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Ancient Greek units of measurement varied according to location and epoch. Systems of ancient weights and measures evolved as needs changed; Solon and other lawgivers also reformed them en bloc. Some units of measurement were found to be convenient for trade within the Mediterranean region and these units became increasingly common to different city states. The calibration and use of measuring devices became more sophisticated. By about 500 BC, Athens had a central depository of official weights and measures, the Tholos, where merchants were required to test their measuring devices against official standards.

Length

Some Greek measures of length were named after parts of the body, such as the δάκτυλος (daktylos, plural: daktyloi) or finger, and the ποῦς (pous, plural: podes) or foot. The values of the units varied according to location and epoch (e.g., in Aegina a pous was approximately 333 mm (13.1 in), whereas in Athens (Attica) it was about 296 mm (11.7 in)), but the relative proportions were generally the same throughout the Greek world. Different values are found in different sources; Hutton (1795) gives 12.084 inches (306.9 mm) for the Greek foot, while Smith (1851) gives 12.135 in (308.2 mm).

Area

The ordinary units used for land measurement were:

Volume

Neck amphora depicting an athlete running the hoplitodromos by the Berlin Painter, ca. 480 BC, Louvre.

Greeks measured volume according to either dry or liquid capacity, suited respectively to measuring grain and wine. A common unit in both measures throughout historic Greece was the cotyle or cotyla whose absolute value varied from one place to another between 210 ml and 330 ml. The basic unit for both solid and liquid measures was the κύαθος (kyathos, plural: kyathoi).

The Attic liquid measures were:

and the Attic dry measures of capacity were:

Currency

The basic unit of Athenian currency was the obol:

Weight

Weights are often associated with currency since units of currency involve prescribed amounts of a given metal. Thus for example the English pound has been both a unit of weight and a unit of currency. Greek weights similarly bear a nominal resemblance to Greek currency yet the origin of the Greek standards of weights is often disputed. There were two dominant standards of weight in the eastern Mediterranean - a standard that originated in Euboea and that was subsequently introduced to Attica by Solon, and also a standard that originated in Aegina. The Attic/Euboean standard was supposedly based on the barley corn, of which there were supposedly twelve to one obol. However, weights that have been retrieved by historians and archeologists show considerable variations from theoretical standards. A table of standards derived from theory is as follows:

Unit	Greek name	Equivalent	Attic/Euboic standard	Aeginetic standard
obol or obolus	ὀβολός		0.72g	1.05g
drachma	δραχμή	6 obols	4.31g	6.3g
mina	μνᾶ	100 drachmae	431g	630g
talent	τάλαντον	60 minae	25.86 kg	37.8 kg

Time

Athenians measured the day by sundials and unit fractions. Periods during night or day were measured by a water clock (clepsydra) that dripped at a steady rate and other methods. Whereas the day in our Gregorian calendar commences after midnight, the Greek day began after sunset. Athenians named each year after the Archon Eponymos for that year, and in Hellenistic times years were reckoned in quadrennial epochs according to the Olympiad. The Athenian year was divided into 12 months, with one additional month (poseideon deuteros, 30 days) being inserted between the sixth and seventh months every second year. Even with this intercalary month, the Athenian or Attic calendar was still fairly inaccurate and days had occasionally to be added by the Archon Basileus. The start of the year was at the summer solstice (previously it had been at the winter solstice) and months were named after Athenian religious festivals, 27 mentioned in the Hibah Papyrus, circ 275 BCE.

See also

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• Metrological Relief
• Obsolete units of measure

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• Stadia rod
• Systems of measurement

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References

1. ^ "Measures". The Oxford Classical Dictionary. 2003.
2. Hutton, Charles (1795) A philosophical and mathematical dictionary, containing an explanation of the terms, and an account of the several subjects, comprised under the heads mathematics, astronomy, and philosophy both natural and experimental; with an historical account of the rise, progress and present state of these sciences; also memoirs of the lives and writings of the most eminent authors, both ancient and modern, who by their discoveries or improvements have contributed to the advancement of them 1st ed. London: for J. Johnson Volume 2 p.187
3. ^ Smith, Sir William; Charles Anthon (1851) A new classical dictionary of Greek and Roman biography, mythology, and geography partly based upon the Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology New York: Harper & Bros. Tables, pp. 1024–30
4. ^ EIM:Metrology:History. Hellenic Institute of Metrology (EIM). Archived 13 April 2009.
5. ^ "Weights". The Oxford Classical Dictionary. 2003.

External links

• "History 310: Greek Coinage and Measures". History/Classics 310. Retrieved December 15, 2005.
• Porter, John. "Greek and Roman Weights, Measures and Currency". Retrieved July 26, 2007.
• Online Conversion of Ancient Greek Units

• Obsolete units of measure
• Human-based units of measure
• Ancient Greek society
• Systems of units
• Ancient Greek technology