Besides the "nefer nub" gold coins, there are also a very, very small number of bronze "coins" from pre-Ptolemaic Egypt, too, but archaeologists are uncertain about their date, and uncertain that they are really "coins" and not just weights or counters. Archaeologists and historians also debate whether the coins were intended for local use, or merely to pay Greek mercenaries in a form they were familiar with.
Finally, of course, there is the period "in between" the collapse of Pharaonic Egypt and the conquest by Alexander - the Persian period. The Greek historian Herodotus reports the execution of a rebel Persian satrap in Egypt, circa 517 BC:
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The coins struck by Darius were of extremely pure gold and Aryandes, who was ruling Egypt, made silver coins, and no silver money was as pure as that of Aryandes. When Darius heard of this, he had Aryandes executed for rebellion, but not for striking coins. - Herodotus, Histories 4: 166
If Herodotus is correct, then these coins of Aryandes would be the first "native Egyptian" coins. Unfortunately, we have no idea what these coins might have been; Persian coins of the period are neither named nor dated, and archaeologists have never found a particular type or variety of extra-pure Persian silver coin that is more common in Egypt than elsewhere. And, as seen below, Egypt had no history of coinage issue or usage prior to this date. Perhaps Herodotus was simply talking through his hat, and so such "coins" ever existed.
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I am still somehwat puzzled.
We now have a lot of documented history of pre Alexandrian Egypt, courtesy of archeological research.
For thousands of years, and at various peak periods the pre Alexandrian economy of Egypt must have been amongst the biggest. They certainly had access to large amounts of gold.
So what did the pre Alexandrian Egyptian economy do for money, besides barter?
Nothing - barter was their sole means of trade.
For thousands of years, Egyptian society, and the Egyptian economy, had thrived on barter alone. They were a deeply conservative society and saw no need to quickly adopt these "coin" things which the Greeks had invented. Pre-Alexandrian Greek coins are certainly found in Egypt in abundance, delivered there by traders - many of the surviving "owl" tetradrachms of Athens in collections today were originally dug up in Egypt. But the Egyptians treated these coins as bullion, mere pieces of silver to be bartered with like any other. Indeed, many coins found in Egypt have been sliced clean in half, or nearly so; evidence that Egyptian merchants were entirely unwilling to accept the coins to be pure and solid silver.
Once the Egyptians were conquered by the Greeks and had the concept of coinage foisted upon them, they took to using coins readily enough.
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
Posted 02/25/2013 11:45 pm
