[John Locke]

Thanks for the news. I am somewhat skeptical, though, for several reasons. First, the story of Joseph is in tyhe Koran, (sura Yusuf, unsurprisingly) and so Moslems have a vested interest in its truth, and the original report is from a religious source.

Second, there are several errors in the commentary. The deben is not an ornament or any such - it is an Egyptian standard of weight, mentioned in many contemporary texts. There is no evidence it was a coin also. In addition, the deben was sometimes shaped like a cow, as well as inscribed with a cow, representing the goddess Hathor. Since the goods most often weighed were agricultural produce, marking the weights with the goddess of fertility makes obvious sense. I remain of the opinion that Egypt had not invented coinage at that early date.

Finally, "Saba Sabani" isn't Egyptian, so it couldn't have been Joseph's name. It's Hausa.

[Biggirl]

Got to remember the Koran has copycated a LOT of stuff from the Bible. Yet the Bible is still number 1 best seller.

[FourPeas]

From the MEMRI article:

"Koranic Verses Indicate Clearly That Coins Were Used in Egypt in the Time of Joseph"

Reading the excerpt from MEMRI, it does sound as if the scholarship is attempting to prove Koranic verses that claim coinage was used in Egypt in the time of Joseph. Colour me skeptical, too.