the sum 50 shekels of silver, the latter "six hundred shekels of gold by weight," and in any case, as we do not know the number of oxen used in threshing or the value of the floor and threshing instruments, it is impossible for us to draw any inference. In the Book of Exodus, however, we obtain the value of a slave, from which we may at least get an approximate idea of the value of an ox: "If the (wicked) ox shall push a manservant or a maidservant; he (the owner of the ox) shall give unto their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned" (xxi. 32). Here, as in the ancient laws of Wales and elsewhere, the value of the male and female slave is the same, and thirty shekels or pieces of silver seems to have been the conventional price of a slave among the Hebrews. To this Zechariah (xi. 12) seems to allude, "So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver," in reference to which the Evangelist writes: "Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value" (Matt. xxvii. 9). The average slave among the Homeric Greeks (as we saw above) was worth about three oxen, amongst the Irish three, among the modern Zulus about 10, and among the wild tribes of Annam seven (pp. 24-5). Allowing three oxen as the value of a slave among the Hebrews, the ox is worth 10 shekels (ancient) = 1300 grains of silver = 130 grains of gold, taking gold to silver as 10:1, which at an early period was probably the regular ratio in parts of Asia Minor. The result thus reached gives us once more the Homeric ox-unit as the value of the Hebrew ox. It is certain that it cannot have been higher, although we cannot show that it may not have been less.
The cow is estimated in the Commentary on Vendîdâd, Fargard, IV. 1-2 at 12 stirs or istirs.
Our task must be now to find out the weight of this istir. Istir or stir is identified with Greek [Greek: statêr] (as dirham is with Greek [Greek: drachmê ]).
The Pahlavi Texts, translated by Dr West, naturally afford us the readiest means of discovering our object[1].
- ↑ Sacred Books of the East, Vols. V., XVIII., and XXIV.
