What Makes Up an Egyptian Coin?
Modern Egypt's monetary system, like that of most modern countries, utilizes both printed paper bills and coins. Today, most countries use coins for smaller denominations of value. The United States, for example, breaks its smallest bill, the dollar, into pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters. Egypt is different in that some of the smaller coin values are duplicated by paper bills.
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Money in Modern Egypt
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Coins from around the world Egypt's central unit of currency is the pound. The common abbreviation LE stands for "livre egyptien," which is French for Egyptian pound. One hundred piastres make a pound. The Central Bank of Egypt issues coins in the following values: 5, 10, 20, 25 and 50 piastres, and one pound. In practice, coins are used much less often than bank notes, which may be found in denominations as small as 25 piastres.
Modern Egyptian Coins
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Islamic designs are used on Egyptian coins. Egyptian coins are made of a variety of metals, including aluminum, nickel, steel and copper. The round coins are found in a range of sizes. The one-pound coin is the largest. It is a bimetal coin with an outer nickel-plated ring and an interior copper-plated center. The smallest coin is the copper-plated five piastre. The 25-piastre coin is copper and aluminum with a center hole. Images on 20th century coins include Cleopatra, a mosque, King Farouk and the Sphinx.
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Economy in Ancient Egypt
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Most historians believe that coins were not used under the pharaohs. The ancient Egyptians relied primarily on a barter system, underpinned by the belief that all things belonged to the pharaoh, the divine ruler of Egypt. Egyptians also used stored grain as a kind of currency. Skilled metal workers used silver and gold extensively to create decorative objects for the pharaoh's court. Bars of these precious metals were sometimes stamped with their weight for assessing trade value.
Early History of Coins
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Map of the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern countries The use of coins as money began in ancient China around 1000 B.C. at the end of the Stone Age. Early coin shapes imitated the shells that were used for trading before evolving into copper rounds with a hole in the center that allowed them to be strung on a chain. In the sixth century B.C,, the use of coins, made primarily from precious metals, spread around the Mediterranean to such countries as Syria and Greece.
Coins in Ancient Egypt
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In 332 B.C., Alexander the Great marched into Egypt, and the Hellenistic period of Greek rule began. Many historians believe the Greeks initiated the use of coins in Egypt, although Al Ahram, a leading Egyptian newspaper, has reported that archeologists have discovered a cache of coins dating from the era of the Biblical Joseph, long before Greek rule.
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