Batman (unit)

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The Batman ( Ottoman بطمان, in other Turkic languages tooباطمان, بطمن) was a unit of weight used by various Turkic peoples in Central Asia , the Eastern European Plain , Asia Minor and Azerbaijan . The word Batman originally has the meaning of “heavy weight” and is probably related to the Turkish verb root bat- (“sinking under”). Friedrich Wilhelm Karl Müller , on the other hand, was of the opinion that it was of Middle Persian origin.

The Batman is already mentioned in the Dīwān lughāt at-turk by Mahmud al-Kāschgharī (d. 1105). Both here and in later Turkish dictionaries, he is identical to the man and corresponds to two ratl . The Andalusian scholar Abū Haiyān at-Tauhīdī (d. 1344), on the other hand, states in his lexicon of the Turkish language that the Batman is identical with the Ratl. In reality, the name was used to designate weights of very different severity. The heaviest Batman was the large 16 pud batman from Bukhara (approx. 260 kg), the lightest the small Batman from Tabriz (2.9 kg). The unit of weight differed not only according to the different regions, but also according to the goods that were weighed with it. In some areas, the Batman was also used as a measure of area in agriculture.

Central Asia and Eastern European level

The Uighurs used the Batman as a unit of weight, especially for meat, cotton, millet , wheat , flour, water, wine and bread. Here, however, different weight sizes were designated depending on the goods. According to a statement that goes back to Heinrich Julius Klaproth , 1 Batman = 1 Kätti , i.e. H. it was equivalent to 604 g. The following Batman weight units are known from later times:

  • In Bukhara there were two Batman sizes calculated according to the Mithqāl : in the 18th century a Batman, which consisted of 1375 Mithqāl of 4.8 g, i.e. 6.6 kg, and a Batman with 5120 Mithqāl of 5, 0 g, i.e. 25.6 kg. A second group of Batmans that emerged in the 16th or 17th centuries in connection with trade with Russia was based on the Russian pud . There was a large Batman at 16 poods = 262.088 kg and a small Batman at 8 poods = 131.044 kg. The 8 pud batman was also heavily used in Central Asian domestic trade. In addition, there is a report of a Batman weighing 312 Russian pounds (= 127.767 kg). Finally, there is an indication that in Bukhara 1 Batman = 8 Sir = 64 Tschārak = 256 Nimtscha = 125.379072 kg.
  • In Choresmia in the 17th century there was 1 Batman = 4.095 kg, in the 18th century there was a small Batman weighing 3.788 kg and a large Batman weighing 7.371 kg. In the 19th century, Batman weights were much heavier, one weighing 20 kg in Khiva and one weighing 40 kg in Urgench and Kongrat .
  • In Ferghana in the 19th century, in addition to the 8-pud-Batman, a 10-pud-Batman with 163.8 kg and a 10.5-pud-Batman with 171.99 kg were in use.
  • In Tashkent and Tschimkent , the 10.5 pud batman weighing 171.99 kg was also used.
  • In the Volga Plain , 1 Batman = 4.097 kg, in Tver 1 Batman = 16.38 kg.

Numerous other Batman units were in use in the mountainous regions of the Emirate of Bukhara .

Asia Minor

The use of the Batman in Asia Minor is documented by the Genoese merchant Fr. B. Pegolotti as early as the 14th century. He reports that the weight of Altoluogo (= Ephesus ) was called Battimano and that all goods were sold according to this weight. This weight corresponded to 32 Genoese Libbre , so 10.144 kg. In the second half of the 15th century, the Akkoyunlu ruler Uzun Hasan introduced the Hasan-Pādishāh-Batman (Hasan Pādišāh Batmanı) as a new unit of weight in Erzincan . This weight consisted of 12 nügi at 160 dirhams . One Hasan-Pādishāh-Batman thus corresponded to 1920 dirhams. With a dirham weight of 3.207 g, this results in a weight of 6.157 kg.

According to an Ottoman list of weights from the early 16th century, 1 Batman = 72 Lidre = 7200 Dirham. This corresponds to 23.09 kg. In Mardin around 1518 there was 1 Batman = 12 Nügi = 936 dirhams. Accordingly, 1 Batman = 3 kg.

In the early 19th century, a caravan batman was common in Asia Minor and Turkey and was equated to 6 Turkish Okka in everyday business life . So he weighed 7.77 kg. In addition, there was a Batman at 4 okka (= 4.848 kg) in Adana and a Batman at 1 okka and 320 dirham (= 2.309 kg) in Urfa. When the weights and measures in the Ottoman Empire were rearranged by a regulation in 1881, the Batman was equated with a weight of 10 kg. Today in Tokat , Kayseri and Erzurum in the vegetable and food trade a weight of 8 kg is called Batman.

Azerbaijan

The Batman was also very important in Azerbaijan, both in the Iranian region of Azerbaijan and in the area of ​​today's Azerbaijan state .

Tabriz

In Tabriz , the Batman has been documented as a unit of weight since the late 16th century. Otto Blau noted in his work Commercial Conditions of Persia from 1858 that during his time in Tabriz the usual commercial weight was called Batman, but that this meant very different weights, each measured according to the Mithqāl . There was a small Batman to 640 Mithqāl, which was common in all Azerbaijan in the retail trade and after which products of the central and eastern provinces as well as foreign merchandise were sold. There was also the so-called Batman from Tabriz for 1000 Mithqāl, which was mainly used for goods from Azerbaijan such as salt , crossberries , starch , wax and goat hair. Then there was a Batman from Shiraz to 1280 Mithqāl, who was mainly used in the raw silk trade. Finally, the caravan Batman was known from Asia Minor, who was estimated at 1,600 Mithqāl.

