ABSTRACT
The monetary standards underlying the earliest issues of coins were based upon the weight units of the premonetary era. The names of early coins, such as the shekel, stater, drachm, obol, libra, and litra, are all the names of early weight units, or refer to an early custom of weighing. The most important of these units, which were discussed in the preceding chapter, were the “Babylonian" gold shekel of about 126 grains, the “Phœnician” silver unit of 112 grains, and the “Babylonian” silver unit of about 168 grains, all these units being known in a “heavy” or double form.
