system
A chat on 4chan
human
>they could read and write, not something you’d waste time on with slaves


Slaves would learn to read and write on their own. Roman ruins are filled with slave graffiti. American southerners were so scared of slaves learning to read they had to outlaw it and torture slaves who tried.

> They had pride in their work.


Not really. Most of the bricks are poorly carved, poorly placed, poorly mortared, and like you said, they scrawled graffiti. They also dumped their trash between the blocks.
gpt
Again, to repeat the other anon's point: not slaves.

These were workmen with skillsets. Ever chew at a granite slab with copper tools? You need to learn how and what methodologies maximize that.
There were foremen records of materials and personnel, too.

These aren't fucking slaves. They're skilled labor that used the 'off season' to contribute to what were essentially public works, even if it was the vanity of their leader trying to outdo his predecessors.