VII.7.31 Pompeii. Mensa Ponderaria. Mensa delle Pubbliche Misure.

Public weights and measures bench.

According to Cooley, the official set of standard measures was displayed in a niche on the west side of the Forum.

This public measuring table (Mensa Ponderaria) was radically modified c.20 BC. and new measuring holes were cut into it.

In addition to the already existing five central basins, which were enlarged, four smaller ones were also added at the corners.

The Oscan inscriptions labelling the basins in use up to that time were erased.

The local magistrates in charge of the operation to standardize the measures in accordance with those at Rome recorded their action in a Latin inscription across the front of the table.

See Cooley, A. and M.G.L., 2004. Pompeii: A Sourcebook. London: Routledge, H64, p. 179.

VII.7.31 Pompeii. December 2018. Looking towards Mensa Ponderaria on west side of Forum. Photo courtesy of Aude Durand.

VII.7.31 Pompeii. September 2018. Looking towards Mensa Ponderaria on west side of Forum.

Foto Anne Kleineberg, ERC Grant 681269 DÉCOR.

VII.7.31 Pompeii. December 2005. Mensa Ponderaria on west side of Forum.

VII.7.31 Pompeii. October 2020. Mensa Ponderaria on west side of Forum, looking from north end. Photo courtesy of Klaus Heese.

VII.7. Pompeii. December 2018. Mensa Ponderaria on west side of Forum. Photo courtesy of Aude Durand.

VII.7.31 Pompeii. October 2020. Mensa Ponderaria on west side of Forum, looking from south end. Photo courtesy of Klaus Heese.

VII.7.31 Pompeii. April 2018. Mensa Ponderaria with inscription, on west side of Forum.

Photo courtesy of Ian Lycett-King. Use is subject to Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License v.4 International.

VII.7.31 Pompeii. September 2016. Mensa Ponderaria, with inscription on the front. Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.

Original now kept in Naples Archaeological Museum. Inventory number 3828.

According to Epigraphik-Datenbank Clauss/Slaby (See www.manfredclauss.de), it read –

A(ulus) Clodius A(uli) f(ilius) Flaccus N(umerius) Arcaeus N(umeri) f(ilius) Arellian(us) Caledus

d(uum)v(iri) i(ure) d(icundo) mensuras exaequandas ex dec(urionum) decr(eto)      [CIL X 793]

According to Cooley this translates as:

Aulus Clodius Flaccus, son of Aulus, and Numerius Arcaeus Arellianus Caledus, son of Numerius, duumvirs with judicial power, saw to the standardization of the measures in accordance with a decree of the town councillors.

See Cooley, A. and M.G.L., 2004. Pompeii: A Sourcebook. London: Routledge, H64b, p. 179.

VII.7.31 Pompeii. December 2005. Mensa Ponderaria, with inscription on the front.

Original now kept in Naples Archaeological Museum. Inventory number 3828.

VII.7.31 Pompeii. December 2005. Top of weights and measures bench, Mensa Ponderaria, with inscription on front.

VII.8 Pompeii Forum. Inscription from PAH, 3, 7: dated 11th May 1816:

According to the Giornale

“found on the same day in a niche facing the statue base with the inscription for C. CVSPIO. C. F. PANSAE, was a marble tablet with five round holes, and underneath you could read the described inscription”.

See Pagano, M. and Prisciandaro, R., 2006. Studio sulle provenienze degli oggetti rinvenuti negli scavi borbonici del regno di Napoli. Naples: Nicola Longobardi, p.113, where the following inventory number is given for the original in the Naples Museum – 3828.

VII.8 Pompeii Forum. PAH, 3, 7: dated 11th May 1816:

According to the Giornale “found in the soil was a fragment of travertine with the above writing” -

According to Pagano and Prisciandaro, see also Vetter 25 for this Oscan inscription.

See Pagano, M. and Prisciandaro, R., 2006. Studio sulle provenienze degli oggetti rinvenuti negli scavi borbonici del regno di Napoli. Naples: Nicola Longobardi, p.114.

VII.7.31 Pompeii. 1829 drawing of mensa ponderaria.

See Mazois, F., 1829. Les Ruines de Pompei: Troisième Partie. Paris: Didot Frères, pl. XL.