One interesting question that
Hendy doesn’t seem to address is the
weight standard for the
trachy and
tetarteron. On the
face of it, this seems to be about 3.9 gm, which suggests that the
standard is 1/7 of an ounce = 1/84 of a pound (as for the late Republican/Augustan
denarius). Assuming a pound of 327 gm, this implies a trachy/tet
standard of 3.89 gm.
But is 327 gm the appropriate
standard for the 12th century
Byzantine pound? As it happens we have
good evidence that it is, in the shape of the avoirdupois pound.
The
Roman 12 oz pound is made up of 12 ounces of 6 sextulae/nomisma, i.e, 72
nomisma of 4.54 gm. A pound of 16 ounces would therefore contain 96
nomisma and weigh c.436 gm (the Euboic mina). Now, as several writers have suggested, the
medieval avoirdupois pound of 453.6 gm looks suspiciously like it could be 100
nomisma, in which case the 12 oz pound would be 72/100 x 453.6 = 326.6 gm, confirming the pound of 327 gm.
Ross G.