Israel

Numismatic
Research
9 | 2014

Published by
The Israel Numismatic Society

Israel Numismatic Research

Published by the Israel Numismatic Society

Editorial Board: Donald T. Ariel (editor), David Wasserstein,

Danny Syon, Ilan Shachar, Oren Tal

Text editor: Miriam Feinberg Vamosh

Plate Layout: Yaniv Schauer
Typesetting: Michal Semo-Kovetz and Yael Bieber,
Tel Aviv University Graphic Design Studio
Printed at Elinir, Tel Aviv

ISSN 1565-8449
Correspondence, manuscripts for publication and books for review should be
addressed to: Israel Numismatic Research, c/o Haim Gitler, The Israel Museum,
P.O. Box 71117, Jerusalem 9171002 ISRAEL, or to dtariel@ins.org.il
Website: www.ins.org.il
For inquiries regarding subscription to the journal, please e-mail to info@ins.org.il
The editors are not responsible for opinions expressed by the contributors.
The Israel Numismatic Society, Jerusalem 2014

Israel Numismatic Research

Published by the Israel Numismatic Society
Volume 9

2014

Contents

5 Erik Waaler: A Sixth-Century Coin from Kos found at Ketef Hinnom,

Jerusalem
15 Haim Gitler and Oren Tal: More Than Meets The Eye: Athenian Owls and
the Chronology of Southern Palestinian Coinages of the Persian Period
29 Danny Syon: A Hoard of Tyrian Silver from orbat Aqrav, Upper Galilee
39 Eric A. Carlen: A Review of the Shechem Hoard
61 Grald Finkielsztejn: The Weight Standards of the Hellenistic Levant, Part
One: The Evidence of the Syrian Scale Weights
95 David M. Jacobson: Herod the Greats Royal Monogram
103 Cecilia Meir: Tyrian Sheqels from the Isfiya Hoard, Part Five: Half Sheqels
with Unclear Dates, Crude-Style Half Sheqels and Augustan Imperial
Denars
109 Yoav Farhi and Alexander Melamed: Two Coin Hoards from Underground
Complexes at Nesher-Ramla Quarry
133 Yinon Shivtiel and Nili Ahipaz: Coins from Cliff Shelters and Hiding
Complexes in Galilee and their Historical and Archaeological Significance
149 Donald T. Ariel, Yuval Baruch and Irina Zilberbod: Out of the North
the Evil Shall Break Forth: Numismatic Evidence for the Besiegers in
Jerusalem during the First Jewish Revolt?
163 Edward L. Mason and Paolo Vison: New Evidence for the 1889 Hebron
Hoard of Bar Kokhba Silver
173 Kate Raphael and Gabriela Bijovsky: The Coin Hoard from Caesarea
Maritima and the 363 CE Earthquake
193 Gabriela Bijovsky, Deborah Sandhaus and Ianir Milevski: A Byzantine
Hoard of Gold Coins from Ashqelon, Barnea BC Neighborhood
213 Lionel Holland: A Group of Ottoman Dirhem Weights
221 Abbreviations

A Group of Ottoman Dirhem Weights

Lionel Holland
lionelholland@gmail.com

Abstract

A group of seven Ottoman dirhem weights of two types is described, and discussed against a
general background of Ottoman historical metrology.

INTRODUCTION
The provinces of the Ottoman Empire, spanning Europe, Asia and Africa, incorporated
an immense cultural diversity. This is reflected in its measuring systems, which
varied from place to place and from one time to another. With no overall single
system, the measuring units applied in the capital at Istanbul might at any given
time be very different from those in daily use in one or another province. Scholarly
attempts to describe Ottoman and other Islamic measuring systems have often
suffered from not having taken such regional and temporal variations sufficiently
into account. Unscrupulous (or, if one feels kindly disposed, merely ill-informed)
compilers of sale catalogues have added to the confusion.
Until the mid-nineteenth century, any move toward standardization of weights
and measures throughout the Ottoman Empire met with failure (Inalcik 1983;
Gnergun 2009). Even after that time, the steps taken toward that end were never
more than partially successful, right up to the dissolution of the empire at the end
of World War 1.
The study of Ottoman measuring systems is fraught with problems. A number
of these are discussed in an invaluable paper by Inalcik (1983). Until very recently,
such studies did not attract much scholarly attention, and the useful literature was
very scanty. In the past decade, this situation has begun to change. Krkmans book
Anatolian Weights and Measures (2004) is a detailed, superbly illustrated survey of
several hundred specimens of measuring equipment (mainly scales and weights),
most of which are Ottoman. More recently, Ouz Tekin has undertaken the task
of cataloguing all ancient weights (Greek, Roman, Byzantine and Islamic) in all
of Turkeys museums. This will make thousands of weights, until now accessible
only to a very few, known to researchers, and should do much to help provide a
sounder base than hitherto, for the study of Ottoman metrology.
Much useful information about Seljuk and Ottoman weights is to be found in
two valuable papers by Nancy S. Pyle (1977; 1978), which, unlike much of the
earlier literature concerning Islamic metrology, are firmly based on the careful
examination, measurement and analysis of as many available specimens as possible.
The brief summary that follows owes much to Pyles work.
INR 9 (2014): 213219

