It has been seen that throughout the ancient Eastern Kingdoms, from soon after 5000 B.C. to some centuries after our era, there was general unity in the system of linear measures. It will now be seen that there was similar unity in the system of weights and measures, all derived from some well-known linear standard cubed. In modern times this unity is much less apparent, but yet it can be traced, and it survives with little change in the great part of the world where the English system of weights and measures remains as an inheritance from the most ancient epochs of civilisation.

The 400 shekels of silver, currency of the merchants, that Abraham weighed to Ephron about 1900 years B.C. were probably of about the same weight as 400 half-crowns of the present day.

When Moses levied 100 talents and 1775 shekels, at the rate of half a shekel on each of the 603,550 men who were numbered (Exod. xxxviii.), the weight of the silver shekels can be precisely ascertained.

603550/2 = 301,775 shekels = 100 talents and 1775 shekels.

The Talent was the weight of an Egyptian royal cubic foot of water and was divided into 3000 shekels.

The royal foot, 2/3 of the cubit, = 13·76 inches.

The foot cubed = 2605 cubic inches; 2605/27·73 = 93·9 lb. as the calculated weight of the standard afterwards known as the Alexandrian talent.^[5]

The actual weight was 93·65 lb. = 655·550 grains; 655550/3000 = 218·5 grains was the weight of the shekel, nearly our half-ounce—exactly the half-ounce of Plantagenet times, and very near to the weight of our half-crown, which weighs 218·18 grains.

The difference between calculated weight and the actual weight determined from coin or other standards, from trustworthy historical statements and other sources of information or of evidence, is generally due to the great difficulty in constructing accurately the cubical vessel used to ascertain the weight of a cubed measure of water. A difference of 2/100 of an inch in the sides of the vessel made to hold a royal cubic foot of water would make a difference of about 3 parts in 1000, of 4-1/2 of the 1500 ounces or double-shekels of water it contained. And we do not know the temperature of the water used.

From the ancient and medieval cubits were derived all the weights and measures of medieval and modern civilisation, largely through the medium of the talents derived from these standards.

The standard of this talent has been already given as 93·65 lb., which × 7000 = 655,550 grains.

It was divided on different systems:

1. By the ChaldÆans and Egyptians into 60 minÁs, divided—

(a) On the ChaldÆan system into 60 shekels of 182 grains, with a quarter-shekel = 45-1/2 grains.

(b) On the Phoenician, and Hebrew, system into 50 shekels of 218-1/2 grains, with a quarter-shekel = 54·6 grains.

2. By the Greek-Egyptians into 120 minÁs (or the half or lesser talent into 60 minÁs) of 100 drachmÆ = 54·6 grains.

3. By the Romans into 125 librÆ of 12 unciÆ (1500 ounces) further divided by the Greeks into 8 drachmÆ = 54·6 grains.

Three of these modes of division give a drachma of 54·6 grains. So a Phoenician or Hebrew shekel, a PtolemaÏc tetradrachm and a Roman half-ounce, are of the same weight, differing by only 1/4 grain from our half-ounce, and by only 1/2 grain from our half-crown.

The Alexandrian talent was the Hebrew Kikkar or talent of the sanctuary. In the ChaldÆan kingdom the standard measure was the Egyptian royal cubit, and the standard weight was the talent derived from its foot; but the minÁ appears to have been divided into 60 instead 50 shekels.

The words which Belshazzar saw written on the wall referred to the minÁ and shekel, or tekel, of this talent. Their meaning may be thus rendered:

Mene, a minÁ—the great King Nabupalasur, founder of the new ChaldÆan Kingdom.

Mene, a minÁ—the great King Nabukudurusur, son of the preceding.

Tekel, a shekel (of 4 quarters)—Nabunahid (Belshazzar) and his three predecessors, all of small account.

Upharsin, a division, perhaps 2 half-shekels, the Medes and Persians. Or it may simply be the Parsis or Persians, the enemies at the gate.

This talent is still extant at BÁssora (in ChaldÆa) as the mÁnd sofi = 93·22 lb.

The Medimnos.

This was the measure made to hold an Alexandrian talent of wheat. The cubed Egyptian royal foot (probably used as a fluid measure) was increased in the Southern water-wheat ratio of 1:1·22. Thus 2605 c.i. × 1·22 = 3176 c.i. and 3176/277·4 = 11·45 gallons as the contents of the Medimnos.

This measure was adopted by the Romans, as well as by the Greeks, as the basis of their corn-measures, doubtless in consequence of the corn-trade from Egypt. A sixth part of it was the Roman Modius.

