Church/Monastery name:
Khan el-Ahmar - EUTHYMIUS
Inscription number:
7
Selected bibliography:
425, 480, fig. 90 (ph.) (ed. pr.) | |
546, no. 649 |
Epigraphical corpora:
SEG 40 (1990): 1485
CIIP IV.1 (2018): 3134 (ph.)
Inscription type:
label/sign
Location:
Findspot: Near the main arched gateway of the monastery (Locus G). Found during the soundings alongside the north wall of the monastery in 1977.
Pres. loc.: Rockefeller Museum, Jerusalem.
Physical description :
Marble fragment that was used as a weight. Blank except for the incised inscription. Uneven edges.
Meas.: h (max.) 7.5, w (max.) 6.3 cm; wt 228 g.
Text:
ὀκία ϛ´ ἥ-
μισυ
Translation:
Six (and) a half ounces. or Six ounces (=) half (a litra).
Summary:
Marble fragment used as weight, found near the main arched gateway of the monastery.
Meimaris interpreted the stigma as abbreviation mark for καί and understood ὀκία καὶ ἥμισυ, “one ounce and a half” (i.e. 45 g). However, this is, as Feissel has pointed out, impossible, given the actual weight of the piece: 228 g, and the fact that a Roman ounce is 1/12 pound. Therefore, Feissel suggested ὀκία ἕξ ἥμισυ, “six and a half ounces” (i.e. 195 g), and the pound would then be 420 gr., ‘ce qui reste problématique’. P. Weiß (CIIP) suggests, 'since the additional specification of half an ounce (i.e. 15 g) does not modify the 6 ounces (= 180 g) by very much, and would be highly unusual, this could rather be interpreted as two alternative expressions of the same weight: ὀκία ϛ’/ἥμισυ (λίτρας), “6 ounces, or half a litra” (one litra had 12 ounces).'