Made of Bronze and Lead, the So-called Standard Weights

Leblanc, Thomas
(2025) SHOPPING AND WEIGHING INSTRUMENTS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD AND BEYOND THROUGHOUT HISTORY NOVEMBER 27-29, 2023 – AKMED / ANTALYA PROCEEDINGS — ISBN: [9786258520279], 27-40, published

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Abstract
Weights are calibrated objects used every day in markets to weigh all kinds of goods. In the ancient Greek world, they regularly took the form of a metal plate decorated with an iconographic symbol and inscriptions. Until now, historiography has focus more on the visible aspects of these weights: iconographic type, inscription, intervention made on the weight after its production (abrogation, countermark, suspension hole, etc.). The metal required for their manufacture is one of the less studied subjects. However, the material study of these weights is not lacking in interest. Indeed, we can observe that two metals coexist in the composition of most of the Greek weights: lead and copper alloy. In this paper, we wish to question the reasons for this distinction based on the example of the cities of western Asia Minor during Hellenistic period. If copper alloy weights, much less numerous than those made of lead, could be interpreted as standard weights, it remains to define what the term “standard” covers and the precise role attributed to these instruments. As we shall see, the word “standard” covers several different realities and can distort the vision we have of these weights. Our objective is therefore to formulate hypotheses on the function of these singular instruments as close as possible to the actual stathmetical practices of the time.
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Leblanc, T. (2025). Made of Bronze and Lead, the So-called Standard Weights. In Oğuz Tekin (ed.), SHOPPING AND WEIGHING INSTRUMENTS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD AND BEYOND THROUGHOUT HISTORY NOVEMBER 27-29, 2023 – AKMED / ANTALYA PROCEEDINGS (pp. 27-40). Koç University. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/278120