Mina (unit)

"Mna" redirects here. For the acronym, see MNA.

The mina (also mna, Ancient Greek μνᾶ) is an ancient Near Eastern unit of weight equivalent to 60 (50) shekels. The mina, like the shekel, was also a unit of currency; in ancient Greece it was equal to 100 drachmae. In the first century AD, it amounted to about a fourth of the wages earned annually by an agricultural worker. The Greek word mna was borrowed from Semitic; compare Hebrew māneh, Aramaic mĕnē, Syriac manyā, Ugaritic mn, and Akkadian manū.
In folk language used by the sailors the word mina or mines came to mean "mines", indicating mineral resources extracted from the ground.

From earliest Sumerian times, a mina was a unit of weight. At first, talents and shekels had not yet been introduced. By the time of Ur-Nammu, the mina had a value of 1/60 talents as well as 60 shekels. The value of the mina is calculated at 1.25 pounds^[1][2] or 0.571 kilograms per mina (18.358 troy ounces). Accordingly, in modern values, the silver mina would equal US$110.10 and the gold mina US$6,422.50.

Evidence from Ugarit indicates that a mina was equivalent to fifty shekels^[3]. The prophet Ezekiel refers to a mina ('maneh' in the King James Version) as sixty shekels^[4]. Jesus Christ tells the "parable of the minas" in Luke 19:11-27.

From the Akkadian period, 2 mina was equal to 1 sila of water (cf. clepsydra, water clock).

Images

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  Mina of Chios.

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  Mina of Antiochus IV Epiphanes.

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  Mina of Antioch.

References

1. ^ [1] Calculation of weight by number of shekels.
2. ^ [2] Jewish Encyclopedia
3. ^ Tenney, Merril ed., The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, vol. 5, "Weights and Measures," Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1976.
4. ^ Ezekiel 45:12

This standards- or measurement-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.v · Categories: Units of mass Ancient Near East Coins of ancient Greece Money stubs Ancient Greece stubs Standards and measurement stubs Wikimedia Foundation. 2010. Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу Hot Shot Simcoe South Look at other dictionaries: Mina — may refer to: Mina (given name), a given name (and list of people and characters with that name) Mina (unit), an ancient Near Eastern unit of weight and currency. Mina, a folk word related with the extraction of mineral resources (mines) Mina, an …   Wikipedia mina — mina1 [mī′nə] n. pl. minae [mī′nē] or minas [L < Gr mna, of Sem orig., as in Heb māneh] a varying unit of weight and money used in ancient Greece, Egypt, etc., generally equal to 1/ 60 talent, 100 drachmas, or 50 shekels mina2 [mī′nə] n. MYNA …   English World dictionary mina —    a historic unit of weight, originating in Babylonia and used throughout the eastern Mediterranean. The mina is roughly comparable to the pound, but over the centuries it varied quite a bit. In Babylonian times it was a large unit, roughly 2… …   Dictionary of units of measurement mina — mina1 /muy neuh/, n., pl. minae / nee/, minas. an ancient unit of weight and value equal to the sixtieth part of a talent. [1570 80; < L < Gk mnâ < Sem; cf. Heb maneh mina] mina2 /muy neuh/, n. myna. * * * ▪ South Asian people also called   …   Universalium mina — noun Etymology: Latin, from Greek mna, of Semitic origin; akin to Hebrew māneh mina Date: 15th century an ancient unit of weight and value equal to 1/60 talent …   New Collegiate Dictionary mina — noun a) The myna bird. b) A unit of weight in ancient Babylonia …   Wiktionary Apache MINA — Entwickler Apache Software Foundation Aktuelle Version 1.1.7 (19. April 2008) Aktuelle Vorabversion 2.0.0 RC1 (19. Oktober 2009) Betriebssystem plattformunabhängig …   Deutsch Wikipedia Batman (unit) — Man (unit) redirects here. For the equivalent unit in South Asia, see Maund. The batman (Turkish pronunciation: [batˈman]) was a unit of mass used in the Ottoman Empire and among Turkic peoples of the Russian Empire. It has also been… …   Wikipedia Omer (unit) — The omer (Hebrew: עמר‎) is an ancient Israelite unit of dry measure used in the era of the Temple in Jerusalem. It is used in the Bible as an ancient unit of volume for grains and dry commodities, and the Torah mentions as being equal to one… …   Wikipedia Minot (unit) — For other uses, see Minot (disambiguation). The minot (French pronunciation: [mino]) is an old unit of dry volume, used in France prior to metrication. The unit was equivalent to three French bushels (boisseaux), half a mine, and one quarter …   Wikipedia 18+ © Academic, 2000-2024 Contact us: Technical Support, Advertising Dictionaries export, created on PHP, Joomla, Drupal, WordPress, MODx. Mark and share Search through all dictionaries Translate… Search Internet Share the article and excerpts Direct link … Do a right-click on the link above and select “Copy Link”