It was not for mere artistic reasons, for whilst such animal weights appear on Egyptian paintings, the numerous known Egyptian weights are of a very conventional form, as we shall find below. Doubtless the horns and ears made a cow’s head exceedingly ill-suited for a weight, and in course of time utility prevailed over the traditional idea that the weight unit ought to take the shape of the animal, whose value in gold it was meant to represent.
The following table sums up briefly the results of this chapter:
| Homeric ox-unit | = | 130-135 | grains of gold. | |
| Roman ox (5th cent. B.C.) | = | 135 | ” ” | |
| Sicilian (5th cent. B.C.) | = | 135 | ” ” | |
| Ancient German | = | 120 | ” ” | |
| Ancient Gaulish | = | 120 | ” ” | |
| Phoenician? (4th cent. B.C.) | = | 135 | ” ” | |
| Egyptian (1500 B.C.?) | = | 140 | grains of silver | = 140 grains of gold(?). |
| Hebrew | = | 130 | grains of gold. | |
| Zend-Avesta | = | 130 | ” ” | |
| Burgundian | = | 140 | ” ” | |
| Alamannic | = | 120 | ” ” | |
| Scandinavian[209](8th cent. A.D.) | = | 128 | ” ” |
As has been remarked before, I do not include the values of the ox or cow in the ancient Laws of Wales or Ireland, since from the insular position of Britain and Ireland the principle that we must have unbroken touch between the various peoples in order to have a constant unit does not apply. There could be no free flow of trade in cattle between Britain and the continent until the development of steam navigation.
It is worth noting that the value of a buffalo at the present day among the Bahnars of Annam is almost the same as that of the ancient ox. The buffalo is reckoned at 280 hoes[210], that is 28 francs = £1. 2s. 4d. Taking gold at the rate of twopence per grain, the value of the buffalo in gold is 134 grs. Troy.
CHAPTER VII.
The Weight Systems of China and Further Asia.
Subiectos Orientis orae
Seras et Indos.
Hor. Carm. I. 12. 56.