Getty Museum

Disk-shaped Weight

Date

2nd century A.D.

Medium

Lead

Culture

Roman

Department

Implements

Institution

Getty Museum

The Greek inscriptions on this circular weight read " Of Zenobios; year 4; public; mina." They identify the weight as having been an official public standard against which other weights were checked. Zenobios would have been the current *agoranomos,* the government official in charge of the accuracy of weights and measures used in the markets. The mina was a basic unit of measure in the eastern Mediterranean well into the Roman period. The symbols interspersed among the inscriptions relate to the economic well-being of the city that issued the weight. At the left is a herm depicting a bearded god, perhaps Hermes in his role as god of the marketplace. Two cornucopiae, or horns of plenty, symbolize prosperity and abundance, as does the shaft of wheat at the right. The raised rings on the back may have been used to calibrate the weight.

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