Mene (unit)
The mĕnē (also mina, Aramaic) (Hebrew: מנה)[1] is an ancient Mesopotamian unit of weight for gold or silver and one of the earliest written words for money. The mĕnē, like the shekel, was also a unit of currency. In ancient Greece, it originally equalled 70 drachmae and later was increased to 100 drachmae.[2] The Greek word mna was borrowed from Semitic; compare Hebrew māneh, Aramaic mĕnē, Syriac manyā, Ugaritic mn, and Akkadian manū. However, before it was used as currency, a mene was a unit of measurement, equal to 567 grams. One mĕnē of gold would be worth $23,000 USD and one mĕnē of silver would be worth $300 USD at today's metal prices.
In folk language used by sailors, the word mina or mines came to mean "mines", indicating mineral resources extracted from the ground.
From earliest Sumerian times, a mĕnē was a unit of weight. At first, talents and shekels had not yet been introduced. By the time of Ur-Nammu, the mĕnē had a value of 1/60 talents as well as 60 shekels. The value of the mĕnē is calculated at 1.25 pounds[3][4] or 0.571 kilograms per mĕnē (18.358 troy ounces).
Evidence from Ugarit indicates that a mĕnē was equivalent to fifty shekels.[5] The prophet Ezekiel refers to a mĕnē ('maneh' in the King James Version) as sixty shekels, in the Book of Ezekiel.[6] Jesus of Nazareth tells the "parable of the mĕnē" in Luke 19:11-27.
From the Akkadian period, 2 mĕnē was equal to 1 sila of water (cf. clepsydra, water clock).
Historic Purchasing Power
- In the first century AD [in Greece?], it amounted to about a fourth of the wages earned annually by an agricultural worker.
Code of Hammurabi
- In the Code of Hammurabi which is arguably the first example of written law, mene is one of the most used terms denoting the weight of gold to be paid for crimes or to resolve civil conflicts.[7]
Selene Goddess of Time
The ancient greek goddess Selene was also known by the ancient greek term for moon "Mene". She was the goddess of the moon denoting the calendar or passage of time.
Images
-
Mĕnē of Athens.
-
Mĕnē of Chios.
-
Mĕnē of Antiochus IV Epiphanes.
-
Mĕnē of Antioch.
References
- ↑ In the Hebrew tradition, a meh-ney had always the weight of 100 silver denarii.
- ↑ Aristotle, Athenian Constitution, 10.2
- ↑ Calculation of weight by number of shekels.
- ↑ Jewish Encyclopedia
- ↑ Tenney, Merril ed., The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, vol. 5, "Weights and Measures," Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1976.
- ↑ Ezekiel 45:12
- ↑ Sacred Texts