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[German version] Literally meaning ‘silver coin’ [2.7], the argenteus is a piece of silver introduced, as mentioned in the fragmentary edicts of Aphrodisias and Aezani, during the  coinage reform of Diocletian around AD 294/6. This coin was equivalent to the one in circulation with a weight of 3.0-3.3 g (1/96 of the Roman pound in silver) and thus to the Neronian denarius. The silver content amounts to 90 per cent and more [1.110]. After the price edict of AD 301, the fixed value of 50 …

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[German version] The modern technical term antoninianus refers to a second silver coin introduced alongside the denarius in AD 215 by Caracalla; i…

[German version] Gold coins; infrequent in republican Rome in contrast to the Hellenistic Kingdoms; used to supplement (cf. Liv. 27,10,11f.) the minting of silver coins when necessary. The first gold coins, which are known as oath scene stater [4. 144 fig. 28/1; 145 fig. 29/1] -- the sacrifice of a piglet depicted on the reverse refers to the conclusion of a treaty -- are generally assumed to have been minted in 216 BC. Another interpretation, …

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[German version] The first coins with an owl as motif were minted in Athens from c. 575 BC on as incusum quadratum in electrum and silver [1. table 1], later (from c. 525 BC on) as a reverse motif with an obverse image of Athena in the Attic standard of coinage [1. table 2; 2. 44ff.]. Minting in bronze with this motif, beginning in the 3rd cent. BC, replaced the silver coins from 78/7 BC onward [3. 42] and ended in the middle of the 2nd cent. AD [1. table 88]. Elektron; Incusum quadratum; Coinage, standards of Mlasowsky, Alexander (Hannover) Bibliography 1 J.N. Svoronos, B. Pick, Corpus of the a…

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[German version] In Greece, the authority over calibration as well as the control over official measures and weights lay in the hands of the agoranómoi, although from the mid 4th cent. BC at the latest there is evidence that assistant officials called metronómoi were in charge of these affairs. Fireproof moulds for weights were kept in the office of the market official or the scale master ( zygostátēs). Weights were poured from bronze or lead under official supervision and then were handed over to shops and to the authorities. The weights came in varying shapes and often show engraved images and inscriptions, abbreviated …

[German version] Standard Roman silver coin, worth 10 asses ─ hence the ancient term ‘tenner’ ─, later 16 asses. Named δηνάριον ( dēnárion) in Greek. After the breakdown of the gold system during the Second Punic War, the denarius was introduced between 214 and 211 BC, together with the fractional pieces quinarius (1/2 denarius) and sestertius (1/4 denarius), as the new prime monetary unit (with a value marking of X or ) to replace the quadrigatus. With a weight of 4 …

[German version] (only adjective δωδεκάδραχμος; dōdekádrachmos). Silver twelve drachmas coin that was minted in northern Greece in the Attic standard and in Ptolemaic Egypt and in Carthaginian Sicily with a weight of 44,3-45,5 g.  Drachma;  Coinage, standards of Mlasowsky, Alexander (Hannover) Bibliography …

[German version] (ἄρουρα; ároura). Actually denoting ‘earth’ or ‘agricultural land’, aroura is the Greek term for the Egyptian Sett (arable land). As a measure of area, the aroura represents a square with sides of 100 cubits (each measuring 52.5 cm), thus 2,756 m2. The measure originates in the pharaonic period (attested since the 4th dynasty), and continues in use under the Ptolemies and the Romans in Eg…

[German version] [1] Storage and transport vessel (ἀμφορεύς; amphoreús). Two-handled, bulbous storage and transport vessel with a narrow neck. The predominant form of storage vessels in antiquity, these have survived mainly in clay, rarely in bronze, precious metals, glass or onyx. Among  household equipment regarded as undecorated ceramics for everyday use ( Clay vessels II). Painted amphoras served ritual purposes as ornamental items on graves, urns for storing ashes, food storage vessels for the dead, wine and oil vessels for festivals of the living ( Panathenaean amphoras). Attic potteries produced in the 6th and 5th cents. BC long-necked and big-bellied amphoras as well as other amphora forms for export ( Tyrrhenian amphora,  Nicosthenes;  Pottery, shapes and types of). The black-figured standard model of the long-necked amphora as an export item was sup…

[German version] (Ἄκαινα; ákaina). Originally a rod for driving animals, it was also used by the Greeks as a staff for surveying fields and is equivalent to 10 feet (πούς; poús); regionally it varies between c. 27 and 35 cm. Ten akainai are equal to one   …

