The Greeks adopted these weights through their trade with the Phoenicians along with the ratio of 60 minas to one talent. A Greek mina in Euboea around 800 BC weighed 504 g; other minas in the Mediterranean basin, and even other Greek minas, varied in some small measure from the Babylonian values, and from one to another. The Bible mentions the unit in various contexts, like Hiram king of Tyre sending 120 talents of gold to King Solomon as part of an alliance, or the building of the candelabrum necessitating a talent of pure gold.
In Homer, the word τάλαντα in the plural is sometimes used of a pair of scales or a balance; it is used especially of the scales in which Zeus weighed the fortunes of men (Iliad 8.69, 19.223, 22.209). The word is also used as a measurement, always of gold. "From the order of the prizes in Il. 23.262 sq. and other passages its weight was probably not great".
According to Seltman, the original Homeric talent was probably the gold equivalent of the value of an ox or a cow. Homer describes how Achilles set an ox as 2nd prize in a foot race, and a half-talent of gold as the third prize, suggesting that the ox was worth a talent. Based on a statement from a later Greek source that "the talent of Homer was equal in amount to the later daric [... i.e.] two Attic drachmas" and analysis of finds from a Mycenaean grave-shaft, a weight of about 8.5 grams (0.30 oz) can be established for this original talent. The later Attic talent was of a different weight than the Homeric, but represented the same value in copper as the Homeric did in gold, with the price ratio of gold to copper in Bronze Age Greece being 1:3000.
An Attic weight talent was about 25.8 kilograms (57 lb). Friedrich Hultsch estimated a weight of 26.2 kg, and Dewald (1998) offers an estimate of 26.0 kg.
An Attic talent of silver was the value of nine man-years of skilled work, according to known wage rates from 377 BC. In 415 BC, an Attic talent was a month's pay for a trireme crew. Hellenistic mercenaries were commonly paid one drachma per day of military service.
In Revelation 16:21, the talent is used as a weight for hail being poured forth from heaven and dropping on mankind as punishment in the end times: "And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great." (KJV) Various definitions are provided in different translations:
Stieglitz, Robert R. (1979). "Commodity Prices at Ugarit". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 99 (1): 15–23. doi:10.2307/598945. ISSN 0003-0279. JSTOR 598945. http://www.jstor.org/stable/598945
Krahmalkov, Charles R. Phoenician-Punic Dictionary. p. 225.
"Search Entry ܟܲܟܪܵܐ". www.assyrianlanguages.org. Retrieved 2020-11-22. https://www.assyrianlanguages.org/sureth/dosearch.php?searchkey=6030&language=id
Brown, Francis; Driver, Samuel Rolles; Briggs, Charles Augustus, eds. (1906). A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament. England. ISBN 1-56563-206-0. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) 1-56563-206-0
auri eborisque talenta "talents of gold and ivory", Vergil, Aeneid 11.333.
John William Humphrey, John Peter Oleson, Andrew Neil Sherwood, Greek and Roman technology, p. 487. /wiki/John_Peter_Oleson
Dewald 1998, p. 593. - Herodotus (1998) [440 BC]. Dewald, Carolyn (ed.). The Histories. Translated by Waterfield, Robin. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780192126092. https://archive.org/details/histories0000hero
"III. Measures of Weight:", Jewish Encyclopedia. http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=81&letter=W&search=weights%20and%20measures#217
"III. Measures of Weight:", Jewish Encyclopedia. http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=81&letter=W&search=weights%20and%20measures#217
John William Humphrey, John Peter Oleson, Andrew Neil Sherwood, Greek and Roman technology, p. 487. /wiki/John_Peter_Oleson
John William Humphrey, John Peter Oleson, Andrew Neil Sherwood, Greek and Roman technology, p. 487. /wiki/John_Peter_Oleson
Black, Jeremy; George, Andrew; Postgat, Nicholas (2000). A Concise Dictionary of Akkadian. Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden. p. 141.
"Search Entry". http://www.assyrianlanguages.org/akkadian/dosearch.php?searchkey=kakkartum&language=rawakkadian
or less specifically biltu 'tribute, load', corresponding to Biblical Aramaic בְּלוֹ (belu) 'tribute, tax' (Akkadian Lexicon Companion for Biblical Hebrew Etymological, Semantic and Idiomatic Equivalence, Hayim Tawil, 2009. Also Jastrow Dictionary.) http://www.assyrianlanguages.org/akkadian/dosearch.php?searchkey=778&language=id
"Melachim1 (1 Kings) 9 :: Septuagint (LXX)". Blue Letter Bible. Retrieved 2020-07-28. https://www.blueletterbible.org/lxx/1ki/9/1/t_conc_300014
Stieglitz, Robert R. (1979). "Commodity Prices at Ugarit". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 99 (1): 15–23. doi:10.2307/598945. ISSN 0003-0279. JSTOR 598945. http://www.jstor.org/stable/598945
Krahmalkov, Charles R. Phoenician-Punic Dictionary. p. 225.
