Sit Back, Relax, and to Set the MOOD please press PLAY...
***SHANNON Q *** ANJELICA P *** CHRISTOPHER C ***
*** JOSEPH O *** ANDREW M *** RYAN T ***
THE ANCIENT EGYPTIAN ECONOMY
Trading in Ancient Egypt was very big. Ancient Egyptians started trading goods to other countries in the fourth century BC. Most of the trading was done by ship to countries around the Mediterranean, Aegean and Red Seas. Egyptians mostly traded grain, linens, papyrus sheets, gold and other minerals. They traded their goods for things like copper, animal skins, ivory, silver, iron, spices, rare stones and wild animals.
Egyptians didn't have money like we have . They had a money / barter system. They had fixed prices on their goods so they would know what the goods were worth and what could be traded for them. They didn't actually use coinage. The cost of things were measured by a deben. A deben was a piece of copper that weighed about 90 grams. An example of what a deben was worth:
liter of wine = 1 deben
table = 15 deben
shirt = 5 deben
bird = 1/4 deben
sandals = 2 deben
50 fish = 2 deben
coffin = 10-20 deben
Not until the middle of the millenium were coins used in Egypt.
Some of the jobs in Ancient Egypt were:
- Vizier - main advisor to the pharoah
- Nobles- worked for pharoah or royal family and their main job was to make sure the taxes were collected
- High Priests- carried out sacred rituals in the temples
- Scribes- experts in reading and writing. They wrote books by hand. They could eventually become doctors, accountants, priest etc.
- Artisans/ Craftsmen- artists that practiced pottery, sculpture, metalwork, jewelry making, glass making, weaving and wall painting
- Merchants- carried products to different countries for trade for the temples and palaces
- Farmers- most Egyptian men were farmers . They were paid in sacks of grain which they could trade for other goods or deben. The farmers had to pay high taxes to the pharoah. Also, one person from each household had to work for the government doing hard labor or joining the army for a few weeks each year and they had to work for free. This was called a corvee.
- Priests
- Engineers
- Doctors
- Accountants
- Servants
- Pyramid builders
- Coffin makers
- Soldiers
Most of these jobs were done by men. Most Egyptian women took care of their home and kids. Some jobs women were paid for were hairdresser, dancer, priestess, servant and musician.
When Egyptians were children, they went to special schools for different occupations. They began school at age 4 and went to the age of 14. When a boy was 4 years old, he began to learn his father's occupation. The boys were expected to do the same occupation as their fathers when they became older. Both boys and girls attended school together. As the girls became older, they took care of their homes. Everyone studied reading, writing, and math. The children who were going to be lawyers, doctors and scribes needed to go to special school to study hieroglyphics.
hieroglyphics
There are many differences between the United States economy and Ancient Egypt. One of them being, that in the US people have to right to choose their profession, where as in Ancient Egypt people we assigned jobs based on their birth. The above cartoon describes the strictness of society and the rigid boundries on birth status. Even today, merchants are a major part of the economy.
Ancient Egypt trading compared to US Mall
The economy of ancient Egypt and the United States are very similar. Ancient Egypt's economy depended on their agriculture and oil as a way to barter with others for goods and services. The United States also depends on grain and oil. When there were famines in Egypt, the grains would become more valuable. This would cause farmers to climb the social class. This is the same for the United States. The price of oil drives the price of the grains higher, causing the grains to be more valuable to the farmers.
The United States use the banking system the Egyptians began. Egyptians could deposit and withdraw grains in state warehouses. When coins were introduced in the 5th century, Egyptians would use money to deposit and withdraw from the banks. Interest on the banking system was introduced later in the New Kingdom. This system is still used today by the United States.
Vocabulary
- corvee- unpaid labor imposed by a person of authority
- deben- a weight unit used by Ancient Egyptians
- vizier- highest official in Ancient Egypt that serves the pharoah
- barter- to trade by exchange of commodities rather than by the use of money
- hieroglyphics- writing system developed by ancient Egyptians
- famine- extreme and scarcity of food, as in a country or a large geographical area
- pharaoh- ruler of Ancient Egypt
- scribe- member of a learned class that studied reading and especially writing
- artisan- worker who practices handicraft ; craftsperson
Resources
Comments (Show all 84)
wikiuser0026 said
at 10:00 pm on Oct 11, 2008
yes we know but we do not know why
**SHANNON**
wikiuser0024 said
at 1:55 pm on Oct 12, 2008
Chris what did you do to my work that i put on !?!?!?!?!?