The Medimnos was divided by the Greeks into 48 Choinix, or into 96 Xestes (L. sextarius) = 0·95 Imperial pint or 19 fluid ounces.

This was half of the ordinary or greater talent.

Half the calculated weight of the greater talent gives 46·956 lb. for the lesser. But the actual weight was somewhat less, 46·82 lb.

It was divided into 60 PtolemaÏc minÁ = 5462 grains, and the minÁ into 100 drachms. The drachm = 54·62 grains and the tetradrachm = 218·5 grains coincide as coin-weights with the quarter-shekel and shekel of the greater talent.

The minÁ was divided also on the Roman uncial system:

The carat 1/144 ounce, is exactly, to 1/100 grain, the jeweller’s carat of to-day in European countries.

What could be the reason for this talent?

Its minÁ was half an Alexandrian minÁ; its drachm was a quarter-shekel.

Don V. V. Queipo^[6] considered that the half BelÁdi cubit had been produced from it by involution, taking the side of a cubical vessel containing half an Alexandrian talent of water and then doubling this new foot to make a new cubit. Its water-volume = 1302·5 c.i. gives as cube root 10·9207 inches, almost exactly half the BelÁdi cubit = 21·888 inches. But the BelÁdi cubit being 1/7200 of a Parasang is sufficient evidence of its origin. I consider that the close coincidence of the half-cubit with the side of a cubic vessel containing an Alexandrian half-talent of water led the Ptolemies to institute this smaller talent, as if it had been evolved from the BelÁdi foot in the same way that the Greek-Asiatic talent had been evolved from the Persian foot or half-cubit.

3. The Greek-Asiatic Talent

After the institution of the great Assyrian or Persian cubit a new talent was necessarily evolved from it.

The Persian foot, half of the cubit, was cubed, and the weight of this cubic foot of water was the Persian or Greek-Asiatic talent—

The actual weight of this talent (as in the case of the Alexandrian talent) was somewhat less. It corresponded to a cubic foot of 2000 c.i., giving 72·13 lb. = 504,910 grains. This was divided into 60 minÁs—

The minÁ was divided by the Persians into 100 darics = 84·15 grains. The actual weight of silver darics found, 83·73 grains, corresponds almost exactly to this weight.

This is the talent Herodotus used when estimating the revenue of the Persian empire. Its minÁ has survived as the AttÁri or Assyrian rotl = 8426 grains, extant in Algeria. Another AttÁri pound = 8320 grains is still used at BÁssora, near the Persian gulf. The ounce of this rotl, 8426/16 = 526·6 grains, is exactly the Russian ounce.

The Persian coins weighing 129-130 grains usually called darics are staters or Greek didrachms.

The Metretes

The second Greek standard of capacity was the Metretes.

While the Medimnos contained an Alexandrian talent of wheat, the Metretes contained a Greek-Asiatic talent of it.

The capacity of the Persian cubic foot was 2000 c.i. = 72·13 lb. = 7·213 gallons.

This cubic foot, increased in water-wheat ratio, gives 7·213 × 1·22 = 8·8 gallons or 70·4 pints, as the capacity of the Amphoreus metretes.^[7]

Some archÆologists have given it as = 8·68 gallons, a very slight difference.

The Metretes was divided into 36 Choinix or 72 Xestes, which contained O·977 pint as against the O·955 pint of the Xestes, which was 1/96 Medimnos. A mean figure, 0·96 pint, is usually taken as the common capacity of the two Xestes.

The Greeks had thus two standards of capacity, the Metretes and the Medimnos, both cubic feet increased in water-wheat ratio to make them corn-measures. It is very likely that, having these two measures from different sources, the one of 72 Xestes, the other of 96, they would use the smaller as a fluid measure. In modern measures there are several instances of corn-measures having become wine-measures. Our Imperial gallon used for fluids is a slightly altered corn-gallon; at present the multiples above the gallon are used for corn, the gallon and its divisions for fluids.

4. Roman Weights and Measures of Capacity

Used by the Greek colonies in Asia, the Greek-Asiatic talent passed to the Greek or Trojan colonies in South Italy, and became the source of the old Roman pound, the As libralis = 5049 grains, 1/100 of the talent; (72·13 × 7000)/100 = 5049 grains.^[8]

The Aes or As, the bronze or copper pound of the Roman republic in its earlier times, was divided into 12 ounces, each = 420·75 grains.

It remained the mint-pound of both Republic and Empire.