"Search Entry ܟܲܟܪܵܐ". www.assyrianlanguages.org. Retrieved 2020-11-22. https://www.assyrianlanguages.org/sureth/dosearch.php?searchkey=6030&language=id
Brown, Francis; Driver, Samuel Rolles; Briggs, Charles Augustus, eds. (1906). A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament. England. ISBN 1-56563-206-0. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) 1-56563-206-0
Koehler, Ludwig; Baumgartner, Walter; Richardson, M.E.J.; Stamm, J.J. The Hebrew and Aramaic lexicon of the Old Testament (HALOT). pp. Entry כִּכָּר.
Lete, Gregorio del Olmo; Sanmartín, Joaquín. Watson, W.G.E. (ed.). A Dictionary of the Ugaritic Language in the Alphabetic Tradition. p. 430.
See J.H. Kroll, "Early Iron Age balance weights at Lefkandi, Euboea". Oxford Journal of Archaeology 27, pp. 37–48 (2008)
"1 Kings 9:14 Interlinear: And Hiram sendeth to the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold". biblehub.com. Retrieved 2020-07-28. https://biblehub.com/interlinear/1_kings/9-14.htm
"Exodus 25:39 Interlinear: of a talent of pure gold he doth make it, with all these vessels". biblehub.com. Retrieved 2020-07-28. https://biblehub.com/interlinear/exodus/25-39.htm
2 Kings 5.23.
Ridgeway, William (1892). The Origin of Metallic Currency and Weight Standards, Cambridge, p. 264. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/66160/66160-h/66160-h.htm
The Latin word libra also has a dual meaning of "balance" and "pound weight".
Liddell, Scott, Jones, Greek Lexicon, s.v. τάλαντον. https://logeion.uchicago.edu/%CF%84%CE%AC%CE%BB%CE%B1%CE%BD%CF%84%CE%BF%CE%BD.
Charles Theodore Seltman (1924) Athens, Its History and Coinage Before the Persian Invasion, pp. 112–114.
Homer, The Iliad, Hom. Il. 23.750–1. https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D23%3Acard%3D740
Charles Theodore Seltman (1924) Athens, Its History and Coinage Before the Persian Invasion, pp. 112–114.
Charles Theodore Seltman (1924) Athens, Its History and Coinage Before the Persian Invasion, pp. 112–114.
Renfrew, Colin; Wagstaff, Malcolm, eds. (1982). An Island Polity, the Archaeology of Exploitation in Melos. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 49. One Attic talent was the equivalent of 60 minae or 6,000 drachmae... /wiki/Colin_Renfrew
Hultsch (1882) p 135 - Hultsch, Friedrich (1882). Griechische und Römische Metrologie [Greek and Roman Metrology] (in German) (2nd ed.). Weidmannsche Buchhandlung. https://archive.org/details/griechischeundr04hultgoog
Dewald (1998), in Appendix II - Herodotus (1998) [440 BC]. Dewald, Carolyn (ed.). The Histories. Translated by Waterfield, Robin. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780192126092. https://archive.org/details/histories0000hero
Engen, Darel. "The Economy of Ancient Greece", EH.Net Encyclopedia, 2004. https://eh.net/encyclopedia/the-economy-of-ancient-greece/
Thucydides. History of the Peloponnesian War. Book 6, verse 8: "Early in the spring of the following summer the Athenian envoys arrived from Sicily, and the Egestaeans with them, bringing sixty talents of uncoined silver, as a month's pay for sixty ships, which they were to ask to have sent them."
