SHEKEL the principal weight and coin of the Hebrews. The subject of Hebrew weights and money is involved in great obscurity. The almost uniform testimony of ancient authors is that the shekel was equal to the Attic tetradrachm, or to the stater, or half the Roman ounce, that is to 4 denarii, which were reckoned at the period equal to four Attic drachma:. The Septuagint indeed commonly renders the shekel by the didrachm current at Alexandria, which was double of the Attic. Hesychius, in one passage, makes it equal to four, and in others to two Attic dmelunm ; and Suidas makes it five drachma. But the testimony of Hesychius and Suidas is of no value against that of St. Matthew, Josephus, Philo, and the other contempo rary authorities. The average weight of the shekels of Simon :Mecca teens is about 218 English grains, or half the English avoirdupois ounce, and only two grains more than the Roman ounce, or the weight assigned to the shekel by ancient writers. But the full weight of the Attic tetradrachm, to which the shekel is said to have been equal, was not the full one of 266 grains of the time of Pericles or Xenophon, but the reduced one under the Roman emperors, which was always considered as equivalent to the four denarii.
With respect to the shekel of the time before the Captivity, we have no certain information. The Rabbins say that after the Captivity all weights were increased by one-fifth ; but there are many circumstances which prove this tradition to be of no value. In the absence of trust worthy information to the contrary, it is most probable that the ancient and the modern shekel were of the same weight, namely, about 218 grains.
The shekel formed the foundation of the Hebrew weights, of which there were three principal denominations : the shekel meaning weight ; the maneh nunilar, that is, a certain number of shekels or weights ; and the kikkar (7D=), a round number, or VIM total, that is, a certain collection of manehs, translated by the word " talent" in the Septuagint, Vulgate, and modern versions. The shekel, manch, and kikkar corresponding respectively to the stater, mina, and talent.
The kikkar was equal to 3000 shekels. (Exod. xxxviii. 25.) There is a difficulty about the maneh, since from 1 Kings x. 16, compared with 2 Owen. ix. 16, it would seem to have contained 100 shekels, while in Ezekiel xlv. 12, it is ordered to contain 60 shekels. There are great difficulties. in adopting the former value, and on the other hand the meaning of the passage in Ezekiel is very doubtful. If the latter value be adopted, the kikkar would contain 50 inanehs. The shekel was subdivided into the beka (711j72, half), or half shekel, or didrachm, the tabs (17:1, quarter), or quarter-shekel, or drachm (the zuz or zuza of the Talmudists), and the gemh (MD, a kind of bean), or the twentieth of the shekel, or obolos. The following table there fore represents the Hebrew weights :— There appear however to have been at least two standards of the shekel, the sha.el of the sanctuary and the royal or profane shekel. (Exod. xxx. 13; 2 Sam. xiv. 26.) The former was used in calculating the offerings to the Temple, and all other sums connected with the sacred law ; the latter, for the tribute and civil payments. The tradi tion of the Rabbins is that the shekel of the sanctuary was double the profane shekel. By comparing the passages in Kings and Ezekiel quoted above, understanding the former of the profane shekel, and the latter of the shekel of the sanctuary, the process gives 100 : 60 or 5 : 3 for the ratio of the shekel of the sanctuary to the profane shekel.
The currency of the Jews from the earliest ages was silver, and this word expressed money. It is, however, nowhere mentioned as coined, but always as weighed out, till after the Captivity (Josh. vii. 21; 1 Kings xx. 39; Ezek. xlv. 15; Zechariah xi. 12), although some stamps appear to have been impressed on the ingots (Gen. xxiii. 161,
or they were made up in the shape of rings, or nezem (Job xlii. 11, Septuagint). Gold money is first mentioned in David's time (1 Chrou. xxi. 25 ; Isaiah xlvi. 6) under the name of 11D1T1, adarkon, or prsD11, darkemon, supposed to be gold clerics, or drachms, neither of which however were hi existence at the period, although both were probably current when the Chronicles were written or revised. The earliest Hebrew coins are the silver shekels of Simon Maccabmus, to whom the right of striking money had been conceded by Demetrius II, or Antjochus VII. (1 Maccab. xv. 6). These have on one side the supposed pot of manna, or, rather, gold and gemmed sacred vessel given by Simeon (1 Maccab. xsv. 15), with the legend shekel Ishrael," the shekel of Israel," and the initial letters of the year; and, on the other, the supposed Aaron's rod which budded, or, rather, the !illy of the valley of Israel (Isaiah xxxv. 1), and the legend rurvipr, rn'7WrP, Jerusalem haqodesha, "Jerusalem the holy." The half shekels have the same types and legends, with kluttzi, half, added to the word shekel. The inscriptions aro in the Samaritan, and not in the square or ChaIdea form, se it is called, of the Hebrew. No *betels of this dynasty are known later than the fourth year, after which the right of coiuing silver was suppressed, the Idumean line only issuing small pieces of copper ; but there are later shekels of Berko:lb or Barchochebas, who revolted under Hadrian, of broader and flatter shape, having on one side the wheatsheaf, or, rather, hike, of palm, olive, and myrtle branches, with the legend Jertisalem, and on the reverse the beautiful gate of the temple, with four Doric columns and a star, allusive to the star of Jacob, with the legend 11118 11=7, slienat akhat Icoslat Ishrael," the year one of the redeuiption of Israel," in a later form of Samaritan : these weigh grains. The same Barkozib also recoined Roman denarii, for mks, or quarter shekels, with a bunch of grapes on one side and the legend pstzr, Simeon, and on the other two trumpets crossed, or a lyre with lekharut Menet," the liberty of Israel." It is as well to mention here that .all pretended shekels or half shekels, with inscriptions in the square characters, are modern forgeries of the last two centuries, made by Dutch and Gernlan Jews for the purpose of deceiving the unwary collectors of ancient coins. According to the Rabbi nasal the shekel was the same as the Tyrian of 24 obols or main, but St. Jerome (in Mica. proph. v.14) makes the shekel equal to 20 obola, or 4 rabas of 5 obols each : 20 geralst, the supposed largest bronze coins of the Hebrew series, went to the shekel; and the gerah itself was subdivided into the khatzi or half, and robes or fourth, both of which expressions are found on the copper coins. There is a sup posed third of a shekel, but it appears a nominal sum paid for the capitation tax, Nehem. x. 32, after the captivity. There is some diffi culty in deciding upon what standard the shekel was adopted ; the ancient Egyptian kali or sari, of 140 gra., by no means corresponds, and the Phcruician seems too heavy, although the weight is said to correspond with the tetradrachms of Antiochus VII. struck in Phcenicia.
If we assume that the standard was about the same as that of the Roman money, namely, k,th of the weight alloy, the shekel of half an avoirdupois ounce would be equivalent to 210-983 grains of pure silver, tWits.3 or - of a shilling, that is, to 2s. 7d. farthings. According to this calculation, the following table represents the value of tlu Hebrew money (Hussey, On Ancient Weights and Money ; Winer, Biblisehes Real wOrterbuch, art. ' Sekel ;' Calinet's Dictionary ; Jahn, Archdol, Jennings's Jewish Cavedoni, Numismata 8vo., Mo dem, 1850 ; De Sauley, Recherches ear la Numismatique Judaique, Paris, 1854.)