Everything about Shekel totally explained
Shekel also rendered
sheqel, refers to one of many ancient units of
weight and
currency. The first known usage is from
Mesopotamia around
3000 BC. One explanation is given for the origination of this word as to have originally applied to a specific mass of barley, and the first syllable of the word, 'she' was
Akkadian for
barley. A shekel was originally 180
grains (8.33 grams). Another explanation is given, that the word Shekel in
Hebrew means to weigh; and the
English word "scale" and the Persian "sigloi" is thought to derive from it.
The earliest shekels were not money, but were a unit of weight, used as other units of weight such as grams and troy ounces for trading before the advent of coins. Early coins were money stamped with an official seal to certify their weight. Coins were invented by the early Anatolian traders who stamped their own marks so that they wouldn't have to weigh it again each time it was used. Silver ingots, some with markings on them were issued. Later the stamping was taken over by official authorities who designed the coins. (Detroit Institute of Arts, 1964)
Herodotus states that the first coinage was issued by
Croesus, King of
Lydia, spreading to the golden
Daric (worth 20
sigloi or shekel), issued by the Persian Empire and the Silver Athenian
obol and
drachma.
The plural can be
shekels,
sheqels or
sheqalim. In some regions of the
United States, the term is used informally for "
money," particularly in situations where value is an important consideration.
It most commonly refers to an ancient
Hebrew unit of weight. As with many ancient units, the shekel represented a variety of values depending on date, domain and region. Sources quote weights between 9 and 17
grams and values of 11, 14, and 17 grams are common. It can be a
gold or
silver coin equal in weight to one of these units, especially the chief silver coin of the Hebrews.
The shekel was commonly used among other western
Semitic peoples as well.
Moabites,
Edomites and
Phoenicians all used the shekel, the latter as coinage as well as for a unit of weight. Punic coinage was based on the shekel, a heritage from their Canaanite ancestors.
The Aramaic spelling
tekel appears with a symbolic meaning in
the writing on the wall during the
feast of Belshazzar, according to the
Book of Daniel.
Silver
Tyrian shekels are thought to be the infamous "
30 pieces of silver" in the
New Testament.
Since
1980, the sheqel has been the currency of the modern state of
Israel, first the
Israeli sheqel, then (since
1985) the
Israeli new sheqel.
The shekel is also a unit of measurement in
New Crobuzon, the setting of
China Miéville's Bas-Lag series, and the nickname of one of the main characters in
The Scar.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Shekel'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://shekel.totallyexplained.com">Shekel Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
