Egyptian currency

While for most of Egypt's history a barter system was used for exchange of goods and services, as continues to be the case in most other civilization, in 59 AEE the pharaoh Ramesses X introduced the first official Egyptian currency, called the shematy. Produced in the newly opened Pharaohnic Royal Mint, the shematy are small copper coins used for transactions where such a system has spread. While the shematy are the main denomination, in 60 AEE a smaller unit called the qedet (1/10th of a shematy) and a larger one called the deben (12 shematy) were introduced as well. While in 77 AEE the usage of these coins is still rather unpopular in rural and suburban areas, they have been quickly adopted by the major cities. The Phoenicians have been quick to start using them and so the shematy are actually more useful in Phoenicia than in Lower or Upper Egypt, while in Canaan and Kush the usage of shematy is almost unheard of, but it is being slowly introduced in these regions of the Commonwealth as well. The shematy has two pegged currencies to it: the Mycenaean shematy and the Alashiyan shematy, at 2:1 and 1:1 rates respectively. The Egyptian shematy has the current exchange rate with the Eastern Coalition's sitan at 1.78:1.
Some examples of the value of the shematy: 
The docking fee for a large vessel at the main port of a city is 1 shematy per day. The highest class escort service in a brothel in Egypt proper is 5 shematy per hour. A full meal with a drink at a tavern is 2 qedet. A newly built small family house in the capital costs 10 deben.
Category:Egypt
Category:Currencies