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THE

ATHENIAN AGORA

RESULTS OF EXCAVATIONS

CONDUCTED

BY THE AMERICAN SCHOOL OF CLASSICAL STUDIES AT ATHENS

VOLUME

X

WEIGHTS,

MEASURES AND TOKENS

BY MABEL

LANG AND MARGARET CROSBY

:~B~ ? ~,P a Al A i o IKJ 4~ v;~ 00

00900l

THE

AMERICAN SCHOOL OF CLASSICAL STUDIES AT ATHENS

PRINCETON,

NEW JERSEY

1964

American School of Classical Studies at Athens

is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve, and extend access to The Athenian Agorawww.jstor.org®© American School of Classical Studies at Athens

For personal use only. License: CC-BY-NC-ND.

PUBLISHED

WITH THE AID OF A GRANT FROM MR. JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER, JR. ALL

RIGHTS RESERVED

PRINTED

IN GERMANY atJ.J. AUGUSTIN GLOCKSTADT © American School of Classical Studies at Athens

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PART I

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES

BY MABEL LANG © American School of Classical Studies at Athens

For personal use only. License: CC-BY-NC-ND.

PREFACE

During

the twenty odd years of the Agora Excavations a few of the weights and measures have received passing notice in the annual reports, and one measure was fully published by

Margaret Crosby (Hesperia, XVIII, 1949, pp. 108-113). Some preliminary work on the weights and measures was done in the early years by Rodney S. Young and Margaret Crosby, to both

of

whom I am grateful for many helpful suggestions. The object of the present study is to include all the metrological material from the Agora which is sufficiently defined by context or by its own form to give some indication of standard

and use. Bronze and lead weights are dealt with in the same section since both are at least partly official and because their range of weights and area of use seem to be similar. Stone weights,

which are not official and served a somewhat different purpose, are treated separately. The measures are divided into dry and liquid because of the different problems which the two

shapes present. Each of the four sections is made up of a general discussion followed by a catalogue of the objects. A separate series of numbers is used for each category of objects with prefixed letters to indicate their nature: BW for bronze weights; LW for lead weights; SW for stone weights; DM for dry measures; LM for liquid measures. The material for the present study was worked over in the years 1953-54 and 1959-60, when the

writer held, respectively, a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship and a Fulbright Research Grant at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. I wish to express my

gratitude to these organizations and to Bryn Mawr College for its generosity in granting leave for the pursuit of these studies. Gratitude is also particularly due to the Directors of the

American

School of Classical Studies at Athens, John L. Caskey and Henry S. Robinson; to the Director of the Agora Excavations, Homer A. Thompson; to Miss Lucy Talcott for constant encouragement and guidance; to Miss Alison Frantz for meticulous photography; to Mrs. Poly Demoulini for patient efficiency in expediting material; to Miss Hero Athanasiadou for drawings of profiles; to Miss Margaret Thompson and the American Numismatic Society for photographs of coins; and to the British Museum, Staatliche Museen in Berlin and National

Museum

in Athens for permission to reproduce photographs of coins and measures in their collections. My especial thanks must be expressed to Miss Lucy Shoe for almost infinite editorial time and patience. BRYN

MAWR COLLEGE MABEL LANG

APRIL,

1963 © American School of Classical Studies at Athens

For personal use only. License: CC-BY-NC-ND.

TABLE

OF CONTENTS

PREFACE

............................................................. Vii LIST OF PLATES . .................. .......................... X

ABBREVIATIONS

AND BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................... Xi

INTRODUCTION

............................................................. 1 BRONZE AND LEAD WEIGHTS ................................... 2 STONE WEIGHTS .......................................... ... 34 DRY MEASURES ......................................................... 39

LIQUID

MEASURES ............................... ............. 56

CONCORDANCE

OF INVENTORY AND CATALOGUE NUMBERS ........ 65

INDEX OF DEPOSITS ................... ............ ....... 67 INDEX

.......................... .............. ........... 139 © American School of Classical Studies at Athens

For personal use only. License: CC-BY-NC-ND.

