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TRADE AND COMMERCE |
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Some of the wheat harvested and belonging to private owners was stored in state warehouses. So was much of the grain collected as taxes. Written withdrawal orders by owners of lots of grain were used as a kind of currency. These grain banks continued to serve growers and traders even after the introduction of coined money. Under the Ptolemies a central bank at Alexandria recorded all accounts of the granary banks dotting the country. Payments were transferred from account to account similar to the modern giro system. Credit entries were recorded with the owners name being in the genitive or possessive case and debit entries in the dative case. One of Egypt's main export products was grain, at first to the Lebanese coast, where often not enough corn could be grown locally, and later in large quantities to Rome, more than 100,000 metric tons per year under Augustus. Fruit, such as dates, were also sold abroad. At Camulodunum in Roman occupied Britain amphoras which had been filled with fruit of the doum palm were found, quite possibly of Egyptian origin. Gold and silver in specie were used mostly in dealings with foreigners, be they mercenaries or merchants, since the second half of the first millennium BCE. High interest rates did not encourage commerce and during the first millennium BCE they may well have put Egyptian merchants at a disadvantage vis-á-vis foreign traders who were funded from abroad. During the Saite Period monthly interest could reach 10%. -- But Wood, a necessity for the building of houses, ships, furniture etc. was in short supply and of inferior quality. Already during the Old Kingdom Egypt began developing a special relationship with Byblos on the Lebanese coast, which became one of its closest allies for almost two millennia. The cedar wood imported was critical to the development of a navy capable of defending the country against the incursions of the Sea Peoples. Different varieties of hardwood, among them ebony, and fragrant wood were imported from Africa. -- Egypt was not exceedingly rich in metal, but it had quite a few gold deposits, only a little silver, iron, lead and some copper, not enough to satisfy the country's needs. The conquests of Nubia and the Sinai and the exploitation of their gold and copper mines were a major improvement and had international consequences. Significant amounts of gold were traded with Asiatic kings for their political support of the Egyptian empire and its policies. Tin for the production of bronze, Asiatic copper which was a natural bronze alloy, and, from the New Kingdom onwards, small amounts of iron were imported. This was also the time when copper began to be shipped from Cyprus to Egypt and the country experienced occasionally shortages of the material. From the Late Period on iron was mined in the eastern desert and worked in the Greek Delta town of Naukratis. -- Precious stones and other luxury goods Punt was the main source of myrrh, frankincense and fragrant woods. Attempts were made to produce incense locally by importing trees under Hatshepsut. During excavations at Memphis and Amarna (see Smith, Bourriau and Serpico) amphorae were discovered and analysed. They originated from the northern Levant. Residue of pistacia species resin was found in vessels coming from central and northern Canaan, while the amphoras originating in Lebanon, coastal Syria and southern Turkey were used to transport oil. -- Slaves were captured or bought from the Levant, from Nubia and further south. This trade in humans was apparently of insignificant proportions.
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