IFAO

In Ptolemaic Egypt, xru!oË! (for xru!oË! !tatÆr) became an accounting device meaning 20 drachmas and corresponding to the deben of the demotic documents. In the phrase !uggrafØ trof›ti! érgur€ou xru!«n *k*a, érgur€ou is related to xru!«n, not to !uggrafØ trof›ti! as often surmised. It is doubtful that chrysous was ever used as a weight unit for gold in Greco-Roman Egypt, where the units in actual use were the mnaiaion and the tetartê, the tetartê being a quarter of a theoretical chrysous. The equivalence nb ḫm = tetartê and ʿ.wj wḫȜ = "pair of earrings" in the demotic marriage contracts, is proposed. P. Lille I 6 is the only Egyptian instance where chrysous is a weight unit, but for wool: in that case, it should correspond to the deben-weight. In Roman Egypt, xru!oË! or xru!oËn (scil. dhnãrion) refers primarily to the aureus. The old idea that the aureus, although not circulating in Egypt, was used in Lower Nubia to facilitate the trade with Ethiopia is shown to be wrong: it is only based on an ostracon from Pselchis and some proskynemata from Qirtasi; in these texts chrysoun means nothing but 100 drachmas (i.e. the theoretical value of an aureus).