213

214

LIONEL HOLLAND

Two important weight units used by the Othmanli, or Ottoman Turks, were the
okka and the dirhem. The Seljuks of Rum, who ruled much of Anatolia between the
eleventh and thirteenth centuries CE, used flat, handsomely decorated, cast, ringshaped weights of copper alloy, made in decimal multiples of a dirhem (roughly
3.2 g; Pyle 1978). Pyle listed weights of 400, 200, 100, 50, 25 and 10 dirhems.
Subsequently gaining ascendancy in Anatolia, the Othmanli continued to use similar
ring-shaped weights, also in decimal multiples of a dirhem (Pyle 1977). The unit
of 400 dirhems was called an okka (not to be confused with wuqiyah, Arabic for an
ounce). The absolute mass of the okka could vary, depending on when and where
in the empire weights were made and used. Krkman described and illustrated a
variety of okka weights in use at different times throughout Ottoman history. The
earliest are actually revalidated Seljuk pieces.1
The dirhem was originally a silver coin used by the Sasanians, and subsequently
by the Arabs. The name eventually became associated with a unit of weight of
central importance in all Islamic ponderal systems. Its mass varied between about
2.5 and 3.5 g, depending on time and place.
Krkman illustrated a number of different forms of Ottoman dirhem weights. The
largest of these are of 200 dirhems, which, in addition to serving as coin weights,
may have been used for weighing bullion, and merchandise of high value. The
commonest (certainly those most often seen in Israel) are the two types illustrated
below. All the weights described here are unprovenanced and were acquired in Israel.

FLAT WEIGHTS WITH EIGHT SIDES (KRKMAN TYPE N)

Octagonal flat coin weights were (very infrequently) used by the Byzantines (Holland
2009:29, No. 60). From the Arab period, Balog lists a few inscribed Fatimid and
Ayyubid specimens, all multiples of a mithqal or dinar of about 4.25 g, probably
used for weighing gold (Balog 1970:252253, Nos. 2832; Balog 1973, Pl. 2:45);
and an anonymous 5-mithqal specimen that he tentatively attributes to a Mamlk
amir (Balog 19801981:128, No. 22).
The shape was apparently used in Persia by the Great Seljuks (Balog 1973)2,
from whom it presumably passed to the Seljuks of Rum, and thence to the Othmanli
who used it for the dirhem.
The form of weights used by the Seljuks, before the rise of the Ottomans, is
illustrated for purposes of comparison in Fig. 1. It shows a flat, octagonal Seljuk
1 These saucer-shaped weights continued to be used in parts of the former Ottoman
Empire, right up to modern times. Some of the purported very rare ancient Ottoman
okka weights offered on eBay and sometimes stamped in Greek, are, in fact, weights
in common use in Cyprus well into the twentieth century.
2 Balog assigns a Persian origin for these, chiefly due to their style and elaborate
ornamentation.

