DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1118#0310
662
INGOT' SIGN AS MARK OF VALUE
is exactly equal to one-eighth of the former sum. This figure might express
the ratio between two nearly related standards. Or, again, it might repre-
sent the exchange value of the ingot as reduced by the amount specified—
the price of copper having fallen in the Knossos market.
The number 60 of Fig. 649, a, after the ingot—the weight of which,
as we have seen, was about that of a light Babylonian talent—is itself
significant, and would represent its equivalent in miiias. Each mina
consisted of 60 shekels. So, too, the 3, and, again, 6 repeated after the
'balance' sign, points to an assimilation to duodecimal methods.
Still, the Minoan system of numeration was essentially decimal and the
I of the tablet itself refers to a unit which seems to have been reckoned
in tens. The highest number that follows this double 8 sign is nine.1
Conven-
tionalized
ingots as
marks of
value.
Conventionalized Ingots on ' Banner' Signs as Marks of Value.
A round stone weight found in a house at Zakro,2 and contemporary
therefore, with the Linear Class A, shows, within an
oblong frame, an ingot-shaped outline, Fig. 650, a, of
the kind where only two sides are incurved. It has six
pellets engraved on its lower surface and weighs 220
grammes (3,390'5 grains).3 It thus answers to a unit
very exactly corresponding with an Egyptian \-kedet
weight in the Petrie Collection. The sign reappears in the
ordinary A signary—apparently as a simple phonogram 4
—both in an original and a derivative shape (Fig. 650, ct d)
in the same word-group 7 I |X| A 7JIKI/|-
A parallel form showing the incurving- on all its Face 01? ,Za1^?°
■ ,,.,', ,- ■ a. , " Weight; c,d,onHa-
sides, like the ordinary ingot pictographs, occurs on two GIA Triada Tablets.
Knossian tablets of Class B—in these cases distinctly
as an indication of value—superposed on a rectangle which is really a form
of the 'banner' sign.
The examples on the tablet, Fig. 651, are of special interest in the
1 The I that indicates the fractional sum is also interpreted as -|.
not found with more than 2 units in this re- * Hogarth, B.S.A., vn, p. 136-
lation. In other connexions it is seen before ' A' E'' Coro,la Numimatica, p. 34 ■ ^
higher amounts up to 34. (No. 7S5 of hand- »uraerical relation of the two units show
list). In relation to the 'balance' sign it Kg-651 was there pointed out.
/ „r n,°_ A ' On the Hagia Triada tablets, Nos. =3 aI
Fig. 650. a, />, ox
Upper and Lower
seems to correspond with the k of Class A
26 of my own hand-list.
INGOT' SIGN AS MARK OF VALUE
is exactly equal to one-eighth of the former sum. This figure might express
the ratio between two nearly related standards. Or, again, it might repre-
sent the exchange value of the ingot as reduced by the amount specified—
the price of copper having fallen in the Knossos market.
The number 60 of Fig. 649, a, after the ingot—the weight of which,
as we have seen, was about that of a light Babylonian talent—is itself
significant, and would represent its equivalent in miiias. Each mina
consisted of 60 shekels. So, too, the 3, and, again, 6 repeated after the
'balance' sign, points to an assimilation to duodecimal methods.
Still, the Minoan system of numeration was essentially decimal and the
I of the tablet itself refers to a unit which seems to have been reckoned
in tens. The highest number that follows this double 8 sign is nine.1
Conven-
tionalized
ingots as
marks of
value.
Conventionalized Ingots on ' Banner' Signs as Marks of Value.
A round stone weight found in a house at Zakro,2 and contemporary
therefore, with the Linear Class A, shows, within an
oblong frame, an ingot-shaped outline, Fig. 650, a, of
the kind where only two sides are incurved. It has six
pellets engraved on its lower surface and weighs 220
grammes (3,390'5 grains).3 It thus answers to a unit
very exactly corresponding with an Egyptian \-kedet
weight in the Petrie Collection. The sign reappears in the
ordinary A signary—apparently as a simple phonogram 4
—both in an original and a derivative shape (Fig. 650, ct d)
in the same word-group 7 I |X| A 7JIKI/|-
A parallel form showing the incurving- on all its Face 01? ,Za1^?°
■ ,,.,', ,- ■ a. , " Weight; c,d,onHa-
sides, like the ordinary ingot pictographs, occurs on two GIA Triada Tablets.
Knossian tablets of Class B—in these cases distinctly
as an indication of value—superposed on a rectangle which is really a form
of the 'banner' sign.
The examples on the tablet, Fig. 651, are of special interest in the
1 The I that indicates the fractional sum is also interpreted as -|.
not found with more than 2 units in this re- * Hogarth, B.S.A., vn, p. 136-
lation. In other connexions it is seen before ' A' E'' Coro,la Numimatica, p. 34 ■ ^
higher amounts up to 34. (No. 7S5 of hand- »uraerical relation of the two units show
list). In relation to the 'balance' sign it Kg-651 was there pointed out.
/ „r n,°_ A ' On the Hagia Triada tablets, Nos. =3 aI
Fig. 650. a, />, ox
Upper and Lower
seems to correspond with the k of Class A
26 of my own hand-list.