The Aurei of Julius Caesar, 1/40 As, weigh 127 grains, those of Augustus 125 grains. The mean weight appears to be about 126 grains, which gives 5040 grains for the As.

The Aurei of the later Empire were struck at 1/72 As, and weigh 70 grains, giving the same weight, 5040 grains, for the As. At 70·1 grains they would give 5049 grains, the calculated weight of the As.

The evolution of the As from the Greek-Asiatic talent leads to consideration of the measures connected with it, and with the Alexandrian talent.

It has been seen that the Roman foot, 1/5000 of the Roman mile, 8 Olympic stadia, was 11·67 inches. This foot being cubed, the weight of the cubic foot of water was made the basis of the Roman measures of capacity—

This calculated measure, 57·32 lb. = 5·732 gallons = 45·8 pints, was the Amphora Quadrantal, supposed to weigh, of wine, 80 As or primitive pounds. Quadrantal vinei octoginta pondo sit. The correspondence was only approximate. The Quadrantal should have been = 57·7 lb. for its 1/80 part (= 5049 grains) to correspond with the As. Its capacity was probably adjusted so as to make it half a Medimnos and = 3 Modii.

There are specimens extant of the Quadrantal, of cubical shape, showing that it was named from its being a cubic foot in measure.

The Quadrantal, being equal to 45·8 pints, was almost exactly half the Greek Medimnos, equal to 91·5 pints; so that, divided into 8 congii, each of 6 sextarii, the Sextarius, 1/48 Quadrantal, was practically the same as the Xestes, 1/96 of the Medimnos.

And the Quadrantal being also very nearly two-thirds of the Greek Metretes, equal to 70·4 pints, the Sextarius was also nearly the same as the other Xestes, 1/72 of the Metretes.

So the Sextarius was 1/48 Quadrantal, 1/72 Metretes, and 1/96 Medimnos.

The relation of the Roman Modius to the Alexandrian-Greek medimnos appears to be only a coincidence, as the former is one-third of a Roman cubic foot, and the latter an Alexandrian cubic foot increased in water-wheat ratio.

The New Roman Pound

Trade with Egypt led the Romans, not only to use the Alexandrian medimnos, but also to put aside the As for commercial purposes and adopt a standard taken from the Alexandrian talent. Its 1500 double-shekels made 125 librÆ each of 12 unciÆ = 437 grains. The libra was thus = 5244 grains as compared with the As = 5049 grains.

A further uncial division of the libra made the Uncia either of 6 sextulÆ, 24 scrupuli, 48 oboli, 144 siliquÆ, or of 12 semi-sextulÆ, 144 siliquÆ.

The siliqua was a little less than the Eastern qirÁt, being 3·03 grains instead of the 3·1616 grain carat of the PtolemaÏc series of weights.

From the Olympic foot, two-thirds of that most ancient linear standard the common cubit of Egypt and the other Eastern monarchies, a talent was also constructed—

and in practice its actual weight was the same as that calculated.

It was divided in two ways:

1. On the Bosphoric system, which prevailed in Asia Minor, in the Phoenician colonies, and in some parts of Greece, it was divided into 80 minÁ, each = 5670 grains, and these into 100 drachms of 56·7 grains. Or the Bosphoric minÁ was divided uncially into 12 ounces of 472·5 grains.

2. On the Euboic system, frequently used in Greek commerce, this talent was divided into 50 minÁs of 100 drachms.

The drachm = 90·73 grains.

There was also a Euboic talent which coincided with the weight of the Roman Quadrantal, nominally of 80 As weight = 57·7 lb., and in transactions with the East the Romans appear to have called their Quadrantal-weight of water a Euboic talent. But it will presently be seen that this was the Attic monetary talent.

The volume of an Olympic talent of water was 8 times the Hebrew Bath or, for dry goods, Epha.

6. Greek Coin-weights

In ancient Greece as in medieval Europe, financial difficulties led rulers to lower the weight of the coinage. But while in Europe, in England for instance, more pennies were coined from the mint-pound of silver, this remaining fixed, although nominally based on the weight of the sterling, the weights of Greece were actually based on that of the drachma.

When the drachma was diminished in weight, the minÁ and the talent both dropped proportionately. Thus the standard of the Alexandrian talent, carefully preserved in Egypt, dropped in Greece.

So in Athens, where the Ægina standard was in use, the drachma stood at 93·08 grains when, in 594 B.C., Solon’s Seisachthia law ‘unburdened’ the State and other debtors by decreeing that 73 (or more accurately 72-1/2) drachmÆ should now be equal to 100 drachmÆ, and altering the coinage accordingly.

