Marble Cubid Weight Carved with Eros from Khirbet Ibtin

Abstract

The Khirbet Ibtin cuboid weight, sculpted with an image of a sleeping Eros, was found in a house of a Roman village—possibly ancient Gamada/Gamda—situated in Western Galilee. The article places the weight within the frame of cuboid weights from other sites outside the Land of Israel; explores the issue of marked and unmarked weight values; the iconography, provenance and craftsmanship of the weight; and the significance the Khirbet Ibtin weight, ornamented with a sleeping Eros, could have had where agriculture was the essence of the settlement.