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| Deben [1] (w/"stone-block"–O39) (as determinative) (horiz. water-N) in hieroglyphs | ||
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The deben was an ancient Egyptian weight unit.
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| Deben [1] (w/"stone-block"–O39) (as determinative) (horiz. water-N) in hieroglyphs | ||
|---|---|---|
The deben was an ancient Egyptian weight unit.
The earliest evidence for deben is from the Early Dynastic Period. It was found at the site of Buto in Nile Delta. The weighing stone was uncovered in an archaeological context from Second Dynasty, in the so-called "labyrinth" building, it bears the inscription of the "friendly is the heart of Horus, director" (of the installation) "Hemsemenib". The inscribed value is of 3 deben, representing a unit of 29 grams (1.0 oz), likely the earliest copper deben. [2] Based on this evidence, it was argued recently that copper and gold deben were used since Early Dynastic Period in ancient Egypt. [3]
Set of balance beams and weighing stones from 10 to 100 units, likely deben, was painted on the wall of the tomb of Third Dynasty official Hesy-Ra at Saqqara. [4] Stone weights from the Old Kingdom have been found, weighing about 13.6 g (0.48 oz; 0.44 ozt), giving presumed value of the gold deben, e.g. the weighing stone of king Userkaf. [5] The same unit was used for the jasper weighing stone of the First Intermediate Period king Nebkaure Khety. From the Middle Kingdom date deben weight units used for particular metals, referred to as copper deben and gold deben, the former being about twice as heavy (27 g (0.95 oz; 0.87 ozt)) as the latter. Such weights from the Middle Kingdom were discovered at Lisht, using gold deben, [6] and copper deben. [7]
At the Second Intermediate Period site of Tell el-Dab'a were found sets of sphendonoid weighing stones confirming the use of shekel weighing system, both "Syrian" (9-9.5 g) and "Mesopotamian" (c. 8.1-8.5 g). [8] Here presumably stems the changed weighing system of the New Kingdom, with a completely different deben unit.
From the New Kingdom one deben was equal to about 90 g (3.2 oz; 2.9 ozt) to 95 grams (3.4 oz; 3.1 ozt). [9] It was divided into ten kidet (alt. kit, kite or qedet) of c. 9.0 grams (0.32 oz; 0.29 ozt) to 9.5 grams (0.34 oz; 0.31 ozt), [10] or into what is referred to by Egyptologists as 'pieces', one twelfth of a deben weighing 7.6 g (0.27 oz; 0.24 ozt). [11] It was frequently used to denote value of goods, by comparing their worth to a weight of metal, generally silver or copper. The value of the metal artefacts was expressed by deben, and the weight equalled the value. [12]
It has been speculated that pieces of metal weighing a deben were kept in boxes, [13] taken to markets, [14] and were used as a means of exchange. [15] Archaeologists have been unable to find any such standardized pieces of precious metal. On the other hand, it is documented that debens served to compare values. On the well-known Juridical stela from the reign of Nebiryraw I, debt of 60 gold deben (consisting in fact of gold, copper, grain, and clothes as listed on the stela) was worth the governorship of el-Kab. In the 19th Dynasty, a slave girl priced four deben and one kite of silver was paid for with various goods: 6 bronze vessels, 10 deben of copper, 15 linen garments, a shroud, a blanket, and a pot of honey. [16]
Deben appeared in the computer game Pharaoh as its currency (in the form of gold).
The carat (ct) is a unit of mass equal to 200 mg, which is used for measuring gemstones and pearls. The current definition, sometimes known as the metric carat, was adopted in 1907 at the Fourth General Conference on Weights and Measures, and soon afterwards in many countries around the world. The carat is divisible into 100 points of 2 mg. Other subdivisions, and slightly different mass values, have been used in the past in different locations.
The pound or pound-mass is a unit of mass used in both the British imperial and United States customary systems of measurement. Various definitions have been used; the most common today is the international avoirdupois pound, which is legally defined as exactly 0.45359237 kilograms, and which is divided into 16 avoirdupois ounces. The international standard symbol for the avoirdupois pound is lb; an alternative symbol is lbm, #, and ℔ or ″̶.
Electrum is a naturally occurring alloy of gold and silver, with trace amounts of copper and other metals. Its color ranges from pale to bright yellow, depending on the proportions of gold and silver. It has been produced artificially and is also known as "green gold".
