Egyptian Lessons for Materials Management and Purchasing

The Egyptian empire obtained its gold from mines in Nubia and the Sudan and its copper from the Sinai peninsula. To obtain silver, however, the Egyptians had to fall back on foreign trade, particularly with the country of the Hittites. (The Hittite New Empire, 1400–1200 BC, included large parts of Asia Minor.) Inscriptions recording the gifts of Ramses III to the Gods also mention the gold, silver and copper received every year by the most important temples. These figures show that the three temples of Anion, Re and Ptah each received 52 kg of gold, 1060 kg of silver and 2510 kg of copper annually. From this we can draw conclusions not only about the powerful financial position of the temples but also about the level of metal imports from Asia. Early in the reign of Ramses III the Hittite empire was overrun by the Sea Peoples, threatening the normal exchange of Egyptian grain and gold for Anatolian silver. (Ramses III, 1198–1166 BC, was the second pharaoh of the twentieth dynasty.) The same applied to iron, which also came from Hittite territory. A most important aspect of this situation was the fact that the Bronze Age had come to an end about 1150 BC and that the Iron Age was dawning. Copper, the main constituent of Bronze, which was easily obtainable from the Sinai mines, was displaced by iron, which was not found in Egypt. The State abandoned its operation of the copper mines in the Sinai; the import of iron became of vital importance and that fact weakened the financial structure of the whole Egyptian state.