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Author Topic: Late Roman/Early Byzantine Weights - I  (Read 1033 times)

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Offline glebe

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Late Roman/Early Byzantine Weights - I
« on: March 29, 2023, 01:10:49 am »
I have put together a number of charts summarising the commoner types of Late Roman/Early Byzantine scale weights, organised basically along the lines of Entwistle's classification.
The first of these charts is attached below - if people are interested I can add the others.

Ross G.

P.S. This is a fairly large file, so you may need to reset your (browser) zoom to optimise the image size for viewing. Or alternatively save the image off for easier viewing.

Revised 12 May 2023:  Semissis and Tremissis weights added (not in Entwistle or Bendall but fairly common in Pondera).

Revised 19 July 2023:  Treatment of small types expanded.

Offline v-drome

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Re: Late Roman/Early Byzantine Weights - I
« Reply #1 on: March 29, 2023, 11:56:38 am »
Beautiful!  Thank you, Ross.

Offline Joe Sermarini

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Re: Late Roman/Early Byzantine Weights - I
« Reply #2 on: March 29, 2023, 04:57:35 pm »
More, please.
Joseph Sermarini
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Offline Virgil H

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Re: Late Roman/Early Byzantine Weights - I
« Reply #3 on: March 29, 2023, 05:08:52 pm »
You should make a Numiswiki page out of these, too. Great stuff.

Virgil

Offline glebe

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Re: Late Roman/Early Byzantine Weights - I
« Reply #4 on: March 30, 2023, 01:24:55 am »
Here is chart II.

Ross G.

Edited  23 May '23

Offline glebe

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Re: Late Roman/Early Byzantine Weights - I
« Reply #5 on: March 30, 2023, 02:10:43 am »
.... chart III

Ross G.

Note that the image of the 6 nomismata weight of 25.69g is inverted, as it was originally.
I have left it that way as reinverting it tends to give an illusion of a negative "popped" surface like that on the adjacent 3 nomismata weight, and on the 2 uncia weight just above left (and also on the 36 nomismata weight further down it seems).

Some people may have fancy image processors that can fix this problem.

Edited 05 May 2023

25 Jan. 2024

Offline glebe

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Re: Late Roman/Early Byzantine Weights - I
« Reply #6 on: March 30, 2023, 02:15:41 am »
and finally chart IV.

Ross G.

Here the top three weights are lit from below, so many people may perceive negative versions of the images, since they are used to seeing coins and weights lit from above.

Offline glebe

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Re: Late Roman/Early Byzantine Weights - I
« Reply #7 on: April 08, 2023, 06:35:06 pm »
I have made a few additions to Chart III.

Ross G.

Offline wileyc

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Re: Late Roman/Early Byzantine Weights - I
« Reply #8 on: April 09, 2023, 06:39:11 pm »
Really nice Ross.

cw

Offline glebe

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Re: Late Roman/Early Byzantine Weights - I
« Reply #9 on: May 21, 2023, 10:16:21 pm »
One of the weights missing from the charts above is a libra version of the “three arch” type (which shows actually the façade of a basilica?).

An example of this type from the Menil collection is however shown in Bendall as No. 50 (with no weight), and this weight is listed In Pondera as Item 3914, with a weight of 320.05 gm.

Pictures of this weight can be found an article on the Menil weights by Vikan & Nesbitt now (2019) available on the Academia site, and separately in a 1980 article on "Security in Byzantium" by the same authors also available on Academia.

These pictures are shown below - the images are a bit obscure but I have brightened them up as best I can. Note the odd differences between the images - particularly the legend. Has the weight been cleaned between the two photos?

Ross G.

Offline Chaim S

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Re: Late Roman/Early Byzantine Weights - I
« Reply #10 on: June 20, 2023, 09:24:34 am »
Dear Ross,

I am very intrigued by one of the Byzantine bronze square weights that you included in your first chart - the one inscribed KE and weighing 4.32g. Do you have any suggestions what the denomination of this weight might be? Even though it is marked with a Kappa as what appears to be its denomination type, it can't stand for Keration, since it weighs much more than five (E) keratia/siliquea (which would be 5/24 of a solidus). Do you know where this weight is from?

Many thanks,

Haim S.

Offline glebe

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Re: Late Roman/Early Byzantine Weights - I
« Reply #11 on: June 23, 2023, 06:38:30 pm »
Hi Chaim,

The DI and KE iimages are simply the obverse and reverse of the same one nomisma weight.

DIKE here means correct or true weight.

Ross G.


Offline glebe

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Re: Late Roman/Early Byzantine Weights - I
« Reply #12 on: July 18, 2023, 09:53:36 pm »
I have revised Chart I with an expanded treatment of the smaller types.
This I think makes clearer the role of the siliquae types as fractions of the nomisma, with the scripuli types as fractions of the uncia.
This all seems nice and neat, but of course it may not that simple.

Ross G.

Offline wileyc

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Re: Late Roman/Early Byzantine Weights - I
« Reply #13 on: December 12, 2023, 11:55:43 pm »
Thanks to Ross for the above charts, I recently acquired a one nomisma weight with the DIKE inscription, The example that Ross shows was the first time I have seen that. I was happy to have found one just recently somewhat by accident.

4.27g
14/13/2mm

 

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