A BYZANTINE

VALIDATED

WEIGHT

BY AL-WALD

BY
GEORGE C. MILES

The American
Numismatic
Society
AT15TH
BROADWAY
STREET
NEWYORK
1939

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NUMISMATIC
NOTES

AND

MONOGRAPHS

Number

87

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NumismaticNotes and Monographs

is devotedto essaysand treatiseson subjects relatingto coins, paper money,
medals and decorationsand is uniform
with Hispanic Notes and Monographs
publishedby the Hispanic Society of
America,and with Indian Notes and
issuedby theMuseumofthe
Monographs
AmericanIndian- Heye Foundation.
Publication Committee
AgnesBaldwinBrett,Chairman
StephenH. P. Pell
ThomasO. Mabbott
Editorial Staff
SydneyPhilipNoe,Editor
Editor
SawyerMcA.Mosser,Associate

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1939BY
COPYRIGHT
NUMISMATIC
THEAMERICAN
SOCIETY

PRINTING
CO.
INTELLIGENCER
THE
PA.
LANCASTER,

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Obverseand Reverseof ByzantineWeight

fromthe Collectionof E. T. Newell

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WEIGHT
A BYZANTINE
BY AL-WALD
VALIDATED
By George C. Miles
The namesof the UmayyadCaliphs 'Abd alivialikand hisson,al-Walld,areassociatednotonly
withthespreadof Islameast and westby forceof
ofthe
armsbutalso withtheinternal
development
state and the pursuitsof peace. 'Abd al-Malik
in
reforms
especiallyis creditedwith significant
and underal-Waldthesereforms
administration,
and extended.Two innovations
of
werecontinued
introduced
character
a nationalist
duringtheperiod
A. D.)
of'Abdal-Malik'srule(65-86A. H./685-705
the creationof a purelyArab
are well-known:
coinageto supplantthe imitativeByzantine-Arab
andSasanian-Arab
issues,and,evenmoreimportant,
the changeof the languagein whichthe state
werekept fromPersianand Greekand
registers
to
Coptic Arabic.
In the matterof the coinage,both historical
evidence(thatis, the
traditionand archaeological
that the recoins themselves)are in agreement
between75 and 77
formed
coinagewas introduced
A. H.; thereafter
theold makeshift
Byzantine
types
forthedinarandfaisin theWestand theadapted
Sasaniandirhamin theEast (exceptin Tabaristn)
wereabandoned. The changewas not a difficult
and Zoroastrian
theChristian
oneto effect:
insignia
with
the
imperialByzantineand Persian
together
and theareaoccupiedby
wereeliminated,
portraits
1

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A BYZANTINE WEIGHT

in the imitation
thesefigures
coinagewas utilized
while marginallegends
for Islamic inscriptions,
wereadded to recordthedate,and, in thecase of
the dirham
, the mintas well. The standardsand
remained
essentiallythe same. But the
weights
reform
in thediwanwas a farmorecomlinguistic
affair. The new order
plicatedand troublesome
overnight. Even in the
could not be introduced
whocouldwriteArabichad
greatcities,secretaries
to be trainedin thewholecomplexbusinessof adand the keepingof the state records
ministration
aboutwhichtheArabsknewverylittleat
(matters
that earlyperiod),whilein mostof the provinces
a foreign
Arabicwas stillvirtually
language. It is
orderedby 'Abd alnotsurprising
thatthereform
Malik and naivelyreportedby the historiansin
termsimplying
thatthechangewas an immediate
faitaccompli,was rathera gradualprocesscarried
on duringtherestofthatCaliph'slifeand brought
to completion
onlyin theyearsof al-Wald'sreign
715 A. D.), or, in some areas,
(86-96 A. H./705evenlater.1
1Theyear81A. H. is usually
as thedateof'Abdalgiven
inSyria
order
thechange
from
Malik's
Greek
toArabic
effecting
ed.deGoeje,
P.K.
al-Buldn,
(BalSdhuri,
Fut
pg.193=transi.,
TheOrigins
N.Y 1916,
Hitti,
oftheIslamic
State,
pg.301;Mal-Ahkm
Kitb
ed.Enger,
wardi,
Bonn,
1853,
al-Sulnyah,
pp.
Thechange
from
inal-'Irq
andthe
Persian
toArabic
349-350).
Aleastern
under
mayhavebeenearlier.
provinces
al-Hajjj
inhisKitbal-Wuzar'
wo'l-Kuttb
Jahshiyri
(ed.infacsimile,
Hansv. Mik,
Bibliothek
Arabischer
undGeographen,
Historiker
fol.17a)gives
a specific
the
date,78A.H.,while
1926,
Leipzig,
historians
itwith
other
donotdatetheevent
butconnect
exactly
ofthefamous
in82or83
thedeath
ZSdhSnfarrQkh,
secretary,
=*transi.,
Ibn-KhaldQn,
text,
(BalSdhuri,
pp.300-301
pp.465-466;

