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Unique Weights Shaped Like Greek Letters Unearthed
Archaeology Magazine ^ | July 11, 2025 | editors / unattributed

Posted on 07/19/2025 8:14:25 AM PDT by SunkenCiv

During the Hellenistic and Roman periods, the ancient city of Diocaesarea, known today as Uzuncaburç, was a bustling hub in southeastern Turkey. Its well-preserved ruins consist of colonnaded streets filled with shops. According to the Daily Sabah, recent excavations within one of those properties has unearthed a unique set of 1,600-year-old artifacts that is offering new insight into commercial life in the city and its standardized system of weights and measures. Archaeologists from Turkey's Ministry of Culture and Tourism and Mersin University discovered a complete balance scale and five iron weights that appear to be shaped like the Greek letters, beta, gamma, sigma, psi, and omega. The researchers believe each letter or symbol denoted a specific weight that would have been universally recognized by local or regional merchants. At the time, the unit of measurement was the "litra," and the five weights range from half a litra to five litras, or about 5.3 ounces to 3.3 pounds. To read about an ancient city in southwestern Anatolia that was founded by at least the fourth century b.c., go to "Off the Grid: Beçin, Turkey."

(Excerpt) Read more at archaeology.org ...


TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: diocaesarea; epigraphyandlanguage; godsgravesglyphs; hellenism; litra

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Columns from the Temple of Zeus, Diocaesarea, Turkey
Wikimedia Commons
Wikimedia Commons

1 posted on 07/19/2025 8:14:25 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
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To: StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; 1ofmanyfree; 21twelve; 24Karet; 2ndDivisionVet; 31R1O; ...

2 posted on 07/19/2025 8:14:56 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (The moron troll Ted Holden believes that humans originated on Ganymede.)
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To: SunkenCiv

Very cool


3 posted on 07/19/2025 8:29:52 AM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is opinion or satire. Or both.)
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To: BenLurkin

Even cooler is that the magazine knows the proper name of Turkey, which is TURKEY, not Turk-High-Yea.


4 posted on 07/19/2025 8:53:58 AM PDT by BobL
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To: SunkenCiv

Three betas of figs, please...


5 posted on 07/19/2025 1:44:15 PM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: BenLurkin

I wonder if these were once common, and just got ditched as new polities arrived.


6 posted on 07/19/2025 3:03:14 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (The moron troll Ted Holden believes that humans originated on Ganymede.)
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To: Red Badger

As long as the dates on the figs are good. And as long as the vendor doesn’t say he doesn’t give a fig.


7 posted on 07/19/2025 3:06:44 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (The moron troll Ted Holden believes that humans originated on Ganymede.)
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