View source for Shekel

{{Short description|Ancient unit of currency}}
{{about|the ancient currency|the present currency of the State of Israel|Israeli new shekel|the Talmudic tractate| Shekalim (Tractate)}}

[[File:Carthage EL shekel 2250013.jpg|thumb|300px|An [[electrum]] [[Carthaginian coinage|Carthaginian shekel]], c. 310–290 BC, bearing the image of [[Tanit]], consort of [[Baal Hammon]]]]
A '''shekel''' or '''sheqel''' ({{langx|akk|𒅆𒅗𒇻|šiqlu, siqlu}}; {{langx|uga|𐎘𐎖𐎍|ṯiql}}, {{langx|he|שקל|šeqel}}, plural {{langx|he|שקלים|šəqālim|link=no}}, {{langx|phn|𐤔𐤒𐤋}}) is an [[Ancient Mesopotamian units of measurement|ancient Mesopotamian coin]], usually of [[silver]]. A shekel was first a unit of weight—very roughly 11 grams (0.35 [[Troy weight|ozt]])—and became currency in [[Tyre, Lebanon|ancient Tyre]], [[Carthage]] and [[Hasmonean dynasty|Hasmonean Judea]].

==Name<span class="anchor" id="Etymology"></span>==
The word {{lang|he-Latn|shekel}} is based on the [[triliteral]] [[Proto-Semitic]] root {{smallcaps|ṯql}}, cognate to the [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] {{lang|akk-Latn|šiqlu}} or {{lang|akk-Latn|siqlu}}, a unit of weight equivalent to the [[Sumerian language|Sumerian]] {{lang|sux-Latn|gin2}}.<ref name=Dilke1987>{{cite book|title=Mathematics and measurement|first=Oswald Ashton Wentworth|last=Dilke|year=1987|publisher=University of California Press|location=|page=46|isbn=9780520060722|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_AKJZvXOS7n4C}}</ref> Use of the word was first attested in {{circa|2150 BC}} under the reign of [[Naram-Sin of Akkad]], and later in {{circa|1700 BC}} in the [[Code of Hammurabi]]. The Hebrew reflex of the root {{smallcaps|šql}} is found in the Hebrew words for "to weigh" ({{lang|he-Latn|shaqal}}), "weight" ({{lang|he-Latn|mishqal}}) and "consideration" ({{lang|he-Latn|shiqqul}}). It is cognate to the [[Aramaic]] root {{smallcaps|tql}} and the [[Arabic]] root {{smallcaps|ṯql}} ([[:wikt:ث ق ل|ث ق ل]], in words such as {{lang|ar-Latn|thiqāl}} "weight", {{lang|ar-Latn|thāqil}} "heavy" or {{lang|ar-Latn|[[mithqal]]}}, a unit of weight). The famous [[Belshazzar's feast|writing on the wall]] in the [[Book of Daniel]] includes a cryptic use of the word in Aramaic: "{{lang|oar-Latn|Mene, mene, teqel, u-farsin}}".

Shekel came into the English language via the [[Hebrew Bible]], where it is first used in [[Chayei Sarah|Genesis 23]].

The term "shekel" has been used for a unit of weight, around 9.6 or 9.8 grams (0.31 or 0.32 ozt), used in [[Bronze Age Europe]] for balance weights and fragments of bronze that may have served as money.<ref name=Ialongo2021>{{cite journal|first1=Nicola|last1=Ialongo|first2=Giancarlo|last2=Lago|title=A small change revolution. Weight systems and the emergence of the first Pan-European money|journal=[[Journal of Archaeological Science]]|year=2021|volume=129|issue=|page=105379|doi=10.1016/j.jas.2021.105379|bibcode=2021JArSc.129j5379I|doi-access=free|hdl=11573/1547061|hdl-access=free}}</ref>

==History==
The earliest shekels were a unit of weight, used as other units such as grams and troy ounces for trading before the advent of coins. The shekel was common among western [[Semitic languages|Semitic speakers]]. [[Moab]]ites, [[Edom]]ites, and [[Phoenicia]]ns used the shekel, although proper coinage developed very late. [[Carthaginian coinage]] was based on the shekel and may have preceded its home town of [[Tyre, Lebanon|Tyre]] in issuing proper coins.<ref name="brony"/>