Tael, also known as the tahil and by other names, can refer to any one of several weight measures used in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It usually refers to the Chinese tael, a part of the Chinese system of weights and currency. The Chinese tael was standardized to 50 grams in 1959.
Biblical and Talmudic units of measurement were used primarily by ancient Israelites and appear frequently within the Hebrew Bible as well as in later rabbinic writings, such as the Mishnah and Talmud. These units of measurement continue to be used in functions regulating Jewish contemporary life. The specificity of some of the units used and which are encompassed under these systems of measurement have given rise, in some instances, to disputes, owing to the discontinuation of their Hebrew names and their replacement by other names in modern usage.
The ounce is any of several different units of mass, weight, or volume and is derived almost unchanged from the uncia, an Ancient Roman unit of measurement.
The guinea was a coin, minted in Great Britain between 1663 and 1814, that contained approximately one-quarter of an ounce of gold. The name came from the Guinea region in West Africa, from where much of the gold used to make the coins was sourced. It was the first English machine-struck gold coin, originally representing a value of 20 shillings in sterling specie, equal to one pound, but rises in the price of gold relative to silver caused the value of the guinea to increase, at times to as high as thirty shillings. From 1717 to 1816, its value was officially fixed at twenty-one shillings.
Shekel or sheqel is an ancient Mesopotamian coin, usually of silver. A shekel was first a unit of weight—very roughly 11 grams —and became currency in ancient Tyre and ancient Carthage and then in ancient Israel under the Maccabees.
The eagle was a United States $10 gold coin issued by the United States Mint from 1795 to 1933.
The stone or stone weight is an English and British imperial unit of mass equal to 14 pounds (6.35 kg). The stone continues in customary use in the United Kingdom for body weight.
The talent was a unit of weight used in the ancient world, often used for weighing gold and silver, but also mentioned in connection with other metals, ivory, and frankincense. In Homer's poems, it is always used of gold and is thought to have been quite a small weight of about 8.5 grams (0.30 oz), approximately the same as the later gold stater coin or Persian daric.
The Coinage of India began anywhere between early 1st millennium BCE to the 6th century BCE, and consisted mainly of copper and silver coins in its initial stage. The coins of this period were Karshapanas or Pana. A variety of earliest Indian coins, however, unlike those circulated in West Asia, were stamped bars of metal, suggesting that the innovation of stamped currency was added to a pre-existing form of token currency which had already been present in the Janapadas and Mahajanapada kingdoms of the Early historic India. The kingdoms that minted their own coins included Gandhara, Kuntala, Kuru, Magadha, Panchala, Shakya, Surasena, Surashtra and Vidarbha etc.
The stater was an ancient coin used in various regions of Greece. The term is also used for similar coins, imitating Greek staters, minted elsewhere in ancient Europe.
The ancient Egyptian units of measurement are those used by the dynasties of ancient Egypt prior to its incorporation in the Roman Empire and general adoption of Roman, Greek, and Byzantine units of measurement. The units of length seem to have originally been anthropic, based on various parts of the human body, although these were standardized using cubit rods, strands of rope, and official measures maintained at some temples.
The ruble or rouble is the currency unit of Belarus and Russia. Historically, it was the name of the currency of the Russian Empire and, later, of the Soviet Union.
Silver coins are one of the oldest mass-produced form of coinage. Silver has been used as a coinage metal since the times of the Greeks; their silver drachmas were popular trade coins. The ancient Persians used silver coins between 612–330 BC. Before 1797, British pennies were made of silver.
Mithqāl is a unit of mass equal to 4.25 grams (0.137 ozt) which is mostly used for measuring precious metals, such as gold, and other commodities, like saffron.
Tell el-Dab'a is an archaeological site in the Nile Delta region of Egypt where Avaris, the capital city of the Hyksos, once stood. Avaris was occupied by Asiatics from the end of the 12th through the 13th Dynasty. The site is known primarily for its Minoan frescoes.
Nebkaure Khety was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the 9th or 10th Dynasty, during the First Intermediate Period.
Coinage of the Ptolemaic kingdom was struck in Phoenician weight, also known as Ptolemaic weight. This standard, which was not used elsewhere in the Hellenistic world, was smaller than the dominant Attic weight. Consequentially, Ptolemaic coins are smaller than other Hellenistic coinage. In terms of art, the coins, which were made of silver, followed the example set by contemporary Greek currencies, with dynastic figures being typically portrayed. The Ptolemaic coin making process often resulted in a central depression, similar to what can be found on Seleucid coinage.
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