Description
Book SynopsisThis volume introduces the reader to Greek and Roman ways of expressing numbers, weights and measures. These are matters often relegated to footnotes or an appendix. Yet the words, the symbols and the calculations used in the classical world have an interest in themselves and often reveal unexpected facets of the culture that employed them. The subject can be complex but this book seeks to cut it to the essentials and to avoid the aridity of larger, more technical treatments. It offers a fluid and readable text, liberally enhanced with tables and specific examples. Chapters cover the cardinal numbers, other number words, inclusive reckoning, symbols, fractions, simple arithmetic, linear measurements, measuring area and volume, measuring weight, capacity and value; financial matters; sizes of pipes and nozzles; measuring time. It is quite simply an indispensable point of reference for every student of classical culture or of ancient texts.
Trade Review... it more than covers a very complex and obscure series of topics. … The book will be of use to any student or scholar of classical antiquity; it is a short, excellent introduction to a highly technical subject. * Bryn Mawr Classical Review *
... this practical and readable book ... * The Journal of Classics Teaching, JACT Third Series, Number 4, Spring *
Table of Contents
- Table of Contents
- Chapter One: The Cardinal Numbers
- Chapter Two: Other Number Words
- Chapter Three: Inclusive Reckoning; ante and poste
- Chapter Four: Symbols
- Chapter Five: Fractions
- Chapter Six: Simple Arithmetic
- Chapter Seven: Linear Measures
- Chapter Eight: Measuring Area and Volume
- Chapter Nine: Measuring Weight
- Chapter Ten: Measuring Capacity
- Chapter Eleven: Measuring Value
- Chapter Twelve: Some Financial Matters
- Chapter Thirteen: Sizes of Pipes and Nozzles
- Chapter Fourteen: Measuring Time
- Select Bibliography
- Index of Passages Quoted
- Index of Words
