Abstract
TWO recent papers in the Numismatic Chronicle contain interesting information on the remark able accuracy of ancient weighing. Dr. G. F. Hill mentions that in a hoard of 20 gold staters of Lysi-machus (c. 355-281 B.C.), in mint state, the extreme weights were 8.62 and 8.42 grams, i.e. the maximum variation was 2-3 per cent. Eleven of the coins, however, had weights with a much smaller range, namely, 8-57 to 8-52 grams, a variation of only 0-58 per cent. Dr. Hill considers this degree of accuracy to be no greater than might be obtained by cutting a bar of uniform thickness into equal lengths with an ordinary measure. The smallest weight about which the Greeks cared seems to have been not less than 0-05 gram.
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References
G. F. Hill, "The Frequency Table", Fifth Series, vol. 4, p. 76, 1924 W. M. F. Petrie, "Glass Weights", Fourth Series, vol. 18, p. 111, 1918.
Baron Carra de Vaux, "Les Penseurs de l'Islam", vol. 2, p. 181.
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H., E. Accuracy of Weighing in the Eighth Century. Nature 115, 963–964 (1925). https://doi.org/10.1038/115963a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/115963a0