Ungleicharmige Waagen im literarischen, epigraphischen und papyrologischen Befund der Antike
Abstract
Ancient sources on steelyards have yet to receive sustained consideration. This article investigates the terminology that was used to describe different types of weighing scales, arguing that the Latin term statera was not regularly associated with the steelyard (unequal-arm balance), notwithstanding its explicit description by Vitruvius as such. Instead, it was used to refer to small or precise scales (that derive their name from the unit of stater), as opposed to trutina, a set of scales designed to weigh talents. The use of this term is therefore indicative of the relatively small weighing-range of steelyards in the early imperial period. Since the second century at latest, the term charistio(n) (associated with an obscure instrument allegedly designed by Archimedes) also came to be used to refer to a steelyard not only in Greek but also in Latin. A recently published inscription, found on a late-antique steelyard, verifies this. The term campana/kampanon is attested since Late Antiquity and often associated with a relatively large weighing-range. Its attestations in the sources seem to coincide with the archaeological evidence for large, sophisticated steelyards in Late Antiquity.
Keywords
steelyards | weighing scales | statera | kampanon | campana