Emily Chan
The most common reasons for not coming in to work were sickness and family obligations. Illness was recorded over a hundred times on the tablet.
Workers also took days off to brew beer and fetch stones for the scribe. Although these reasons may seem strange to us nowadays, they were perfectly valid excuses back then.
In Egypt, beer was a beverage that was consumed daily, and it was associated with certain gods. So, brewing beer was an activity of necessity and importance.
Finally, another reason found on the tablet was “wife or daughter bleeding,” which refers to a woman’s time of the month.
Apparently, men were needed to help take care of household duties during those times.
