Pompeii: Mensa ponderaria

This table of standard measure (mensa ponderaria)  is located in a small niche in the Forum, near the Temple of Apollo.  The cavities on the surface of the table were intended to serve as standard measures of capacity for Pompeiian merchants and consumers.  Each bowl contains a hole at the bottom through which the measured contents could be subsequently drained.

The table dates prior to the arrival of the Romans in the area of Pompeii. Remains of the original names of the measures, written in Oscan lettering and corresponding to Greek measurement standards, are partly legible.  However, around 20 B.C., Augustan reforms were instituted and the original cavities were enlarged to conform to the Roman standard. The inscription across the front attests that two duumvirs, Flaccus and Caledus, "caused the measures to be made equal" to the new requirements.

The inscription reads:

A CLODIUS A F FLACCUS, N ARCAEUS N F ARELLIAN CALEDUS D V I D MENSURAS EXAEQUANDAS EX DEC DECR