MovieChat Forums > The Egyptian (1954) Discussion > A Small Goof...or Two...

A Small Goof...or Two...

posted 9 years ago by anubis-45
7 replies | jump to latest

In one of the scenes near the beginning of the film, when Sinuhe, Horomheb, and Kapta are drinking in the Inn where Merit works, Horemheb suggests that he take Sinuhe out at dawn to hunt lions.

Sinuhe then stands up, and removes a leather pouch from his robe. He pulls two coins from the pouch (you can hear them clinking together) and drops them onto the table, with the words to Merit "To pay our score..."

Similarly, later in the film, when Sinuhe has set himself up as a Physcian, just before he re-meets the now-diseased Nefer, Kapta states that he even had to "return the coppers" that he had collected for appointments with Sinuhe.

The fact is that the Ancient Egyptians never had currency in the form of coins - copper or otherwise, as we do today. All their trade was by barter, or exchange of goods or services...

Similarly, the field and trade workers were paid in bread, beer, grain, or lodgings.

Coins were finally introduced by the Greek invaders about 300BC.

Thank You.

The Opener of the Way is waiting....

[–] cwente2 9 years ago

The Egyptians used barter as a means of exchange in most transactions. That's true. But, according to Breasted, they also used coins -- actually, rings of precious metals (copper, gold, and silver) which were made to specific weights and, thus, corresponding values. (Kapta talks about "coppers".) Weights have been found with their values in metal marked on them. These "rings" can be seen in the more thoroughly researched The Ten Commandments - 1956 (Rameses paying-off Dathan). This remains, I think, the earliest known form of "money". Or . . . the earliest form of credit card may have been employed: notes on papyrus (the Egyptians were pathological record keepers) indicating, for example -- Ramose consumed four jars of beer last night, so he owes us 2 ducks or 6 bunches of onions -- BY SUNSET FRIDAY! 

[–] anubis-45 9 years ago

Hi cwente2,

I agree with your comments, but the fact is that these 'deben' rings were used more to value items than as payment for goods and services.

This from the British Museum:

Before coins started to circulate in ancient Egypt around 500 BC, there was a system of values based on weights of gold, silver and copper. Metal measured in units of weight known as deben (around 90 g) could be used to settle bills and to trade. Records from the Eighteenth Dynasty (1550-1295 BC) show that often the actual metal did not change hands; instead it was used to value goods for exchange. Egypt had no easily accessible source of silver, but the Egyptian word for silver, hedj, came to mean something close to 'money'.

In any case, these 'deben' were not coins, as in flat discs, as portrayed in the film.

It is also quite unlikely, in my opinion, that a common soldier-in-training such as Horemheb would have had them in any great number.

A good topic for discussion...

^-^

The Opener of the Way is waiting....

[–] cwente2 9 years ago

Hi anubis,

Quite true, but we must acknowledge that to be really authentic might make the events of the picture less understandable to a typical 20th century audience. I, also, found it interesting that in The Ten Commandments Nefretiri and Sethi both use the term "debens" in a conversation with one another re a bet Nefretiri's made that Moses will be the next pharaoh.

[–] anubis-45 9 years ago

It's been quite a few years (approaching 50, I think) since I saw "The Ten Commandments". Maybe I should re-acquaint myself with it.

(I also made a goof of my own in my last post: I said that it was Horemheb who paid for the drinks at the Inn....but, as I stated in my original post, it was Sinuhe... Oh dear...)

😞

The Opener of the Way is waiting....

[–] Maya55555 9 years ago

Supply/demand equalled inflation also. This came up in a KMT letter to the editor. Interesting.

"A stitch in time, saves your embarrassment." (RIP Ms. Penny LoBello)

[–] tonyvega 9 years ago

In the beginning of the movie the doctor prepares to help a hurt man. He says he must put his instruments in the fire before using them on the patient. I don't believe the ancient Egyptains knew of germs and bacteria.

[–] jhnwllcn 9 years ago

Also in that same scenes a large heavy stone block is being pulled by slaves. Poles are being placed under the stone to make it easier to move over the ground. The man that was hurt was run over as he placed the poles. After the doctors is summonsed by Peter Ustinov, the stone block is once again seen moving in the background, this time without the aid of poles.