Coins were used and may have been invented by the early [[Anatolian peoples|Anatolian]] traders who stamped their marks to avoid weighing each time used. [[Herodotus]] states that the first coinage was issued by [[Croesus]], King of [[Lydia]], spreading to the golden [[Daric]] (worth 20 {{lang|grc-Latn|[[Achaemenid coinage|sigloi]]}} or shekel),<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Encyclopædia Britannica|contribution=Siglos|contribution-url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/543654/siglos}}.</ref> issued by the [[Achaemenid Empire]] and the silver Athenian [[Obol (coin)|obol]] and [[Ancient drachma|drachma]]. Early coins were money stamped with an official seal to certify their weight. Silver ingots, some of them with markings, were issued. Later authorities decided who designed coins.{{Sfn|DIA|1964}}

As with many ancient units, the shekel had a variety of values depending on the era, government and region; weights between 7<ref name="dubya"/> and 17 grams and values of 11,<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|editor-last=Tenney|editor-first=Merril|encyclopedia=The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible|volume=5|title=Weights and Measures|location=Grand Rapids, MI|publisher=[[Zondervan]]|year=1976}}</ref> 14, and 17&nbsp;grams are common. A two-shekel weight recently recovered near the temple area in Jerusalem and dated to the period of the First Temple weighs 23 grams,<ref>{{cite web|first=Jonathan|last=Laden|title=Iron Age Weight Found near Temple Mount|date=15 October 2020|location=15 October 2020|url=https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-sites-places/temple-at-jerusalem/iron-age-weight-found-near-temple-mount/}}</ref> giving a weight of 11.5 grams per shekel in Israel during the monarchy. When used to pay labourers, recorded wages in the ancient world range widely. The [[Code of Hammurabi]] (circa 1800 BC) sets the value of unskilled labour at approximately ten shekels per year of work, confirmed in Israelite law by comparing {{bibleverse|Deut|15:18|KJV}} with {{bibleverse|Exod|21:32|KJV}}.<ref name=Botterweck2004>{{cite book|first1=G. Johannes|last1=Botterweck|first2=Helmer|last2=Ringgren|first3=Heinz-Josef|last3=Fabry|title=Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament|page=132|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|location=|year=2004|isbn=978-0-8028-2345-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dMidce6H4WYC&pg=PA132}}</ref> Later, records within the Achaemenid Empire (539–333 BC) give ranges from a minimum of two shekels per month for unskilled labour, to as high as seven to ten shekels per month in some records. A subsistence wage for an urban household during the Persian period would have required at least 22 shekels of income per year.<ref name=Altmann2016>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UrwJ76OkyY0C&pg=PA62|title=Economics in Persian-Period Biblical Texts: Their Interactions with Economic Developments in the Persian Period and Earlier Biblical Traditions|year=2016|publisher=Mohr Siebeck|location=|isbn=978-3-16-154813-0|page=62|first=Peter|last=Altmann}}</ref>

===Israelites===
{{bibleverse|Exodus|30:24}} notes that the measures of the ingredients for the [[holy anointing oil]] were to be calculated using the ''Shekel of the Sanctuary'' (see also {{bibleverse|Exodus|38:24–26}}, and similarly at {{bibleverse|Numbers|3:47}} for payment for the redemption of 273 first-born males<ref>See [[Bemidbar (Parsha)#Sixth reading — Numbers 3:40–51]]</ref> and at {{bibleverse|Numbers|7:12–88}} for the offerings of the leaders of the [[Twelve Tribes of Israel|tribes of Israel]]), suggesting that there were other common measures of a shekel in use, or at least that the [[Solomon's Temple|Temple]] authorities defined a standard for the shekel to be used for Temple purposes.

According to [[Book of Leviticus|Levitical law]], whenever a census of the Israelites was to be conducted, every person that was counted was required to pay the ''half-shekel'' for his atonement ({{bibleverse|Exodus|30:11–16}}).<ref>Compare [[Josephus]], ''[[Antiquities of the Jews|Antiquities]]'' (vii. 13, § 1)[http://sacred-texts.com/jud/josephus/ant-7.htm Antiquities of the Jews – Book VII]</ref>

The Aramaic {{lang|oar-Latn|tekel}}, similar to the Hebrew {{lang|he-Latn|shekel}}, used during the [[Belshazzar's feast|feast of Belshazzar]] according to the [[Book of Daniel]] and defined as weighed, shares a common root with the word shekel and may even additionally attest to its original usage as a weight.

