the attic stelai - The American School of Classical Studies at Athens

THE ATTIC STELAI 195
the phormos can reasonably be connected. We have, therefore, followed B6ckh in
regarding the phormos as equivalent to the medimnos.'52 We should not fail to add,
however, that whereas vetch, lentils, and wheat were sold by the phormos in II, 91-93,
barley was sold by the medimnos in the following entry.
LIQUID MEASURES
xovi3. For the secure identification of the chous, when used as a measure, as
equivalent to 3.283 liters in the metric system, see 0. Broneer, Hesperia, VII, 1938,
pp. 222-224; S. Young, Hesperia, VIII, 1939, pp. 274-284; and M. Lang, B.C.H.,
LXXVI, 1952, pp. 24-25.
acp4opEv3. A discussion of the word in the sense of a container is made by
Professor Amyx. In this study, the acmphoreus has been given the equivalent of a
metretes, or twelve choes. This is in accordance with the conclusion, for example,
of Hultsch (op. cit., p. 101) on the basis of literary evidence. Moreover, Miss Lang
has conveniently summarized the measurements of 36 amphoras listed in Brauchitsch's
Die panathenaischen Preisamphoren as follows: . the Panathenaic amphoras of
the earliest fifth century . . . twelve times the early fifth century chous and have
dimensions which are simple multiples of the chous." 163 Unfortunately the literary
evidence cited by Hultsch condenses down to one decisive passage from the fifthcentury
comic poet Philyllios (Frag. 7: Kock, C.A.F., I, p. 783), which was quoted
by Pollux: 154
8tOCt)UtvI,
OLt /1EV OV ThV"8 , ac/lbopEv,
TpV, pcora cE`v fov'TEaTvT avr EXELV
ovoc,u aLETp?p7WV /IETpLOT71-O1 ELIVEKa.
But Wernicke has protested that this is only a joke,'55 and was misinterpreted by
Pollux (X, 70). The speaker is making a pun about the moderate size of the wine
jar placed before him. The point is well taken, and when Hultsch in 1894 returned to
a treatment of the amphora as a measure, he did not repeat hlis earlier determination.156
More recently Miss Lang has written, on the basis of unpublished measurements, that
" the ordinary amphora of Greek as well as Roman times is more likely to hold eight
choes " (Hesperia, XXV, 1956, p. 3). Although the archaeological evidence is not
152 Similarly, it may be noted that the kados, ' jar,' was equivalent to the amphoreus, 'a liquid
measure,' according to Pollux, X, 71.
153B.C.H., LXXVI, 1952, p. 26, note 1.
154 The value of Moeris' note (p. 45: Pierson), which is not mentioned by Hultsch, seems to me
problematical: a-,uopE5s 'ATTLKOL', LETpETVq 'EAAXves.
155 RE. s.v. Amphora 1, col. 1970.
156 R.E., s.v. Amphora 2. As an Attic measure in the Roman period, Hultsch now identified the
amphora as two-thirds of a metretes and referred for this identification to an article s.v. Quadrantal.
With the passage of some sixty-four years, the R.E. unfortunately has not yet embraced the letter Q.