GROUP OF OTTOMAN DIRHEM WEIGHTS

215

weight with fluted sides (Tekin 2013). The Arabic inscription, translated, reads
Great Sultan Kilij Arslan, son of Mesud. Kilij Arslan II was ruler of the Seljuks
of Rum from 1156 to 1192 CE. Based on the specimens reported mass of 21.16
g, Tekin considered the weights likeliest denomination to be 5 miskal (a unit used
for weighing gold).3

Fig. 1. Seljuk weight naming Kilij Arslan II, 21.16 g, 21 mm (Photo: Ouz Tekin; 2:1 scale)

The earliest octagonal Ottoman dirhem weights known to Pyle (1977), and also the
earliest described by Krkman (2004:6365), bear the tughra of Sultan Suleiman I
(15201566 CE). A series of octagonal weights from 1 to 200 dirhems, multiplied
decimally, is illustrated in Krkmans book (p. 71; Fig. 2). Dates and names on
some of these indicate that they continued to be made and used throughout most of
the Ottoman period. They are, on the whole, plain, lacking the elaborate decoration
found on Persian weights.

Fig. 2. Two 1-dirhem weights from Krkman 2004 (a). bearing the tughra of Sulaymn I b.

3 I am indebted to Ouz Tekin for permission to use the photograph, and for his comments.

216

LIONEL HOLLAND

Selm I Qnn (The Magnificent; AH 926974 / 15201566 CE); 3.19 g, 14.5 mm (p. 234,
No. 124); (b). bearing the tughra of Abdl Mejid and the date AH (1)267 / 1851 CE) ; 3.10 g,
2527 mm (p. 278, No. 302) (2:1 scale)4

Three octagonal pieces are shown in Fig. 3). Two are dated. The general similarity
of the 50-dirhem weight to the other two suggests that it was probably issued in
the same period as the others, i.e., during the early and mid-nineteenth century CE.

Fig. 3. Three octagonal dirhem weights5

Letter
a
b
c
Mean

Denomination
50 dirhems
20 dirhems
10 dirhems

Mass (g)
159.60
64.06
31.72

Date (AH)
Illegible
(1)279 (1863 CE)
(1)247 (1832 CE)

Calc. dirhem (g)

3.19
3.20
3.17
3.19

BEVELED CUBES (KRKMAN TYPE F)

These are called cubo-octahedral weights by Kisch and Balog, but I think the
name beveled cubes describes them more accurately.
I know of no occurrence of this shape among ancient weights of Greek, Roman
or Byzantine origin. Its earliest appearance known to me is on a lone 5-dirhem
specimen found at Caesarea in Israel (Holland 1986:194, No. 53), with a terminus
ante quem in the mid-thirteenth century CE, and a probable Fatimid origin. Clearly
4 Images courtesy of the Suna and Inan Kira Foundation, Anatolian Weights and
Measures Collection, Pera Museum, Istanbul, and may not be further copied or
reproduced without their prior permission.
5 Specimens were weighed with a Sartorius L2200P top-loading balance reading to 0.01 g,
or with a Mettler Type 15 macrobalance reading to 0.1 mg. (In many papers concerning
ancient weights, no information is provided regarding the weighing equipment and
methods used. Such an omission seems questionable to the present writer.)

GROUP OF OTTOMAN DIRHEM WEIGHTS

217

not a favorite with the Fatimids, this shape was adopted by the Othmanli. Krkman
illustrated (p. 76) a series from 1 to 100 dirhems, in decimal multiples. Names and
dates on some of them indicate that they were used for centuries, coevally with
the octagonal weights.
The four pieces illustrated in Fig. 4 bear no inscriptions. They are attractively
decorated with rosettes and geometrical shapes.

Fig. 4. Four beveled-cube dirhem weights

d
e
f
g
Mean

Letter

Denomination
50 dirhem
20 dirhem
10 dirhem
2 dirhem

Mass (g)
146.3
61.22
31.74
5.91

Calc. dirhem (g)

2.93
3.06
3.17
2.95
3.03

The mean masses of the two samples (of octagonal weights and bevelled cubes
respectively) are different. A simple comparison of means (Students t-test) reveals
that the difference is not statistically significant.

STANDARDS
When discussing ancient weights, it is pointless to speak of standards in a modern
sense, i.e., of an official, strictly defined primary standard, against which all other
weights were to be measured and to which they must conform. Standards of this
kind have only developed relatively recently. Writers sometimes assert that such
a primary weight standard was kept by the Romans in a temple in Rome. But
327.45 g was never the standard weight of the Roman pound. It was simply a
convenient mean value, calculated from a sample of coins, weighed some 150
years ago by European scholars, and stated with a precision that no Roman balance
could possibly achieve. A different sample might have given a different standard.
For tax gathering purposes, the standard measure applied at any particular
location would have been whatever apparatus the local tax collector used. There

