5 ms·

Life for the Lowest Class in Ancient Pompeii? It Was Awful

64 points by perihelions 3y ago

perihelions 3y ago
https://archive.is/bPHh2 https://archive.is/bPHh2
- dpe82 3y ago
  ...and the Cloudflare "are you human" infinite loop for Firefox strikes yet again.
  - gruez 3y ago
    If you look carefully the page isn't even from cloudflare. It's just a copy.
  - defrost 3y ago
    That's actually the archive.xxx "we know you came here via Cloudflare DNS" infinite loop. Archive.xxx doesn't like that Cloudflare scrubs regional data from its referrals and retaliates with mock-Cloudflare infinite looping.
    - RCitronsBroker 3y ago
      now i know lol
    - WarOnPrivacy 3y ago
      It most DNS providers (in the US and other areas). It isn't just cloudflare. Folks have been tracking this. And the posts about it here tend to be autohidden.
floydnoel 3y ago
[flagged]
- robin_reala 3y ago
  If you’re interested in reading book XI of The Golden Ass then it’s here: https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/apuleius/the-golden-ass/william-adlington/text/book-11 https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/apuleius/the-golden-ass/wi...
  - resolutebat 3y ago
    The version the NYT links to is far more legible: https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/TheGoldenAssIX.php#anchor_Toc351026076 https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/TheGoldenAss... (and as their erratum notes, they meant Book IX, not XI)
    - dr_dshiv 3y ago
      Robert Graves translation is my favorite, for what it’s worth. It’s a great book that reads very modern. Highly recommended.
RcouF1uZ4gsC 3y ago
My guess is that the lowest 10th percentile of society is probably the best off currently than they have ever been in the history of human civilization.
- w______roy 3y ago
  Lowest 10th percentile of which society? In Europe or the US, maybe, but certainly there are whole regions of the world toiling away in horrific conditions to make their baseline standard of living possible. Conditions that are at least as bad, if not worse, than those of ancient Pompeii.
  - jkic47 3y ago
    In my experience, even the poorest of the poor get vaccinated and have at least some access to modern medicine in government hospitals. People who work as "servants" have cheap cell phones, TVs, and some commute to work on cycles and motorized vehicles. There are pockets, of course, where what you say holds, but in aggregate, the lives of the bottom x% are probably better than their (our) distant forefathers due to commoditized conveniences that we take for granted.
    - WarOnPrivacy 3y ago
      > In my experience, even the poorest of the poor get [stuff] Stuff costs. For every advantage a person receives, someone above them will leverage it for their own benefit. Increased productivity from automation does not flow toward fewer hours for the same pay but to increased output for the same pay - or perhaps to less pay when forced out of their career. Vaccine-lengthened lives are spent working more years to survive, typically at less than ideal jobs. The gadgets you tick off (in context that infers they a measure life improvement) come with costs. Where time is saved, expectations are increased to fill that time. This trend has led us to a state where ordinary lives are massively more complex. Routine events have many more steps and requirements. Gadgets themselves are conduits for rent-seeking exploitation, which requires still more resources from a finite pool. Predictably, society has a growing need for mental health services. Some areas have services for those who are overtaxed and without resources. Many areas do not - despite widespread signaling that mental health services universally available. However, I can agree that the advantages you mention are serving to get us where we are.
thedrbrian 3y ago
how close is it to the life envisioned by the WEF for us plebs.......I mean citizens?
- jakderrida 3y ago
  Not even close. They, at least, knew they were slaves.
- 0dayz 3y ago
  Sometimes I have a hard time deducting if someone is just being ironic or delusional. That's what this post is.
muzani 3y ago
This reminds me of a documentary I saw on prison labor. Prisoners would be forced to peel garlic, many of whom damage their fingernails with it and end up peeling it with their teeth. 2000 years from now, archeologists would be digging up things like this as 21st century slave labor.
- ycombinete 3y ago
  Garlic and the 'dirty secret' of China's prisons https://www.ft.com/video/140c3fa5-a3c1-438b-9601-e92ad0e1b395 https://www.ft.com/video/140c3fa5-a3c1-438b-9601-e92ad0e1b39...
- ProjectArcturis 3y ago
  Also most all cocoa is grown with child labor and often slavery.
otikik 3y ago
Of course it was awful. Probably the images of Tartarus and Hades come from how these people were made to live their lives.
otabdeveloper4 3y ago
> Life for the Lowest Class in $TIME_PERIOD $CITY? It Was Awful
- QuantumGood 3y ago
  "With their feet chained, and dressed in rags, Apuleius describes the workers as having “eyes so bleary from the scorching heat of that smoke-filled darkness they could barely see, and like wrestlers sprinkled with dust before a fight, they were coarsely whitened with floury ash.” "The donkeys were no better off: “Their flanks were cut to the bone from relentless whipping, their hoofs distorted to strange dimensions from the repetitive circling, and their whole hide blotched by mange and hollowed by starvation.” From Book IX of “The Golden Ass” by the second-century author Apuleius