Converted into the metric system, this results in a weight of 2.9 kg for the little Batman of 640 Mithqāl, a weight of 4.6 kg for the Batman of 1000 Mithqāl, and for the Batman of 1280 Mithqāl, the one with the “King's Man “ (Man-i šāh) was identical, a weight of 5.9 kg, and for the caravan Batman to 1600 Mithqāl a weight of 7.5 kg.

In connection with the signing of the 1903 Customs Agreement, the Batman's weight was set at 2.97 kg. As a result of the customs administration's use of the unit of weight, its use spread to other areas of Iran.

Shirvan

In the Russian province of Shirvan , which had its own khanat until 1820, a distinction was made between the Batman in Meidan weight, the so-called ordinary weight, and the Batman in Misan weight, the retail weight. Misan's weight was about half the other. A third type of Batman was used in the silk trade with the manor house.

  • 1 Meidan-Batman / Batz = 24 Meidan- style = 1750 Mithqāl = 20 Russian pounds = 8.19023 kg
  • 1 Misan Batman = 24 Misan style = 875 Mithqāl = 10 Russian pounds = 4.09512 kg
  • 1 silk batman = 48 style = 2165 5/8 mithqāl = 24 ¾ Russian pounds = 10.13541 kg.

Sheki

In Sheki , which was the seat of its own khanate until 1819 , there was a weight system. The following applied:

  • 1 Meidan Batman = 48 Meidan style = 4.909 pounds (Russian) = 16.7527456 kg

There was also a Misan Batman and a Sakat Batman, with 21 Maidan Batman = 35 Misan Batman = 45 Sakat Batman.

Batman as a measure of area

As a measure of area, the Batman was mainly used in agriculture, whereby the Batman was the area for which one Batman grain was sufficient for sowing. The Batman used to refer to very different areas:

  • in the Volga plain 1 Batman = 54,626 ares .
  • in Talas 1 Batman = 218.5 ares.
  • in Persian Iraq 1 Batman = 125 square Göss = 1.42253 ares.
  • in Azerbaijan 1 Batman = 125 square Göss = 1.56123 ares.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Wassili Wladimirowitsch Bartold : Batman . In: Encyclopedia of Islam . tape 1 , 1913, pp. 708b ( digitized version [accessed September 18, 2019]).
  2. ↑ a b c d R. Rahmeti Arat: Batman . In: İslâm Ansiklopedisi . tape 2 , p. 343 .
  3. ↑ See e.g. B. Asım Efendi: El-Okyânûs ül-basîṭ fī tercemet il-Qâmûs il-muhîṭ . Istanbul 1817. Vol. III, p. 710, last line. Digitized
  4. ↑ Abū Ḥaiyān al-Andalusī: Kitāb al-idrāk li-lisān al-atrāk . Evkaf Matbaası, Istanbul, 1931. p. 33.
  5. ↑ Bregel: "Batman" in Encyclopaedia Iranica .
  6. ^ Eduard Döring: Handbook of coin, exchange, measure and weight. Verlag J. Hölscher, Koblenz 1862, p. 153
  7. ^ Karl Rumler: Overview of the measures, weights and currencies of the most excellent states. Verlag Jasper, Hügel u. Manz, Vienna 1849, p. 56. Digitized
  8. ↑ Bregel: "Batman" in Encyclopaedia Iranica .
  9. ↑ Bregel: "Batman" in Encyclopaedia Iranica .
  10. ↑ Inalcik: "Introduction to Ottoman Metrology". 1983, p. 313.
  11. ↑ Hinz: Islamic Measures and Weights. 1970, p. 20.
  12. ↑ Inalcik: "Introduction to Ottoman Metrology". 1983, pp. 320, 329.
  13. ↑ Hinz: Islamic Measures and Weights. 1970, p. 21.
  14. ↑ Hinz: Islamic Measures and Weights. 1970, p. 22.
  15. ↑ Inalcik: "Introduction to Ottoman Metrology". 1983, p. 340.
  16. ↑ Kallek: "Batman" in TDVIA Vol V, p 200b..
  17. ↑ Hinz: Islamic Measures and Weights. 1970, p. 19.
  18. ^ Otto Blau: Commercial conditions of Persia; Depicted from the experiences of a trip in the summer of 1857 . Decker, Berlin, 1858. pp. 174f. Digitized
  19. ^ Floor: "Weights and Measures in Qajar Iran". 2008, pp. 94-98.
  20. ^ Floor: "Weights and Measures in Qajar Iran". 2008, p. 62.
  21. ^ Floor: "Weights and Measures in Qajar Iran". 2008, p. 93.
  22. ^ Christian Noback , Friedrich Eduard Noback : Complete paperback of the coin, measure and weight relationships. Volume 2, FA Brockhaus, Leipzig 1850. p. 1106. Digitized
  23. ↑ Gustav Wagner, Friedrich Anton Strackerjan: Compendium of the coin, measure, weight and exchange rate ratios of all states and trading cities on earth. Verlag Teubner, Leipzig 1855, p. 278. Digitized
  24. ↑ Ernst Behm: Geographisches Jahrbuch. Volume 2, Justus Perthes, Gotha 1868, p. XIX. Digitized