Daily Life 8: ECONOMY Raz Kletter 2009
Ancient Economy
Ancient Economy Is there an ancient economy different from our modern economy (Capitalistic), and in what ways? For example, did people strive to make profit, did the rule of supply and demand apply? A Mesopotamian hired laborer earned c. 1 shekel silver per month (about 8 grams). This is a quite fixed data, except for periods of stress (siege, hunger). But is it a little or a lot? Economy is always relative to
What is Money?
Economic Forms of Exchange: Barter Hacksilver Coins (Money) Paper Notes (paper Money) Credit Cards (Plastic Money) Internet Credit? In Israel/Palestine: Till 2 nd Millennium Barter. MB2/LB-Iron Hacksilber (= Bullion ). Persian till 19 th c. AD Money.
The Earliest Coins Electrum Lydia c. 600 Gold Croesus c. 550
Usually, a new economic mode adds gradually and modifies a existing mode/s. It does not replace completely, nor immediately, earlier mode/s. For a proof, look inside your purses. In Iron Age Judah, barter was a common form of exchange. Ms. Israeli did not go to the local store to buy bread.
Economic Structure is part of the Social Structure: Israel and Judah were Kingdoms (=ruled by Dynasties of Kings) This structure dominated the world for thousands of years from the 3 rd millennium till roughly the French revolution (18 th c. AD). Judah, Israel, Assyria, Egypt and all their contemporaries entities were not chiefdoms nor states.
In Hacksilver Economy, there are no coins, no money and hence no monetary economy. Value is determined by weight of expensive metals (mainly Silver, more rarely other metals, e.g. Gold). A picture by Rembrandt and a picture by Kletter. For commodities such as grains, flour, wine and oil, value is determined by volume. Hacksilver economy started in Palestine in the MBII period (2 nd millennium BC) and is not a development that relates to the arrival of Assyrian Empire to the west in the 8 th -7 th centuries BC.
1. Weighing by Scales: hand held scales (3-5% accuracy)
Large Egyptian Scales and 6 th c Greek scales
Relief, Syria, 8 c Weighing after victory Rassam obelisk
Early Islamic coin scales. More exact scales developed in the roman period. By the early Islamic period weighing is very accurate
Jeremiah bought a Field for 17 Shekels (Jer. 32:9). The only OT example of daily or normal weighing as part of transaction: Absalom Hair II Samuel 14:26
Nineveh, Jewelry Mold, 7c LB Jewelry
Qatna, Syria, Clay Mold for Weights
2. The many forms of weights throughout the periods Animal shaped weight, LB
Mesopotamian duck weight
sphenodoid /grain weights, Hematite
Neo-Assyrian Lion Weights
Cubical Weights, Persian Period
Hellenistic- Roman weights
Early Islamic Glass Weights
Mandate period weight used by the Tel Aviv municipality, 1932 +Ottoman weights
Rich / Poor; Marxists / Capitalists
The Economical Person- Was Ancient Economy different than Ours?
Siege of Samaria II Kings 6:25 =Price Fluctuations And Inflation at times of trouble (demand-supply)
II Kings 22:9: Bedek of the Temple in the days of King Josiah: Hacksilber is collected and melted (Hetichu) and later paid to those who did the works. The kings gives the order how and what to do with this silver.
II Kings 12:11 Bedek of the Temple under Joash
Hoarding
To hoard is human: Hack silver hoard placed in linen bundles inside a jug, Tell Dor, c. 10 th century BC There are c. 25 similar hoards from Middle Bronze Iron Age periods in Palestine/Israel
The Eshtemoa hoard Found in five jugs Largest hoard from Israel
The Eshtemoa hoard- Eran s calculations
Is this Money, are these Monetary hoards?
