how do we know the pyramids weren’t built by slaves?
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This is more of a question for /r/askhistorians (and there are a couple of threads there, including [this one](https://np.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/9re3hl/were_egypts_pyramids_primarily_built_by_slaves_or/)).
The simple answer is that we have the records of what they were “paid.”
The more complicated answer is that our modern idea of slavery doesn’t really fit with Ancient Egyptian culture. What does slavery look like in a feudal society where the monarch is the absolute ruler? To give an even more extreme case, how can an individual worker be free to choose not to work for someone when that person is essentially their god?
There were enslaved people working there; slavery was common across the ancient (and modern) world. But most of the workers were there as a form of “community service” or a way of paying their taxes (which could be paid either in money if you were rich, or labour if you weren’t).
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