Ancient Egyptian Economy

            There are many aspects to the Ancient Egyptian economy.  The Egyptians traded, educated, and farmed.  The Egyptian society has had many great achievements.  But the question is, “What was the Ancient Egyptian economy like?”  Let’s dig a little deeper and find out!   

Trade started to happen in the fourth century B.C.  The Egyptians traded with countries around the Mediterranean Sea, Aegean Sea, and the Red Sea.  Items brought from other countries were goods like silver, iron, cedar logs, horses, ivory, copper, cattle, leopard skins, and spices.  The main products brought from Egypt were gold and other minerals, wheat, barley, and papyrus sheets.  One of the more famous trade expeditions in Ancient Egypt was when Queen Hatshepsut sent an expedition down the Red Sea where they got frankincense, trees, elephants’ tusks, ebony, gold, spices, and foreign animals like panthers.  Sailors on the trading ships were paid in grain.  When their ships stopped to unload, they were able to visit dockside shops to exchange their grain for clothes, fresh fruit, and vegetables.

            Egyptians did not have coin money like we do today.  When shopping in Ancient Egypt you would have to bargain on a price.  Although there were no fixed prices, Egyptians were good at figuring out how much an item would cost.  Cost was measured in a deben (a copper weight of .5 ounces).  For goods like razors or shoes the cost would be one or two deben, but for four pigs it would cost more like twenty deben which they would trade for something that was worth the same amount.

            Jobs in Ancient Egypt included government officials, soldiers, scribes, doctors, merchants, dancers, fishermen, hunters, bakers, carpenters, coffin-makers, spinners, weavers, jewelers, pyramid builders, Egyptian artists, and farmers.  Most Egyptians were farmers.  The main crops grown in Egypt were wheat, barley, lettuce, beans, onions, figs, dates, grapes, melons, and cucumbers.  The pharaoh was the controller of the jobs . 

            Between the ages of four and fourteen children attended school.  Little boys started learning their father’s job when they were four.  When they were older they were expected to do the same occupation as their father.  Girls and boys both attended school together.  They studied reading, writing, and math.  Children who were going to be lawyers, scribes, or doctors went to a special school were they studied hieroglyphics.  When girls grew up they took to tending the home. 

            There were castes of people by wealth.  The social pyramid went like this, at the very top of the pyramid was the pharaoh who ruled all.  The upper class was filled with the pharaoh’s royal family, scribes, government officials, priests, and soldiers.  The middle class was the crafters, artists, and other skilled workers like painters, carpenters, jewelers, and brick makers.  Farmers were also in the middle class.  The lower class consisted of slaves and servants.  There was slavery in Ancient Egypt.  Sometimes people would be given to the pharaoh as a gift but most were slaves because they could not pay the money they owed or to escape being poor.  Many rich Egyptian families hired servants to work for them.

            Over all, the Ancient Egyptian civilization had a pretty advanced economy.  With trade, the many different jobs, and the weight of the deben, the Egyptians had many great accomplishments.        

 

Bibliography

1.      Kjeilen, Tore.  “Ancient Egypt.”  1996-2004.  http://I-cias.com/e.o/Egypt_a.htm.

2.      Thompson, James.  “The Egyptian Economy and The Cashless Society and Women’s Place in it.”  July 2003.  http://www.womenintheancientworld.com/economy.htm.

3.      McNeill, Sara.  Ancient Egyptian Places.  Brookfield, Connecticut: The Millbrook Press.

4.      Explorers And Trade.  Australia: Sheena Coupe.

5.      Economy of Ancient Egypt.  http://home.earthlink.net/~marond/economy_pink.html.

6.      Grant, Neil.  Spotlights The Ancient Egyptians.  New York, New York: Oxford University Press, 1996

7.      Egyptian Jobs.  Chicago: Heinmann Library, 2003.

8.      http://nefertiti.iwebland.com/economy/

9.      http://www.pineriver.k12.mi.us/ms/Egypt.html

10.  David, Rosalie.  Growing Up in Ancient Egypt.  USA: Troy Associates, 1994.

11.    Morris, Neil.  Art And Civilization in Ancient Egypt.  Chicago: Peter Bedrick Books, 2000.

12.    Hart, George.  Ancient Egypt.  NSW, Australia: US Weldon Company, 1995.

13.  http://nefertiti.iwebland.com/economy/wages_and_prices.htm