[German version] (χοῖνιξ; choînix). Greek term for a dry measure, especially for grain. Depending on the region, a choinix amounted to 1.01 l (Attica), 1.1 l (Aegina) or 1.52 l (Boeotia, Laconia). Under the Ptolemies, a choinix was equivalent to 0.82 l. The measure was based on the idea of the daily ration for a man. As a rule four kotylai (in late Egypt three) amounted to one choinix, whilst eight choinikes made a hekteus and 48 choinikes one medimnos (= 48.48 l or a maximum 72.96 l). According to Viedebantt the choinix amounted to 0.906 l. Nissen gives the Attic choinix in the time of …

[German version] (ἀρτάβη; artábē). Denotes an originally Persian  measure of capacity for dry goods, according to Hdt.1,192 consisting of 51 choínikes (= c. 55 l). From the Ptolemies onwards, the artabe is used in Egypt as the largest unit of capacity for dry goods, and depending on the region consists of 28, 29, 30 or 40 choínikes (1  choínix varies from c. 0.9-1.5 l).  Choinix;  Measure of volume Mlasowsky, Alexander (Hannover) Bibliography F. Hultsch, Griech. und röm. Metrologie, 21882 O. Viedebantt, Forsch. zur Metrologie des Alt., 1917 J. Shelton, Artabs and Choenices, in: …

[German version] (καπέτις; kapétis). Persian measure of volume for dry goods; it corresponds to 1/48 of an artabe, therefore to 1 Attic choinix and c. 1.1 l [1. 479-482]. Xenophon also mentions a καπίθη/ kapíthē, which corresponded to 2 Attic choinikes (Xen. An. 1,5,6). Schulzki, Heinz-Joachim (Mannheim) Bibliography 1 F. Hultsch, Griech. und röm. Metrologie, 21882.

[German version] (μέδιμνος; médimnos) is the largest Greek unit of measurement for dry substances, with a volume of 6 hekteis ( Hekteus), equivalent to 48 choinikes ( Choinix) and 192 kotylai ( Kotyle [2]). According to Hultsch, it equals c. 52.5 l, according to Nissen c. 51.8 l with considerable regional differences. Measures of volume Schulzki, Heinz-Joachim (Mannheim) Bibliography 1 F. Hultsch, Griechische und römische Metrologie, 21882, 108, 703 tab. X 2 M. Lang, M. Crosby, Weights, Measures and Tokens (The Athenian Agora 10), 1964, 41ff. 3 H. Nissen, Griechische und römische M…

[German version] (ξέστης/ xéstēs). From the turn from the 3rd cent. BC to the 2nd onwards, the term xestes is recorded as a Greek term for the Roman sextarius , a fluid and dry measure of capacity (=  c. 0.546 l) corresponding to 1/48 of an amphora [2], 1/6 of a congius or 2 heminae , 4 quartarii and 12 cyathi . In late Antiquity Egypt, 72 xestai/ sextarii corresponded to an artábē, which was subdivided into 48 choínikes. Hence a choínix can be equated with 11/2 xestai/ sextarii. Sextarius (with table) Schulzki, Heinz-Joachim (Mannheim) Bibliography 1 H. Chantraine, s. v. X., RE 9 A, 210…

[German version] Egyptian hollow measure for fluids and dry materials of 1/10 ḥqt ( hekat) in the Old Kingdom or 1/40 jpt ( oipe) in the New Kingdom, corresponding to c. 0.48 l [3. 1201], with minimal differences upwards [1. 1644] and downwards [2. 1152]. The hin is the only remaining unit from the Demotic period, corroborated by extant measuring vessels. Its relations to the  artabe and  choinix are contentious [3. 1210]. Measuring vessels based on the hin have also been handed down from the New Kingdom: mḥt = 1 hin, pg = 1/4 hin, mnḏqt = 50 hin, which seem, however, not to have h…

[German version] was the Latin name for the office of weights and measures. The calibration of scales and weights and of measuring-vessels for fluids and dry goods took place, both in Greece and the Roman Empire in a building in the vicinity of the marketplace, in which were kept the town's official weights and a block of stone sunk with depressions of various depths and fitted with removable metal inserts for the standardization of measures of volume. There is a copy of such a 'measuring table' ( mensa ponderaria, Greek σήκωμα/ sḗkōma) with cavities of different sizes in the Forum of…

Roman surname. [German version] [1] M., Q. Horse breeder Cited by Varro (Rust. 2,7,1) as a distinguished horse breeder. His (probably invented) cognomen Equicolus, which indicates this activity, may have been interpreted by Varro as Aequicolus, so that a later period reveals a Septimus M. as the first king of the Aequiculi (Lib. de praenominibus 1). Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) [German version] [2] M. Fabidius Founder of the city of Cures Son of a virgin of the Aborigines who comes to dance in the sanctuary of Quirinus in the territory of Reate, but is then seized…

[German version] I. Ancient Orient Measures of volume were used to measure liquids and especially grain and other bulk solids (dates, etc.). Therefore, they were employed in the administration of grain, including the issuing of rations. According to cuneiform sources, ordinary measuring vessels (especially the sea) were made of wood. Special measures for liquids can only be identified locally with a standard ‘vessel’ usually containing 20 or 30 litres. Despite all temporal and local differences, a relatively constant absolute size of the small unit (Sumerian sìla, Akkadian qû = c.…

[German version] I. Ancient Near East Prices or equivalents for numerous fungible items had a generally recognized value in both Egypt and Mesopotamia, though nothing is known of how this came about. Prices in Egypt were at first expressed in a value unit šn( tj) (perhaps 'silver ring'?), in the New Kingdom also in copper and sacks of grain (though neither served as media of exchange) [7. 13]. In Mesopotamia, they were generally expressed in weights of silver (in Assyria, occasionally also tin). Indications as to equivalents are preserved to varying degrees of abundance and …

[German version] I. General With respect to human history, nutrition, generally defined as the intake of substances for the sustenance, procreation and growth of living organisms, should not in any way be understood or investigated only as a physiological process, but must be seen in the context of a multiplicity of economic, social, cultural and religious factors. The choice of foodstuffs in a society is made not only with regard to their nutritional value, but also based on social and religious va…