It is very uncertain whether the Hebrews at any time employed a _maneh_ of 60 shekels. They most certainly did not do so for gold and silver, and probably not even for copper and other cheap commodities. Very unfortunately the famous passage in Ezekiel (xlv. 12), which deals with weights and measures, is so confused in the description of the maneh that we cannot employ it as evidence. The one element of certainty is that the gold shekel never varied from first to last. It is likewise probable that, whilst the heavy maneh was introduced for gold silver and copper alike, the shekel always remained the same, 100 shekels being counted to the mina of gold and silver in the royal system, whilst 50 shekels always continued to be regarded as composing the maneh of the Sanctuary, such as we found it in the Book of Exodus. To confirm this view of the shekel we can cite the Bull’s-head weight (fig. 27), which came from Jerusalem, and weighs 36·800 grammes, which represents the amount of 5 light shekels (making allowance for a small fracture), the light shekel being 8·4 grams. (130 grs.). It is plain that this is a multiple of the light and not of the heavy shekel, for it is not likely that such a multiple as 2½ would be employed. On the other hand, we found the five-fold multiple of the light shekel appearing in the Assyrian system, and also the Egyptian. [Illustration: FIG. 27. Bull’s-head Five-shekel Weight.] The Hebrew systems, as we have tentatively set them forth, may be seen in the following tables. I. Earliest period. Shekel of 130-5 grs. alone employed for gold and probably silver. II. Mosaic period. _Gold and Silver._ (The old light shekel or ox-unit is now called shekel of the Sanctuary to distinguish it from its double.) 50 light Shekels = 1 Maneh 3000 light Shekels = 60 Manehs = 1 Kikkar (_talent_). III. Regal period. _Gold._ 100 light (= 50 double) shekels = 1 heavy Maneh 5000 heavy (= 10,000 light) ” = 100 heavy Manehs = 1 talent. The same system was probably employed for _silver and copper_, but instead of counting 100 light shekels to the Maneh as in the case of gold, they reckoned silver and copper by the double shekel, probably called the king’s shekel in contradistinction to that of the Sanctuary. IV. After the Return. The light shekel still retained for _gold_, and the Babylonian, or Phoenician silver standard, employed for _silver_. V. Maccabean Period. _Gold_ on the old standard, and _silver_ (now first coined) struck on the Phoenician silver standard of 220 grains. _Copper_ was estimated most probably on the old double shekel system; and most likely the royal Assyrian heavy system of 60 shekels to the maneh and 60 manehs to the talent was adopted in its entirety for copper and other articles of no great value in proportion to their bulk[342]. PHOENICIAN STANDARD.