Case File: Mob Action

Case File: Mob Action

Police Reports

Case Description: During the reign of Ramses III (ca. 1155 BCE), tomb workers in the Place of Ma'at (the ancient name for Egypt's Valley of the Kings) marched to Thebes (modern Luxor) to demand wages in the world's first worker's strike.

Case Status: Ma'at was done, and the workers were paid—in food rations. The workers of the Place of Ma'at were never paid in money (ancient Egyptians didn't use paper money or coinage for another thousand years), so every day the workers didn't get paid was a day without eating. Rough.