> [!quote] [[Is it true that ancient Egyptians didn't use money via AskHistorians]] > > Over the course of the early 4th Century BCE, many new mints started to open up and produce coinage on a local level in the western Persian Empire. Often these were opened to fund rebellions, but remained in operation after the Persians regained control. Egypt actually successfully seceded from the Persian Empire in 404 BCE, and they did open a mint in the city of Memphis. However, the earliest coins minted in Memphis were not independent Egyptian coins backed by the Pharaohs. Instead, they seem to have wholesale copied Athenian coinage because it was so popular. > > Only after King Artaxerxes III reconquered Egypt for the Persian Empire in 343 BCE did the mint in Memphis start producing its own unique coinage, this time on the Babylonian shekel standard that was popular in most of the empire. Around the same time, the first mint was also opened in Babylon. This standard only remained in place until Alexander the Great's conquest and the subsequent Ptolemy Period in Egypt, when everything shifted back to the Athenian weight standard and the Ptolemies became the first independent rulers of Egypt to mint their own unique coinage in the late 4th Century BCE. relevant for [[Persia]], #xref since I'm pretty sure I've read other stuff about [[2022-04-18 Rebellions]] against Persia.