Greek weighing

Thesis

This thesis is not a direct contribution to Greek metrology in the traditional sense of the subject, though it is an attempt to move the subject in a different direction. The relatively straightforward search for Greek weight standards can only take place after it is known that such standards existed and that they were built into such evidence as might survive to be studied. This however is not necessarily the case, nor is it necessarily true that even if such standards existed they meant very much to the ancient Greeks. If little substantial progress has been made with the study of Greek metrology (and in this particular case with weighing) it is because these basic questions have not been resolved. In fact it will be shown that weight as a concept was not understood by the ancient n Greeks; their balances distinguished or compared but did not measure weight. With this conclusion the strictly metrological aspect of the subject is largely irrelevant.

An attempt has been made to use every available source, and type of evidence, to illustrate Greek weighing. The evidence falls into two categories: first, the direct evidence of actual balances, of extant weights, of coins (being weights), and of recorded weighing in literature and on inscriptions; and second, the indirect evidence of weighing theory, of attitudes to the balance and its use in allegory, metaphor and simile. This range of evidence must be taken as a whole.

Continued in thesis ...

Authors: Grayson, CH

• Alternative title: Weighing in ancient Greece
• DOI: 10.5287/ora-j0pgqbddk
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: Ancient Greece; Greek; weights; measures; Greece; weighing
• Subjects: Weights and measures -- Greece