Money in Ptolemaic Egypt: From the Macedonian Conquest to the End of the Third Century BC

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Cambridge University Press, 2007 M12 6 - 354 pages
This book explores the impact of Alexander the Great's introduction of coined money on the economy and society of Egypt and its political implications for the formation of the Ptolemaic state. It argues that the introduction of coinage happened slowly, spreading gradually from Alexandria into the chora. Under Ptolemy II, however, Egypt was aggressively monetised. Using both numismatic and papyrological evidence, the workings of a rural monetary economy are reconstructed where coinage was in high demand, but in short supply. It is argued that by the middle of the third century BC Egypt was much more thoroughly monetised than is usually assumed, but that the degree of monetisation was sustained only by an extensive credit economy as well as ad hoc commutation of monetary payments into kind. Contextualising the complexities of credit and banking in rural Egypt, the book offers a fresh picture of their function in the ancient economy.

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Contents

Section 1
58
Section 2
59
Section 3
69
Section 4
84
Section 5
111
Section 6
118
Section 7
130
Section 8
153
Section 9
181
Section 10
205
Section 11
227
Section 12
257
Section 13
280

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