Despite the continuous presence of weighing on the Greek cultural horizon, the terminology used to describe its instruments is anything but unambiguous. A very clear example is provided by the noun τάλαντον. In the Iliad, it can indicate either scales or weighed objects. I will trace use of the term τάλαντον in this poem in an attempt to answer a crucial question: what is the reason for the polysemy of ponderal terminology? I will try to emphasise the link between this phenomenon and the historical reality and, at the same time, to highlight the elements that belong exclusively to literary representation.
Pavan et al. (Wed,) studied this question.