DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14564#0125
PITHOM.
109
controlled the Israelites, of whom one class only is
seen in the wall-picture. The whole scheme of the
Oppression was entrusted to superior taskmasters, who
are called 'superintendents of works' (Exod. i. 11).
These seem to have organised the labour, for they do not
afterwards appear in the details of the narrative, in which
we read of taskmasters, probably Egyptians, and over-
seers, certainly Israelites (v. 6, foil.). The taskmasters
superintended the work staff in hand (comp. ver. 14),
and the overseers were merely selected labourers who
acted as interpreters and chiefs of gangs, and were
beaten, in the event of failure, like the common work-
men. While the wall-painting only represents the
ordinary Egyptian taskmaster, the occupant of the
tomb the chapel of which it adorns was probably one of
the higher superintendents.
A still closer agreement with the Scripture narrative
is found in the memorandum of a scribe of the age of
the great Oppression, which states that twelve men
engaged in the fields in making bricks, having neglected
their task, ' of producing their tale of bricks every
day,' were set to work in building a house, and it is
added that their toil was not to be relaxed. Nothing
109
controlled the Israelites, of whom one class only is
seen in the wall-picture. The whole scheme of the
Oppression was entrusted to superior taskmasters, who
are called 'superintendents of works' (Exod. i. 11).
These seem to have organised the labour, for they do not
afterwards appear in the details of the narrative, in which
we read of taskmasters, probably Egyptians, and over-
seers, certainly Israelites (v. 6, foil.). The taskmasters
superintended the work staff in hand (comp. ver. 14),
and the overseers were merely selected labourers who
acted as interpreters and chiefs of gangs, and were
beaten, in the event of failure, like the common work-
men. While the wall-painting only represents the
ordinary Egyptian taskmaster, the occupant of the
tomb the chapel of which it adorns was probably one of
the higher superintendents.
A still closer agreement with the Scripture narrative
is found in the memorandum of a scribe of the age of
the great Oppression, which states that twelve men
engaged in the fields in making bricks, having neglected
their task, ' of producing their tale of bricks every
day,' were set to work in building a house, and it is
added that their toil was not to be relaxed. Nothing