The ingots currency in Egypt prior to Ptolemaic coins : a study based on two unpublished pieces from the Egyptian museum in Cairo

Abstract EN

Most of the Egyptian scholars are accustomed to study coin collections dating from Alexander the Great, passing by the Ptolemaic series then the coins of Egypt under Roman and Byzantine rule.

Though the period antedated the Macedonian conquest had not witnessed any official monetary system that obliged the Egyptians to deal with coins, yet there were several forms of money which circulated within the Egyptian society at the time.

Metals in the form of “ingots”, whether complete or fragmented, are considered to be one significant form of this money.

On that account, this research aims to publish two pieces of ingots preserved in the Egyptian museum in Cairo.

The nature and function of these ingots, which prevailed not only in Egypt but in most of the ancient civilizations, will be, discussed as well depending upon descriptive, historical and comparative methods.