Hultsch (1882), p 502 - Hultsch, Friedrich (1882). Griechische und Römische Metrologie [Greek and Roman Metrology] (in German) (2nd ed.). Weidmannsche Buchhandlung. https://archive.org/details/griechischeundr04hultgoog
Gardner, Percy (1918). A History of Ancient Coinage 700–300 B.C. Oxford University. https://archive.org/details/historyofancient00garduoft/page/114/
Jerusalem Talmud (Sanhedrin end of chapter 1 [9a]), where litra is used, being the Greek form of the Latin libra. /wiki/Jerusalem_Talmud
Adani, Samuel ben Joseph (1997). Sefer Naḥalat Yosef (in Hebrew). Ramat-Gan: Makhon Nir David. p. 17b (chapter 4). OCLC 31818927. (reprinted from Jerusalem editions, 1907, 1917 and 1988) /wiki/OCLC_(identifier)
Danby, H., ed. (1933), The Mishnah, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 798 (Appendix II – B: Weights), ISBN 0-19-815402-X {{citation}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help) 0-19-815402-X
Adani, Samuel ben Joseph (1997). Sefer Naḥalat Yosef (in Hebrew). Ramat-Gan: Makhon Nir David. p. 17b (chapter 4). OCLC 31818927. (reprinted from Jerusalem editions, 1907, 1917 and 1988) /wiki/OCLC_(identifier)
cf. Babylonian Talmud (Kiddushin 11b), Rashi s.v. בשקל הקודש במנה צורי /wiki/Babylonian_Talmud
Maimonides (1974). Sefer Mishneh Torah - HaYad Ha-Chazakah (Maimonides' Code of Jewish Law) (in Hebrew). Vol. 4 (Seder Avodah). Jerusalem: Pe'er HaTorah., s.v. Hil. Kelei HaMikdash 2:3 /wiki/Maimonides
Jerusalem Talmud (Sanhedrin 9a), Pnei Moshe Commentary, s.v. דכתיב בקע לגלגלת /wiki/Jerusalem_Talmud
Adani, Samuel ben Joseph (1997). Sefer Naḥalat Yosef (in Hebrew). Ramat-Gan: Makhon Nir David. p. 17b (chapter 4). OCLC 31818927. (reprinted from Jerusalem editions, 1907, 1917 and 1988) /wiki/OCLC_(identifier)
Danby, H., ed. (1933), The Mishnah, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 798 (Appendix II – B: Weights), ISBN 0-19-815402-X {{citation}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help) 0-19-815402-X
Adani, Samuel ben Joseph (1997). Sefer Naḥalat Yosef (in Hebrew). Ramat-Gan: Makhon Nir David. p. 17b (chapter 4). OCLC 31818927. (reprinted from Jerusalem editions, 1907, 1917 and 1988) /wiki/OCLC_(identifier)
Shelomo Qorah, ʿArikhat Shūlḥan - Yilqūṭ Ḥayyīm, vol. 13 (Principles of Instruction and Tradition), Benei Barak 2012, p. 206 (Hebrew title: עריכת שולחן - ילקוט חיים) OCLC 762505465 /wiki/OCLC_(identifier)
Adani, Samuel ben Joseph (1997). Sefer Naḥalat Yosef (in Hebrew). Ramat-Gan: Makhon Nir David. p. 17b (chapter 4). OCLC 31818927. (reprinted from Jerusalem editions, 1907, 1917 and 1988) /wiki/OCLC_(identifier)
Matthew 25:14–30 https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Bible_(King_James)/Matthew#25:14
Skeat, Walter W. A concise etymological dictionary of the English language. p. 489. "Talent. (F.-L-Gk.) The sense of 'ability' is from the parable; Matt. xxv. F. talent, 'a talent in money; also will, desire;' Cot. —L. talentum. — Gk. Τάλαντον, a balance, weight, sum of money, talent. Named from being lifted and weighed; cf. Skt. tul, L. tollere, to lift, Gk. τάλ-ας, sustaining. (TAL.) Allied to Tolerate. Der. talent-ed, in use before A. D. 1700." https://books.google.com/books?id=k2FHAAAAYAAJ&q=reverend+skeat+etymology
"talent (n)". Online Etymological Dictionary. Retrieved 7 June 2022. "late 13c., 'inclination, disposition, will, desire', from Old French talent (12c.), from Medieval Latin talenta, plural of talentum 'inclination, leaning, will, desire' (11c.), in classical Latin 'balance, weight; sum of money', from Greek talanton 'a balance, pair of scales', hence "weight, definite weight, anything weighed', and in later times 'sum of money', from PIE *tele- 'to lift, support, weigh', 'with derivatives referring to measured weights and thence money and payment' [Watkins]; see extol." http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=talent
Luke 19:12–27 https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Bible_(King_James)/Luke#19:12
Epiphanius. Treatise on Weights and Measures (Syriac Version). James Elmer Dean, ed. (1935). Chicago University Press. §45
Matthew 18:23–35 https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Bible_(King_James)/Matthew#18:23
Exodus 38 https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Bible_(King_James)/Exodus#38:1
2 Chronicles 9:131 Kings 10:14 https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Bible_(King_James)/2_Chronicles#9:13