Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license.
Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat.
We can research this topic together.
--><br /> ] depicting an athlete<br>running the ] by the Berlin<br>Painter, ca. 480 BC, Louvre.
--><br /> ] depicting an athlete<br>running the ] by the Berlin<br>Painter, ca. 480 BC, Louvre.
|}
|}
Greeks measured volume according to either dry or liquid capacity, suited respectively to measuring grain and wine. dA DA DADADA CIRCUS DADADADADAA AFRO CIRCUS AFRO CIRCUS POLKA DOT POLKA DOT POLKA DOT AFRO
{| class="wikitable" style="float: center; margin: 1em auto 1em auto"
{| class="wikitable" style="float: center; margin: 1em auto 1em auto"
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).
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:
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.
This section of a frieze from the Elgin Marbles shows a cavalry procession that was part of the quadrennial Greater Panathenaic festival, always held in the month Hekatombion.
