THEY GOT PAID?! What Persepolis Clay Tablets Reveal
Animated Short, 0:22. Published 2026-11-07.
Did the workers at Persepolis get paid? FACT. Thousands of clay tablets from the Persepolis Fortification Archive record workers' rations, which worked as a fixed pay: grain, wine and beer, and later silver too. Skilled women got the same pay as men, and mothers of newborns got extra food. 🏛️
Source: Encyclopaedia Iranica, "Women i" (Maria Brosius); the Persepolis Fortification Archive, University of Chicago (ISAC).
Pick your pay: GRAIN or SILVER? 👇
Myth or Fact, ancient Persia. Subscribe for the next one.
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Transcript
Myth or fact: Persepolis workers got paid. Myth! Nobody got paid back then! Fact! Clay tablets list their pay: grain, wine, beer, and later silver. Wait, their pay stub was made of clay? A heavy one! And skilled women got the same pay as men. Okay, that's fair. And new moms got extra food. Next question!
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