It is evident that as gold and silver had each a separate standard, the “royal” standards were not employed for the precious metals. It is then most probable that they were employed for the weighing of the inferior metals such as copper, which of course played a most important part in the daily life of both Babylonians and Assyrians. We may rest assured that corn was not weighed but continued to be bought and sold by dry measure, as it was with the Hebrews in the days of the Prophets, when the Homer and the Ephah were employed to measure it.
I shall now give a tabular view of the three standards used by the peoples of Mesopotamia and their neighbours, treating the heavy royal talent as merely the double of the light one.
Gold.
| 1 | Stater | = | 130 grs. Troy (8·4 gram.). |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | Staters | = | 1 Mina = 6500 grs. (420·0 gram.). |
| 60 | Minae | = | 1 Talent = 390000 grs. |
Silver.
| 1 | Shekel | = | 172 grs. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | Shekels | = | 1 Manah = 8600 grs. |
| 60 | Manahs | = | 1 Talent = 516000 grs. |
Royal Standard.
| 1 | Shekel | = | 130 grs. (8·4 gram.). |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60 | Shekels | = | 1 Manah = 7800 grs. |
| 60 | Manahs | = | 1 Talent = 468000 grs. |
Let us now examine for a moment the current explanation of the origin and inter-relations of these standards and we shall find that they all start at the wrong end, assuming as earliest that which can be proved to be later, and deducing what are really the earliest stages from those which were in fact the historical outcome of the others.