Gorgias I, agoranomos (Berytos)

Berytos

1 Mina

Lead

Cast

Square

8.20 cm

7.60 cm

1.20 cm

Mass (g)	Mass (grain)	Date of measurement	Reference	fragmented	cleaned	reference weight
522.20	-	-	Kushnir-Stein 2005	No	No	Yes

Symbol	Technique	Direction	Position	Number	Synecdoche
Dolphin	Relief	RIGHT
Anchor	Relief	RIGHT
Egg and dart pattern	Relief
Lattice pattern	Relief

Kushnir-Stein 2005: This square lead weight has a handle at the top that is now bent toward the side with the inscription. Measurements: 8.2 × 7.6 × 1.2 cm; weight: 522.2 g. One side of the weight has a network pattern that is now very worn and hardly visible. The other side has raised borders decorated on all four sides with an ovolo design on the inner side of the border. Below the ovolo design is a square frame, in the center of which is a dolphin entwined around a horizontally placed anchor. There is a one-line inscription above the dolphin, and a two-line inscription below it.
Sawaya 2023: Square lead cast weight with bent suspension loop. Dimensions: 82 × 76 × 12 mm (including the loop). Mass: 522.2 g. Preservation: very good. Kushnir-Stein 2005, p. 16*-18*; Finkielsztejn 2012, p. 142, no. 31; Gatier 2014, p. 154; Finkielsztejn 2015, p. 80-82, no. 122; Pondera #14955 (visited April 10, 2023). Denomination: one mina. Obverse: horizontal dolphin around anchor to right (in center), LΔϘΡ Μ– (above), ‘Year 194, mina’, ΓΟΡΓΙΟΥ | ΑΓΟΡΑΝΟΜΟΥ (below), ‘Gorgias, being agoranomos’, all within a simple square frame surrounded by a raised border with egg-and-dart pattern. Reverse: lattice pattern. Agoranomos: Gorgias. Findspot: unknown. Acquisition: Hecht Museum, the University of Haifa (H-3312). Photographic credits: Kushnir-Stein 2005. Reverse not illustrated.

No

Language	Technique	Legend type
Greek	Relief	Authority, Date, Denomination

(Ἔτους) δϙρ´ μ(νᾶ) | Γοργίου | ἀγορανόμου.

GREEK

FROM -119 TO -118

SE 194 = 119/118 BCE

Name	Date of acquisition	Inventory number
Hecht Museum – University of Haifa	None	H-3312

Reference	Page/Column	Reference (number)	Plate / Figure	Comment
Kushnir-Stein 2005	16*–18*	2	fig. 2	None
SEG 55	None	1697	None	(non vidi)
BÉ 2007	749	510	None	None
Finkielsztejn 2012	142	31	None	None
Gatier 2014	153–154	None	None	None
Finkielsztejn 2015	80–82	122	None	None
IGLS VIII/1	None	None	None	None
Sawaya 2023	87–88, 110	14	fig. 14	None

Kushnir-Stein 2005: The meaning of the sign in the upper-right corner of the weight is not entirely clear. It consists of the letter mu (M) and a straight line joined to the upper end of its right bar on the right. The right bar of the M is not strictly vertical; rather, it goes diagonally from the upper left to the lower right. The straight line joins it at an angle of close to 90 degrees. Thus the combination of the right bar of the mu and the straight line could be understood as the letter gamma (Γ). This, however, is not the only way to interpret the sign. [...] In the light of all these parallels, the line joining the upper end of the letter M on our weight may have also been intended to indicate that a weight unit is meant. The M would, then, signify that this is a mina. The weight of our item is 522.2 g, which is less than the average weight of the Seleucid mina. However, given the extensive wear of the reverse side and the damage in various other places, the original weight of the item must have been doser to the standard. The place where our weight was manufactured thus seems to have employed the Seleucid mina as its basic weight unit.
Kushnir-Stein 2005: The only difference between our weight and those of Berytus is that the latter display a trident alone or a dolphin entwined around a trident, whereas on our weight a dolphin is entwined around an anchor. So far, no weights or coins with exactly the same design have been attributed to any city in Phoenicia or Palestine. Given the man y similarities between our weight and those from Berytus, then, our weight is likely to have originated either in this city or in a locality in close proximity to it.