The Greek Metrological Relief in Oxford

Abstract

SummaryThe demeanour of the figure represented on the Greek metrological relief in the Ashmolean Museum indicates that it must have been made before the Athenian decree regulating weights and measures, variously dated between 449 and 420 B.C. All the dimensions of the slab imply the use of a cubit of 52·3 cm, the length of the Egyptian royal cubit which in a Greek context suggests a provenance on Samos. Finally, the slab was not used for the practical purpose of comparing or checking measures. The width and the angle of the surface point to its being set over a door, perhaps the entrance to a room devoted to the control of weights and measures.