CAPACITY MEASURES The approximate values of Egyptian capacities are anciently stated by the odd quantities that certain vases held; but as these were probably measured to some unknown point below the brim, the result cannot be exactly defined. The standard vessels, here described, intended for gauging, give better deter minations than have been known before.
cubic The amount of the Egyptian hen by five inches regular measures (of metal or stone) averages c.c. 29.1 29.2 • 5CU. in., from ten bronze vessels 29.0 477 .3, from eight marked vases 29.2 • 6. So 29.1 may best be adopted. If it held 5 debens of water the deben weight would be 1,470 grains, which is nearly a middle value. The multiples are There is a double grouping of the Syrian 6 8 341 kotyle, on 20.8 and on 21•6. This is supported 354 . by the literary difference between the old Syrian 21 and Seleucidan 22 cu. in. (Hultsch). The cause for this change may have been that the old unit of 20.8 belonged to beqa of water, and later it was raised so as to fall within the limit of 25 sela of water. The change would be caused by the sela superseding the beqa as a usual weight standard. In Egypt this was the commonest measure, of which there is a series of the 3rd dynasty, and a stone cylinder standard from the 4th, of 20.8. The series of early and late values is: kotyle, 2=xestes, i8=sabitha or saton, 3=bath, artaba 20.8 7488 22,464 43•2 7776 23,328 There was also the metretes of 5 saton, 37,440 to 38,880.
The Syrian log was not unusual in Egypt. 544 33.2 Nearly in the midst of the values for it, there is a bronze cylinder measure with names of Amenhetep III., of 33.26. If this log were to agree with 5o necef, the most usual Syrian weight, it would not be over 32.6 in early times, and would only reach 33.2 in the 18th dynasty. The Phoenician, Babylonian and Jewish systems vary as follows, the Egyptian amounts being placed to the latter series.
17 4 The Attic kotyle is found in the size of six 285 .
similar bronze bowls of late form in Egypt, from 2 to 2 kotyles. The mean is 17.15. This amount is too small for an Attic weight, for if the khous were 8 mince of water, the largest bowl size would only agree with the lowest mina. But if the kotyle of water weighed half the mina of Chios or Persia (khoirine system), this would place it at 16.6 to 17.5. In this dilemma the Persian kapetis has some influence. Accord ing to Herodotus (1,192) the Attic kotyle: kapetis : : 12 : 51, or 4 : 17. The kapetis is shown by two bowls mentioned below, to be 74.5 or 75%3, therefore the kotyle would be 17.53 or 17.72. If we take 17.4 that would leave the 51 of Herodotus the nearest whole number, and the small difference would thus be divided among the three factors. The series is for:
cu. in. Two bowls of Persian age, from Egypt, are of c.c.
74.5 74.5 and 75.26, clearly the Persian kapetis. 1221 Their relation to the kotyle value is stated above. The multiples were: 58.5 A system found at Gythion (Rev. Arch., 1872) 958 is based upon 58.5 cu. in., and seems to belong to the Egyptian hen, double of which is 58-2.
1701 The most important Roman system is far from being established. The data are but few 27870 and discrepant.
to the deben, or between 115 and 126 grains. The multiples were: The noshem was 1225 grains according to a triply inscribed weight; the shekel or peyem being 122.5.
grains Two standards of the daric existed in the Old grammes 127.5, Kingdom, but they were blended in the 18th 8.26, 131.5 dynasty. The same separation is seen in the 8.55 weights from Ur, with a light group at 126.1 and a heavy group at 129.4. The earliest in Egypt is of S.D.4o, or the beginning of the eastern immigration of Gerzean age; these centre on 125-5. The early weight of Dungi is of 125.9. A maneh of 5o shekels at 126.0 was used in Syria and Knidos. In Italy it was divided into unciae, and termed the litra. Italic bronze ingots of a talent are based on i26.o. On the heavier standard the Persian karasha was io shekels of 128.65. The coinage under the Persians (from which is taken the name Daric) was of 129.2, and some coins reach 131. The heavy standard at Knossos is 131.8, 132-9. This daric standard spread over Asia Minor and across the Euxine, also westward to Corinth, the Adriatic isles, South Italy, and even to Ireland (gold work 128.0). The series is: The Stater or Attic standard is the least prom- 8.68, in Egypt; the forms are poor, and only 135.8 8.80 two examples bear numerals. The two stand ards were unified by the 18th dynasty, and the multiples are decimal. In Greece the system was: There does not seem any course better than to accept the two accurately made measures in the Naples Museum of 709.7 and 283-5 cu. in. as being 20 and 8 sextaria; this would give 1702 for the amphora, agreeing with the St. Genevieve congius. ' The Naples vessels are only measured by lineal gauging, but that cannot be far in error. The system was: Of the above sources the first two may be only approximate, and the Farnese congius is not above suspicion of a renaissance origin. The Pompeian measures seem too rough internally, and look as if they had held a beaten copper lining. The Caervoran measure is marked as 171 sextarii, and this yields 38.o cu. in.