Eayptglogy of Dawn Twenty-first Century Proceedings of the Eighth International Congress of Egyptologists Cairo, 2000 Volume 2 History Religion & Edited by Zahi Hawass In collaboration with Lyla Pinch Brock The American University in Cairo Press Cairo New YorkCopyright © 2003 by The American University in Cairo Press 113 Sharia Kasr el Aini, Cairo, Egypt 420 Fifth Avenue, New York 10018 ‘wvew.auepress.com All tights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, ‘mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Dar el Kutub No. 17340/01 ISBN 977 424.7140 Designed by the AUC Press Design Center Printed in EgyptLocal Exchange in New Kingdom Egypt Andrea Paula Zingarelli Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina Introduction is paper discusses issues associated with the local economy during New Kingdom Egypt, iainly with the different ways of circulation of goods. The analysis is limited due to the di ferences concerning the nature and amount of information available. The aim is not only to dis- cem the mechanisms involved in the economic relationship but also fo extend the concepts ass0- ciated with ther, ‘A very important issue to be considered is the question of whether part of the local produc- tion could have circulated without the state's intervention and to what extent. This should be done in order to understand how the economic transactions were carried out in society and ¢o what kind of social relationship they testified. Markets or places for exchange Itis believed that in most early civilizations the state played an important role in the production and distribution of goods. Markets would have played only a peripheral role due to the fact that goods were exchanged according to people's needs. Nearly all the specialists who have studied the problems of the economy of ancient Eaypt agree that there was no market economy. Even though there were no market mechanisms a8 we know of them today, there were public places for the exchange of goods which could be called “markets.” There are some representations in private tombs of the New Kingdom, as well as ref- erences in texts, of public places where goods could be exchanged. It is possible that the people shown In these scenes worked for government officials o for the temples. Images of economic activities where the state takes part appear in most scenes. In the tomb of Ipuy! in Deir al-Medi there isa scene which shows a ship carrying the annual grain harvest to the granaries as well as bundles of papyrus and probably sheaves of forage.? Part of the grain was for the owner of the tomb and the rest scems to be meant for exchange at the city market. While some men are s98Local Exchange in New Kingdom Egypt unloading bags, others are exchanging different products. Two women are siting on small stools to the right of the ship and have one basket each. One of them is exchanging two loaves of bread ‘or cakes for a full sack of grain. The other is exchanging two little fish for another sack and a third woman receives a sack of grain. Behind her two men can be seen carrying what might be ‘sacks of grain. It scems that the women of the community played a structural role in the local trade, and these activites in the marketplace represent an extension of women’s activities with- in the household economy.? ‘There is another representation in Kenamun's tomb’ which shows @ unique exchange.® it ‘shows a fleet coming from Syria and arriving at a port that coutd be Thebes. The cargo consists of different items such as pieces of metal. The scene depicts what may have been a regular event under Egyptian rule as well as the beginning of maritime commerce from Syrian ports. Nevertheless. it is significant that some of the artcies are apparently sold by the merchants on the riverbank, before they meet Kenarmun, but the two men and one woman are siting in some kind of booths where different sorts of merchandise ae offered. There are sandals, textile, foodstuffs, and ‘other goods, some of which can hardly be identified. The two men are holding small scales, which ‘may have been used to weigh metals such as gold, or small amounts ofthe articles to be exchanged. ‘Although in neither of the two scenes are the trading activities supervised at the moment of exchange, the nature of the goods offered is very different. It is notable that the merchants in the second scene are trading with foreigners. There is also a trading scene in the tomb of Khaemhet® in which we see men unloading freight ships and exchanging goods. Siuser's tomb? was almost completely destroyed by an accident, but thanks to Hay’s drawings® and Manniche's publication® we got to know another trading scene. In the middle of a row of houses, a woman and a man are bargaining over some fish; two men are carrying a huge basket of grain, and two scribes are standing with their palettes. The inscription inserted among the figures says: “Taking fish to the people of Thebes in their houses out ofthe food catch of the ruler.” ‘Two other market scenes that can be mentioned are in Huy’ s tomb! and Zar’s tomb,!! but the paintings in the latter are still unpublished. ‘There is also written evidence of “markets.” A