Ancient Roman units of measurement

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The ancient Roman units of measurement were built on the Greek system with Egyptian influences. The Roman units were generally accurate and well documented.

Contents 1 Length 2 Area 3 Volume 3.1 Liquid measures 3.2 Dry measures 4 Weight 5 Time 6 References 7 See also

[edit] Length

The Roman foot is defined to be ¹⁶⁄₂₈ of the Nippur cubit.

Roman unit	Latin name	Feet	Equivalence
one digit	digitus	1⁄16	18.5 mm
one palm	palmus	1⁄4	74 mm
one foot	pes	1	296 mm
one cubit	cubitus	1+1⁄2	444 mm
one step	gradus	2+1⁄2	0.74 m
one pace	passus	5	1.48 m
one perch	pertica	10	2.96 m
one arpent	actus	120	35.5 m
one stadion	stadium	625	185 m
one mile	milliarium	5000	1.48 km
one league	leuga	7500	2.22 km

Notes

1. Since late Antiquity the Roman foot was sometimes divided into unciae, 12 equal parts.
   Although, the ancient digit measure largely dominated before beginning of Middle Ages.
2. The value of the historical Roman foot scientifically obtained by modern statistical methods is 296.2 mm ± 0.5 mm (about 296.2 mm ±0.17%) (cf. Rottländer, Tübingen, Germany). The table above is based on this value, however rounded to the millimetre precision for the foot.
3. The widely accepted ratio between the Roman foot and the English foot is 36:35. The latter one is 16/28 Mesopotamian cubit and the ratio between this one and the Roman cubit is 20:24. If the present English foot is taken as for reference, the Roman foot should be 296 1/3 mm. That is within the margin obtained by R.C.A. Rottländer (see references).
4. A Roman foot can be visualised as being approximately equal to the height of an A4 sheet of paper. This comparison, whilst descriptive is +0.27% out of the range given above.

[edit] Area

Roman unit	Latin name	Acres	Equivalence
one square foot	pes quadratus	1⁄14 400	~ 875 cm²
one square perch	scripulum	1⁄144	~ 8.75 m²
one aune of furrows	actus minimus	1⁄30	~ 42 m²
one rood	clima	1⁄4	~ 315 m²
one acre	actus quadratus also known as acnua	1	~ 1260 m²
one yoke	iugerum	2	~ 2520 m²
one morn	heredium	4	~ 5040 m²
one centurie	centurium	400	~ 50.4 ha
one "quadruplex"	saltus	1600	~ 201.6 ha

The Roman acre is the squared Roman arpent, 120 pedes by 120 pedes. This equals 14 400 square feet or about 0.126 hectares.

[edit] Volume

[edit] Liquid measures

Roman unit	Latin name	Sesters	Equivalence
one spoonful	ligula	1⁄48	~ 1+1⁄8 cl
one dose	cyathus	1⁄12	~ 4+1⁄2 cl
one sixth-sester	sextans	1⁄6	~ 9 cl
one third-sester	triens	1⁄3	~ 18 cl
one half-sester	hemina	1⁄2	~ 27 cl
one double third-sester	cheonix	2⁄3	~ 36 cl
one sester	sextarius	1	~ 54 cl
one congius	congius	6	~ 3+1⁄4 l
one urn	urna	24	~ 13 l
one jar	amphora	48	~ 26 l
one hose	culleus	960	~ 520 l

The Roman jar, so-called "amphora quadrantal" is the cubic foot. The congius is half-a-foot cubed. The Roman sester is the sixth of a congius.

[edit] Dry measures

Roman unit	Latin name	Pecks	Equivalence
one drawing-spoon	acetabulum	1⁄128	~ 6+3⁄4 cl
one quarter-sester	quartarius	1⁄64	~ 13+1⁄2 cl
one half-sester	hemina	1⁄32	~ 27 cl
one sester	sextarius	1⁄16	~ 54 cl
one gallon	semodius	1⁄2	~ 4+2⁄3 l
one peck	modius	1	~ 8+2⁄3 l
one bushel	quadrantal	3	~ 26 l

Like the jar, the Roman bushel or "quadrantal" is one cubic foot. It is almost 26.027 L. One-third of a quandrantal is a Roman peck.

[edit] Weight

Roman unit	Latin name	Drachms	Equivalence
one chalcus	chalcus	1 / 48	~ 71 mg
one siliqua	siliqua	1 / 18	~ 189⅓ mg
one obolus	obolus	1 / 6	~ 0.568 g
one scruple	scrupulum	1 / 3	~ 1.136 g
one drachm	drachma	1	~ 3.408 g
one shekel	sicilicus	2	~ 6.816 g
one ounce	uncia	8	~ 27.264 g
one pound	libra	96	~ 327.168 g
one mine	mina	128	~ 436.224 g

The Roman pound is exactly three quarters of the Greek mine.
Thus the Greek and Roman drachm is related by the ratio 32 to 25.

All the multiples of the Roman ounce have their own names
1 ounce    =	uncia	7 ounces  =	septunx
2 ounces  =	sextans	8 ounces  =	bes
3 ounces  =	quadrans	9 ounces  =	dodrans
4 ounces  =	trians	10 ounces  =	dextans
5 ounces  =	quincunx	11 ounces  =	deunx
6 ounces  =	semis	12 ounces  =	as

One and a half ounces was called by Romans "sescuncia". Some of these nouns were used to designate Roman bronze coins.

[edit] Time

The Julian calendar was introduced in 45 BC replacing the earlier Roman calendar. In the Julian calendar as in the Gregorian calendar an ordinary year is 365 days long and a leap year is 366 days long. The difference is which years are leap years. In the Julian calendar every fourth year is a leap year. The Gregorian calendar uses a more complex algorithm to more closely approximate the length of the tropical year.

[edit] References

Vormetrische Längeneinheiten by Rolf C. A. Rottländer, Rottenburg / Köln (also see Search-Engine).
Recovery of the Ancient System Foot/Cubit/Stadion — Length Units by Dieter Lelgemann, acting Director of the Institute for Geodesy and Geo-Information Technology, TU Berlin.
On the Ancient Determination of Meridian Arc Length by Eratosthenes of Kyrene Dieter Lelgemann, WS – History of Surveying and Measurement, Athens, Greece, May 22-27, 2004.
Knobloch, Eberhard, Dieter Lelgemann und Andreas Fuls: "Zur hellenistischen Methode der Bestimmung des Erdumfangs und zur Asienkarte des Klaudios Ptolemaios."
zfv (Zeitschrift für Geodäsie, Geoinformation und Landmanagment) 128. Jahrgang, Heft 3/2003, S. 211-217.

[edit] See also

• Systems of measurement
• History of measurement
• Units of measurement