The British Museum has a tablet that details why 40 employees in ancient Egypt missed work 3,270 years ago?
This limestone “ostracon” is a register of attendance from “Year 40 of Ramses II” that offers a fascinating glimpse into work-life balance in Thebes in 1250 BC.
Here are three common reasons for employee absences, translated directly from the tablet:
• “Brewing beer”
• “His wife/daughter was bleeding” (i.e., menstruating).
• “The scorpion bit him”
Listen. I tend to defend arthropods, but if this one scorpion keeps biting everyone and they are all missing work... maybe it should have been relocated or something.
Also menstral taboos are wild, sounds like one was used to basically shorten the work week for those with family. Good, I guess?
I mean, considering the pretty serious household work involved in fetching water, grinding grain etc etc, it is quite possible that a woman in menstrual pain could not manage on her own.
Or probably it's something else entirely that I'm to far from them to grasp... @johnmacintosh