Shekel

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Shekel

Shekel, also rendered sheqel, refers to one of many ancient units of weight

Weight

In the physical sciences, weight is a measurement of the gravitational force acting on an object. Near the surface of the Earth, the Earth's gravity is approximately constant; this means that an object's weight is roughly proportional to its mass....
and currency

Currency

A currency is a Medium of exchange, facilitating the trade of goods and/or Service s. It is coins and paper bills used as money. It is one form of money, where money is anything that serves as a medium of exchange, a store of value, and a standard of value....
. The first known usage is from Mesopotamia

Ancient Mesopotamian units of measurement

File:Sumerian_Calendar_ISO_B0.svg?Ancient mesopotamian units of measurement originated in the loosely organized city-states of Early Dynastic Sumer....
around 3000 BC. One explanation is given for the origination of this word as to have originally applied to a specific mass of barley, and the first syllable of the word, 'she' was Akkadian

Akkadian language

Akkadian or Assyrian-Babylonian is a Semitic language that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest attested Semitic language, it used the cuneiform writing system derived ultimately from ancient Sumerian language, an unrelated language isolate....
for barley

Barley

Barley is an annual plant cereal grain derived from the grass Hordeum vulgare. It serves as a major animal feed crop, with smaller amounts used for malting and in health food, as well as the making of alcoholic beverages beer and whisky....
. A shekel was originally 180 grains

Grain (measure)

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Encyclopedia

Shekel, also rendered sheqel, refers to one of many ancient units of weight

Weight

Currency

Ancient Mesopotamian units of measurement

Akkadian language

Barley

Grain (measure)

In many cultures, a grain is a Physical unit of measurement of mass that is based upon the mass of a single seed of a typical cereal. Historically, in Europe, the average masses of wheat and barley grain were used to define units of mass....
(~11 grams).

The earliest shekels were not money, but were a unit of weight, used as other units of weight such as grams and troy ounces for trading before the advent of coins. Early coins were money stamped with an official seal to certify their weight. Coins were invented by the early Anatolian traders who stamped their own marks so that they would not have to weigh it again each time it was used. Silver ingots, some with markings on them were issued. Later the stamping was taken over by official authorities who designed the coins. (Detroit Institute of Arts, 1964) Herodotus

Herodotus

Herodotus of Halicarnassus was a Greeks historian who lived in the 5th century BC and is regarded as the "Father of History" in Western culture....
states that the first coinage was issued by Croesus

Croesus

Croesus was the Monarch of Lydia from 560/561 BC until his defeat by the Persian Empire in about 547 BC. The fall of Croesus made a profound impact on the Greeks, providing a fixed point in their calendar....
, King of Lydia

Lydia

Lydia was an Iron Age kingdom of western Asia Minor located generally east of ancient Ionia in the modern Turkey provinces of Manisa Province and inland Izmir Province....
, spreading to the golden Daric (worth 20 sigloi

Achaemenid currency

File:Pharnabazus silver stater as Satrap of Cilicia 379 374 BC.jpgThe coinage of the Achaemenid Empire was a continuation of the coins of Lydia....
or shekel), issued by the Persian Empire and the Silver Athenian obol

Obolus

The obolus is a Greece silver coin worth a sixth of a drachma. In Classical Athens it was subdivided into eight chalkoi . Two obols made a diobol....
and drachma.

The plural can be shekels, sheqels or sheqalim. In some regions of the United States

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
, the term is used informally for "money

Money

Money is anything that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts. The main uses of money are as a medium of exchange, a unit of account, and a store of value....
," particularly in situations where value is an important consideration.

It most commonly refers to an ancient Hebrew

Hebrews

Hebrews are an ancient people defined as descendants of biblical Patriarch Abraham , a descendent of Noah.In the Bible, the patriarch Abraham is referred to a single time as the ivri, which is the singular form of the Hebrew-language word for Hebrew ....
unit of weight. As with many ancient units, the shekel represented a variety of values depending on date, domain and region. Sources quote weights between 9 and 17 gram

Gram

The gram , ; symbol g, is a Physical unit of mass.Originally defined as "the absolute weight of a volume of pure water equal to the cube of the hundredth part of a metre, and at the temperature of melting ice" , a gram is now defined as one one-thousandth of the SI base unit, the kilogram, or Scientific notation kg, which itself is...
s and values of 11, 14, and 17 grams are common. It can be a gold

Gold

Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and atomic number 79. It is a highly sought-after precious metal, having been used as money, as a store of value, in jewelry, in sculpture, and for ornamentation since the beginning of recorded history....
or silver

Silver

Silver is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal....
coin

Coin

A coin is a piece of hard material, usually metal or a metallic material, usually in the shape of a Disk , and most often issued by a government....
equal in weight to one of these units, especially the chief silver coin of the Hebrews.

