Help Center · Slide Types

Ancient Units

Turn a talent, cubit, or denarius into something familiar.

Ancient Units turns a biblical weight, length, measure, or coin into something a congregation can picture: days of wages, kilograms, a dollar estimate. The sample that opens in the window is 1 Talent.

Where to find it

More slide types → Ancient Units. Not pinned by default. A crown shows on Free. The window is Create Ancient Units.

Create Ancient Units, opened on 1 Talent

The setup window

Unit is a long list, grouped:

  • Weights — Shekel (weight), Talent (weight), Gerah, Bekah (half shekel), Mina (weight), Roman pound (litra).
  • Length — Cubit, Royal cubit, Span, Handbreadth, Reed, Fathom (orguia).
  • Liquid measure — Bath, Hin, Log, Homer / cor, Metretes (firkin).
  • Dry measure — Ephah, Seah, Omer, Cab (kab), Lethech.
  • Currency & wages — Denarius, Drachma, Talent (money value), Mite / lepton, Assarion (farthing).
  • Distance — Stadium / furlong, Sabbath day’s journey.

Then:

  • Quantity — how many. The sample is 1.
  • Layout — Conversion chain, Then and now, Scale bars, or Chain and comparison. Conversion chain is the row of “about” steps. The talent sample reads: 1 Talent ≈ 6,000 denarii ≈ 3,000 shekels of silver ≈ 6,000 days' wages ≈ 20 years' wages ≈ $1.2 million at $200 a day ≈ 34 kg of silver ≈ $34,980 in silver at $32 per ounce.
  • Verse — the line this measure comes from, so the slide is tied to the passage.
  • Day wage (USD) — the sample uses $200 a day. Change it if you want a different illustration. It is an illustration, not a pay stub.
  • Metal — Silver or Gold, with Silver (USD / oz) and Gold (USD / oz).
  • Show USD estimate and Show metal estimate — turn either off if the dollar figure will distract from the point.
  • Where steps live — Separate slides, or same slide. Same slide says: “Advance on one slide with buttons. No extra slides in the editor or on tablet.” The talent preview already has steps 1 through 7 for each line of the chain. Add step adds another.
  • Create Slide. On Free: Upgrade to Add.

The dollar lines move when metal prices and the wage you typed move. Say “about” when you preach them. The slide is a comparison, not an audit.

While you present

Show one conversion the room can hold: a denarius is about a day’s wage, a talent is an enormous stack of those days. The full chain is there if you need it. You do not have to read every “about.”

Plans

Ancient Units is blocked on Free, same as Family Tree, Bible Photo, 3D Maps, and 3D Models. Premium, Campus, or the 30-day trial.