Medimnos

A medimnos (Greek: μέδιμνος, médimnos, plural μέδιμνοι,médimnoi) was one of the Ancient Greek units of measurement . It relates to a dry measure measurement of volume of food grain used in Attica^{[note 1]}

History

The actual volume of a medimnos varied according to locality which is a common feature of ancient measurement ^[1]

It was the measure used by Solon to establish a Timocratic Constitution in Athens around 495 BCE. In which a tax of various measures of food grain were required to secure a particular rank or status (e.g. 500 medimnoi for a military commander, 200 or less for an agricultural worker)

The measure originated in Corinth and was adopted by Classical Athens and Megara as well as other poleis.

In practice of the since taxes could be paid in any of the common primary component of the contemporary diet (agricultural crops, wine meat fish etc) sit was necessary to adjust the actual delivered volume according to its current relative value

A medimnos consisted of several smaller units: tritaios (one third), hekteus (one sixth = 8,64 l.), hemiektos (a twelfth = 4,32 l.), the choinix (one forty-eighth = 1.08 l.) and the kotyle or cup (0,27 l.) ^[2]

In Attica the medimnos (which corresponded to 192 kotyloi) was approximately 51,84 l, because in that system a kotyle was equivalent to 0,27 liters^[3]

This was similar to 2 Attic cubic feet, which was 0,30825 meters which, would yield a volume of 51,84 liters. According to Dörpfeld the Attic foot was 0,2957 meters yielding 51,72 liters.

In Sparta the medimnos was between 71,16 to 77,58 litres (th last adopted by the island of Aegina).

After the reform introduced in the second century BCE the medimnos was set at 58,92 liters, but with the same fractions as previously, except that the kotyle was the 238 part of a medimnos.

There is a problem in converting the medimnos to weight . It is thought to be 40 kilograms of wheat or 31 Kg ofe barley). This difference puts into question the tributes due time^[4]

It is believed that an active adult male in the sixth century BCE would need to consume about eight medimnoi per year, a little less for woman. From that it could be estimated that a young family of a father, a mother and three children would need about 25 medimnoi each year, so a top rank contribution would feed some 20 families.

According to Herodotus the Satrap of Assyria Tritantaechmes, son of Artabazos I of Phrygia during the reign of [[]Xerxes II of Persia] was required to supply 55 ^[5] equivalent to 55 liters.

According to Polybius in the Roman army at the time of the Punic Wars “the rations of an infantryman is two third parts of an Attic medimnos and a cavalryman seven medimnoi of of barly and two of wheat. The ration of the allied infantry is the same as the cavalry, a medimnos and a third of wheat and five of barley”^[6]

Further reading

• Guy Rachet e Marie Francoise Rachet (a cura di), Dizionario Larousse della civiltà greca. Roma: Gremese Editore, 2001, p. 157-8, ISBN 8884401070, ISBN 9788884401076
• The Oxford Classical Dictionary, 2003, ISBN 0-19-860641-9
• Lorenzo Rocci, Vocabolario greco-italiano, Roma: Societa Anonima Editrice Dante Alighieri, 1951

References