The Propagation of a Myth
Myths and rumors are hard to kill. Take, for instance, this story that appeared in Money Week:
According to the Old Testament, during the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar, an ounce of gold bought 350 loaves of bread. If an ounce of gold today is about £450 and a loaf of bread about a pound, depending on where you shop, you can see that its purchasing power has been maintained. Yet in the UK, measured in bread, we’ve seen our pound’s purchasing power decline quite substantially - even if you shop in Gregg’s.
This story, as it is being told by people selling gold, is a myth. I have written a long post here discrediting this story, but the story keeps being circulated as a fact.
Cavit Emptor: if you are planning to invest in gold, do not allow this story to influence you in your decision.
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tags: Gold, Myth
posted by Dr. Claude Mariottini @ 8/07/2008 11:23:00 AM
2 comments
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2 Comments:
It's always interesting debunking this kind of myth's, on http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/prices.htm I found the price of 1 loaf of bread 0.1 deben. One deben of copper weighs between 90 and 91 grams. 1 kilo of copper is ~3.50 Euro = the price of 1 loaf of (Egyptian) bread is 0.03 Euro.
In my supermarket I pay nowadays 1.20 Euro
Of course there are some questions about the Egyptian deben (see article) but it show a leaf of bread is much higher as in the past ;)
J. P.
Thank you for the link. The article provides helpful information. The information about the price of a loaf of bread in ancient Babylon is not found in the Old Testament. It is possible that this information is given in some Babylonian document but I am sure it is not in the Bible.
Claude Mariottini
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