Ancient Tablet Discovered Reveals Strange Sick Day Excuses Used By Workers Building The Pyramids

An ancient Egyptian tablet that's more than 3,200 years old has come to light, and it reveals some pretty astonishing reasons why workers back then didn’t make it to work.

It looks like taking a day off isn’t a modern-day practice after all; the Ancient Egyptians were way ahead of us in this regard.

Constructing pyramids was undoubtedly more physically demanding than the typical 9-5 office jobs we complain about today.

Nonetheless, a certain limestone tablet – referred to as an ostracon – showcased some of the fascinating excuses that some Egyptians conjured up to avoid a day of labor.

Getty Images

This tablet, housed at The British Museum, dates back to around 1250 BCE.

It meticulously tracks the absences of forty workers, noting each missed day alongside the reasons they provided, recorded in the New Egyptian hieratic script using red and black ink.

You might think excuses like "My dog ate my homework" or "I overslept" are quite creative, but the Ancient Egyptians took it to another level.

For example, as documented by My Modern Met, one worker named Pennub didn’t show up for work on “month four of Winter, day 24."

His excuse was that his mother was sick, which seems pretty reasonable.

The tablet documents absences of Ancient Egyptian employees The Trustees of the British Museum

That day, several other workers also called in sick, listing their illnesses, which, again, seems legitimate.

But the reasons start to become more curious with a worker named Seba.

His excuse? He’d been bitten by a scorpion - not your everyday reason for calling out of work!

The reasons continue, ranging from tasks like collecting stones to assisting the scribe.

And they get even more bizarre from there.

The most eccentric excuse recorded was "brewing beer." 

You might think our bosses today would find that laughable if we tried it, but back in Ancient Egypt, brewing beer was a serious business.

There are some pretty wild reasons Getty Images

The British Museum sheds some light on this: "In ancient Egypt, beer was so essential it was treated principally as a type of food – it was consumed daily and in great quantities at religious festivals and celebrations. 

"Beer was an essential for labourers, like those who built the pyramids of Giza, who were provided with a daily ration of 1⅓ gallons (over 10 pints).

"Yet it still had divine status, with several gods and goddesses associated with beer." 

Other workers said they needed to stay home to assist their 'wife or daughter bleeding,' which doesn’t imply an accident, but rather assistance during menstruation – something that’s quite understandable.

And, a number of employees listed 'embalming relatives' as their reason for missing work, which is somewhat comparable to us taking time off for a funeral.

Maybe we could draw a little inspiration from these ancient workers the next time we feel less inclined to head into work?