Talent (measurement)
The talent (
In later times in Greece, it represented a much larger weight, approximately 3000 times as much: an
Akkadian talent
The Akkadian talent was called kakkaru
The Greeks adopted these weights through their trade with the Phoenicians along with the
Origin
William Ridgeway speculates that the kakkaru/kikkar was originally the weight of a load which could be carried by a man. Thus in the Book of Kings we read that Naaman “bound two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of garments, and laid them upon two of his servants; and they bare them before him”.[18] He notes that in Assyrian cuneiform, the same ideogram or sign was used for both "tribute" and "talent", which might be explained if a load of corn was the regular unit of tribute.[19]
Homeric talent
In Homer, the word τάλαντα in the plural is sometimes used of a pair of scales or a balance;[20] it is used especially of the scales in which Zeus weighed the fortunes of men (Iliad 8.69, 19.223, 22.209). The word is also used as a measurement, always of gold. "From the order of the prizes in Il. 23.262 sq. and other passages its weight was probably not great".[21]
According to Seltman, the original Homeric talent was probably the gold equivalent of the value of an ox or a cow.
Attic talent
An Attic talent was the equivalent of 60 minae or 6,000 drachmae.[24]
An Attic weight talent was about 25.8 kilograms (57 lb). Friedrich Hultsch estimated a weight of 26.2 kg,[25] and Dewald (1998) offers an estimate of 26.0 kg.[26]
An Attic talent of silver was the value of nine man-years of skilled work, according to known wage rates from 377 BC.
Aeginetan talent
The Aeginetan talent weighed about 37 kg. The German historian Friedrich Hultsch calculated a range of 36.15 to 37.2 kg based on such estimates as the weight of one full Aeginetan metretes of coins, and concluded that the Aeginetan talent represented the water weight of a Babylonian ephah: 36.29 kg by his reckoning (the metretes and the ephah were units of volume).[29] Percy Gardner estimated a weight of 37.32 kg, based on extant weights and coins.[30]
An Aeginetan talent was worth 60 Aeginetan minae, or 6,000 Aeginetan drachmae.[dubious ][citation needed]
Talent in late Hebrew antiquity
The talent (
The standard talent during the late
Other talents
The talent as a unit of value is mentioned in the
In Revelation 16:21, the talent is used as a weight for hail being poured forth from heaven and dropping on mankind as punishment in the end times: "And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great." (KJV) Various definitions are provided in different translations:
- NIV: a footnote says "Talent: 75 or 100 pounds."
- NLT: text reads "weighing as much as seventy-five pounds".
- ESV: text reads "about one hundred pounds each".
Bibliography
- Herodotus (1998) [440 BC]. Dewald, Carolyn (ed.). The Histories. Translated by Waterfield, Robin. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780192126092.
- Hultsch, Friedrich (1882). Griechische und Römische Metrologie [Greek and Roman Metrology] (in German) (2nd ed.). Weidmannsche Buchhandlung.
References
- ^ auri eborisque talenta "talents of gold and ivory", Vergil, Aeneid 11.333.
- ^ a b c John William Humphrey, John Peter Oleson, Andrew Neil Sherwood, Greek and Roman technology, p. 487.
- ^ Dewald 1998, p. 593.
- ^ a b "III. Measures of Weight:", Jewish Encyclopedia.
- ^ Black, Jeremy; George, Andrew; Postgat, Nicholas (2000). A Concise Dictionary of Akkadian. Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden. p. 141.
- ^ "Search Entry".
- ^ or less specifically biltu 'tribute, load', corresponding to Biblical Aramaic בְּלוֹ (belu) 'tribute, tax' (Akkadian Lexicon Companion for Biblical Hebrew Etymological, Semantic and Idiomatic Equivalence, Hayim Tawil, 2009. Also Jastrow Dictionary.)
- ^ "Melachim1 (1 Kings) 9 :: Septuagint (LXX)". Blue Letter Bible. Retrieved 2020-07-28.
- JSTOR 598945.
- ^ Krahmalkov, Charles R. Phoenician-Punic Dictionary. p. 225.
- ^ "Search Entry ܟܲܟܪܵܐ". www.assyrianlanguages.org. Retrieved 2020-11-22.
- ISBN 1-56563-206-0.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - ^ Koehler, Ludwig; Baumgartner, Walter; Richardson, M.E.J.; Stamm, J.J. The Hebrew and Aramaic lexicon of the Old Testament (HALOT). pp. Entry כִּכָּר.
