a belated thank you to people who answered. It is a little rude of me to wait, but as you can see I have been trying to figure out things.
I have an interest in the
incuse coinage of
Magna Graecia which is where the Pythagoreans were most prominent, and so I was wondering what would happen if one converted measurements into something the ancients would use, would anything interesting turn up? A Sybaris
stater is about 8.1 grams which converted into
grains would be 125.002
grains. If you are a Pythagorean, your a mathematician, but your also a number mystic reading into numbers (for example, lucky number 7 for the
Greeks meant opportunity). I am not saying that there is any
merit to reading into numbers, it is a spurious activity except maybe a kind of aesthetic to it. If you are "into" numbers though certain numbers are more beautiful than others. As Sheldon said on Big Bang Theory, 72 is a nine (on
scale from one to ten). Why? because 72=2 cubed times 3 squared. (2^3)(3^2). It is just a very elegant number and we do know that the Pythagoreans played with "square" numbers and "triangular" numbers and so forth. Another elegant number is 125, or 5^3. Is it a coincidence that the
incuse coinage is around 8.1 grams (125 gr.)?
There is a die/weight that was found in Sybaris. On it it an
inscription that has three, in a vertical 'column,'
. An
incuse stater is divisible into three drachms. The
inscription stands for "deka" repeated three times, in other words, 30 drachms or 10
stater. The
weight weighs 80.55 grams. or roughly 1250
grains. It is not exact for our tastes, but I think it should be considered in the acceptable range. For that matter, a grain is not exactly that exact a measurement, if one is weighing barley.
I don't think that any other
standard works for these "number games". I think with every other
standard if one converts it, you get numbers in the tenths, hundredths, etc. places. in other words, not a nice neat whole number like 125. But, I do think that it works for the early
incuse staters, before the
standard began to decline.
Kind regards,
JBF