**SHANNON**
wikiuser0026 said
at 2:02 pm on Oct 12, 2008
Chris why did you delete anjelica and my work we would never dare delete your work why would you delete our work !?!?!?!?!?!
**sHaNnOn**
wikiuser0003 said
at 4:28 pm on Oct 12, 2008
SHANNON I ONLY DELETED THE SOCIAL PYRAMID BECAUSE WE ARE NOT WRITING ABOUT IT I DIDNT DELETE ANYTHING ELSE
OH AND I DELETED THE PICTURES THAT WERENT COMING UP FOR SOME REASON BUT ALL OF THOSE WERE PICTURES WERE MINE AND I PUT THEM BACK ON AND HOPEFULLY THEY STAY ON
I REALLY LIKE THE VIDEO YOU GUYS FOUND
CHRIS
Mrs. Gallagher said
at 4:55 pm on Oct 12, 2008
I have learned a lot from your wiki which shows how good it is. Do you think you would like to use the Egyptian's system of money/bartering?
Mrs. Gallagher
wikiuser0003 said
at 6:14 pm on Oct 12, 2008
hi Mrs.Gallagher we are glad that you like our page i like using real money i dont think i would like to use the money/barter
system
chris c.
wikiuser0024 said
at 6:45 pm on Oct 12, 2008
Thank you Mrs. Gallagher. I would like to barter like they did in ancient Egypt as long as i didnt run out of goods to barter with. I guess this would be the same as actual money.
*Anjelica*
wikiuser0026 said
at 8:14 pm on Oct 12, 2008
chris why did you delete the social pyramid it showed everything we talked about . AND you should not delete other students work without the whole group voting about it and by the way the definition you deleted i am putting back on becuase it has to do with anjelica's paragraph on jobs and ms. paduano said that we need more words
**SHANNON**
wikiuser0021 said
at 8:17 pm on Oct 12, 2008
love the song
wikiuser0026 said
at 8:24 pm on Oct 12, 2008
No Mrs. Gallagher I would not like to use there system of money becuase it would not be fun to have to trade personal belonging for a needed item especially if it is a family heirloom . :> ;0
Mrs. Gallagher said
at 8:46 pm on Oct 12, 2008
Sometimes I think that I would like to use the barter system and then I think like 0026 and would be most upset to trade a family heirloom. There is a place not far from Mr. Gallagher and me and it is called, "Barter Pays"! Remind me to tell you about it when I see you.
Okay, what if you were really short on cash. Do you think you might barter then? Have you ever traded baseball cards? Is that a form of bartering?
Mrs. Gallagher
wikiuser0003 said
at 9:32 pm on Oct 12, 2008
Shannon, can you write about the social pyramid please...right next to it would be fine....and make sure you space between that and the other stuff.
wikiuser0003 said
at 7:13 am on Oct 13, 2008
shannon, the social pyramid has nothing to do with the stuff that we wrote about.....she asked us a question about jobs not the social pyramid......i checked the other pages and she asked the government team(i think) about the social pyramid......if you want to put it back on you can but i think you should write about it then.....and i didnt delete the famine word that you put on i deleted the word about a coffin or something because it wasnt in any of our paragraphs.....i never even saw the word famine up there until now so maybe you didnt save it when you put it up....but i didnt delete it
chris
wikiuser0024 said
at 9:52 am on Oct 13, 2008
Chris and Shannon, I added the word famine yesterday. Noone deleted it. Our wiki looks great. I dont think we should add anything else. What do you guys think?
*Anjelica*
wikiuser0003 said
at 10:25 am on Oct 13, 2008
anjelica, i think our wiki looks great too i dont think we need anything else either i thought shannon said i deleted your word but i didnt i really like the video in the beginning we have the best page
chris
wikiuser0021 said
at 11:19 am on Oct 13, 2008
oh my gosh i love it lol walk like an egyptian !!!!!!!!
wikiuser0026 said
at 11:47 am on Oct 13, 2008
who are you
**SHANNON**
wikiuser0026 said
at 11:55 am on Oct 13, 2008
If i was short on cash matbe i would barter but if i ever have to give up an family hierloom i would not barter. I have never traded baseball cards but if you think about it, it is a type of bartering.