- ^ Lete, Gregorio del Olmo; Sanmartín, Joaquín. Watson, W.G.E. (ed.). A Dictionary of the Ugaritic Language in the Alphabetic Tradition. p. 430.
- ^ See J.H. Kroll, "Early Iron Age balance weights at Lefkandi, Euboea". Oxford Journal of Archaeology 27, pp. 37–48 (2008)
- ^ "1 Kings 9:14 Interlinear: And Hiram sendeth to the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold". biblehub.com. Retrieved 2020-07-28.
- ^ "Exodus 25:39 Interlinear: of a talent of pure gold he doth make it, with all these vessels". biblehub.com. Retrieved 2020-07-28.
- ^ 2 Kings 5.23.
- ^ Ridgeway, William (1892). The Origin of Metallic Currency and Weight Standards, Cambridge, p. 264.
- ^ The Latin word libra also has a dual meaning of "balance" and "pound weight".
- ^ Liddell, Scott, Jones, Greek Lexicon, s.v. τάλαντον.
- ^ a b c Charles Theodore Seltman (1924) Athens, Its History and Coinage Before the Persian Invasion, pp. 112–114.
- ^ Homer, The Iliad, Hom. Il. 23.750–1.
- ^ Renfrew, Colin; Wagstaff, Malcolm, eds. (1982). An Island Polity, the Archaeology of Exploitation in Melos. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 49.
One Attic talent was the equivalent of 60 minae or 6,000 drachmae...
- ^ Hultsch (1882) p 135
- ^ Dewald (1998), in Appendix II
- ^ Engen, Darel. "The Economy of Ancient Greece", EH.Net Encyclopedia, 2004.
- ^ Thucydides. History of the Peloponnesian War. Book 6, verse 8: "Early in the spring of the following summer the Athenian envoys arrived from Sicily, and the Egestaeans with them, bringing sixty talents of uncoined silver, as a month's pay for sixty ships, which they were to ask to have sent them."
- ^ Hultsch (1882), p 502
- ^ Gardner, Percy (1918). A History of Ancient Coinage 700–300 B.C. Oxford University.
- ^ Jerusalem Talmud (Sanhedrin end of chapter 1 [9a]), where litra is used, being the Greek form of the Latin libra.
- ^ OCLC 31818927. (reprinted from Jerusalem editions, 1907, 1917 and 1988)
- ^ ISBN 0-19-815402-X
- Babylonian Talmud (Kiddushin 11b), Rashis.v. בשקל הקודש במנה צורי
- ^ Maimonides (1974). Sefer Mishneh Torah - HaYad Ha-Chazakah (Maimonides' Code of Jewish Law) (in Hebrew). Vol. 4 (Seder Avodah). Jerusalem: Pe'er HaTorah., s.v. Hil. Kelei HaMikdash 2:3
- Pnei MosheCommentary, s.v. דכתיב בקע לגלגלת
- OCLC 762505465
- ^ Matthew 25:14–30
- ^ Skeat, Walter W. A concise etymological dictionary of the English language. p. 489. "Talent. (F.-L-Gk.) The sense of 'ability' is from the parable; Matt. xxv. F. talent, 'a talent in money; also will, desire;' Cot. —L. talentum. — Gk. Τάλαντον, a balance, weight, sum of money, talent. Named from being lifted and weighed; cf. Skt. tul, L. tollere, to lift, Gk. τάλ-ας, sustaining. (TAL.) Allied to Tolerate. Der. talent-ed, in use before A. D. 1700."
- ^ "talent (n)". Online Etymological Dictionary. Retrieved 7 June 2022. "late 13c., 'inclination, disposition, will, desire', from Old French talent (12c.), from Medieval Latin talenta, plural of talentum 'inclination, leaning, will, desire' (11c.), in classical Latin 'balance, weight; sum of money', from Greek talanton 'a balance, pair of scales', hence "weight, definite weight, anything weighed', and in later times 'sum of money', from PIE *tele- 'to lift, support, weigh', 'with derivatives referring to measured weights and thence money and payment' [Watkins]; see extol."
- ^ Luke 19:12–27
- ^ Epiphanius. Treatise on Weights and Measures (Syriac Version). James Elmer Dean, ed. (1935). Chicago University Press. §45
- ^ Matthew 18:23–35
- ^ Exodus 38
- ^ 2 Chronicles 9:13
1 Kings 10:14
External links
- Encyclopedia Americana. 1920. .
- . . 1914.