judicial papyrus'? recounts what a woman who hhad been accused of robbery said: “Now I happened to be sitting hungry under the sycamores and the men chanced to be trading copper as we were sitting hungry...” ‘These sycamores must have been typical of a well-known locality in Thebes.!? Nevertheless, what is known through paintings in the noble’s tombs is that there were “markets” on the west- em part of the city, by the river Nile. Nonetheless we are not certain if the exchange activities took place exclusively in what we know as “mryt.” Papyrus Brooklyn 351453 Al contains what is apparently a ship's log with dated itinerary from quayside to quayside (mryt). At each quay some women are making deliveries. Ostraca Michaelides 131° shows a trading activity on the riverbank. Janssen! states that it seems there were no specific areas for trading activity in the necropolis village. Nevertheless, it is possible that goods were exchanged from hand to hand and from house to house. He suggests that «even though it cannot be ascertained by texts; the most important place for the exchange of goods in Deir al-Medina was the square in front of the gateway, on the northem side of the village. It is uncertain if the “market” scenes imply 2 buying-and-selling activity or show an exchange of goods. Kenamun's tomb is an exception because scales can be seen so metals were weighed during trading with foreigners. Though trading using copper is mentioned in the judici- ary papyrus, itis not known if deben or quantities of metal were used as units of measurement. 599Zingarelti People Involved in Trading Activity ‘According tothe paintings and texts we know that the exchange of goods was performed by peo- ple belonging to the same community, to other communities, and with foreigners. However, we know of the existence of shuty i.e, “trader,” “merchant” or “commerce agent” carrying out their activities in official and non-official contexts. The shuty worked for a temple or for officials, i being their duty to abtain what was necessary by exchanging it for other goods. Although hous- esas well as temples seem to have stored agricultural production and manufactured goods, it scems that they were not self-sufficient. They might have dealt with the handicraft and agricul- tural surplus production belonging to their chiefs or state institutions.!7 We lear through texts that the social status of shutyw’ was not always the same. Some of them traded stolen goods, but others lent grain to a farmer in need. They were outcasts from soci- ‘ety when they performed illegal actions. However, there is no explanation in regard to their pres- fence in government institutions and other social groups. Jn a paragraph of the Lansing Papyrus from the Twentieth Dynasty, we read that working as 2 shuty had many disadvantages when compared with scribes’ activities. What is not clear is whether these merchants were autonomous or depended upon the state! and if so, whether they had to pay any kind of tax: “The merchants travel downstream and upstream. They are as busy as can be carrying goods from one town to another, supplying the ones who need them. But the tax collectors carry gold, the most precious of all metals.”!9 believe it is clear not only thatthe tax-collectors carried gold but that being a merchant was disadvantageous because of taxation.29 There are documents such as the Bologna Papyrus?! which show that the shuiyw depended upon high state officials or royalty for ther trade. In a let- ter writen by one seribe 1 another scribe of a higher rank the shufyw are mentioned as depend- ‘ing upon them. In the Abydos inscription? of Ramesses Il we learn that the temple merchants were taking goods in order to be exchanged, The inscription reads: “The shuay do shuyt activity bearing their purpose and their temple dues (b2kv.sn) thereof consisting of gold and copper.” ‘Thereby we find in texts also shutyw attached to the temple, like Nauri’s decree.?? Moreover, Trin Papyrus 200842016% demonstrates that traders attached to the temple provided an indi- rect way for people to obtain goods, in this case, garments manufactured by the temple work- shops.25 Papyrus Boulaq XI contains a list of entries in which small quantities of meat, cake and wine are stated to have been given to traders on different days. But in this last case, the offerings were Probably derived from the food the traders acquired from the temples.26 Likewise, in another paragraph of the Lansing Papyrus, we can find another interesting ref- erence describing a farmer's misfortunes.27 While undergoing a difficult situation the farmer's wife tries to exchange goods with the shutyw. The skutyw are known a5 lenders; so we can infer that they made a profit. tis important to point out thatthe state doesnot take part inthis activity: however, some ofthese lenders depend ed upon the state. Its clear that the ones who made a real profit were the government officials and the institutions for which they worked. It can be deduced that there was an important process of social potarization. There isa reference to the shuty of “every house” having to regain the gold and silver stolen by the necropolis workers. Fourteen shutyw are mentioned, some of them not being associated with any institution, and some others being associated with temples or chiefs of the troops.?8 Pabes is a speciat case because he is the only merchant known to have a (badly-preserved) tomb-chapel, located in the Memphite necropolis.29 The relief is very fractured and weather-worn, 600Local Exchange in New Kingdom Egypt bout what must have been part of Memphis dockyard can be seen. n the upper part, four men carry objects including perhaps an ingot. There is @ man seting the scales ofa balance in front of them. “The shutyw could have funerary equipment.