Pfundhorn

The pound horn , also known as an oil pound , is a cup with a twelve-ninety scale that was used as a measure for liquids in early Mesopotamia and later also in Central and Southern Europe.

Historical background

When one began to calculate liquids no longer according to weight, but according to volume, several measures of measure emerged , which have their origin in the hemina (cup) or in the sextarius (sextar).

The hemina (0.273 l) describes the volume of a certain substance weighing half a lead. It was divided into 12 unciae (liquid ounces of 22.75 cm³). Since it was mainly used for measuring olive oil, corresponding cups with a twelve-ninety scale were also called oil pounds or pound horns . Despite the current term liquid ounce, dry bulk material was also measured in ancient times. The oil pound is not calculated according to the weight of oil, since there is no Roman measure of capacity with a weight of 10 ounces, and in all other cases water is taken as the norm.

Appearance

The pound horn was usually made of horn and was almost transparent. Circles were scratched on the outside to mark the (metric) ounces.

conversion

01 hemina = 0.273 liters = 12 fluid ounces of 22.75 cc
02 hemina = 1 sextar = 0.546 liters
12 hemina = 1 congius (mussel, shell) = 3.28 liters
01 hemina = 10 ounces of water weight
12 hemina = 1 congius = 10 pounds = 120 ounces (weight)

literature

Dietger Reinhold: Money-Coin-Dimensions. In: Heinrich Pleticha , Otto Schönberger (Ed.): Die Römer. A manual on the early history of Europe. Bertelsmann, Munich 1977, ISBN 3-8112-0934-5 , pp. 240-247.
Francesco De Martino : Economic History of Ancient Rome. C. H. Beck, Munich 1991, ISBN 3-406-30619-5 .
Hans-Joachim Drexhage : Prices, rents, leases, costs and wages in Roman Egypt until Diocletian's accession to the government (= preliminary work on an economic history of Roman Egypt. Vol. 1). Scripta-Mercaturae, St. Katharinen 1991, ISBN 3-922661-88-2 .
Heinrich Chantraine : Hemina. In: The Little Pauly (KlP). Volume 2, Stuttgart 1967, column 1020.

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Measures of measure in the Imperium Romanum , accessed on October 5, 2015.
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d Julius Berendes : Introduction. In the S. (Transl.): Des Pedianios Dioscurides from Anazarbos medicament theory. Ferdinand Enke, Stuttgart 1902, p. 17 ( online ).
↑ Galen , Vol. XIII, p. 894 ed. Kühn ( online ).

[Mass-1] Measures of measure in the Imperium Romanum , accessed on October 5, 2015.

[Berendes-2] Julius Berendes : Introduction. In the S. (Transl.): Des Pedianios Dioscurides from Anazarbos medicament theory. Ferdinand Enke, Stuttgart 1902, p. 17 ( online ).

[3] Galen , Vol. XIII, p. 894 ed. Kühn ( online ).