Ancient Greek units of measurement

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Ancient Greek units of measurement

Ancient Greek units of measurement were built mainly upon the Egyptian, and formed the basis of the later Roman system.

Although we might suggest that the Egyptians had discovered the art of measurement, it is really only with the Greeks that the science of measurement begins to appear. The Greeks' knowledge of geometry, and their early experimentation with weights and measures, soon began to place their measurement system on a more scientific basis.

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Ancient Greek units of measurement were built mainly upon the Egyptian, and formed the basis of the later Roman system.
Although we might suggest that the Egyptians had discovered the art of measurement, it is really only with the Greeks that the science of measurement begins to appear. The Greeks' knowledge of geometry, and their early experimentation with weights and measures, soon began to place their measurement system on a more scientific basis. By comparison, Roman science, which came later, was not as advanced...

Generally speaking, standards of measurement within the ancient Greek world varied according to location and epoch. Systems of ancient weights and measures evolved as needs changed; Solon
Solon

Solon was an Athens statesman, lawmaker, and lyric poetry. He is remembered particularly for his efforts to legislate against political, economic and moral decline in Archaic period in Greece Athens....
and other lawgivers also reformed them en bloc. In time, some units of measurement were found to be convenient for trade within the Mediterranean region and these units became more and more common to different city states. Similarly the calibration and use of measuring devices became more sophisticated over time. By about 500 BC, Athens already had its own central depository of official weights and measures — the Tholos — where merchants were required to test their measuring devices against official standards.

Length
Greek measures of length were based on the relative lengths of body parts, such as the foot and finger segment. The specific values assigned to these units varied according to location and epoch (e.g., in Aegina
Aegina

Aegina is one of the Greek islands of Greece in the Saronic Gulf, 17 miles from Athens. Tradition derives the name from Aegina, the mother of Aeacus, who was born in and ruled the island....
a foot or pous was approximately 13 inches or 333 mm, whereas in Athens
Athens

Athens , the Capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery; as one of the List of cities by time of continuous habitation, its recorded history spans around 3,400 years....
(Attica) it was about 11.6 inches or 296 mm). The relative proportions, however, were generally the same throughout the Greek world.

Units derived from the dactylos (plural: dactyloi):

Unit Greek name Equivalent Description
dactylos finger breadth
condylos 2 dactyloi middle joint of finger
palaiste or doron 4 dactyloi palm
dichas or hemipodion 8 dactyloi half foot
lichas 10 dactyloi span of thumb
orthodoron 11 dactyloi
spithame 12 dactyloi span of all fingers
pous 16 dactyloi foot; Attic foot ˜ 296 mm; Aeginan foot ˜ 333 mm
pygme 18 dactyloi elbow to base of fingers
pygon 20 dactyloi
pechys 24 dactyloi cubit
Cubit

File:Cubit rule Egyptian NK from Liverpool museum.jpgA cubit is the first recorded unit of length and was one of many different standards of measurement used through history....
pechys basileïos 27 dactyloi royal cubit

Larger units derived from the pous (plural: podes):

Unit Greek name Equivalent Description
pous 16 dactyloi foot; Attic foot ˜ 296 mm
haploun bema 2.5 podes single pace
diploun bema 5 podes double pace
orgyia 6 podes fathom
Fathom

A fathom is a Units of measurement of length in the Imperial unit , used especially for measuring the depth of water.There are 2 yards in a fathom....
or stretch of both arms
akaina 10 podes
plethron 100 podes breadth of Greek acre
stadion 600 podes Attic stadion ˜ 177,6 m

Unit Greek name Equivalent Description
stadion 600 podes Attic stadion ˜ 177,6 m
diaulos 2 stadia
hippikon 4 stadia
dolichos 12 stadia
parasang
Parasang

The parasang is a historical Iranian peoples unit of itinerant distance comparable to the League .In antiquity, the term was used throughout much of the Middle East, and the Iranian languages from which it derives can no longer be determined ....
30 stadia adopted from Persia
schoinos 40 stadia adopted from Egypt
Egypt

Egypt is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia. Covering an area of about , Egypt borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south and Libya to the west....

Area
One plethron was traditionally the amount of land a yoke of oxen could plough in one day (approximately 4 English acres); more specifically, it was any area equal to the area of a square each of whose sides is 100 podes or 1 plethron in length .