The shekel was commonly used among other western Semitic

Semitic

In linguistics and ethnology, Semitic was first used to refer to a language family of largely Middle Eastern origin, now called the Semitic languages....
peoples as well. Moab

Moab

Moab is the historical name for a mountainous strip of land in modern-day Jordan running along the eastern shore of the Dead Sea. In ancient times, it was home to the kingdom of the Moabites, a people often in conflict with their Israelite neighbors to the west....
ites, Edom

Edom

Edom is a name given to Esau in the Hebrew Bible, as well as to the nation descending from him. The nation's name in Assyrian language was Udumi; in Syriac language, ????; in Greek language, ?d???a?a ; in Latin, Idum?a or Idumea....
ites and Phoenicia

Phoenicia

Phoenicia was an ancient civilization centered in the north of ancient Canaan, with its heartland along the coastal regions of modern day Lebanon, extending to parts of Israel, Syria and the Palestinian territories....
ns all used the shekel, the latter as coinage as well as for a unit of weight. Punic coinage was based on the shekel, a heritage from their Canaanite ancestors. The Aramaic spelling tekel appears with a symbolic meaning in the writing on the wall

The writing on the wall

"The writing on the wall" , an idiom, is a portent of doom or misfortune. It originates in the Biblical book of Daniel—where supernatural writing foretells the demise of the Babylonian Empire....
during the feast of Belshazzar

Belshazzar's Feast

Belshazzar's Feast is described in the Book of Daniel. The Babylonian king Belshazzar profanes the sacred vessels of the enslaved Israelites. As prophesied by the writing on the wall, and interpreted by Daniel, Belshazzar is killed and Darius the Mede succeeds to his kingdom....
, according to the Book of Daniel

Book of Daniel

The Book of Daniel is a book in both the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Originally written in Hebrew language and Aramaic language, it is set during the Babylonian Captivity, a period when Jews were deported and exiled to Babylon following the Siege of Jerusalem of 597 BC....
.

Silver Tyrian shekels are thought to be the infamous "30 pieces of silver

Judas Iscariot

'Judas Iscariot', "Yehuda" was, according to the New Testament, one of the twelve original Twelve Apostles of Jesus. Among the twelve, he was apparently designated to keep account of the "accountant" , but he is most traditionally known for his role in Jesus' betrayal into the hands of Roman authorities....
" in the New Testament

New Testament

The New Testament is the name given to the second major division of the Christianity Bible, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
.

Since 1980, the sheqel has been the currency of the modern state of Israel

Israel

Israel officially the State of Israel , is a country in the Middle East located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area....
, first the Israeli sheqel

Israeli sheqel

The sheqel was the currency of Israel between February 24, 1980 and December 31, 1985. The sheqel was subdivided into 100 new agorot . The sheqel sign#Israeli sheqel was ""....
, then (since 1985) the Israeli new sheqel

Israeli new sheqel

The Israeli New Sheqel is the currency of Israel. The new sheqel is divided into 100 agorot . Denominations made in this currency are marked with the sheqel sign....
.

In Fiction

The shekel is also a unit of measurement in New Crobuzon

New Crobuzon

New Crobuzon is a fictional city-state created by China Mi?ville. It is prominently featured in both Perdido Street Station and Iron Council, and serves as a plot device and background for The Scar....
, the setting of China Miéville's

China Miéville

China Tom Mi?ville is an award-winning England fantastic fiction writer. He is fond of describing his work as "weird fiction" , and belongs to a loose group of writers sometimes called New Weird who consciously attempt to move fantasy away from commercial, genre clich?s of Tolkien epigons....
Bas-Lag series, and the nickname of one of the main characters in The Scar
The Scar

The Scar is the third novel written by China Mi?ville, a self-described "weird fiction" writer from London, England. The Scar won the 2003 British Fantasy Award and was shortlisted for the 2003 Arthur C....
.

Shekel

In Fiction

See also