The Carat of The Romans and Greeks
The solidus was also a Roman weight unit. There is literary evidence that the weight of 72 coins of the type called solidus was exactly 1 Roman pound, and that the weight of 1 solidus was 24 siliquae. The weight of a Roman pound is generally believed to have been 327.45 g or possibly up to 5 g less. Therefore, the metric equivalent of 1 siliqua was approximately 189 mg. The Greeks had a similar unit of the same value.
Gold fineness in carats comes from carats and grains of gold in a solidus of coin. One solidus = 24 carats, 1 carat = 4 grains, is preserved right up to this day. Woolhouse's Measures, Weights and Moneys of all Nations gives gold fineness in carats of 4 grains, and silver in (pound) of 12 ounces each 20 dwt.
Read more about this topic: Carat (mass)
Famous quotes containing the words carat, romans and/or greeks:
“The award of a pure gold medal for poetry would flatter the recipient unduly: no poem ever attains such carat purity.”
—Robert Graves (1895–1985)
“I perceive that God is no respecter of persons.”
—Bible: New Testament Acts, 10:34.
Said by Peter at Caesarea; similar wording is found in Romans 2:11: “There is no respect of persons with God.”
“In how few words, for instance, the Greeks would have told the story of Abelard and Heloise, making but a sentence of our classical dictionary.... We moderns, on the other hand, collect only the raw materials of biography and history, “memoirs to serve for a history,” which is but materials to serve for a mythology.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)