218

LIONEL HOLLAND

are several known instances in the ancient world of ostensibly standard weighing
and measuring apparatus, which deviated grossly from usually accepted values
(e.g., the Carvoran corn measure [Skinner 1967], or the fourth-century coin weights
in the box found in the Egyptian desert by Petrie [Petrie 1926]), and which were
very probably deliberately falsified for purposes of profit. Likewise, in any ancient
marketplace, the standard for weights and measures would be whatever equipment
the local agoranomos, or mutasib, or other official, was using.
In the case of Ottoman Turkey, we are told (Gnergun 2009) that precisely
defined standards of measurement (in the modern sense) were first applied in
Istanbul around the beginning of the nineteenth century, in the states armaments
manufacturing industry. The definition of the dirhem as having a mass of 3.207 g
was made later in the nineteenth century, near the time of the official adoption of
the metric system by the Othmanli. Any attempt at defining a standard Ottoman
dirhem with a precision closer than 0.050.1 g, at any given location or at any
given period in history earlier than this, is bound to end in uncertainty. If, and
when, a sufficient number of firmly provenanced specimens become available, it
may become possible to identify and define local differences in time and place. It
is already known, for instance, from records of measurements made on weights in
use at the time, that a dirhem close to 3.1 g was in use in Alexandria at the end of
the eighteenth century and later (Mahmoud Bey 1873).6 Let us hope that with the
systematic measurement and cataloguing of more and more surviving specimens,
further light may eventually be thrown on the history of weights and measures in
different parts of the Ottoman Empire.

REFERENCES7
Balog P. 1970. Islamic Bronze Weights from Egypt. Journal of the Economic and Social
History of the Orient 13/3:233256.
Balog P. 1973. Pesi di Bronzo Islamici del XIII Secolo. Quaderni Ticinesi, Numismatica e
Antichit Classiche 2:179187.
Balog P. 19801981. Contributions to the Arab Metrology and Coinage. Annali dell Istituto
Italiano di Numismatica 2728:115135.

6 Mahmoud Bey cited the work of Napoleons commission of savants, published in

LaDescription de lEgypte, p. 32.
7 Of the publications listed here, the following are available online, all accessed
August 7, 2014: Holland 1986; 2009; Mahmoud Bey El Falaki; Rum Toplumsal
Tarih 238; and Tekin 2013 (all online at www.academia.edu); Gnergun 2009
(http://psi424.cankaya.edu.tr/uploads/files/Agoston%20and%20Masters,%20
Enc%20of%20Ott%20Empire.PDF); Inalcik 1983 (http://www.inalcik.com/images/
pdfs/33649423OTTOMANMETROLOGY.pdf).

GROUP OF OTTOMAN DIRHEM WEIGHTS

219

Gnergun F. 2009. Weights and Measures. In G. Agoston and B.A. Masters eds. Encyclopedia
of the Ottoman Empire. New York. P. 595.
Holland L. 1986. Islamic Bronze Weights from Caesarea Maritima. MN 31:171201.
Holland L. 2009. Weights and Weight-Like Objects from Caesarea Maritima. Hadera.
Inalcik H. 1983. Introduction to Ottoman Metrology. TURCICARevue dtudes Turques
15:311348.
Krkman G. 2004. Anatolian Weights and Measures. Istanbul.
Mahmoud Bey (El Falaki). 1873. Le systme mtrique actuel dgypte. Journal Asiatique
1 (7th series):67110.
LaDescription de lEgypte XVII: LaDescription de lEgypte, ou, recueil des observations et
des recherches qui ont t faites en gypte pendant lexpedition de larme franaise
XVII. tat Moderne. (2nd ed.) Paris 1824.
Petrie W.M.F. 1926. Ancient Weights and Measures (reprint 1974). London.
Pyle N.S. 1977. Ottoman Okka Weights. Belleten Turk Tarih Kurumu Ankara 41/161:115132.
Pyle N.S. 1978. Anatolian Ring Weights. Journal of Turkish Studies 2:97106.
Skinner F.G. 1967. Weights and Measures: Their Ancient Origins, and Their Development in
Great Britain up to A.D. 1855. London.
Tekin O. 2013. A Weight Bearing the Name of Kilicarslan II, the Great Sultan of the Seljuks
of Rum. Toplumsal Tarih 238 (October):4849.