Volume
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 210mL and 330mL (or 7.4-11.6 fl. oz.):

Dry measure
Unit Greek name Equivalent Description
cotyla
Cotyla

In classical antiquity, the cotyla or cotyle was a measure of capacity among the Ancient Romans and Ancient Greeks: by the former it was also called hemina; by the latter, and or ....
??t??? approx a cup
choenix 4 cotylae approx 1 man's daily grain ration
hecteus 8 choenices
medimnos µ?d?µ??? 6 hecteis

Liquid measure
Unit Greek name Equivalent Description
cotyla
Cotyla

In classical antiquity, the cotyla or cotyle was a measure of capacity among the Ancient Romans and Ancient Greeks: by the former it was also called hemina; by the latter, and or ....
??t??? approx a cup
hemichous 6 cotylae
chous 12 cotylae
metretes µet??t?? 144 cotylae approx 1 amphora
Amphora

An amphora is a type of ceramic vase with two handles and a long neck narrower than the body. The word amphora is Latin, derived from the Greek language amphoreus , an abbreviation of amphiphoreus , a compound word combining amphi- plus phoreus , from pherein , referring to the vessel's two carrying handles on opp...
wine

Currency

The basic unit of Athenian currency was the obol:

Unit Greek name Equivalent
obol or obolus
Obolus

The obolus is a Greece silver coin worth a sixth of a drachma. In Classical Athens it was subdivided into eight chalkoi . Two obols made a diobol....
?ß????
drachma d?a?µ? 6 obols
mina µ?? 100 drachmae
talent t??a?t?? 60 minae

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
Euboea

For the Greek mythology figure, see Euboea Euboea is the second largest of the Greece Aegean Islands and the second largest List of islands of Greece overall in area and population, after Crete....
and that was subsequently introduced to Attica
Attica

Attica is a Peripheries of Greece in Greece, containing Athens, the capital of Greece. Attica is subdivided into the prefectures of Greece of Athens Prefecture, Piraeus Prefecture, East Attica and West Attica....
by Solon
Solon

Solon was an Athens statesman, lawmaker, and lyric poetry. He is remembered particularly for his efforts to legislate against political, economic and moral decline in Archaic period in Greece Athens....
, and also a standard that originated in Aegina
Aegina

Aegina is one of the Greek islands of Greece in the Saronic Gulf, 17 miles from Athens. Tradition derives the name from Aegina, the mother of Aeacus, who was born in and ruled the island....
. 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
Obolus

The obolus is a Greece silver coin worth a sixth of a drachma. In Classical Athens it was subdivided into eight chalkoi . Two obols made a diobol....
?ß???? 0.72g 1.05g
drachma d?a?µ? 6 obols 4.31g 6.3g
mina 100 drachmae 431g 630g
talent t??a?t?? 60 minae 25.86kg 37.8kg

Time

Athenians measured the day by sundial
Sundial

A sundial is a device that measures time by the position of the Sun. In common designs such as the horizontal sundial, the sun casts a shadow from its style onto a flat surface marked with lines indicating the hours of the day....
s. Periods during night or day could be measured by a water clock
Water clock

A water clock or clepsydra is any timekeeper operated by means of a regulated flow of liquid into or out from a vessel where the amount is then measured....
(clepsydra) that dripped at a steady rate. Whereas the day in our Gregorian calendar
Gregorian calendar

The Gregorian calendar is the internationally accepted civil calendar. It was first proposed by the Calabrian doctor Aloysius Lilius, and decreed by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom it was named, on 24 February 1582 by the papal bull Inter gravissimas....
commences just after midnight, the Greek day began just after sunset. Athenians named each year after the Archon
Archon

Archon is a Greek language word that means "ruler", frequently used as the title of a specific public office. It is the masculine present participle of the verb stem ???-, meaning "to rule", derived from the same root as monarch, hierarchy and anarchism....
Eponymos for that year, and in Hellenistic times years were reckoned in quadrennial epochs according to the Olympiad
Olympiad

An Olympiad is a period of four years, associated with the Ancient Olympic Games of Classical Greece. In the Hellenistic period, beginning with Ephorus, Olympiads were used as Epoch ....
. 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
Intercalation

Intercalation is the insertion of a leap day, week or month into some calendar years to make the calendar follow the seasons or moon phases. Lunisolar calendars may require intercalations of both days and months....
month, the Athenian or Attic calendar
Attic calendar

The Attic calendar is the calendar that was in use in ancient Attica, the ancestral territory of the ancient Athens polis. This article focuses on the 5th century BC and 4th century BC, the classical period that produced some of the most significant works of ancient Greek literature....
was still fairly inaccurate and days had occasionally to be added by the Archon
Archon

Archon is a Greek language word that means "ruler", frequently used as the title of a specific public office. It is the masculine present participle of the verb stem ???-, meaning "to rule", derived from the same root as monarch, hierarchy and anarchism....
Basileus. The start of the year was at the summer solstice (previously it had been at the winter solstice
Winter solstice

Winter solstice may refer to:* Winter solstice* Winter Solstice *...
) and months were named after Athenian religious festivals:

Month Greek name Gregorian equivalent
Hekatombaeon June-July
Metageitnion July-Aug
Boedromion Aug-Sept
Puanepsion Sept-Oct
Maimakteron Oct-Nov
Poseideon Nov-Dec
Gamelion Dec-Jan
Anthesterion Jan-Feb
Elaphebolion Feb-March
Mounychion March-April
Thargelion April-May
Skirophorion May-June

See also

Stadia rod
Systems of measurement
Systems of measurement

A system of measurement is a set of units which can be used to specify anything which can be measured and were historically important, regulated and defined because of trade and internal commerce....

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