LIST

OF PLATES

1

Bronze Weights: BW 1-14

2

Lead Weights: Wheel and Astragalos, LW 1-3, 6-7

3 Lead Weights: Astragalos and Dolphin, LW 4-5, 8-11 4

Lead Weights: Dolphin, LW 12-16

5

Lead Weights: Amphora, LW 17-23

6 Lead Weights: Half-Amphora, LW 24-29; Late Amphora, LW 30-33

7

Lead Weights: Tortoise, LW 34-44

8 Lead Weights: Half-Tortoise, Crescent, Cornucopia, etc., LW 45-62

9

Lead Weights: Roman Standard, LW 63-73, 75

10 Lead Weights: Marked, but Uncertain Standard, LW 74, 76-82 11 Lead Weights: Marked, but Uncertain Standard, LW 83-85 Stone

Weights: SW 1-8

12

Stone Weights: SW 9-28

13

Dry Measures: DM 1-39

14

Dry Measures: DM 40-64

15

Dry Measures: DM 65-75

16

Liquid Measures: LM 1-11

17

Liquid Measures: LM 12-31

18

Stamps on Measures

33

Profiles of Dry Measures, DM 1-43

34

Profiles of Dry Measures, DM 44-74

35

Profiles of Liquid Measures, LM 1-31

36
Actual State Plan of the Agora © American School of Classical Studies at Athens

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ABBREVIATIONS

AND BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bellinger,

A. R., "The Chronology of the Attic New Style Tetradrachms," Hesperia, Suppl. VIII, pp. 6-30.

Broneer, Oscar, "Excavations on the North Slope of the Acropolis: 1937," Hesperia, VII, 1938, pp. 161-263.

Brown,

W. L., "Pheidon's Alleged Aeginetan Coinage," Num. Chron., ser. 6, X, 1950, pp. 177-204.

Cagnat,

R. et Chapot, V., Manuel d'arche'ologie romaine, Paris, 1916-1920.

Crosby,

M., "An Athenian Fruit Measure," Hesperia, XVIII, 1949, pp. 108-113.

Davidson,

G. R., Corinth, XII, The Minor Objects, Princeton, 1952.

Davidson,

G. R. and Thompson, D. B., Small Objects from the Pnyx I, Hesperia, Suppl. VII, 1943. Day, John, An Economic History of Athens under Roman Domination, New York, 1942.

Deonna,

W., De'los, XVIII, Le mobilier D'lien, Paris, 1938.

Dinsmoor,

W. B., The Architecture of Ancient Greece, 3 New York, 1950.

Doerpfeld,

W., "Beitraige zur antiken Metrologie," Ath. Mitt., VIII, 1883, pp. 36-56, 342-358.

Edwards,

G. Roger, "Panathenaics of Hellenistic and Roman Times," Hesperia, XXVI, 1957, pp. 320-349.

French,

A., "The Economic Background to Solon's Reforms," Cl. Quart., VI, 1956, pp. 11-25.

Gardner,

Percy, A History of Ancient Coinage 700-300 B.C., Oxford, 1918.

Ghali-Kahil,

Lilly, ltudes Thasiennes, VII, La ce'ramique grecque, Paris, 1960. Glotz, G., Ancient Greece at Work, trans. by M. R. Dobie, New' York, 1926. Head, H. N. = Barclay V. Head, Historia Numorum, Oxford, 1911.

Heath,

T. L., A Manual of Greek Mathematics, Oxford, 1931.

Heichelheim,

Fr., Wirtschaftliche Schwankungen der Zeit von Alexander bis Augustus, Jena, 1930.

Hemmy,

A. S., "The Weight Standards of Ancient Greece and Persia," Iraq, V, 1938, pp. 65-81. Hill, G. F., "Solon's Reform of the Attic Standard," Num. Chron., XVII, 1897, pp. 284-292.

