MENSAE PONDERARIAE FROM THE NORTH-WESTERN BLACK SEA REGION (original) (raw)

2016

Mensae ponderariae, or σηκώματα were an important element of market squares in ancient cities. They were used for inspecting weight of grains, salt, and liquids being set in a public place in vicinity or directly in agora. Such tables had cavities, in most cases rough, on their surface. They were a little bigger than corresponding bronze measuring vessels (mensurae) that should be taken into account while determining their capacities. Larger cavities had broad apertures or metal pipes in their bottoms so that contents could be poured out directly in containers (wineskins, amphorae, or other vessels). In the Roman period, inscriptions situated on the front side of the tables usually mentioned magistrates who controlled and inspected public cargos, trade, and especially measures and weights (cura urbis). They ordered these tables after taking office on their own will or following instruction. City magistrates were also responsible for ratio of weights and measures (mensuras exaequandas) that, according to the inscription on the table from Pompeii, contributed to consolidation of the state. Aedili were the most frequently mentioned among the officials who controlled weights and measures. Duumviri fulfilled control functions, too (Gaspari, Novšak 2012: 201). In the territory of Thrace, two such tables were found. A fragment of rectangular mensa ponderaria of the first centuries A.D. with six typical cup-shaped cavities arranged in two rows and a relief image of caduceus on its surface was discovered in the town of Sandanski in the Southern Bulgaria (Димитрова-Милчева 2002: 275). The other fragment belonging to a massive stone table with preserved six cavities in two rows was found in emporium Piritensium near Nicopolis ad Istrum in the Northern Bulgaria (Gerov 1988: 119, 155-156). This measuring table is dated back to the 3rd century A.D. Inscriptions naming corresponding measures of capacity have survived on its surface, in front of every cavity. In the lower line, in front of the first round hollow, there is an inscription HMINA (ἡμίνα) – the Roman unit of volume of liquid and bulk materials which corresponds to the Greek kotyle, or ½ sextarius. In front of the second cavity of the same line, we managed to read the word ΞEΣTHC (ξέστης). This is the Greek unit of volume corresponding to the Roman sextarius. The word is followed by letters OIN being additional information to the main measure. The whole text can be understood as ξέστης οἴν(ου) – a special unit for measuring volume of wine. The next cavity in this line, square in shape, is also inscribed: ΣHMOΔ[.]Ν – probably σημόδι(ο)ν. Two letters MO are clearly visible in front of the following square hollow which preserved partially. The word is obviously to be read as μό(διος). The inscription HMEIN (ἡμεῖνα) is distinctly seen in the upper row. The adjacent hole marked as ΞEΣTHC ΕΛΗΡ was apparently intended for measuring volume of olive oil: ξέστης ἐλ(αι)ηρ(ός). In the Northern Black Sea region, a fragment of massive mensa ponderaria with three cavities of the same period was found in the quarter No. 45 of Tauric Chersonesos. The fragment of large limestone block was mounted into the wall of the southern corner of the Early Byzantine basilica. It is obvious that in the Early Byzantine period the table had been broken into several unequal pieces which were used as building material during the erection of basilica together with other architectural details and elements of large ancient public buildings. Maximum preserved length of the fragment is 94.0 cm, its maximum preserved width is 47.0 cm, and its height is 18.1 cm. The entire table could be as long as 1.15 cm. Three cavities for measuring volumes of products have partially survived on its surface. Two of them had apertures in their bottoms. Table 1. Dimensions of hollows of mensa ponderaria from Chersonesos № п/п Upper diameter Lower diameter Depth Volume in liters Volume in Roman measures 1. 13 cm - 9,5 cm 0,55 sextarius 2. 26 cm 6 cm 16,3 cm 3,275 congius 3. 28 cm 12 cm 19,7 cm 6,185 2 congia Mensa ponderaria of the Roman time from Chersonesos was likely to have three cavities. A similar weights and measures table was found in Leptis Magna (Libya). A small fragment of mensa ponderaria (No. НЗХТ 7/37561) was discovered in the layer of fire of the first half of the 14th century in the room No. 2 of the quarter No. 45 in Chersonesos. The table was made of local fine-grained sandstone. Its dimensions are 7.8 x 8.8 cm, and its height is 2.2 and 2.6 cm. It was also reused as building material for a Byzantine structure. This fragment belonged to an earlier table, probably, a Hellenistic one, and served for measuring bulk products, among them salt. Mensae ponderariae are known in many ancient cities of the Mediterranean. However, in the North-Western Black Sea region they are represented only by few fragments (Frayn 1993: 113). The most famous weights and measures tables are the mensa installed in a narrow niche of portico near the temple of Apollo in Pompeii (CIL X 793) and two mensae from the building specially designed for keeping official measures (ponderarium) in Tivoli not far from Rome (CIL XIV 3687–3688) (Corti 2001: 220–221; Fig. 5). A similar stone table with six holes of different diameters is exhibited at the entrance to macellum in Dion (Greece). Another marble mensa ponderaria with five cup-shaped cavities was found in the immediate neighborhood of agora in Assos (Turkey). It is 110.3 x 45.8 x 21.6 cm in size. There are traces of abbreviated ancient Greek names of units for measuring volumes of liquid and bulk products on the table surface in front of every hole except one (B). These are kotyla (A), έστες (С), choix (D), and τρι-choix (E) (Tarbell 1891: 441–442). A mensa ponderaria of similar type dated back to the first centuries A.D. was discovered in Emona (Slovenia). Its dimensions are 180 x 50 x 26 cm. The researchers who found this artifact managed to calculate that the first (biggest) hollow comprised 13.67 l, or 1.566 modia, and the next ones, 4.32 l (0.495 modia) and 1.86 l (0.213 modia) correspondingly (Gaspari, Novšak 2012: 200). The number of cavities in mensae ponderariae could be no more than three. We know two examples, and the both originate from the Western Mediterranean. One of them, a square table bearing three hollows with proportions 1 : 2, 1 : 4, and 1 : 16, was discovered at the foot of acropolis in Salina (Sicily), and the other one, at the marketplace in Leptis Magna (Libya). Mensa ponderaria from Montellano (Spain) of the first centuries A.D. somewhat differs in shape. It is an irregular block (78 x 49 x 19 cm) with five holes for measuring which held 4.5 l (semodius), 1.5 l, 0.2 l, 0.2 l (hemina), and 0.1 l (quartarius) correspondingly. Presumably, the table was used for measuring volume of wheat or barley and maybe lime and sand (Fernández Gómez 2004: 132; Lange 2010: 277–278). Mensae ponderariae close in shape were also found in the islands of Thasos and Delos (Greece), in Wiesloch (Germany), Lamezia (Italy), and Side (Turkey).