===Second Temple period half-Shekel Temple tax===<!--This section is linked from [[Moed]] and [[Adar]] and [[Hurvat Itri]] ([[MOS:HEAD]])-->
[[File:Shekel - Coins of Second Temple period.jpg|thumb|Shekel from the First Jewish–Roman War with the legend לגאלת ציון, "To the redemption of Zion",<ref>{{cite web |title=Ancient Jewish Coins: Coins from the First Revolt (66–70 CE)|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/coins-from-the-first-revolt|website=Jewish Virtual Library|publisher=American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise|access-date=26 October 2021}}</ref> in [[Paleo-Hebrew alphabet|Paleo-Hebrew]] script, at the [[Rockefeller Archeological Museum]]]]
During the [[Second Temple period]], it was customary among Jews to annually offer the ''half-Shekel'' into the Temple treasury, for the upkeep and maintenance of the Temple precincts, as also used in purchasing public animal offerings. This practice not only applied to Jews living in the [[Land of Israel]], but also to Jews living outside the Land of Israel.<ref>[[Josephus]], ''[[Antiquities of the Jews|Antiquities]]'' (xviii. 9, § 1)</ref> Archaeological excavations conducted at [[Horvat 'Ethri]] in Israel from 1999 to 2001 by [[Boaz Zissu]] and Amir Ganor of the [[Israel Antiquities Authority]] (IAA) have yielded important finds, the most-prized of which being a ''half-Shekel'' coin minted in the 2nd century CE, upon which are embossed the words "Half-Shekel" in [[Paleo-Hebrew alphabet|paleo-Hebrew]] ({{Langx|he|'''חצי השקל'''}}). The same coin possesses a silver content of 6.87 grams.<ref>Boaz Zissu & Amir Ganor, ''Horvat Ethri — A Jewish Village from the Second Temple Period and the Bar Kokhba Revolt in the Judean Foothills'', Journal of Jewish Studies 60 (1), Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, London 2009, pp. 96; 118.</ref> According to the Jewish historian [[Josephus]], the annual monetary tribute of the half-Shekel to the Temple at [[Jerusalem]] was equivalent to two [[Ancient drachma|Athenian drachmæ]], each Athenian or [[Attica|Attic]] drachma weighing a little over 4.3 grams.<ref>[[Josephus]], ''[[Wars of the Jews]]'' (vii. 6, § 6).</ref>

===Jewish–Roman wars<span class="anchor" id="Carthaginian"></span><span class="anchor" id="Carthaginian shekel"></span>===
The [[First Jewish Revolt coinage]] was issued from AD&nbsp;66 to 70 amid the [[First Jewish–Roman War]] as a means of emphasizing the independence of [[Judea]] from [[Judaea (Roman province)|Roman rule]] and replacing the [[Tyrian shekel]] with its image of a foreign god which had previously been minted to pay the temple tax.<ref name="priorities">{{cite web|url=http://www.begedivri.com/shekel/J-Tyrian.htm|title=Jerusalem's Tyrian Shekels: a lesson in priorities}}</ref>

The [[Bar Kokhba Revolt coinage|Bar Kochba shekel]] was issued from AD&nbsp;132 to 135 amid the [[Bar Kokhba revolt]] for similar reasons.

===Carthage===
{{main|Carthaginian coinage}}
The [[Punic people|Punic]] or [[Carthaginian coinage|Carthaginian shekel]] was typically around 7.2 grams in silver and 7.5 grams in gold (suggesting an exchange rate of 12:1).<ref name=dubya>{{cite book|last=Crawford|first=Michael Hewson|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=84_G_8q6WQcC|title=Coinage and Money under the Roman Republic: Italy and the Mediterranean Economy|series=The Library of Numismatics|editor=Philip Grierson|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley|year=1985|isbn=0-520-05506-3}}</ref> It was apparently first developed in [[Sicily]] during the mid-4th century BC.<ref name=brony>{{citation|last=Bronson|first=Bennet|title=Bulletin|volume=47|date=November 1976|issue=10|publisher=Field Museum of Natural History|location=Chicago|url=https://archive.org/stream/fieldmuseumofnat47chica#page/n193/mode/2up|contribution=Cash, Cannon, and Cowrie Shells: The Nonmodern Moneys of the World|pages=3–15}}.</ref> It was associated with the payment of Carthage's mercenary armies and was repeatedly devalued over the course of each of the [[Punic Wars]]. The amount and quality of this currency however increased as a result of the Carthaginian Empire's expansion into [[Carthaginian Iberia|Spain]] under the [[Barcids|Barcid dynasty]] before the [[Second Punic War]] and recovery under [[Hannibal]] before the [[Third Punic War]]. Throughout, it was more common for Carthage's holdings in [[North Africa]] to employ [[bronze]] or no coinage except when paying mercenary armies and for most of the coins to circulate in Iberia, Sardinia, and Sicily.<ref name=dubya/>

