New research has revealed details about the role of markets, traders, and private economic interactions in ancient Egypt as well as the use of “money”—metals as well as other valuable commodities.

Traditional models imagined an all-encompassing, centralized, bureaucratic economy. These were mostly based on documents about activities of the royal palace, institutions such as temples, and the domains of high dignitaries.

But scattered references in institutional and non-institutional sources show that markets and traders were crucial factors in the economic life of ancient Egypt, and that women played a surprisingly active role. There’s even a collection of late Ramesside robbery papyri that refer to traders involved in “laundering” the precious metals stolen from tombs and temples. Also, some references to traders in administrative documents disclose their rather ambiguous status—sometimes disparaged, sometimes integrating the elite.

Email us at arce.dc.news at gmail dot com for a link to register for this event.

Commodities from Nubia, Tomb of Huy, TT40, 18th dynasty