This reduced the coin-weights of Athens to—

But commercial weight remained the same. The minÁ emporikÍ, the trade minÁ, was fixed at 138 of the new drachmÆ, so that it continued to be 100 of the old drachmÆ: 138 × 67·37 = 100 × 93·08 grains.

The commercial minÁ thus remained at the 600 B.C. standard of 9308 grains = 1·33 lb. and the talent at 79·78 lb.^[9]

In settling the reduction of the Attic money-weight at 100 new drachmÆ = 73 old drachmÆ, Solon probably fixed on the latter figure in order to make the new talent, = 57·74 lb., have approximately the simple ratio of 4:5 with the Greek-Asiatic talent—

Thus the Roman As being = 5049 grains, 1/100 of the Greek-Asiatic talent, 80 As, = 403,920 grains = 57·7 lb., came to coincide with the Attic monetary talent.

7. The Arabic Talent

To the talents and measures of capacity evolved from the feet of the three principal cubits of antiquity, must be added the talent and other measures evolved from the Black foot of Al-Mamun’s cubit. They have had great influence on the weights and measures of Europe.

Al-Mamun’s cubit was = 21·28 inches, the foot = 14·186 inches.

The foot cubed gave a measure of water, the weight of which was the Egyptian Cantar or Cental—

This talent was divided in two ways:

1. As the Romans had divided the Alexandrian talent into 125 pounds of 12 ounces, so the new talent was divided into 125 parts each = 5763 grains. This was the Arabic lesser Rotl, its ounce = 480·25 grains. The rotl was also divided in the Greek way into 100 drachms or dirhems = 57·63 grains.

2. Another mode of division was into 100 greater Rotl, thus becoming a Cental of 100 lb. each = 7204·4 grains.

This greater rotl was divided, commercially into 16 ounces (Ar. ukyÉ, Gr. oggia, L. uncia) of 450,275 grains, and uncially for coin-weight into 12 × 12 dirhems of 50·03 grains.

Both these dirhems became, like the drachma coin-weights of Greece, the bases of other systems of weight, either at their original weight or at the lower weights to which coins might fall.

The Lesser Rotl—

1. With its ounce of 480-1/4 grains would seem to have given rise to the Troy pounds, but it is much more probable that their variable ounces were 10 dirhems of about 48 grains.

2. From 8 of its drachms came the Venetian pound and the German apothecaries’ pound with an ounce of 8 × 57·63 = 461 grains.

From the Greater Rotl came—

1. Eight of its ounces of 450-1/4 grains = the Marc of Cologne, its double being the German Imperial pound = 7218 grains; our royal Tower-pound of Plantagenet times being 12 ounces = 5400 grains.

The 100 lb. centner of North Germany = 103·1 lb. was almost exactly the same weight as Al-Mamun’s Cantar.

From 8 dirhems of 50 to 47 grains came the ounces of the pounds of Southern France.

From 10 dirhems of 48 grains, more or less, came the ounces of the Troy pounds.

The weight of the dirhem is now: Turkey 49·6 grains, Greece 49·4 grains, Morocco 49 grains, Egypt 47·6 grains, Tripoli 47·07 grains. In Tripoli there is a small weight = 12·55 grains called a dirhem, which seems to be 1/4 of an original weight dirhem = 50·1 grains.

The fall of the dirhem weight, and consequently of the weights which are multiples of it, accounts for the Egyptian Cantar having fallen from its original weight to somewhat over 98 lb.

The quarter-Cantar gave its Arabic name to other quarter-hundredweights, the Arroba of Spain, the Rubbio of Italy, the Rub of Southern France (from Ar. rouba, four; cf. RubaiyÁt, quatrain).

Measures of Capacity derived from Arabic Linear
Measures

Al-Mamun’s cubit cubed became the medieval standard of grain measure on the Mediterranean coasts—

which is equal to 34·73 gallons or 4·34 bushels.

This measure subsists in Egypt as the Rebekeh = 4·32 bushels. It passed to Marseilles as the Cargo, and to Paris as the Setier.

These developments of the Arabic cubit and foot will be more fully explained in the chapters on foreign systems. They are sketched in order to show how the Eastern caliphate took up the system begun by the great monarchies of many centuries before, and elaborated by Greece and Rome. Thus, from Moslem Egypt as from Pharaonic Egypt have come virtually all the weights and measures of the Western world.