===Tyre<span class="anchor" id="Tyrian"></span><span class="anchor" id="Tyrian shekel"></span>===
{{main|Tyrian shekel}}
The [[Tyrian shekel]] began to be issued {{circa|lk=no|300&nbsp;BC}}.<ref name=brony/> Owing to the relative purity of its silver, it became the preferred medium of payment for the [[Solomon's Temple|Temple]] tax in [[Jerusalem]]. In the New Testament, the “[[Thirty_pieces_of_silver#Types_of_coin|30 pieces of silver]]” paid by the chief priests to [[Judas Iscariot]] in exchange for his betrayal of [[Jesus]] may be a reference to the Tyrian shekel.<ref name=Wiseman1958>{{cite book|author-link=Donald Wiseman|first=Donald J.|last=Wiseman|title=Illustrations from Biblical Archaeology|location=London|publisher=Tyndale Press|year=1958|pages=87–89}}.</ref>

==Present<span class="anchor" id="Jerusalem shekel"></span><span class="anchor" id="Jerusalem"></span><span class="anchor" id="Bar Kochba"></span><span class="anchor" id="Bar Kochba Revolt"></span><span class="anchor" id="First Jewish Revolt"></span><span class="anchor" id="Bar Kochba shekel"></span>==
===Israel===
{{main|Old Israeli shekel|Israeli new shekel}}
The [[old Israeli shekel|shekel]] ('''{{lang|he-Latn|sheqel}}''' in direct transcription) replaced the [[Israeli pound]] ({{langx|he|לִירָה}}, ''lira'') in 1980. Its [[currency symbol]] was {{angle brackets|[[File:Old Sheqel sign.svg|14px]]}}, although it was more commonly notated as '''ש''' or '''IS'''. It was subdivided into 100 new agorot (אגורות חדשות). It was replaced in 1985 by the [[Israeli new shekel|new shekel]], due to [[hyperinflation]]. Its currency symbol is {{nowrap|{{angle brackets|&thinsp;<big>[[₪]]</big>&thinsp;}},}} although it is often notated as '''ש״ח''' or '''NIS'''. It is subdivided into 100 [[Israeli agora|agorot]]. Both Israeli shekels are solely units of [[Fiat money|fiat currency]], and not related to the weight of any precious metal. With the 2014 series of notes, the [[Bank of Israel]] abandoned the [[romanization of Hebrew|transcription]]s {{lang|he-Latn|Sheqel}} and {{lang|he-Latn|Sheqalim}} in favor of the standard English forms ''Shekel'' and ''Shekels''.

==See also==
{{Portal|Money|Numismatics}}
{{div col|colwidth=22em}}
* [[Ancient Mesopotamian units of measurement]]
* [[Gerah]] (ma'ah)
* [[Hanukkah gelt]]
* [[List of historical currencies]]
* [[Pidyon haben]]
* [[Prutah]]
* [[Tetradrachm]]
* [[Zuz (Jewish coin)|Zuz]]
{{div col end}}

==References==
===Citations===
{{Reflist}}

===Bibliography===
* {{Citation|url=http://www.bankisrael.gov.il/catal/cataloge.htm|publisher=Banking of Israel|title=Banknotes and coins catalog|access-date=2009-11-11|archive-date=2009-02-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090217164825/http://bankisrael.gov.il/catal/cataloge.htm|url-status=dead}}
* {{Citation|contribution-url=http://colnect.com/en/coins/list/country/1873/item_name/sheqel|contribution=Sheqel|title=Coins|publisher=Colnect|type=catalog with pictures}}
* {{Citation|publisher=Detroit Institute of Arts|year=1964|title=Coins of the Ancient World|ref={{SfnRef|DIA|1964}}}}
* Girardin, Michaël (2024). "Le demi-sicle, de Moïse au fiscus Iudaicus. Histoire d’une téléologie." ''[[Journal of Ancient Civilizations]]'' '''39,1''', pp. 73–98.

==External links==
{{EB1911 poster|Shekel}}
{{Wiktionary}}
* {{Commons category-inline|Shekel}}

{{Shilling}}
{{Means of Exchange}}

[[Category:Shekel|Shekel]]
[[Category:Ancient currencies]]
[[Category:Currencies of Israel]]
[[Category:Units of mass]]
[[Category:Phoenician currency]]
[[Category:Coins of Judea]]