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A BYZANTINE WEIGHT

From the collectionof Mr. EdwardT. Newell

comesa remarkable
souvenirof thesetimesof administrative
a Byzantine
bronzeweight
adjustment,
inscribed
withwhatmightbe calleda validationby
the Caliphal-Wald. Mr. Newellhas kindlypermittedme to studyand publishthis interesting
and formanyotherfavours
piece;forthisprivilege
I am mostgrateful
to him. The weight
is a circular
disk (diameter,
7 mm)witha
35.5 mm;thickness,
tooledprofile,
the piece havingbeen
two-grooved
turnedon a lathe,thetracesof thelive and dead
ofwhichareevidentin slightdepressions
centers
at
the exact centerof the obverseand reverse. On
theobverse,withina borderconsisting
ofrecurrent
semicircles
bearingdotswithinand at thepointsof
is a Greekcross(the
junctionof the semicircles,
armpatt);and, leftand rightrespecthorizontal
8o,or two
ively,the lettersT and B, i. e., o-fxoci
ounces. Borderand area are each enclosedby .
raisedridges,
andin thecenteris a lowboss
slightly
of the lathespindle. Around
bearingthe imprint
the periphery
of the smoothundecorated
reverse
runsa deep, clearlyincisedArabicinscription
in
ed.Quatremie,
Notices
etExtraits
, vol.17,1858,
p.
Muqaddamah,
Islamica
thedate
, I4,pg.989,for
Chronographia
18;seeCaetani,
in
M.
in
a
ofZdhnfarrkh's
article
polemic
death). Sprengling,
ordead,come
offunscathed,
which
fewArabists,
argues
living
for
the
78
date
of
thelanguage
convincingly
al-Jahshiyri;
quite
reform
wasprobably
initiated
Zdhnfarrkh's
lifetime,
during
to
washissecretary
while
Persian
{From
lihb.'Abdal-Rahmn
inAmerican
Journal
andLiteratures
,
Arabic,
Languages
ofSemitic
Vol.LVI,April,
from
1939,
pp.190,195,211).Forthechange
inEgypt,
andGreek
toArabic
seebelow.
Coptic

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A BYZANTINE WEIGHT

*X)'
plain Kufic characters:
AcjJj}' JJI
the
in slightly
rossthecenter,
letters,
inscriplarger
tion is completedwith the words:
'y*'
"In thenameofGod;
The legendcan be translated:
Muhammadis the Messengerof God; Equity is
God's. This is [a weight]of two ounceswhich
1Abdullhal-Wald,2Commander
of the Faithful,
in gramhas established."Thereare severalerrors
and relativepronounsdo
mar: the demonstrative
is in the
not agree in gender,the denomination
is
statement
the
and
faultyin
principal
wrongcase,
thattheverbshouldbe followed
by a personalproacceptable
noun,but the sentenceis nevertheless
of the
and thereis no questionof theauthenticity
of
the
or
epigraphy.Alcolloquialphraseology
llhu bl-wafiis found
Wafflllhi or amara1
quite commonlyon Umayyadcoppercoins and
is of coursetheoblique
glassweights.Wuqlyatayn
in
derivedfromtheGreekoyxa,
dual of wuqyah,
turnfromLatin uncia. The formqyah(*-*?)
and in modern
in dictionaries
is actuallypreferred
spelledwuqyah
speech,but thewordis invariably
on the glass weights,and thisformis givenas a
bylexicographers.3
colloquialalternate
'Abdullah,
isinthetrue
sense
asa title
borne
byalltheCaliphs,
canbenodoubt
ofGod."I think
thatthere
thatal"Servant
a little
more
foronly
than
a
Wald
II, whoruled
I, notal-Walid
inquestion.
The
A.H./743-744
A.D.)istheCaliph
year
(125-126
thecorrectness
ofthis
tend
below
should
tocorroborate
discussion
assumption.
*E. g.,Tjal-'arils,
X,pp.396-397.