**SHANNON**
wikiuser0026 said
at 11:57 am on Oct 13, 2008
SORRY I PUT A ''t'' instead of an ''y'' i am so sorry !!!!!!!
wikiuser0011 said
at 2:11 pm on Oct 13, 2008
the video has nothing to do with egyptian economy sorry
wikiuser0003 said
at 4:37 pm on Oct 13, 2008
to wikiuse 0011 mind your own business we like our video
wikiuser0003 said
at 4:39 pm on Oct 13, 2008
miss paduano
some of our pictures stay on our page for a few days then come off of the page by themselves
why does that keep happening??? and what can we do to stop them from coming off
chris
Miss Paduano said
at 5:06 pm on Oct 13, 2008
Chris,
I'm sorry that keeps happening to your team. Which pictures disappeared? I didn't notice that any were missing. I am not completely sure why that keeps happening. Make sure to save each time you add something and we will try to get to the bottom of this! I absolutely love this wiki!
Miss Paduano
wikiuser0003 said
at 5:13 pm on Oct 13, 2008
miss paduano
the first picture of the boat right under the heading keeps disappearing and the picture of the artisans keep disappearing i save it every time and it stays there for a few days but then disappears!!!!!
there is an X and a box where the pictures were
it happened 3 times already
what can we do????
sorry to keep bothering you
chris
Miss Paduano said
at 5:53 pm on Oct 13, 2008
Chris,
You are not bothering me, you are just concerned because your team worked so hard on this! You're right. The only picture I cannot see is directly under the Ancient Egypt Economy heading. My advice is to remove the current picture and change it to something that works. It may have something to do with the hosting site, which we have no control over. Sorry guys!
Miss Paduano
Miss Paduano
wikiuser0026 said
at 9:26 pm on Oct 13, 2008
chris the boat keeps deleteing so do you want me to put the boat i had back on
wikiuser0026 said
at 10:12 pm on Oct 13, 2008
Hi Group, just to let you know, I found a better pyramid that has to do with the economy b/cthe pictures shows people working.
ps. Chris, I put my picture of a boat that you took out back in b/c you said yours wasnt coming up. If you need any help with the other pics let me know, b/c mine are coming up fine.
**SHANNON**
wikiuser0003 said
at 3:35 pm on Oct 14, 2008
shannon i moved your picture down so you can write about it underneath it
chris
wikiuser0011 said
at 5:28 pm on Oct 14, 2008
nice page
wikiuser0011 said
at 5:28 pm on Oct 14, 2008
nice page
wikiuser0027 said
at 7:26 pm on Oct 14, 2008
you guys have the coolest page!
wikiuser0027 said
at 7:26 pm on Oct 14, 2008
the video is a cool idea
wikiuser0024 said
at 8:29 pm on Oct 14, 2008
Thanks wikiuser0027.
*Anjelica*
wikiuser0003 said
at 2:13 pm on Oct 15, 2008
who ever put the definitions on my jobs.....PLEASE dont do it again.....you screwed everything up......we dont have to put definitions on every single word
chris
wikiuser0003 said
at 2:25 pm on Oct 15, 2008
and whoever did the definitions made joes picture of the farmer disappear.....
Mrs. Gallagher said
at 2:43 pm on Oct 15, 2008
If you click in the area where the picture should appear, you are brought to a page where you can view the picture. How did you upload it?
Mrs. Gallagher
wikiuser0003 said
at 5:33 pm on Oct 15, 2008
joe okeefe got the picture......im not sure how he got it but we have been having problems with our pictures staying on the page.....they stay on for 2 days then they disappear
chris c.
wikiuser0024 said
at 8:55 am on Oct 18, 2008
When and who put on the money picture????
*Anjelica*
wikiuser0012 said
at 8:40 pm on Oct 20, 2008
good job !!!!
~Nicole~
wikiuser0024 said
at 8:42 am on Oct 21, 2008
Thanks!!!
*Anjelica*
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