Money before coinage? Primitive money
Hoards from Beth Shean (Iron 1, above) and Arad (Iron II, below)
Six hoards at Ekron Late Iron Age II Mixed content with hack silver
The En Gedi Hoard (7 th century BC)
Random weights! Histograms of the pieces
Following Price and many others: there is no need to re-invent money for a period, when it did not yet exist Monetary economy started gradually, later than coins
Hack silver- Roman, 4 th century AD (UK) Viking Hoards show a similar mix of hack silver, coins, tools- the key factor for money is trust in an issuing authority
First Hoard of Coins c. 600 Ephesos 19 coins
Hoard Samaria Persian period
Judah s Economic Status Relative to other, neighboring Kingdoms at the same period: In comparison to the large empires (Egypt, Assyria) it is negligible. In comparison to the kingdom of Israel it is a smaller sister. It finds a good place between the kingdoms in Philistia, Phoenicia, and the Transjordanian Kingdoms (Edom, Moab, Ammon). It has almost no natural resources- no sea access, very few natural treasures (such as mines) (salt?), no rule over important routes of trade. Indeed, were it not for the Old Testament, Judah would be as forgotten as Edom or Tyre.
Economic Development of Judah 1200-587 BC: Modest beginnings, steady life without upheavals/ catastrophes for 300 years - till Sennacherib s campaign (701). Hacksilber hoards and stone weights, as well as ostraca that register payments and allocation of goods appear throughout, but inscriptions were added to weights at the end of the Iron Age. Most archaeological finds date to the later Iron Age (8 th 7 th centuries BC -because of the large scale destruction at that time!)
3. Judean Weights Iron 2
The Judean Weight System Inscribed Weights: Top= Shekels with hieratic numerals Middle= Nsf, Pym and Bq Bottom= Gerah weights
A Homogeneous Series: Material (top) Shape (bottom) Dating (Left)
Distribution Map
Distribution of Weights by region Green=Gerah Pink= Nsf-Pym-Bq Blue= Shekel Mountains Shephelah Negev Coast Other
Site Hierarchy in Judah Jerusalem with about half of all weights; Lachish and Arad second. Jerusalem Lachish Arad Gezer Malhata Ira
Context Data 211 Weights
Foreign standards existed in Israel Top: Lion weight from Arad and from Tell Jemmeh
Phoenician weights from Kh. Rosh Zayit in Upper Galilee
Ostracon 6 from Kadesh Barnea: a Crucial Key
Ostracon from Mesad hashavyahu X gave (weighed) 4 Silver [Shekels], ר γ, a gift
Weights in the Bible: Distribution
The OT ordinary weight system (above) and the Inscribed Weight system (below)
As it looks at first- registration details (Tel Batash LB Weights)
Uninscribed Judean weights that compliment the system: 10 Shekel unit from Nahal Zimri near Jerusalem
A weight from Malhata in the Negev- Perhaps 125 Shekel = 2.5 Judean Mina (of 50 Shekel each) = 16 Egyptian Deben
The OT reflects the higher levels of society- and of its economy: Acts of Kings and Kingdoms in huge sums of Kikkarot (c. 30 kilos) and Manim- probably often being exaggeration by the author/s. Yet, the king and its court was the main economic player. Archaeological finds (ostraca, weights, most hoards) reflect better daily economic life, although they too do not reflect the common person, but the middle to higher sections in the society. Private property was common, as well as private trade, but we do not hear much about the last from the OT because it did not interest the author/s.
The Royal Economy in Judah included the Economy of the (Jerusalem) Temple. There is no sacred/temple economy. The Temple was a King s Temple: It was built by King Solomon; sons of David were priests; King Azariah went to perform in the cult; Kings used the treasures of the temple as their private property (e.g. taking it at times of war); Kings are main players in fixing the temple (Bedek Bayit).
The King as Religious Reformator : According to the Biblical Author/s, the King can do bad or good in a religious sense ( in the eyes of Yahweh ). However, the author/s never suspects the legitimacy of the King to act in religious matters. This proves the centrality of King even in religious matters. As for economic reforms- for example of weight system/s- there are many weird theories about economic reforms being part of religious reforms of Judean Kings, but none has a factual evidence. In fact, assumed reforms came as explanations of difficulties in weight system/s, that are much better explained by other means.
Was there a Royal System of Weight? There was a King s Shekel, but its value was probably similar to that of the common Shekel (c. 11.33 grams)
Since there is no temple economy, there is also no sacred Shekel, mentioned often in Priestly literature in the Pentateuch and in Ezekiel
Iiro Hartiklainen