[German version] (δαρεικός, δαρικός, δαριχός, dareikós, darikós, darichós). Greek name, deriving from Darius I, (Hdt. 4,166; 7,28f.; Thuc. 8,28) for the generally bean-shaped gold coins (στατήρ, statḗr) of the Great King of Persia. The occasionally used terms dareikoi Philippeioi and argypoi dareikoi are incorrect. The first coins, minted in c. 515 BC and the same weight as the kroiseios ( c. 8.05g), which did not replace the latter until 30 years after the fall of the Lydian Empire, show a symbolic representation of the Persian king on the obverse ─ kneeling an…

[German version] In the Roman system of measures and weights, deunx refers to11/12 of the whole (as) and the term is derived from deesse and uncia, i.e. 1 as (12 unciae) less 1 uncia. Deunx is used in the measurement 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…

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[German version] ( dupondium). A doubling of the  As, in the Roman system of measurement, the dupondius represented twice the ‘unit’ of length (twice the pes) and in weight two Roman pounds (one libra = 327.45 g). Dupondius also signified simply the number two, and in Roman law the doubled whole. The earliest dupondii were cast in bronze with a dose of lead as two libral asses (hence also dussis) with the denomination II between 269 and 240 BC in the Roma/wheel series ( Aes grave) [1. 23]. As a result of th…

[German version] Modern technical term for cast, rectangular ingots of metal [2.III 186]. Aes signatum replaces the older   aes rude and becomes the precursor to the   aes grave even though, for a short time, the three currencies are in use concurrently [2.III 201; 9.96; 1]. The older form (6th to early 3rd cents. BC), with a varying weight of 500-2000 g, was primarily cast in northern Etruria and consists of an iron alloy; it is eit…

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[German version] (δεκανουμμίον; dekanoummíon). According to sources from late antiquity and Byzantium, the dekanoummion…

[German version] [1] Spoon, smallest unit of Roman hollow measures (χήμη, chḗmē, ‘Spoon’). Smallest unit of Roman hollow measures, especially for medicines. Exceptionally, cochlear(e) is calculated differently: in the Carmen de ponderibus as 1/6 of the mystum (1.9 ml); in Isidorus (Orig. 16,25) the cochlear(e) amounts to 2.3 ml.  Acetabulum;  Amphora;  Congius;  Culleus;  Cyathus;  Hemina;  Hollow measures;  Modius;  Quadrantal;  Quartarius;  Semodius;  Sextarius;  Urna 1 cochlear   11.4 ml 4 cochlearia 1 cyathus

[German version] I. Middle East Elektron as a natural alloy of gold and silver that was mostly worked as found in the Middle East and Egypt. According to analysis, objects seemingly consisting of gold usually contain a large amount of silver, which may constitute more than 40% (e.g., vessels from the royal graves of Ur, c. 2600 BC). Later, elektron was also artificially produced as an alloy. Elektron is harder than gold and, t…

[German version] (Decus). The decussis stands in general for the figure 10 (symbol: X), and the term is derived from the corresponding amount or value in asses. On the basis of the libral standard weight (1 Roman pound = 1 as = 327.45 g), the decussis weighs ten times one as, and as a value represents 5/8 of a denarius of 16 asses. Numismatically speaking, the decussis is significant only as a bronze 10-as piece in the semilibral standard, cast during the years 215-212 BC (  aes grave ). The ‘Roma in Phrygian helmet/prora’ coin exists contemporaneously with the sil…

[German version] (ἀσσάριον; assárion). Greek term for the Latin as [4], with 16 assaria corresponding to 1 denarius [2. 32]; attested epigraphically and from stamps. In the course of the Imperial period and until the cessation of bronze coining in c. AD 275 the bronze assarion develops alongside the chalkos and the obolos to become the most important coin of the Greek East, meeting the need for small coinage in that region. Conversion of …

[German version] [1] Legal action An action, especially a legal action (Dig. 49,1,12) i. a. defining characteristic of   alienatio : omnis a., per quem dominium transfertur, Cod. Iust. 5,23,1. Formal legal ac…

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(δραχμή; drachmḗ). [German version] [1] Coin According to finds from the Argive Heraeum and Sparta, six small iron spits each in the value of one obol, form a ‘handful’ drachmaí (derived from δράττεσθαι), both hands encompassing 12 pieces and resulting in one didrachme. The first silver drachmai are minted in the Aeginetic standard of coinage at 6.24 g. Other standards are the so-called Phoenician at 3.63 g, the Chian-Rhodian at 3.9 g (and less), the Corinthian at 2.8 g and the Attic standard, which became dominant since the late Classical period, at 4.37 g. In the Hellenistic era, the weight of the Attic drachme is reduced until the Romans set it at 4.31 g, correspo…

