Question: Hypothetical offer to be God-King of Ancient Egypt

[Motorik]

I teach origins of Western Civilization to Chinese undergrads, and recently we've been studying the Hebrews, the captivity in Egypt, and the Exodus, and the subsequent importance of those stories in the Western Cultural identity.

While musing on this I asked my classes if - given the opportunity -they would take up an offer to travel back in time to let's say the Reign of Rammesses II, and take over the role of Pharoah. They would have native level fluency in reading and writing, and their 21st century knowledge intact.

The majority of the class were content to stick with their current life. Because they would miss their phones and the 'delicious food' they're used to eating.

How about you?

 

[Frank Prince]

 

[jp_nyc]

No western democracy crumbling under the collective stupidity of millions of people who watch cable news every night? Sign me up.

 

[Pine Apple Slim]

No friggin way.

 

[Knox in Box]

Edit: I obviously voted Pharoah.

 

[yabba]

egypt is a little hot for my liking, but god-king-hood sounds pretty good. Is god-king of british columbia available?

 

[Lerxst]

I've already surpassed the typical life expectancy for that era

Life is short my subjects, let's party

 

[Andrew Sak]

Sorry Tears For Fears.

No.

 

[DFB]

 

[tiger roach]

If I got caught in some temporal rift and popped out in ancient Egypt, being the Pharaoh would be the way to go. I sure wouldn’t want to be a worker bee and find out first-hand how they got those huge rocks up on the pyramid.

 

[Tiltsta]

Difficult call, On the one hand you have the power of a walking God upon the Earth, on the other hand that first toothache or other minor malady is going to fricken suck really hard without modern medicine.

 

[Honkridge]

Oh yeah? Would this "God/King" have a Custom Shop PRS and access to mainstream American beer? No? Fuck that noise.

 

[Motorik]

egypt is a little hot for my liking, but god-king-hood sounds pretty good. Is god-king of british columbia available?

I think @Flamencology is already the King of Kings of that province. Look on his works ye mighty, and despair!

 

[2manband]

It's interesting that boring ass modern life is even in the same league as ancient god-king status...

I'm taking the hot showers and antibiotics over the throngs of adoring concubines.

It's also really fun to drive.

 

[Flamencology]

As a preteen, I loved Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, the romanticism of this sort of time travel held real appeal to me.

But if not for modern medicine, I wouldn’t have lived to be much older than Tutankhamen did. And now I’m old and rather sick and my priorities lie primarily with comforts. Don’t fuck with my favourite slippers and blankets and coffees.

That said, I still think it’d be pretty cool to live a life where if I heard some idiot with a grating voice say something stupid or obnoxious, I could just point at them and be, like, “that dude is spending the rest of his life hauling pyramid stones.”

 

[jp_nyc]

View attachment 70841

 

[DFB]

That song has been my head all day because of this thread.I'll be relearning it tomorrow.

 

[Flamencology]

@Motorik — Curious as to whether you deal with the historicity of the exodus in this class. Do you offer them a warning that it might go over well in conversation were they to ever visit America?

 

[munchybox]

 

[Motorik]

@Motorik — Curious as to whether you deal with the historicity of the exodus in this class. Do you offer them a warning that it might go over well in conversation were they to ever visit America?

Yes, I make sure to tell them that most Americans subscribe to the Biblical minimalist position and it is a common bonding strategy to proclaim this in detail when meeting people for the first time in professional or social situations.