Anatolian Weights and Measures

The use of metal in Anatolia increased significantly towards the end of the Chalcolithic period, reflecting the development of trade relations in the region, and from commercial documents that have been deciphered, we know that units of weight originating in Mesopotamia were used in Anatolia. Although there is no firm evidence about the use of weights and measures in Anatolia prior to the Assyrian Colonies period, finds made of valuable metals with graduated markings are thought to have been used for measuring or for exchange in trade. For example, at Troy small gold bars and in particular graduated rods seem beyond doubt to show the existence of trade based on measurement.

The Hittites, like the other tribes of the Near East, used silver as a medium of exchange, in the form of rings or rods of specific size and weight. As in earlier times, hematite weights continued to be used to measure shekels and manas, units of weight that originated in Babylon.

Anatolian Weights and Measures in the Hellenic Period

The laws of Solon implemented around Athens in the Greek period are also thought to have been used in Anatolia. Solon ruled that the talent of weight (Greek talanton) should be 3 manas heavier than the monetary talent, distributing the difference between the constituent parts of the weight talent. This unit was the stater (873.2 g), equivalent to the old currency unit, the didrachmon. Fractions of this unit were also used.

The main Greek units of weight were the talent and mana, but these were not identical everywhere. For example, in Athens after the introduction of the Solonian standard this was equivalent to 36.39 kg when weighing commodities. As a monetary unit it was equivalent to metal weighing 25.92 kg. One sixtieth of a talent was a mna or mana.

The principal liquid measures were the katule (0.27 litres) and the amphora (1.27 litres), while dry measures were the khonix (1.08 litres) and medimnos (51.84 litres).

In the famous History by Herodotus of Halicarnassus we find almost all the measurements of length used in Anatolia during the ancient Greek period:
foot: 0.296 cm (the modern foot is 30.48 cm)
finger: one sixteenth of a foot, 0.0185 metres
cubit: 1.5 feet, 0.444 metres
fathom: 6 feet, 4 cubits, 1.776 metres
plethron: 100 feet
stadium: 600 Greek feet. The Athens stadium was equivalent to 177.6 metres.
palm: one quarter of a foot, 6 palms equalled one cubit
skenes: Egyptian unit equivalent to 60 stadiums, 10.656 km
parasang: Iranian unit equivalent to 30 stadiums, 5.328 km