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A BYZANTINE WEIGHT

states that al-Walld

Althoughthe inscription
it is
"established"(literally
"created")thisweight,
evidentthat the Arabic sentenceis essentially
a translation
oftheGreek"twoounces"on
merely
andwehaveherea simpleconfirmation
theobverse,
or validationof an alreadyexistingweightand
standard. The Arabicstatement,
then,servesto
merchant
and customer
inform
theArabic-reading
thattheweightis thatof twoounces,and also to
in
makeknownthefactthatthehighestauthority
theArabic(Islamic)wuqyah
theState pronounces
to be thelegalequivalentof theByzantine(Christhe
to Sir FlindersPetrie,4
tian)ounce. According
Romanlibra(and its twelfth
part,theuncia) is derivedfromtheEtruscanpound,which,in turn,was
of 12.88grams(the
standard
basedon theAeginetan
=
in
25
X
12.88), origintheEgyptianbeqa
pound
of 12.96grams. In actualpracticetheunciavaried
at different
timesand in different
considerably
from25.46gramson thestandardof
areas,ranging
to 28.20(thePhoenician
sixAtticdrachmae
stater).
Mr. Newell'sweightnowweighs52.15grams;it has
notmorethana gram,through
losta little,probably
oftheraisedobverseedges,and
wear,slightscarring
theincisingof theArabicinscription.If we arbianda fraction
allowa gramforlossofweight
trarily
arriveat
we
would
ofa gramfororiginal
deficiency
26.80gramsfortheoriginal
ofapproximately
a figure
ouncein thiscase,whichwouldfallin withtwoof
4Measures
andAncient
andWeights
1934,
, London,
pp.20-21,
School
inEgypt,
ofArchaeology
andMesaures
(British
Weights
vol.39),London,
1926,
pg.25.

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A BYZANTINE WEIGHT

Petrie'
s hypothetical
those
groupsofunciaweights,
of the aurei and solidiand of the Roman trade
standard,extendingfrom411-422grains(26.6327.34 grams).5 The presentweightsof similar
piecesofcircularformpublished
by PetrieforUniCollege,London,vary,whenreducedto the
versity
one unciaunit,from25.53to 27.73grams,a wide
due to errorand wear
rangewhichis moreprobably
than to a diversityof standards. Four circular
pieces(threeofone uncia, and one of three)in the
BritishMuseumpublishedby Dalton6show26.15
to 26.70gramsfortheunciaunit. Although
I have
chosenthecircularpiecesas comparative
material,
it is verydoubtful
thattheshapeoftheweightcan
be takenas a criterion
of basicstandard,sincethe
is the same on
styleof decorationand epigraphy
numerousByzantineuncia and nomismaweights
regardlessof shape,whichis sometimescircular,
sometimes
square,sometimes
polygonal.
With regardto the weightof the Umayyad
or qyawe havetwosourcesofinformawuqyah
tion: theaccountsofArabhistorians
whotouchedon
and the glass coin weightsthat have
metrology,
survivedand are preserved
in museumsor private
collections.The immensequantityof materialon
6Petrie,
Ancient
andMeasures,
Weights
pg.26andplates
XLVI,
LU.andL1II.
O. M. Dalton,
Christian
Catalogue
ofEarly
etc.,
Antiquities,
1901,
London,
pp.95-96(nos.460,464,465,478). No.478is
illustrated
andhasa profile
similar
totheweight
under
discussion.
ofByzantine
Other
illustrations
uncia(ungia)
ofthisform
areto
inPetrie,
befound
nos.5310,
XIV-XV,
op.cit.,
plates
notably
and5376,
andplateXVI,inthetray
oftheremarkably
5319,
boxofweights.
preserved

