Attic Minas to Pounds (mina to lb)
1 Attic mina equals 0.9625382367 pounds (rounded).
How to convert Attic minas to pounds
To convert Attic minas to pounds, multiply the number of Attic minas by 0.9625382367. The factor is rounded to 10 significant digits. To go the other way, multiply pounds by 1.038919766 (rounded).
pounds = Attic minas × 0.9625382367
Example: 10 Attic minas = 9.625382367 pounds.
Approximate value. Standards for the Attic mina varied by place and period, so this converter uses the most commonly cited value. Treat results as estimates, not exact figures.
About these units
Attic Mina (mina)
About 436.6 g, equal to 100 drachmas. A mina of silver was a considerable sum in ancient Athens.
Mina is a borrowed word. It traces back to a Semitic root meaning to count, appearing as manu in Akkadian and maneh in Hebrew, and Greek mna was taken from the same source. In Babylonia the mina was a standard of silver weight by about 2000 BCE, at roughly 570 grams. The Greeks adopted both the word and the sixty-to-one link between mina and talent, but fitted the unit to their own coinage.
The Attic mina of Athens is usually given as about 436.6 grams, the figure used here, though other estimates run a few grams lower, near 431 grams. Cities such as Aegina used a heavier mina of about 624 grams, so a sum in minas meant little without knowing the standard. According to the sources, the mina first counted 70 drachmas and was raised to 100 around the time of Solon, about 594 BC. That decimal relation made it handy for bookkeeping, with 100 drachmas to the mina and 60 minas to the talent. A modern comparison is a little under a pound, about 0.96 pound avoirdupois.
1 Attic mina = 0.4366 kilograms (approximately).
Sources: Wikipedia: Mina (unit); Wikipedia: Ancient Greek units of measurement; Wikipedia: Talent (measurement)
Pound (lb)
Exactly 0.45359237 kg, divided into 16 ounces. The standard unit of weight in the US and common in the UK.
Why is pound abbreviated lb? The answer is Roman. The English word comes from the Latin libra pondo, roughly the weight measured in libra, and the symbol keeps the first word. The Roman libra was divided into 12 unciae. The avoirdupois pound of 16 ounces came into general use around 1300 and was initially equal to 6,992 troy grains; under Elizabeth I it was redefined as 7,000 grains. The UK's Weights and Measures Act 1878 set the imperial standard pound as a platinum cylinder, and the troy pound was abolished for trade the following year.
Today the pound is defined from the kilogram. The International Yard and Pound Agreement of 1959 fixed it at exactly 0.45359237 kg, and the UK's Weights and Measures Act 1963 wrote the same figure into law. Pounds remain the everyday unit for body weight, groceries and shipping in the United States and are widely used in the UK. The word also survives in odd places: a six-pounder cannon was named for the weight of its shot, not its own.
1 pound = 0.45359237 kilograms (exactly).
Sources: Wikipedia: Pound (mass); NIST Guide to the SI, Appendix B.8 (mass conversions)
Related conversions
- Pounds to Attic minas (reverse)
- Attic minas to kilograms
- Attic minas to grams
- Attic minas to metric tons
- Attic minas to ounces
- Kilograms to pounds
- Grams to pounds
- Metric tons to pounds
- Ounces to pounds
- Milligrams to pounds
- Micrograms to pounds
- Carats to pounds
- Stone to pounds
- Short tons to pounds
- Long tons to pounds
- Troy ounces to pounds
- Daltons to pounds
See all weight & mass units.