Laodicea ad Mare

1/16 Mina

Metal: Lead

Cast

Polygon (pentagon, hexagon, heptagon, octagon, etc.)

4.80 cm

4.80 cm

- cm

Mass (g)	Mass (grain)	Date of measurement	Reference	fragmented	cleaned	reference weight
81.00	-	-	Vincent 1903	No	No	Yes

Symbol	Technique	Direction	Position	Number	Synecdoche
Balance scale	Relief

Vincent 1903: Provenance: Ascalon. — Poids en plomb. Sur une face lisse les sigles ΚΙ en très petit relief et usés par le frottement. Sur l’autre face, protégée par un cadre en relief, la légende ΕΚΚΑΙΔΕΚΑ, seize.
Seyrig 1946–48: Poids de forme pentagonale, avec ἑκκαιδέκα(τον), portant les lettres ΚΙ au revers, et pesant 81 g.
CIIP III: A pentagonal lead weight without a loop or handle. One of the flat sides has raised borders and an inscription in two lines in the upper part of the field (a). The reverse side is reported to have an inscription in one line (b), in very low relief and worn. Meas.: wt 81 g (no other measurements available).

No

Language	Technique	Legend type
Greek	Relief	Denomination

Ἑκκαιδέκα(τον).

GREEK , ROMAN

FROM 1 TO 100

According to Seyrig 1946–48, p. 66–67: 1st century CE.

Name	Date of acquisition	Inventory number
Ustinow Collection	Dec. 31, 1903	None
Museum of Cultural History – University of Oslo	None	C.42640

Reference	Page/Column	Reference (number)	Plate / Figure	Comment
Vincent 1903	606, 611	20	fig. 20	None
Clermont-Ganneau 1905	179	None	None	None
Seyrig 1946–48	58, n. 3	None	None	(2e série: poids non-datés)
CIIP III	301–302	2361	None	None

CIIP III: The weight puzzled earlier scholars (Vincent, Clermont-Ganneau), who found it difficult not only to reconcile the meaning of ἑκκαίδεκα (sixteen) with the mass of the item (81 g) but also to establish, in general, the weight system meant by this inscription. Further difficulties unmentioned by these scholars would involve the unusual form of the weight and the absence of either loop or handle, which are characteristic of the large majority of Palestinian weights from the Roman period. The word ἑκκαίδεκα or ἑκκαιδέκα(τον) must have related to the mass of the item. With the version ἑκκαίδεκα (meaning “sixteen”), it is indeed unclear what weight unit it may have referred to; nor can the appearance of the letters ΚΙ on the opposite side be explained. However, according to H. Seyrig, if the word is completed as ἑκκαιδέκα(τον), meaning “sixteenth”, then the weight would perfectly fit the group of undated ἑκκαιδέκατον weights manufactured in Laodicea in Syria. The ἑκκαιδέκατον weights of Laodicea come in a variety of shapes (circular, rectangular, triangular, lozenge), so that the form of the item under review would not look as exceptional as it does when put in the context of Palestinian weights. Apart from weights of triangular shape, the above-mentioned weights from Laodicea have no loops or handles. Furthermore, among six ἑκκαιδέκατον weights that were registered by Seyrig for the undated series of Laodicea (series 2, nos. 11–16), two have the mass of 82 and 83 g, very close to 81 g of the present item. One of the weights from Laodicea has also two letters on the other side, of unclear meaning. Seyrig 66f. assigns the undated group of weights from Laodicea to the 1[st]–2[nd] c. CE. Since Seyrig’s suggestion explains most of the peculiar features of the present item in a satisfactory way, his tentative attribution to Laodicea and his dating have been adopted here.
Vincent 1903: Les trois pièces semblent appartenir à une même série métrologique grecque. D’après les sigles, 18 et 19, portant Η = 8, représenteraient chacun la moitié du n° 20, chiffré 16 par une légende en toutes lettres ; mais son poids actuel est de 81 grammes, beaucoup plus du double par conséquent.

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