Issue 129 (2016)

A. Zubco, Ph.D.in History, Associate Prof.

Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Kyiv, Ukraine

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17721/1728-2640.2016.129.2.05

WEIGHT UNITS IN THE SYSTEMS OF MEASUREMENTS

IN NEAR AND MIDDLE EAST COUNTRIES IN XI – XIX CENTURIES

Arab money and weight terminology as well as the monetary affair were under the powerful influence of the civilizations of the Ancient East, the Roman Empire, and Byzantium. In the 7th century the Arabs conquered Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and the North Africa in the Byzantium. At the same time the Arab armies conquered Iran and the Central Asia. It was formed a world-wide Muslim state – the Arab Caliphate that stretched from Morocco to India. The collapse of the Arab Caliphate into separate feudal ownership lasted during the long period. The modern national states were formed from these feudal estates during the period from the 11th to 20th centuries. The main factor in the formation of weight and monetary systems of the Middle East states was the development of handicrafts and trade. Weight measures were flexibly adapted to the quantity and characteristics of goods that merchants traded. As a consequence, a large number of local measures were created. The power of the Arab Caliphate, and later the Ottoman Empire tried to create the universal system of measures. However, it was not completely embodied. The study of the weight measures in measurement systems of the Middle East states is an important issue in our time. The article restores the structure of the weight systems, the correlation of their units, determines the standard weight units as well as ascertains the origin of weight systems in Near and Middle East countries in XI-XIX centuries and their interrelation.

Key words: Arabic monetary and weight system, unit of weight, a historical source.