An amphora (/ˈæmfərə/; Ancient Greek: ἀμφορεύς was the unit of measurement of volume in the Greco-Roman era. The term ''amphora'' comes from ancient Greece where people used a tall jar looking container with two opposed handles near the top mostly made of ceramic. Amphora literally means "two handled". An amphora is equal to 48 sextarii, which is about 34 litres or 9 gallons in the

US customary units United States customary units form a system of measurement units commonly used in the United States and U.S. territories since being standardized and adopted in 1832. The United States customary system (USCS or USC) developed from English units ...

and 7.494 gallons in the

imperial system of units The imperial system of units, imperial system or imperial units (also known as British Imperial or Exchequer Standards of 1826) is the system of units first defined in the British Weights and Measures Act 1824 and continued to be developed thro ...

. The Roman ''amphora quadrantal'' (~25.9 litres), was one cubic-''

pes Pes (Latin for "foot") or the acronym PES may refer to: Pes * Pes (unit), a Roman unit of length measurement roughly corresponding with a foot * Pes or podatus, a * Pes (rural locality), several rural localities in Russia * Pes (river), a river ...

'', holding 80 ''libra'' of wine, and was used to measure liquids, bulk goods, the cargo capacity of ships, and the production of vineyards. Along with other standardized Roman measures and

currency A currency, "in circulation", from la, currens, -entis, literally meaning "running" or "traversing" is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins. A more general def ...

) gave an added advantage to

Roman commerce Roman commerce was a major sector of the Roman economy during the later generations of the Republic and throughout most of the imperial period. Fashions and trends in historiography and in popular culture have tended to neglect the economic basis ...

. The related ''amphora capitolina'' standard, was kept in the temple of Jupiter on the

Capitoline Hill The Capitolium or Capitoline Hill ( ; it, Campidoglio ; la, Mons Capitolinus ), between the Forum and the Campus Martius, is one of the Seven Hills of Rome. The hill was earlier known as ''Mons Saturnius'', dedicated to the god Saturn. Th ...

in Rome. A typical Greek amphora, based on a cubic-''

pous The pous ( podes; grc-gre, ποῦς, ''poûs'') or Greek foot ( feet) was a Greek unit of length. It had various subdivisions whose lengths varied by place and over time. 100 podes made up one plethron, 600 podes made up a stade (the G ...

'', was ~38.3 litres, The Greek talent, an ancient unit of weight was roughly the

mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

of the amount of

water Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a ...

that would fill an amphora. The French amphora, also called the minot de Paris, is 1/8

muid The almud is a unit of measurement of volume used in France, Spain and in parts of the Americas that were colonized by each country. The word comes from the Arabic al-múdd." The exact value of the ''almud'' was different from region to region, and ...

or one cubic ''pied du roi'' and therefore ~34 litres.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Amphora (Volume) Units of volume Ancient Greek units of measurement Ancient Roman units of measurement