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[German version] Based on an amphora (= 8 congii), congius designates a Roman volume measure for liquids and is equal to 3.275 l, which is standardized when filled with water or wine at 80 pounds at 327.45 g each, so that a congius of 10 pounds weighs about 3.275 kg. The ‘Farnesian’ congius, which was produced in AD 75 under Vespasian and shows the abbreviation p(ondus) X (for 10 pounds) in the inscription, was just below the standard with 3.265 l (ILS 8628). Regarding the subdivision of the congius, cf.   cochlear . The chous is equated with the Roman congius.  Amphora; …

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[German version] A jug or drinking vessel that, derived from Greek κύαθος, is especially a Roman measure of capacity for dry goods and liquids of 45.6 ml. The cyathus amounts to 1/12 of the sextarius (= 0,55 l). The number of cyathi drunk is counted as a multiple of uncia, e.g. four cyathi are called trientes (= 1/3 of the sextarius) or 11 cyathi are called …

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(χοῦς, χοεύς; choûs, choeús). [German version] [1] Jug or decanter Jug or decanter (h…

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[German version] I. Historical Damnatio memoriae (DM) was the process of erasing from the (public) memory of a person (usually a Roman emperor) whose name and images are removed from public inscriptions and buildings. Underlying this measure was the religious assumption, widespread in the Roman-Hellenistic world, that meritorious rulers, like heroes, had come from the realm of the gods and returned there af…

[German version] In the Roman system of weights and measures, dextans describes 10/…

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[German version] (δίδραχμον; dídrachmon). A unit of weight and a silver coin worth two drachmas, the didrachmon was the largest value in circulation, mostly struck in Asia Minor, southern Italy, Rome and part of Sicily, as well as Corinth, Elis and on Aegina, seldom in Athens, and rated variously at 12.48 g in Aegina, at 8.73 g in Attica or at the south Italian standard of 7.9 g, later 6.6 g. As a unit it represented a stater, so esp. for gold coinage. Rhodian 1st-cent. bronze coins and Neronian coins from Antioch on the Orontes bear the legend ΔΙΔΡΑΧΜΟΝ; DIDRACHMON [1; 2].  Drachma;  Stater Ml…

[German version] (Εὔμενος; Eúmenos). One of the earliest Syracusan stamp cutters, manufactured around 415-400 BC, initially influenced by Sosion, predominantly tetradrachmas of varying quality. E. signed alternately with Sosion, Phrygillus, Evaenetus and Euth[...]. In the older research he is occasionally referred to as Eumenes.  Evaenetus;  Phrygillus;  Sosion;  Tetradrachmon Mlasowsky, Alexander (Hannover) Bibliography …

[German version] (ἐξάγιον, στάγιον; exágion, stágion). Originally a Hellenistic coin weight (in Babylon with a weight of 17,00 g), the …

[German version] Culleus properly designates a leather sack made of cowhide; it was used by the Romans as the largest unit for measuring fluid capacity (especially with wine). Probably originally based on the volume of the stitched cowhide, the culleus amounts to 524 l; 20 amphorae, 40 urnae or 160 congii constitute the culleus, with 1 congius corresponding to 3,275 l.  Amphora;  Congius;  Measure of volume;  Urna Mlasowsky, Alexander (Hannover) Bibliography F. Hultsch, Griech. und röm. Metrologie, 21882 F. Olck, s.v. C. (no. 2), RE 4.2, 1901, 1746-1747 O. A. W. Dilke, Mathematik, Maße und Gewichte in der Antike, 1991.

[German version] (δίχαλκον; díchalkon). A Greek measure of weight and bronze coin worth twice as much as a chalkous. It corresponded to 1/4 (Athens), 1/6 (Delphi, Epidaurus) or 1/8 (Priene) of an obolos [1]. Variants of the mark of the value were e.g. B X (stamp of Antiochus IV, Seleucea on the Tigris at about 9.6 g) [2. 271f.] or ΔΙΧΑΛΚ(on) (stamp of Apollonia Pontica at 2.1 g) [3].  Chalkous;  Obolos Mlasowsky, Alexander (Hannover) Bibliography 1 M. N. Tod, Epigraphical Notes on Greek Coinage, in: NC 6.6, 1946, 47-62 2 E. T. Newell, The coinage of the Eastern Seleucid mints fr…

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