DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.8#0076
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And the very same must have been the condition of the
ancient plethron of the Greeks, since it was always the»
double äroura, and aroura means, in itself, nothing more
than an arable field, or a piece of tillage; from the radix
a¡», i. e. to plough. The ancient Romans hence took an
hint, and determined their acre, called jugerum, by the
quantity a yoke of oxen could plough in a day, or at one
yoking, as our farmers call it ; and though the Romans
Settled the measure afterwards by the foot ; what could
be more vague or less scientific, than to seek determinable
quantities from such origins? If it be asked
Whether the ancient Greeks bad the same recourse
to oxen, instead of a scientific and permanent origin^
when they restrained the vague term aroura to a specific
extent of area? I answer, on the authority of Doctor
Arbuthnot, in the negative. But at the same time it
appears not, in the table before me, (said to be copied
from the Doctor's tables), what standard they consulted;
for the table records two opinions concerning the mea*
sure of the Greek aroura ; one asserts 722 square feet
for the aroura, and the double thereof 1444 square feet
for the plethron: the other opinion assigns 5000 square
feet to the aroura, and 10 000 to the plethron. Which
ever of these opinions be adopted, it must be the modern
to which it refers, not the ancient Greeks ; for their
immediate ancestors, the emigrants from Egypt, no
doubt, would have perpetuated the Egyptian aroura for
the | plethron, as they did the length of the Chest for
their standard of linear measures of feet and cubits. And
The same tables state the Egyptian aroura as the
square of 100 cubits=10 000 square cubits, of course
the plethron of the ancient Egyptians, was 20000 square
cubits, by whatever name they called it. Pliny, by a
. Κ synonymous
And the very same must have been the condition of the
ancient plethron of the Greeks, since it was always the»
double äroura, and aroura means, in itself, nothing more
than an arable field, or a piece of tillage; from the radix
a¡», i. e. to plough. The ancient Romans hence took an
hint, and determined their acre, called jugerum, by the
quantity a yoke of oxen could plough in a day, or at one
yoking, as our farmers call it ; and though the Romans
Settled the measure afterwards by the foot ; what could
be more vague or less scientific, than to seek determinable
quantities from such origins? If it be asked
Whether the ancient Greeks bad the same recourse
to oxen, instead of a scientific and permanent origin^
when they restrained the vague term aroura to a specific
extent of area? I answer, on the authority of Doctor
Arbuthnot, in the negative. But at the same time it
appears not, in the table before me, (said to be copied
from the Doctor's tables), what standard they consulted;
for the table records two opinions concerning the mea*
sure of the Greek aroura ; one asserts 722 square feet
for the aroura, and the double thereof 1444 square feet
for the plethron: the other opinion assigns 5000 square
feet to the aroura, and 10 000 to the plethron. Which
ever of these opinions be adopted, it must be the modern
to which it refers, not the ancient Greeks ; for their
immediate ancestors, the emigrants from Egypt, no
doubt, would have perpetuated the Egyptian aroura for
the | plethron, as they did the length of the Chest for
their standard of linear measures of feet and cubits. And
The same tables state the Egyptian aroura as the
square of 100 cubits=10 000 square cubits, of course
the plethron of the ancient Egyptians, was 20000 square
cubits, by whatever name they called it. Pliny, by a
. Κ synonymous