%° especially those who were in the bureaucracy. According to the preceding documents, we can talk of circulation in the different social spheres, which leads us to think of the possibility of the shuty making a profit. Nevertheless, what is contradictory is the fact that there were shutyw connected with robbery and at the same time they paid taxes, which means to a certain extent that in some cases thei “activities” were legit Imized by the state. Circulation of Mlicit Goods: Tomb Robberies Several papyri from the end of the New Kingdom illustrate an activity which seems to have been very common: tomb robbery. We are not interested in discussing either the reasons or the meth~ ods employed, but in the circulation of illicit goods. We will focus on the exchanging of objects that were taken ftom the tombs. In a papyrus from the British Museum, one thiefs wife says; “L took the share of my husband and put it aside in my store-room and I took one deben of silver thereof and bought shesh-grain with i."3! Itis interesting to see that in this case and others the goods like grain or honey, obtained by the exchange of the stolen items, are for subsistence. We do not know the occupations of the thief or his wife, but we might infer they were farmers due to the reference to grain. We find a lot of examples of this, so we can assume that goods like grain or bread were ‘obtained by exchanging stolen metals. It seems that the circulation of stolen goods promoted an active exchange of precious metals, for supplies. The value of different goods were expressed, mainly in Ramesside times, in copper, deben, and kite, Sometimes they were expressed in silver and gold deben, kite, and sniw. This sug ests @ process in which specific metal measurement units began to be used. However, the ‘exchange of these metals or other items was not generally common to all Egyptian society. Itis significant that land as well as slaves were exchanged for precious metals. Among exam- ples of trials for the above offences, we find the statement of one accused: “The overseer of the field of the temple of Amun, one deben of silver and five kite of gold in exchange for land."3? ‘The same papyrus mentions the purchase and sale of slaves: “... in payment for the slave Degay; two deben of silver, and 60 deben of copper and 30 khar of spelt .. "3 A recent publication? also mentions other documents that report the purchase and sale of slaves. There is also a reference concerning the transfer of a slave from one owner to another: “the young Nubian . .. bought me and the foreigner Pensekhenu bought me from him: he gave two deben of silver for me. Now when he was killed the gardener Ker bought me."25 In Papyrus Cairo 65739, a judiciary papyrus from Thebes, we learn about an Asiatic gil, sold by fone shuty and bought by = Theban woman who paid in cloth which she had made previously, and a series of other items. We notice that the siutyw seems to offer goods from house to house and the price was expressed in terms of silver, Shutyw could also have their own slaves, as attested in PBM 10052, rt 8,227 and Bankes 18 as well as servants, one named as a foreigner 3? Although the purchase and sale of lands and slaves docs not seem to have been usual, it shows a process of social differentiation in Egyptian society during the New Kingdom. Conclusions According to the preceding analysis, the Egyptian economy during the New Kingdom did not 601Zingaretti depend upon the level of demand. People could get the goods they needed in the local market or by exchanging different items for what they needed, The exchange was done through people associated with the state. ‘The exchanges seen in the tomb representations mainly show supplies. The goods that were exchanged vary according to where they came from, but in general, their origin was connected to the state. The distributive circuit ends with the Egyptian bureaucracy and the middle stratum, such as the workers who depended upon the state and benefited with the wages and goods grant- ced by it. Under this mechanism itis quite probable that the relationship was established accord- ing to a specific method of circulation, where the merchandise played an important social rote in reproducing the system. What is different during this period is the appearance of the shuty, a kind of merchant who depended upon the state. The shuty performed a wide variety of activities such as a lender, a mer- ‘chant sailing from city to city, or exchanging metals as can be scen in “The farmer's misfortunes.” ‘The exchange of metals is a key point