Unidentified

Ptolemais-Ake

1/2 Mina

Lead

Cast

Rectangle

5.90 cm

6.10 cm

0.70 cm

Mass (g)	Mass (grain)	Date of measurement	Reference	fragmented	cleaned	reference weight
244.40	-	Dec. 31, 2000	None	No	Yes	Yes

Symbol	Technique	Direction	Position	Number	Synecdoche

Lightly worn

Little to no corrosion

Measurements (protrusion on lower edge not included): 5.9 × 6.1 (obverse), 5.4 × 5.4 (reverse) × 0.7 cm.
The protrusion on the lower edge may have been an addition of lead meant to adjust the weight according to the standard. It may not necessarily have been meant as a proper lug. Obverse: Irregular raised frame with rounded profile. On the upper side of the weight, there is a date according to the Greek alphabetical system, introduced by the symbol L. The left sign is ligatured with the L and looks like a retrograde zeta (Ζ), which it may not necessary be; however, it is more likely an angular stigma (ς; see below). The middle sign looks like a retrograde digamma (Ϝ); however, this is an unlikely reading in the numeral system. It should rather be seen as a damaged koppa, which is normally represented as a retrograde rho (Ρ; see below). Finally, only the vertical bar of the sign to the right is clearly discernible, and it can be only a rho (Ρ). So the date should be read: L ςϙρ or ζϙρ (zeta or stigma, koppa, rho), for either 196 or 197 Seleucid era, i.e. 117/6 or 116/5 BCE. In the lower left third of the weight, there is a monogram, in which the letters Α (alpha with broken bar), Γ, Ν and Π may be discernible. A square protrusion above the alpha could be a re-carving of the mold that obliterates more strokes, tentatively for a Μ, the center of which may also be read as the upper part of a Υ and an upside down Δ. This monogram is most likely related to the name of the agoranomos. In the lower right corner, there is a large wedge (∠). Reverse: Plain. Sides: Plain.
Preservation: Good. Slightly eroded by the sea (smoothed).

No

Language	Technique	Legend type
Greek	Relief	Authority, Date, Denomination

L ΖϘΡ {Ζ retrograde; Ϙ = Ϝ retrograde, instead of Ρ retrograde}

{Monogramma Α+Ν+Τ}    <

(Ἔτους) ζϙρ´. | {Monogramma Α+Ν+Τ} (ἥμισυ).
L. 1: maybe ςϙρ rather than ζϙρ?

GREEK

FROM -117 TO -115

The era can only be the Seleucid one for such a large number of years, in the period considered here. SE 197 = 116/115 BCE. If SE 196 = 117/116 BCE.

Name	Date of acquisition	Inventory number
Israel Antiquities Authority (Jerusalem)	Dec. 31, 2000	IAA 2000-1066 (1985.D 242.S 22/58)

Reference	Page/Column	Reference (number)	Plate / Figure	Comment
Galili et al. 2016	10	4	Fig. 7.4	Editio princeps
Finkielsztejn 2019a	None	4	None	metrological comparisson

No actual retrograde letters are used in dates. This is the second case known with a letter looking like a retrograde Ζ. The digamma, be it non- or retrograde, is never evidenced on the weights of the Levant, not even instead of a a stigma, from which it originated. According to the appearance of the weights of the large corpus of the Hellenistic Levant, the middle letter can be only a koppa. The two suggested readings: 196 [117/6 BC] or 197 (116/5 BC), with some doubt for the second one. Fortunately the discrepancy is of a maximum of one year.