Losttoanyreason
    @Losttoanyreason 4 года назад +11

    The Ancient Alien crowd must really be disappointed. LOL

  • @valentinusaurelius2259
    @valentinusaurelius2259 4 года назад +25

    I wonder if Inspector Merer ever had to rewrite one ok f these reports because of a clerical error that wasn't EVEN A BIG DEAL. I'M SORRY YOU THOUGH MY COMMA LOOKED LIKE A PERIOD, BILLHOTEP, STILL DOESN'T MAKE THE REPORT INACCURATE!

    • @jellyfish0311
      @jellyfish0311 4 года назад +5

      Worse, what if we find these logs because the guy lost them one of those nights at tura north?
      Imagine Merer having to rewrite the entire thing overnight, what a headache...

    • @yaris684
      @yaris684 4 года назад +2

      Billhotep , oh my ra

  • @onlythetruth883
    @onlythetruth883 3 года назад +2

    I liked this video just for the comment section.
    I was properly entertained.

  • @mjkelly9999
    @mjkelly9999 4 года назад +4

    Wow, the narrative really picks up at 4:23 when he casts off, once again, for Ahket Kufu!😎

  • @smnoy23
    @smnoy23 4 года назад +8

    “Day 25: you won’t believe this, but Inspector Merer spent the day with his phyle”

  • @danielbakergill
    @danielbakergill 4 года назад +4

    Recounted with one hint of fascination and none of exhaustion. What a master.

  • @unigeekpanda3026
    @unigeekpanda3026 4 года назад +17

    I would love to hear some diaries or accounts from Roman soldiers or senators during Hannibal Barca's campaign in Italy during the 2nd Punic war

  • @collybeans586
    @collybeans586 2 года назад +2

    Straight to the point. I like this guy

  • @slave4glue
    @slave4glue 4 года назад +3

    I never thought something so interesting could be so mind numbing.
    Thank you though, I appreciate the effort.

  • @capn_shawn
    @capn_shawn 4 года назад +3

    Meanwhile 4,500 years later....
    Day 23: Drove north on Interstate to work, then set off from work to home.
    Day 24: Drove north on Interstate to work, then set off from work to home.
    Day 25: Drove north on Interstate to work, then set off from work to home.
    ... hopefully you have evolved.

    • @pavel9652
      @pavel9652 3 года назад +1

      Then, the interstate logbook ends abruptly in early 2020 ;)

  • @oshavlfarms7239
    @oshavlfarms7239 4 года назад +6

    This is not a diary at all, this is a transportation and activity log

  • @jonnysith
    @jonnysith 4 года назад +18

    Well now i know for sure it really wasn't aliens that made the pyramids.

    • @ReddoFreddo
      @ReddoFreddo 4 года назад +9

      @Captain Reset Yawn

    • @MrCarGuy
      @MrCarGuy 4 года назад +4

      @Captain Reset I have some blinker fluid and snake oil to sell you.

    • @jonnysith
      @jonnysith 4 года назад +1

      @Captain Reset where did you hear that?

  • @Ara_Arasaka
    @Ara_Arasaka 2 года назад +9

    The Egyptians had a belief- that you die twice. Once when your body dies, and a second when your name is never spoken again.
    Let us all speak Merer’s name so that he may yet live as long as a pharaoh.
    Thank you, Merer.

  • @82dorrin
    @82dorrin 4 года назад +8

    Life in Ancient Egypt, 2550 BC: Just as boring as life in 2020 AD.

    • @WAFFENAMT1
      @WAFFENAMT1 3 года назад

      At least they did not have to wear masks due to Corona

    • @jellyfish0311
      @jellyfish0311 3 года назад

      @@WAFFENAMT1 but they had to wear wigs due to lice

  • @fg1110
    @fg1110 3 года назад +6

    They should make a movie from this great story.