Abstract
Although ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia are often considered to have been very similar in their economic structures, it is clear that the attitudes toward silver differed substantially between the two. This paper surveys the evidence for the economic uses of silver in both cultures during the third and second millennia BC, and attempts to explain the reasons for the differences we can observe in the ancient source material.
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Notes
- 1.
The use of the Near Eastern mina here is unparalleled in Egyptian sources of the period (Hoch 1994: 127 no. 162) and fascinating in this context.
- 2.
The so-called Edict of Belsazzar is a statement of rights to income (Van Driel 2002: 166–167).
- 3.
A conference volume like Zaccagnini (2003) shows that the role varied in different periods of ancient history, but palace involvement was always present.
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Van De Mieroop, M. (2014). Silver as a Financial Tool in Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. In: Bernholz, P., Vaubel, R. (eds) Explaining Monetary and Financial Innovation. Financial and Monetary Policy Studies, vol 39. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-06109-2_2
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