Bronze Coinage of Ptolemaic Egypt in the Second Century bc

Thomas Faucher (1) , Catharine Lorber

1 UP4 UFR Histoire - Université Paris-Sorbonne - Paris 4 - UFR Histoire

Drawing primarily on hoards, but also on metrological and metallurgical analyses, the authors propose a relative chronology and classification for Egyptian bronze coinage of the second century bc. This coinage is characterized by diverse obverse types that served as consistent denomination markers, even as the weights of the several denominations were reduced in piecemeal fashion. A debasement of the alloy introduced a metrologically stable currency that remained in circulation from before mid-century to 115 bc. The subtlety of the early weight reductions and the long period of stability raise doubt whether changes to the currency could have caused the much-studied price inflation of the second century.

Domaines: Histoire, Philosophie et Sociologie des sciences; Histoire; Archéologie et Préhistoire

Thomas Faucher, Catharine Lorber. Bronze Coinage of Ptolemaic Egypt in the Second Century bc. American Journal of Numismatics, 2010, pp.35-84. ⟨hal-02511083⟩