64 points by perihelions 3y ago

perihelions 3y ago

https://archive.is/bPHh2 https://archive.is/bPHh2

dpe82 3y ago
...and the Cloudflare "are you human" infinite loop for Firefox strikes yet again.
- gruez 3y ago
  If you look carefully the page isn't even from cloudflare. It's just a copy.
- defrost 3y ago
  That's actually the archive.xxx "we know you came here via Cloudflare DNS" infinite loop. Archive.xxx doesn't like that Cloudflare scrubs regional data from its referrals and retaliates with mock-Cloudflare infinite looping.
  - RCitronsBroker 3y ago
    now i know lol
  - WarOnPrivacy 3y ago
    It most DNS providers (in the US and other areas). It isn't just cloudflare. Folks have been tracking this. And the posts about it here tend to be autohidden.

floydnoel 3y ago

[flagged]

robin_reala 3y ago
If you’re interested in reading book XI of The Golden Ass then it’s here: https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/apuleius/the-golden-ass/william-adlington/text/book-11 https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/apuleius/the-golden-ass/wi...
- resolutebat 3y ago
  The version the NYT links to is far more legible: https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/TheGoldenAssIX.php#anchor_Toc351026076 https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/TheGoldenAss... (and as their erratum notes, they meant Book IX, not XI)
  - dr_dshiv 3y ago
    Robert Graves translation is my favorite, for what it’s worth. It’s a great book that reads very modern. Highly recommended.

RcouF1uZ4gsC 3y ago

My guess is that the lowest 10th percentile of society is probably the best off currently than they have ever been in the history of human civilization.

w______roy 3y ago
Lowest 10th percentile of which society? In Europe or the US, maybe, but certainly there are whole regions of the world toiling away in horrific conditions to make their baseline standard of living possible. Conditions that are at least as bad, if not worse, than those of ancient Pompeii.
- jkic47 3y ago
  In my experience, even the poorest of the poor get vaccinated and have at least some access to modern medicine in government hospitals. People who work as "servants" have cheap cell phones, TVs, and some commute to work on cycles and motorized vehicles. There are pockets, of course, where what you say holds, but in aggregate, the lives of the bottom x% are probably better than their (our) distant forefathers due to commoditized conveniences that we take for granted.
  - WarOnPrivacy 3y ago
    > In my experience, even the poorest of the poor get [stuff] Stuff costs. For every advantage a person receives, someone above them will leverage it for their own benefit. Increased productivity from automation does not flow toward fewer hours for the same pay but to increased output for the same pay - or perhaps to less pay when forced out of their career. Vaccine-lengthened lives are spent working more years to survive, typically at less than ideal jobs. The gadgets you tick off (in context that infers they a measure life improvement) come with costs. Where time is saved, expectations are increased to fill that time. This trend has led us to a state where ordinary lives are massively more complex. Routine events have many more steps and requirements. Gadgets themselves are conduits for rent-seeking exploitation, which requires still more resources from a finite pool. Predictably, society has a growing need for mental health services. Some areas have services for those who are overtaxed and without resources. Many areas do not - despite widespread signaling that mental health services universally available. However, I can agree that the advantages you mention are serving to get us where we are.

thedrbrian 3y ago

how close is it to the life envisioned by the WEF for us plebs.......I mean citizens?

jakderrida 3y ago
Not even close. They, at least, knew they were slaves.
0dayz 3y ago
Sometimes I have a hard time deducting if someone is just being ironic or delusional. That's what this post is.

muzani 3y ago

This reminds me of a documentary I saw on prison labor. Prisoners would be forced to peel garlic, many of whom damage their fingernails with it and end up peeling it with their teeth. 2000 years from now, archeologists would be digging up things like this as 21st century slave labor.

ycombinete 3y ago
Garlic and the 'dirty secret' of China's prisons https://www.ft.com/video/140c3fa5-a3c1-438b-9601-e92ad0e1b395 https://www.ft.com/video/140c3fa5-a3c1-438b-9601-e92ad0e1b39...
ProjectArcturis 3y ago
Also most all cocoa is grown with child labor and often slavery.

otikik 3y ago

Of course it was awful. Probably the images of Tartarus and Hades come from how these people were made to live their lives.

otabdeveloper4 3y ago

> Life for the Lowest Class in $TIME_PERIOD $CITY? It Was Awful

QuantumGood 3y ago
"With their feet chained, and dressed in rags, Apuleius describes the workers as having “eyes so bleary from the scorching heat of that smoke-filled darkness they could barely see, and like wrestlers sprinkled with dust before a fight, they were coarsely whitened with floury ash.” "The donkeys were no better off: “Their flanks were cut to the bone from relentless whipping, their hoofs distorted to strange dimensions from the repetitive circling, and their whole hide blotched by mange and hollowed by starvation.” From Book IX of “The Golden Ass” by the second-century author Apuleius