MEASURES, WEIGHTS, AND MONEY
Measures. Weights. Inscribed Weights. Money: Who invented coinage? Darics. Maccabæan coins. Asmonæan coins. Herodian coins. Roman coins. The Widow’s Mite. The Piece of Silver. Coinage of the Revolt of 66-70 A. D.
1. Measures.—The Hebrew units of dry measure were: 1. The Homer (or Cor), which contained 10 Ephahs (Ezek. 45:11, 14). 2. The Ephah, which contained 3 Seahs (Isa. 40:12) or 10 Omers (Exod. 16:36) or 18 Cabs (2 Kings 6:25, and Josephus, Antiquities, IX, iv, 4).
Corresponding to these were the units of liquid measure: 1. The Homer (or Cor), which contained 10 Baths (Ezek. 45:11, 14). 2. The Bath, which, according to Josephus and Jerome, contained 6 Hins (see Exod. 29:40). 3. The Hin, which contained 3 Cabs, or, according to the Talmud, 12 Logs.
These two systems have the Homer as their major unit. The Homer had the same capacity in each system. The Ephah of dry measure equalled the Bath of liquid measure, and the Cab was the same in each. If, then, the capacity of one unit in either measure could be determined, we should know the capacity of all the others.
It has been the custom of archæologists to strike a kind of average of the confused statements of Josephus and Epiphanius[178] and correct these by estimates based on Babylonian measures.
Calculations based on this method will be found in recent works on Hebrew archæology and dictionaries of the Bible. It has been impossible, however, to reach certainty. Three systems will be found in the books referred to: one based on the supposition that the Log = 9⁄10 of a pint; one based on the supposition that the Log = 91⁄100 of a pint; the third on the supposition that the Log = 1 pint. The estimates of the Homer vary accordingly from 80 gallons to 81.25 gallons, and 89.28 gallons.[179]
Under these circumstances some discoveries of the Augustinians of the Assumption, in the grounds of their monastery in Jerusalem, appear to be of importance.[180] They found at various times in excavating for building purposes four vessels, which seem to have been a series of measures. Taking the larger one as the unit, the capacity of the one next smaller is three-quarters of the capacity of the first; the third was just half the first; the fourth, a quarter of it. These vessels all appear to have been in a building which had a Hebrew inscription over its door. Although the inscription was broken, the word “Corban”[181] was still legible. Père Germer-Durand assumes, accordingly, that the building was used as a place where temple tithes were paid, and that this series of vessels were standard measures employed in collecting tithes. The quantities of material contained by these vessels are as follows:
| Largest, | 21.25 | litres or | 19.6 | quarts. |
| Second, | 15.937 | litres or | 14.7 | quarts. |
| Third, | 10.625 | litres or | 9.8 | quarts. |
| Fourth, | 5.312 | litres or | 4.9 | quarts. |
Père Germer-Durand thinks from a study of Josephus and Epiphanius that the largest of his vessels represents the Ephah of dry measure or the Bath of liquid measure. If this assumption is right, it gives a series of measures which are each about 7⁄12 smaller than the smallest of the series referred to above.