in the New Kingdom economy. We witness the increasing number of transactions that unify the exchange of goods for an equivalent expressed in quantities of metal pieces (measured in deben or kite). Apart from that, the importance of metals becomes manifest when we learn they were obtained by robbery. ‘What should be discussed is the role played by the shufyw who were associated with officials depending on the state. The latter would have benefited from the metals that were given to them by the shutyw. ‘Taking the risk of simplifying the issue, it could be stated, at least as a hypothesis, that the government provided goods and sometimes controlled their circulation. The different kinds of cir- culation are varied and complex, showing paradoxical and contradictory situations. In the first place the exchange is supervised (o a certain extent by the state or the government officials. The ‘exchange activity appears together with other economic activities regulated by the state in tomb paintings and reliefs ‘The shutyw merchants or some people who benefited from the exchange activities could make 2 potential profit that was controlled by the state through taxes. We can acknowledge an increasing process of social differentiation shown by the purchase and sale of lands and slaves. We are certain that this conclusion arouses an interest in deeper dis- cussion and analysis in the near future. ‘Notes: vr 2i7. 2N. de Garis Davies, Two Ramesside Tombs at Thebes, (New York, 1927), Pl. XXX. 3.C. Eyre, “The Market Women of Pharaonic Egypt,” in N. Grimal and B. Menu (eds), Le commerce en Eaypte ancienne, (IPAQ; Cairo, 1998), 173. 477 162. 602Local Exchange in New Kingdom Egypt 5 N. de Garis Davies and R. 0. Faulkner, “A Syrian Trading Venture to Egypt.” JEA 33 (1947), 40-46, Pl. VI 6 TT 57 (B Porter and RLB. Moss, Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Eayptian Hieroglyphic Terts, Reliefs, and Paintings 1 The Theban Necropolis Purt 1 Private Tombs, (Oxford, 1960). 113-119). TTT AS 8 In the British Museum, MSS 29822, 21-22. 9.1. Manniche, Lost Tombs, A Study of Certain Eighteenth Dynasty Monuments in the Theban Necropolis, (London, 1987), 62-87. OTT 54 PMI, 104-105. 11 TT 366 PM 1, 429-430. 12 BM 10403, 3, 5-7; E, Peet, The Great Tomb Robberies of the Twentieth Egyptian Dynasty 1, (Oxford, 1930), 172, 13 Peet, The Great, 174. 14 V, Condon, “Two Account Papyri of The Late Eighteenth Dynasty.” (Brooklyn 35. 1459 A and B), RAE 35 (Paris, 1984), 57-82. 15 H. Goedicke and E. F. Wente, Ostraka Michaelides, (Wiesbaden, 1962}, PL. 46; J.J. Janssen, Commodity Prices in the Ramesside Period, (Leiden, 1975), 510. 16 Janssen, Commodity Prices, 560. 17 C. Eyre, "Work in the New Kingdom,” in M. A. Powell, (9d, Labor in the Ancient Near East, (American. Oriental Society 68; New Haven, 1987), 200. 18 Some authors stress the institutional setting of their activites; (M, Romer, “Der Handet und die Kauffleute mi Alten Agypten,” SAK 19 (1992), 268-284; W. F. Reinecke, "Waren die Swrw wirklich Kaufleute?” Altorientalische Forschungen VI (1978), 5-14, Some others consider that they may have lhad some degree of independence (E. W. Caste, “Shipping and Trade in Ramesside Egypt,” JESHO XXXV (1992), 239-277 and T.GH, James, Pharaoh's People, (Oxford, 1985), 248-249). 19 PBM 9994, 4, 8-10: A. H. Gardiner, Late Egyptian Miscellanie, (Bibliotheca Aegyptiaca, 7, Fondation Egyptologique Reine Elisabeth; Brussels, 1937), 99-116; A. Blackman and 7: E. Peet, “Papyrus Lansing: ‘A Translation with Notes," JEA 11 (1925), 284-298; R. Caminos, Late Egyptian Miscellanies, (Brown Egyptological Studies 1; London, 1954), 373-428: M. Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature I, (Los Angeles, 1984), 168-175. 20 According, to E. Bleiberg, there is no reason to believe that the merchants are the object of the tax-col- lector's activites; E. Bleiburg, The Official Gift in Ancient Egypt, (Norman and London, 1996}, 14 21 Caminos, LEM, 16-17. 22K. A. Kitchen, Ramesside Inscriptions Ul, (Oxford, 1978), 333: H. Gauthler, La grande inscription dédica- wire d’Abydos, (FAO: Cairo, 1912}; idem, “La grande inscription dédicatoire « Abydos,” ZAS 48 (1911), 52-66. 23 KRU, 45-58, line 40 24 J.J. Janssen, “Two Ancient Egyptian Ship's Logs.” OMRO 42 Supplement, (Leiden, 1961), 52-95. 25 TE. Peet, “The Unit of Value §ty in Papyrus Boulag 11,” (Mélanges Maspero U1, MIFAO 66/1: Cairo, 1934), 188-191, 26 Janssen, Two Anclent, 103. 27 PBM 9994, 6, 1-7. 28 PBM 10068 mt 4, 4-17 (Peet, The Great, 90-91) 23 G. T. Martin, “The Saggara New Kingdom Necropolis Excavations" JEA 73 (1987), 1-9 30 P. Lacau, Stéle du Nowvel Empire, (1FAO, Cairo, 1926), 222-224, Pl. LXIX. 31 PBM 10052, 6, 6-7 Peet, The Great, 149. ‘32 PBM 10052, 2, 19-23 Peet, The Great, 144, 603Zingaretti 33 PBM 10052, 2, 23-25 Peet, The Great, 144 34 S. Alam, “Affaires et Opérations Commercials,” in Grimal and Menu, Le commerce, 133-156. 35 PBM 10052, 10, 18-20 Peet, The Great, 152. 36 A. H. Gardiner, “A Lawsuit Arising From the Purchase of Two Slaves,” JEA 21 (1935), 140-146, 37 Peet, The Great, 150. 38 LES. Edwards, “The Bankes Papyri land 0,” JEA 68 (1982, 127 39 Abbot Dockets B, 10 (Peet, The Great, 132-133).