Deben (Egyptian weight unit)

The deben was an ancient Egyptian weight unit.

Old and Middle Kingdom

Stone weights from the Old Kingdom have been found, weighing about 13.6 grammes. Similar weights from the Middle Kingdom were discovered at Lisht. From the Middle Kingdom date also "deben" weight units used for metals, referred to as copper deben and gold deben, the former being about twice as heavy (c. 23.7 grammes) as the latter.

New Kingdom

From the New Kingdom on the "deben" was equal to about 91 grammes . It was divided into ten "kidet" (alt. "kit", "kite" or "qedet"), [Robert Steven Bianchi, "Daily Life of the Nubians", Greenwood Press 2004, ISBN 0313325014 p.270] or into what is referred to by Egyptologists as 'pieces', one twelfth of a "deben" weighing 7.6 grammes. [Iorwerth Eiddon Stephen Edwards, "The Cambridge Ancient History", Cambridge University Press 1973, ISBN 0521082307, p.389] It was frequently used to denote value of goods, by comparing their worth to a weight of metal, generally silver or copper.

Protocurrency

It has been speculated that pieces of metal weighing a deben were kept in boxes, [George A. Reiser, "The Household Furniture of Queen Hetep-heres I", "BMFA" 27, No. 164, December 1929, pp. 83-90] taken to markets [R. Lepsius, "Denkmäler aus Aegypten und Aethiopien", Abth. II, Bl.96] and were used as a means of exchange. [T. G. H. James, "Pharaoh's People: Scenes from Life in Imperial Egypt", Tauris Parke Paperbacks 2007, ISBN 1845113357, p.245] Archaeologists have been unable to find any such standardized pieces of precious metal.
On the other hand it is documented that "debens" served to compare values. In the 19th dynasty a slave girl, priced four deben and one kite of silver, was paid for with various goods worth as much: 6 bronze vessels, 10 "deben" of copper, 15 linen garments, a shroud, a blanket and a pot of honey. [Iorwerth Eiddon Stephen Edwards, "The Cambridge Ancient History, Vol 2, pt 1", Cambridge University Press 1973, ISBN 0521082307, p.390]

References