Mina (unit)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The mina (or also: mine) is an ancient Greek unit of weight defined as being 50 shekels.
The mina, like the shekel, was also a unit of currency. In ancient Greece it was equal to 100 drachmae.
In ancient Sumerian times, a m'na was a unit of weight; but talents and shekels had not yet been introduced. 1/60 talents and also 60 shekels.
Evidence from Ugarit indicates that a mina was equivalent to fifty shekels[1]. The prophet Ezekiel refers to a mina ('maneh' in the King James Version) as sixty shekels[2].
Since the Akkadian period, 2 m'na was equal to 1 sila of water (cf. clepsydra, water clock).
[edit] Images
Mina of Chios. |
Mina of Antiochus IV Epiphanes. |
Mina of Antioch. |
[edit] Notes
Note, that the word "mine", in the sense of land mine came from the form of this ancient weight stone.
This standards- or measurement-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |