I \ I. 



8 



T A I. 



nrir' as he observes, part of a 



MIUII! In i xtcud 

 tin- liulinn 

 ilia. Mrfapodius Tiimulii* i 



. over tin- whole 



ol tin' (.'ol.ouri: I'l-iiuiNiiIa on the north const of th. 

 :!, where the Unti-h M-tt lenient Ol 

 Ellington it now established ; and he thinks that future 

 research will require us to assign to it a much wider 

 range, probably over the whole extent of the north 

 coast. 



Mrzapudiui Tumului. Mound nu>in( M(*podc, vitli not in the distance. 

 (From Gould.) 



TAI.KN'T (rnXai-rox) was the highest denomination of 



Greek wiiL'hts :uid money, and was also common K 



by Greek writers as the translation of words signifying a 



n weight in other languages. It is necessary to ob- 

 serve that the talent is properly only a denomination of 



: >t. There was no coin of that name ; and when used 

 in reference to money, it meant originally a talent-weight 

 of gold or silver, and afterwards a certain quantity of cur- 

 rent money, the weiirht of which : supposing 1 lie real and 

 nominal value of the coin to be the same amounted to a 

 talent. 



I. THE HEBREW TALENT, or KIKKAR 123.. contaiucd 



T 



3000 shekels, and, according to Mr. IIu--c\'s computation, 

 its weight was ICJlbs. I2o/..v aMiirdupois. and its \alue as 

 iit.'tt.Wil. |SiiKKKL.] The Hebrews hod 

 -ild money of their own. 



II. TIIK GREEK TAI.KNT. 



'1'hc following were the principal denominations of 

 weight and money among the Greeks : <5/3oXoc, fpay/ny, 

 -liXaKTor, of Much the tpo\r>t was the smallest. Their 

 relative proportions are shown in the annexed table: 

 Obol 



I Drachma 

 000~ 100 



Mina 



30,000 



0000 



Talent. 



This system prevailed throughout Greece, but the actual 

 values of the talent \aried in different states. Mo-t of 

 these variations may be included under two chief standards, 

 immclv. the Atlp 'tan. 



|. . . alue of the Attic talent 



si ilon is a matter on which .-,! po--e 



hardly any historical information, thonirh we may peihaps 



arrive nt 11 MTV probable result. Looking then at the 



system after Solon had remodelled the coma- 



,d that th' rr money was celrlnated for its 



purity : and therefore from the coins of that period which 

 -till "exist we may determine the value of the standard 

 with tolerable certainty. Now the chief coin was the 

 drachma of hiher, tl weight of which, from the 



tune of Solon to that of A is found to 



be 66-5 grains. From this we iret the following values in 

 avoirdupois weight : 



ih. o. ta, 

 Obol ...... 11-08 



Drachma ...... 



Mum . .. I.'- VI 7:. 



Tal. . . :>'; l.'-i I"" 



Til's was ',hc standard n' , and 



was therefore called ' tin- silver standard.' 



H. -i.lc- lhi> there was a' -he chief \\ 



of which wa- called //: /ini i'/ i/ir. 



and contained 1IW il 

 weights in the silver mini MI Ijoekh, ' 



p., i. 12M. \^ I : that is. not that a commercial mina 

 contained l;ts ctmatrrcial drachmae, but that this was 

 quite aditferent standard from that used for sihcr in 

 its unit being to that of the latter in the lalio i< 

 :100; while the rrlutirr proportions of the weight- 

 the same in both systems. The following table shows the. 

 value of the Attic commercial standard : 



Obol . 

 Drachma 

 Mina 

 Talent 



lb. 01. 



1 4J 



75 5| 11GSI 



ft. 



15-29 

 !H -77 



These weights were used for all commodities, except such 

 as were expressly required by law to bo sold by the silver 

 standard. 



This commercial standard is most probably, as Hiickh 

 'MIWII. the real antieiit Attic standard, as it exi-tid 

 before the time of Solon. The purpose of Solon's ch 

 was to lower the value of money, in order to i. 

 debtors. The only direct information we have of the na- 

 ture of the change is the statement of Plutarch, that 

 -. made the minn of 1(X) drachmae, which had for- 

 merly contained 7".' which is probabh a mi-take made 

 by Plutarch, through not understanding the woi 

 Aiulrotion. whose- authority he follows. The true meaning 

 seems undoubtedly to be, that mil 'if tin- sumr i/u<iti/y n/ 

 \ilrrr which in the aiitient standard made 7:! draci. 

 Solon coined 100, or a mina : that is. that he lowered the 

 standard in the ratio of 100 : 7:i. Now the latio of the 

 commercial to the silver standard is 1:18: 100= l(KI:72y. 

 Hence the commercial standard and the old Attic only 

 diil'ered bv a small fraction. 



Still this ratio of UK) : 7:> is a very singular one for Solon 

 to have adopted. The 1110-1 pn.hahlc explanation is that 

 Solon meant to lower the standard by a quarter, th. 

 in the ratio of 101) : "."', and that the new coinaire by an 

 accident of not uncommon occurrence in minting, was 

 found, when actually made, to be a little too light, namelv, 

 in the ratio of 72JJ : 100, or, in round numbers. 73 : UK) 

 to the old money, instead of 73 : 100 : and that then, to 

 preserve tin: purity of the Attic mint, this, its actual \ahie, 



;ited a- runooinal value. 



This view is stromily confirmed by a reference to an- 

 other standard mentioned by Greek writer-. namcU, thr 

 Eulin'ii- tii/i'n!. This talent was oKcn reckoned M equal 

 to the Attic compare Herod., iii. SI), with Pollux. i\. (i ; 

 but it is also described with greater puvi-ion by Aili.in 

 i I'ur. llixt.,\. '22 . as having to the Attic \\. 

 72 : 70. which is the same ::- 7"> : 72)|,. .Now if we sup- 

 pose that the in!<-ntl--'l value c.i ..lent, had toils 

 ;r,i/ value the ratio ot 7") : 72JJ, we have this intended 

 value equal (ncirlectimr a \ci\ small fiaetion to the 

 talent. Hence it i- inferred that Solon, proposing 

 to lower t! mlard.and perceiving the advantage 

 of assimilating it to that of the neighbouring island of 

 i Kuboea, intended to adopt the latter for Ins new standard, 

 ; but that in fact a slight difference WU caused b\ accident. 

 The Homans reckoneil both the Attic and Kubo;. 



ud to 80 Roman pounds - olyb. xxi. 



1 I. with \xii. 2(i. and l,iv. xxxvii. -l.'i. with xxxxiii. 3 



The Alii'- commercial standard underwent an alteration 

 by the edict abcr, to. which made 



its mina = 150 draelnn:> 

 "i min' = 6 minir commer< 



its talent = (>.*i inina' commercial) 

 In tin.-, ncv. slandaid the <i\e-miiiif weight was npml lo 

 7lb. llijoz. 1-J-iMigrs., and the talent to K-)lb-. -JJ oz. 



707 gm. 



Athenians took the L 'heir -tan.! 



of wciirht. The principal set v 1 in the A 



o.ili-. and theie weie other sets in the I'rytancum, at 



in n.-i-d by th Athenians was the tetra- 

 drachm. or piece of four iliachmac : the mina and talent 

 d. but were paid in diacli :. ,Vc. 



The li'llowi the \alne of all the denomina 



i Atiie silver money, according to the computation 

 I his, cy : 



