TALENTUM
TALENTUM (
τάλαντον) was the
heaviest unit of weight in use among the Greeks; and as a talent of gold,
silver, or copper was a definite amount of money, varying of course with the
standard by which it was weighed, the word stood also for monetary units. A
large number of talents were in use in different parts of Greece--the
Euboic, the Aeginetan, the Phoenician, &c.--the weights of which
will be found in the tables under
PONDERA Pollux (9.86) mentions several of these, and gives their
value in proportion to the Attic talent. He also remarks that the talent of
each district contained 60 minae of that district, and the mina 100
drachmae.
There were, however, one or two talents of a peculiar character which require
special mention. The talent of gold of Homer (
Hom.
Il. 9.124;
18.507;
23.262) was certainly some quite small
amount; and ancient writers conjectured that it was of the weight of a daric
(128 grains), a view which modern investigations tend to confirm. Of
somewhat greater value was a talent of gold mentioned by the poet Philelmon
as consisting of three
χρυσοῖ or gold
staters. Possibly they may have been the equivalent of a talent of copper.
Like all other nations, the Greeks used various, talents for different
classes of goods. The Babylonians, as we have set forth under
PONDERA had one talent for gold,
one for silver, and one for goods. In Athens in historical times the emporic
or commercial talent was quite differen from the talent of the mint, bearing
to it a relation of about 3 to 2. And even for different sorts of heavy
goods special weights were employed. Thus we hear of a talent for weighing
wood (
ξυλικὸν τάλαντον) as in use at
Antioch and at Alexandria; and in all places the Attic weights seem to have
been used for drugs. For abundant references to ancient authorities, see
τάλαντον in the index to Hultsch's
Metrologici Scriptores.
[
P.G]