Published Catalogue Text: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums
This square commercial weight would have been employed with a balance scale (1). It is decorated on the obverse with incised symbols (2). A Latin cross stands at the center and is flanked by the Greek letters Λ (lambda) and Ι (iota) in ligature on the left and A (alpha) on the right. A garland wreath encircles the cross and letters; a rosette appears in each upper corner of the field. The letters are an abbreviation for the value of the weight: the Λ (lambda) and Ι (iota) represent litra (libra), or pound, and the Α (alpha) signifies the number one (3). The Harvard weight measures 325 g, an amount close to the standard for the Byzantine pound (c. 324 g) (4). The letters hang from the cross, their mass evenly distributed. In effect, the cross forms a balance, symbolically ensuring the just value of the weight.
Other one-pound commercial weights, dating from the fourth to sixth centuries CE, show almost identical decoration (5). The ornamental motifs on this object also appear on weights of other denominations (6).
NOTES:
1. For example, see G. Vikan and J. Nesbitt, Security in Byzantium: Locking, Sealing and Weighing (Washington, DC, 1980) 29 and 32.
2. On Byzantine weights generally, see B. Kisch, Scales and Weights (New Haven, 1965) 150-55; Vikan and Nesbitt 1980 (supra 1); S. Bendall, Byzantine Weights: An Introduction (London, 1996); and C. Entwistle, “Byzantine Weights,” in The Economic History of Byzantium: From the Seventh through the Fifteenth Century, ed. A. E. Laiou (Washington, DC, 2002) 611-14.
3. Compare Age of Spirituality: Late Antique and Early Christian Art Third to Seventh Century, exh. cat., Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, 1977) 343, no. 324.
4. For discussion of the weight of the Byzantine pound, see Bendall 1996 (supra 2) 6-7; and E. Schilbach, “Litra,” in The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, ed. A. Kazhdan (Oxford, 1991) 2: 1238.
5. See A. Dieudone, “Poids du Bas-Empire et byzantins des collections Schlumberger et Froehner,” Revue Numismatique 34 (1931): 11-12, no. 2, fig. 4, pl. 1; N. Dürr, “Catalogue de la collection Lucien Naville au Cabinet de Numismatique du Musée d’Art et d’Histoire de Genève,” Geneva 12 (1964): 1-42, esp. 41, no. 316, pl. 18; S. Qedar, Gewichte aus drei Jahrtausenden (Cologne, 1983) no. 5130; Bendall 1996 (supra 2) 32-33; C. J. S. Entwistle, A Catalogue of Late Roman and Byzantine Weights and Measures in the British Museum (London, 2003) nos. 190-91; and M. Fischer, “Bronzes from Yavneh-Yam (Israel): Preliminary Thoughts to a Cultural Reconstruction,” in The Antique Bronzes: Typology, Chronology, Authenticity. The Acta of the 16th International Congress of Antique Bronzes, Organised by The Romanian National History Museum, Bucharest, May 26th-31st, 2003, ed. C. Muşeţeanu (Bucharest, 2004) 178-81, esp. 180, fig. 12.
6. See Dieudone 1931 (supra 5) 13 and 15, nos. 12 (a six-ounce weight) and 37 (a two-ounce weight without florettes in the upper corners), figs. 5 and 10, pls. 1-2; Dürr 1964 (supra 5) 3, 7, 25, and 32, nos. 8 and 10 (six-ounce weights) and 77 (a one-ounce weight), pls. 2 and 9; and L. Wamser and G. Zahlhaas, Rom und Byzanz: Archäologische Kostbarkeiten aus Bayern (Munich, 1998) 156-57, no. 180 (a six-ounce weight) and no. 182 (a three-ounce weight).
Alicia Walker