Hultsch,

F., "Die Gewichte des Altertums," Abh. der Ph.-hist. Kl. d. kanigl. Saichs. Gesell. Wissens., XVIII,

Leipzig, 1899.

Hultsch,

Metrol. = F. Hultsch, Griechische und R6mische Metrologie, 2 Berlin, 1882.

Johnston,

J., "Solon's Reform of Weights and Measures," J. H. S., LIV, 1934, pp. 180-184. Lang, M., "Numerical Notation on Greek Vases," Hesperia, XXV, 1956, pp. 1-24. Lang, M., "A New Inscription from Thasos: Specifications for a Measure," B. C. H., LXXVI, 1952, pp. 18-31.

Lehmann-Haupt

C. F., "Gewichte," Pauly-Wissowa-Kroll, Real-encyclopadie der classischen Altertums- wissenschaft,

Suppl. III, 1918, cols. 588-654.

Lehmann-Haupt,

C. F., "Forschungen zum antiken und 6stasiatischen Gewichtswesen," Klio, XXIX, 1936, pp. 250-284.

Metrolog.

Script. = Metrologicorum Scriptorum Reliquiae, ed. F. Hultsch, I, Leipzig, 1864.

Michell,

H. The Economics of Ancient Greece, Cambridge, 1940.

Michon,

E., "Pondus," Daremberg,

Saglio, et Pottier, Dictionnaire des antiquite's grecques et romains, IV, pp. 548-559.

Milbank,

S. R., Coinage of Aegina, Amer. Num. Soc. N. Mon., XXIV, New York, 1925. Milne, J. G., "The Monetary Reform of Solon," J. H. S., L, 1930, pp. 179-185.

Murray,

A. S., "Greek Weights in the British Museum," Num. Chron., VIII, 1868, pp. 57-73. Pernice = E. Pernice, Griechische Gewichte, Berlin, 1894.

Pink, K., Rimische und Byzantinische Gewichte in 6sterreichischen Sammlungen, Sonderschriften des dster- reichischen Archiiologischen Institutes in Wien, XII, Wien, 1938. Pink, K., "R6mische und Byzantinische Gewichte," Klio, XXX, 1937, pp. 346-352. Robert, L., Jtudes de Numismatique Grecque, Paris, 1951.

Robinson,

D. M., Excavations at Olynthus, Part X, Metal and Minor Miscellaneous Finds, Baltimore, 1941.

Rostovtzeff, M., The Social and Economic History of the Hellenistic World, Oxford, 1941. © American School of Classical Studies at Athens

For personal use only. License: CC-BY-NC-ND.

xii

ABBREVIATIONS AND BIBLIOGRAPHY

Schillbach,

K. M. R., Beitrag zur Griechischen Gewichtskunde, Winckelmann Prog., XXXVII, Berlin, 1877.

Segrb,

A., Metrologia e circolazione monetaria degli antichi, Bologna, 1928.

Seltman,

Athens = C. T. Seltman, Athens, its History and Coinage before the Persian Invasion, Cambridge, 1924.

Seltman,

Greek Coins2 = C. T. Seltman, Greek CoinS2, London, 1955.

Svoronos

= J. N. Svoronos, Les monnaies d'Athines, Munich, 1926.

Thompson,

M., The New Style Silver Coinage of Athens, New York, 1961.

Thompson,

M., "The Beginning of Athenian New Style Coinage," Amer. Num. Soc. Mus. Notes, V, 1952, pp.

25-33.

Viedebantt, 0., Antike Gewichtsnormen und Miinzf uf/e, Berlin, 1923.

Viedebantt,

0., "Die athenischen Hohlmal3e," Festschrift Oxd, Darmstadt, 1938, pp. 135-146.

Viedebantt, 0., "Der athenische VolksbeschluB iiber MaB und Gewicht," Hermes, LI, 1916, pp. 120-144.