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A BYZANTINE WEIGHT

Arabmetrology
fromArabicsourcesgathered
years
a factwhichis in
demonstrated
ago byH. Sauvaire7
no way surprising,
that in the matterof weight
standardstherewas a greatdivergence
throughout
theagesand in different
partsoftheMuslimworld.
severalfactswhichconcernus arealmost
However,
agreedupon: in early timesthe rati
universally
{libra)was madeupoftwelvewuqyahs
(unciae)- so
also generally
today- and thewuqyah,
althoughit
variedenormously,
was moreoftenthan not the
or tendirhams.
equivalentof aboutsevenmithqals
was to themithql
as 7 is
The weightofthedirham
was equivalentto thelegal
to 10; and themithql
of2.97
dnr, i. e., 4.25grams.8The resultant
figure
gramsforthe dirhamagreesquite well withthe
and theglasscoinweights;
weightofactualdirhams
muchunder
butourtwo-wuqyah
pieceis obviously
weightifwe acceptthestandardof 1 wuqyah= 10
29.70grams. Also the
dirhams= approximately
ratiwas generally
1284/7dirhams
,9againtoo high
to theglassweights,
forthepresent
piece. Turning
whichshouldbe morereliable,Petriehasattempted
7Matriaux
etdela
Vhistoire
dela numismatique
servir
pour
7thand8thSeries.
musulmanes
, inJournal
mtrologie
Asiatique,
thewuqlyah
Vol.3,1884,
for
Seeespecially
,8thSeries,
pp.380-397,
andVol.4,pp.301-304.
8Sauvaire
wasmistaken
8thSeries,
Vol.3,pp.439-440)
(op.cit.,
oftheEgyptian
Commission
of
inaccepting
thedirham
weight
ofthecoin,
andthus
invalidated
astheweight
1845
(3.0898
grams)
intheEncyclopaedia
allofhiscalculations
of
(cf.E. vonZambaur
der
DieNominale
s.v.Dirham).
SeealsoE. v.Bergmann,
Isim,
in
der
derChalifen
Abdulmelik,
Sitzungsberichte
phil.Mnzreform
Vol.65,1870,
derK.Ak.derW/ss.,
hist.
Classe
Wien,
pp.239-266.
Vol.
307-316.
8th
Sauvaire,
op.cit., Series, 4,pp.

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A BYZANTINE WEIGHT

to show10
that,as withtheRomanunciaand Byzantine ungia, therewereseveralwuqyahstandards
influenced
by variouslocal metrological
heritages.
The onlypiecesthatshouldcomeintoconsideration
in the presentcase are the early,completely
preservedglassweights
markedwiththewordwuqyah
or its fractions.11
Whilethereare some amazing
in
the
oftheknownspecimens,
divergences
weights
it appearsthat the wuqyahunit was around31
grams(thereare too fewwell preserved
piecesto
warrantthequotingofa moreexactfigure).This,
as Petriepointsout, is farhigherthanthe usual
Roman uncia, but "therewas a speciallyheavy
in Egypt,influenced
variety
bybeingan octodrachm
of the Ptolemaicor Alexandrian
system."12Some
10SirFlinders
Glass
andWeights
School
Petrie,
Stamps
(British
ofArchaeology
inEgypt,
vol.40),London,
1926,
pg.13andplate
XXVI.Hiscalculations
areperhaps
toorefined,
the
considering
relative
ofmaterial
onthewuqyah,
scarcity
and
bearing
directly
inthewuqyah
thereferences
tables
areconfusing,
ifnotincorrect
insome
particulars.
Thefollowing
are
known
tome:Stanley
wuqyah
glass
weights
Lane-Poole,
Glass
intheBritish
MuCatalogue
ofArabic
Weights
nos.18,27G,
seum,
London,
8thSeries,
1891,
35;Sauvaire,
op.cit.,
Vol.3,pg.397(cf.E. T. Rogers,
Glass
asa Material
Standard
for
inNumismatic
Coin
Weights,
Chronicle,
1873,
pg.88);P.Casanova,
despices
de verre
...
de la collection
Catalogue
Fouquet
. . . delaMission
(Mmoires
auCaire,
Archologique
franaise
Vol.VI,3efascicule),
Paris,
1893,
pg.385(four
Petrie,
specimens);
andWeights,
Glass
nos.254-256;
andfour
Stamps
inthe
specimens
Museum
oftheAmerican
Numismatic
NewYork.I have
Society,
a note
notseen
a 20-wuqyah
inAnnales
de
describing
glass
weight
l'Institut
d'tudes
delaFacult
Orientales
desLettres
del'Universit
,Vol.Ill,pp.6-18.
d'Alger
12GlassStamps
andWeights,
ofwuqiyahs
p. 10. Therange
to Petrie's
calculations
is forthemost
according
partbetween
28Kand31K grams.
roughly

