Weight
The Greek weight system was based on the drachmê,
or drachma, a term also used for coins of this weight. In the Roman period, the
drachma was treated as 1/96 of the Roman pound (about 323 g), or about 3.36 g
(table 8.5). But different Greek cities and other regions of the Greek world
had their own weight standards, and one always needs to know what standard is
in use in order to interpret figures in the texts. In general in the papyri one
can presume that the drachma as a weight refers to the Ptolemaic standard (see
the following section), which is close to but a bit higher than the figure
given above. In Egyptian texts the drachma was reckoned as half of a qd
(Copt. kite) and thus 1/20 of the dbn, which equated to 20
drachmas. In the Greek system of weights (described in the next section), the
drachma was a subdivision in a system that included the mna and the
talent, both also accounting terms for money. (For weights in jewelry see Ogden
1996.)
|
Table 8.5. Weights and Currency |
|
8 chalkoi = 1 obol 6 obols = 1 drachma 2 drachmas = 1 qd (kite) 4 drachmas = 2 qd
= 1 stater (tetradrachm) = 1 denarius 20 drachmas =
10 qd = 1 dbn 100 drachmas =
50 qd = 5 dbn = 1 mna 6000 drachmas =
3000 qd = 300 dbn = 1500 denarii = 60 mnai = 1 talent (Eg. krkr) 1 gold “quarter” (tetartê) = ½
drachma (a quarter of a didrachm or qd) 1 gold mnaieion = 8 drachmas (weight) = 16
“quarters” 1 Roman pound (litra) = 12 ounces (ounkiai)
= 288 Roman grams (grammata) = 323 g 1 solidus (Diocletian to Constantine) =
1/60 pound = 4.8 grammata 1 solidus (post-Constantine) = 1/72 pound =
4 grammata = 24 carats |
The Roman pound also had its own system of subdivisions
and consisted of 12 unciae (Gk. ounkiai), or ounces, and grams (Gk. grammata),
at 24 grams to the ounce. Thus 288 grams constituted a pound. (Roger S.
Bagnall, “Practical Help: Chronology, Geography, Measures, Currency, Names,
Prosopography, and Technical Vocabulary,” in The Oxford Handbook of Papyrology,
ed. Roger S. Bagnall [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009], 188-89)
To Support this Blog:
Email for Amazon Gift card: ScripturalMormonism@gmail.com
Email for Logos.com Gift Card: IrishLDS87@gmail.com