Viedebantt, 0., "Forschungen zur Metrologie des Altertums," Abh. der Ph.-hist. K1. d. k6nigl. Sdichs. Gesell.

Wissens., XXXIV, 3, Leipzig, 1916.

Viedebantt,

O., "Metrologica," Philologus, LXXIX, 1923, pp. 298-313; LXXXIII, 1927, pp. 207-212.

Viedebantt,

O., "Metrologische Beitrage I, II," Hermes, XLVII, 1912, pp. 422-465, 562-632.

Wade-Gery,

H. T., "The Ratio of Gold to Silver during the Poleponnesian War: I. G., 12, 301," Num. Chron. ser. 5, X, 1930, pp. 16-38.

Waters,

K. H., "Solon's Price-equalization," J. H. S., LXXX, 1960, pp. 181-190. © American School of Classical Studies at Athens

For personal use only. License: CC-BY-NC-ND.

INTRODUCTION

Studies

of ancient metrology have for the most part suffered under two severe handicaps: a modem scientific metrological system and an excess of theory over practice. The theory, derived from a combination of statements made by the ancient writers on metrology with a few actual measurements of ancient objects, manipulates figures and calculates correspondences among standards almost in a vacuum. Moreover, the metric system which the modem student uses to express ancient metrological values admits of far finer distinctions than any ancient system contemplated, at least for general practical and commercial purposes. For we are dealing not with minute quantities of valuable metals, as in coinage, or of potent drugs, as in medicine, but with the ordinary units of weight and capacity used in daily commerce for the great bulk of commodities which were bought and sold. Since the primary purpose of this study is to present the actual weights and measures found in the Athenian Agora, it will perhaps be possible to skirt these pitfalls, at the outset at least, by allowing the weights and measures to set their own standards. The present state of the material, however, will necessarily limit our conclusions both in breadth and depth: the weights

almost certainly do not preserve their original weight; the measures are often too fragmentary to provide true capacity; and in both categories the numbers are too small to give us the

security

of statistical averages. Some interpretation has been necessary merely to present the weights and measures in some

kind of reasoned order. It seemed desirable to ask and, where possible, to answer the questions which the objects themselves raise: what are they? what is their relation to one another? when,

how and by whom were they used? to what extent do they confirm, contradict or add to other evidence in what they can tell us about the public and private life of the ancient Athenians? As far as modern equivalents are concerned, it was necessary on occasion to make use of them in a preliminary fashion in order to introduce the ancient weights and measures. In these cases, I have been content to use time-honored and generally accepted figures like a drachm of

4.36 gr. and a kotyle as 273 cc., since variations from these, although developed with much

subtlety, are far smaller than the variations immanent in the ancient standards of weight and capacity as exemplified in extant pieces. © American School of Classical Studies at Athens

For personal use only. License: CC-BY-NC-ND.

BRONZE

AND LEAD WEIGHTS

Of the many bronze and lead weights found in the Agora only those which bear some indica- tion of their weight and their relation to a standard need detailed consideration. Only after standards are determined on the basis of marked weights can those which are unmarked be assigned, and even then they can add nothing except possible weight of numbers. Where there is so much variation in weight even between identically marked weights, the assignment of unmarked ones will for the most part be more arbitrary than useful.

STANDARDS

AND EQUIVALENTS

Of the marked weights, more than a dozen belong to the Roman system of pounds and ounces, and a few others have marks or symbols which are not immediately meaningful. For all of these, see below (pp. 23-24). Of the remainder, the largest group appears to belong to one system, without doubt Athenian, because of the general uniformity of style, symbols and inscriptions. Within that general uniformity, however, certain variations in form and in the use of symbols and legends as well as variations in weight make it clear that more than one standard is represented. It will be well, therefore, to consider first the literary evidence for different standards or changes of standard in the Athenian system of weights.

