Shekel

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This article is about an ancient weight and currency standard. For the current Israeli currency, see Israeli new sheqel.

For the Talmudic tractate "Shekalim", see Moed.

Silver half-shekel struck in the Greek colony of Taras, during the Punic occupation. Punic coinage was based on the shekel.

Shekel, also rendered sheqel, refers to one of many ancient units of weight and currency. The first known usage is from Mesopotamia around 3000 BC. The word is thought to have originally applied to a specific volume of barley ('She' = Akkadian for Barley). The Shekel was originally derived from the weight of 180 grains (one grain weighs about 0.047 grams, so roughly 8.5 g per Shekel The earliest shekels were money, but they were used for trading before coins. A coin is money that is stamped with an official seal to certify its weight. Coins were invented by the early Anatolian traders who stamped their own marks so that they would not have to weigh it again each time it was used. Later the stamping was taken over by official authorities who designed the coins. (Detroit Institute of Arts, 1964) Herodotus states that the first coinage was issued by Croesus, King of Lydia, spreading to the golden Daric, issued by the Persian Empire and the Silver Athenian obol and drachma.

The plural can be shekels, sheqels or sheqalim (the latter being the plural in Hebrew: שקלים). In some regions of the United States, the term is used informally for "money," particularly in situations where value is an important consideration.

A coin issued by the rebels in 68 AD. Obverse: "Shekel Israel. Year 3"; Reverse: "Jerusalem the Holy"

It most commonly refers to an ancient Hebrew unit of weight. As with many ancient units, the shekel represented a variety of values depending on date, domain and region. Sources quote weights between 9 and 17 grams and values of 11, 14, and 17 grams are common. It can be a gold or silver coin equal in weight to one of these units, especially the chief silver coin of the Hebrews.

The shekel was commonly used among other western Semitic peoples as well. Moabites, Edomites and Phoenicians all used the shekel, the latter as coinage as well as for a unit of weight. Punic coinage was based on the shekel, a heritage from their Canaanite ancestors.

Silver Tyrian shekels are thought to be the infamous "30 pieces of silver" in the New Testament.

Since 1980, the sheqel has been the currency of the modern state of Israel, first the Israeli sheqel, then (since 1985) the Israeli new sheqel. As of May 3, 2006, 1 US Dollar equals approximately 4.49 NIS (New Israeli Shekel, also referred to as ILS), 1 Euro equals approximately 5.66 NIS, and 1 pound sterling equals approximately 8.22 NIS. There are 100 agorot to a shekel.

The shekel is also a unit of measurement in New Crobuzon, the setting of China Miéville's Bas-Lag series, and the nickname of one of the main characters in The Scar.