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A BYZANTINE WEIGHT

Arabicbronze(uninscribed
listedbutnot
?) weights
describedin fullby Petriefallintoa lowerrange
around26grams,
andthese,in hisopinion,
represent
a continuation
of the Romanuncia standard;but
theyare the exceptionratherthan the rule. It
appearsthenthat in generalthe Arabicwritten
authorities
and the glassweightsare in quite fair
that
and we mustdrawtheconclusion
conformity,
the wuqyahvalidatedby al-Waldas attestedby
Mr. Newell'sweightwas nottheouncerepresented
bytheglassweights.
aboutthedate
It remainsto makea fewremarks
of the weight
and probableplace of manufacture
underdiscussion.Mr. Newelldoesnotrecallwhere
the
he acquiredthepiece. Evenifthiswereknown,
werethesameas
inference
thattheplaceofpurchase
however
theplaceoforiginwouldnotbe justifiable,
theoriginal
provenance
plausible.In all probability
thereis no concluoftheweightis Egypt,although
sive evidencethat it may not have been Syria.
Weightsofthistypeareusuallyassignedto the5th
of theGreekcrossin
thepresence
or 6thCenturies;
an earlierdating. In thisparticular
itselfprecludes
whocaused
instanceit is unlikelythattheofficial
al-Wald'snameand orderto be inscribedwould
morethan,say,fifty
havechosena weight
yearsold;
we can thenpostulate
is correct,
ifthisassumption
date of
as theapproximate
themiddle7thCentury
ofthepiece. Or,ifit be objected
themanufacture
madebeforetheArab
thattheweightwas probably
in
635,
Egyptin 641),we mayat
conquest(Syria
as a
ofthe7thCentury
leastproposethefirst
quarter

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10

A BYZANTINE WEIGHT

a quo. In anycase thereis a stronglikeliterminus

hoodthatthisweightis to be placedlaterthanthe
date usuallyassignedto similarpieces. As forthe
date of the Arabicvalidation,it clearlymustfall
between86 and 96 A. H. (705-715A. D.), theyears
of al-Wald'sreign. Severalglass stampsearlier
thanthisare known,but theearliestglassweights
wereissuedwhenUsmah b. Zayd was Finance
Ministerin Egypt;one is dated in the year 96.13
as an Arabweight,
Thisweight,
therefore,
providing
it werenotengravedin thelast yearof al-Wald's
reign,antedatesthe earliestknownglass weights,
and is ofaboutequaldate withtheveryinteresting
bronzeweightissuedby al-Hajjj and publisheda
fewyearsago by Mr. JohnWalker.14If Egyptbe
of our piece,we mayassumethat
the provenance
whogavetheorderto inscribe
theweight
theofficial
of Egyptfrom90
was Qurrahb. Sharlk,Governor
to 96 A. H., a manofconsiderable
talentwhowas
appointedbyal-Waldto carryout thenewadminin thatprovince,
andwhois known
reforms
istrative
to us notonlyin thehistories
butalso through
glass
stampsand certainpapyri.15We have it on the
15E. T. Rogers,
GlassWeights
andMeasures,
in
Unpublished
and
Glass
Stamps
J.R.A.S.,N.S.,Vol.X,pg.107.Cf.Petrie,
Weights,
pg.3.
14J. Walker,
Oriental
CoinAcquisitions
SomeRecent
ofthe
Chronicle
in Numismatic
British
, 1935,pp.246-248.
Museum,
is inscribed:
Thisweight
(j-j
A*-"
L
ti. e.sixmithqls.
0/4
15C.H.Becker,
I (Vol.Ill ofVerffentPapyri
Schott-Reinhardt,
ausderHeidelberger
lichungen
Papyrus-Sammlung),
Heidelberg,
t906.H. Lammens
hascontributed
a monograph
onQurrah:

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A BYZANTINE WEIGHT

11

of al-Kindi16
thattheorderwas givento
authority
in EgyptintoArabicin theyear
changetherecords
87, early in al-Walld'sreign. As elsewherethe
thepapyri
changewasaccomplished
onlygradually;
into
demonstrate
thattherewasofficial
bilingualism
the beginning
of the 2nd Centuryof the Hijrah.17
Arabicedictsdated87,91,and 101
ThereareGreekA. H., and Greekand Copticwereusedin theoutuntilmuchlater.
lyingprovinces
' Arabic
'
Thisweight,
then,withits 'nationalistic'
90
about
A. D.,
datable
A.
H.
/708-709
inscription,
a
is an interesting
and valuabledocument
reflecting
which
generaltendencyand the specificreforms
werebeingintroducedwhile the great Umayyad
level.
periodwasat itshighest
ibnark,
les
UnGouverneur
, Qorra
d'aprs
Omayyade
d'gyPle
desOmayyades,
arabes
surleSicle
, intudes
Beyrouth,
papyrus
1930,
pp.305-323.
16Ed.Rhuvon
E. J.
TheGovernors
andJudges
Guest,
ofEgypt,
Memorial
Vol.XIX,Leyden,
W.Gibb
1912,
Series,
pp.58-59.
17Becker,
Bjrkman,
Beitrge
op.cit.,
pp.27-29.Cf.Walther
zurGeschichte
imislamischen
derStaatskanzlei
Hamburg,
gypten,
1928,
pp.2-3.

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