Aristotle,

Ath. Pol., 10

'Ev

pC.v oiv "roT- v6potl Ta0ra 60KS eEivcatVQlI, OrOTlK, "pi uTp vopo EoiaOOOS WoTrOlt'= T riV "rv XPEC)V

drroKoTr rv Ki MleT -r TOvTc Tav rE -rv ITpcov Ki oTa pV Kai v T1V 7'TOO vaOiToo"CtTl-roS lonTv. TrinKEiVOU y&p yvE6To KaIi Ta ptpa p1 eilco TOv OE1ioVSiEOV, KaI V Wv& rp6TrEpOV EXovUa acrTaOpv P8OpitKOVTa

SpaXpaS d&vEwlTXpcOei -rac5 KaTr6v. ?jV 8' 6 &pXaqos XapaKT T6

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KaL

TOIS oo Oa-raOijS.

Whatever else is obscure in this much vexed chapter,1 the weight standard is clear. Solon made the weight talent heavier by three mnas than the coin talent and distributed the extra weight among the constituent parts of the weight talent. The one part specifically named is the stater, i.e. the standard weight unit comparable to the earliest standard coin, the didrachm. Thus the weight stater was to the weight mna as the coin didrachm was to the coin drachm. 1 Cf. recent bibliography: J. G. Milne, "The Monetary Reform of Solon,"

J.H.S., L, 1930, pp. 179-185; J. Johnston, "Solon's Reform of Weights and Measures," J.H.S., LIV, 1934, pp. 180-184; A. French, "The Economic Background to Solon's Reforms," Cl. Quart., VI, 1956, pp. 11-25; K. H. Waters, "Solon's Price Equalization," J.H.S., LXXX, 1960, pp. 181- 190. It seems to me that the differences between Aristotle's and Androtion's (Plutarch, Solon, 15) numbers of old drachms in the new mna can best be explained with reference to the difference between the coin mna and the weight mna. Aristotle gives the figure 70, which has reasonably been interpreted as the drachms of Aeginetan weight in the new mna of ca. 436 gr. (100 x 4.36 gr. is 70 x 6.23 gr.). Androtion's statement that what had been 73 drachms now became 100 shows that he was making his calculations on the basis of the weight mna (105 x 4.36 gr. is 457.8 gr.) rather than the coin mna (436 gr.). That is, 73 x 6.23 gr. is 454.8 gr. © American School of Classical Studies at Athens

For personal use only. License: CC-BY-NC-ND.

BRONZE

AND LEAD WEIGHTS 8

That the stater was the weight unit is proved not only by the existing fractional weights based on the stater but also by the use of the unit in inscriptions recording payments for various amounts of weighed materials. For example, in I. G., 112, 1673 the prices indicate that there were

30 staters to the talent, so that these staters can not be tetradrachms of silver weight. There seems to be some evidence that raw materials were bought by the stater and finished

products by the mna: stater for miltos, glue and iron; mna for hinge-sockets and empolia. Why the weight unit was the stater rather then the mna has, I think, never been considered.

It is possible that it expressed the ratio between bronze and silver in the time of Solon (105:1), so that the bronze stater represented the amount of bronze which could be purchased for a

silver stater. Since by Solon's reform all parts of the weight talent shared in the 5% increase over the coin talent,

6000 weight drachms make up the weight talent of 6300 coin drachms. Similarly, 100

weight

drachms make a weight mna(105 coin drachms), and 100 weight didrachms make a weight stater (105 coin didrachms or staters). Thus we have near the very beginning of official Athenian

metrology

two weight systems. Other important evidence for different standards comes from the end of Athenian me-

trological history. A decree of the late 2nd century B.C. provides, among other things, for a new mna of 150 coin drachms2 which seems to be based on a mna of 138 drachms. I.G., I2, 1013, lines 29-37 (cf. Hesperia, VII, 1938, p. 130), transcribed here as conventional text &yT-ro

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