Jugerum
Encyclopedia
, jugera or was a Roman unit of measurement of area
, 240 ft or 73 m in length and 120 ft or 37 m in breadth, containing therefore 28,800 square feet (Colum. R. R. v.i § 6; Quintil. i.18). That is 0.65 acre
or 0.26 ha.
It was the double of the , and from this circumstance, according to some writers, it derived its name (Varro, L. L. v.35, Müller, R. R. i.10). [Actus.] It seems probable that, as the word was evidently originally the same as or , a yoke
, and as , in its original use, meant a path wide enough to drive a single beast along, that originally meant a path wide enough for a yoke of oxen, namely, the double of the in width; and that when was used for a square measure of surface, the , by a natural analogy, became the double of the ; and that this new meaning of it superseded its old use as the double of the single .
Pliny (Book XVIII. Chapter 3) states "That portion of land used to be known as a "jugerum," which was capable of being ploughed by a single "jugum," or yoke of oxen, in one day; an "actus" being as much as the oxen could plough at a single spell, fairly estimated, without stopping. This last was one hundred and twenty feet in length; and two in length made a jugerum." (The Natural History, Pliny the Elder, translated by John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855).
The uncial division as was applied to the , its smallest part being the of 100 sq ft or 9.2 m². Thus, the contained 288 (Varro, R. R. l.c.). The was the common measure of land among the Romans. Two formed an , a hundred heredia a centuria
, and four a . These divisions were derived from the original assignment of landed property, in which two were given to each citizen as heritable property (Varro, l.c.; Niebuhr, Hist. of Rome, vol. ii pp156, &c., and Appendix ii.).
Area
Area is a quantity that expresses the extent of a two-dimensional surface or shape in the plane. Area can be understood as the amount of material with a given thickness that would be necessary to fashion a model of the shape, or the amount of paint necessary to cover the surface with a single coat...
, 240 ft or 73 m in length and 120 ft or 37 m in breadth, containing therefore 28,800 square feet (Colum. R. R. v.i § 6; Quintil. i.18). That is 0.65 acre
Acre
The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...
or 0.26 ha.
It was the double of the , and from this circumstance, according to some writers, it derived its name (Varro, L. L. v.35, Müller, R. R. i.10). [Actus.] It seems probable that, as the word was evidently originally the same as or , a yoke
Yoke
A yoke is a wooden beam, normally used between a pair of oxen or other animals to enable them to pull together on a load when working in pairs, as oxen usually do; some yokes are fitted to individual animals. There are several types of yoke, used in different cultures, and for different types of oxen...
, and as , in its original use, meant a path wide enough to drive a single beast along, that originally meant a path wide enough for a yoke of oxen, namely, the double of the in width; and that when was used for a square measure of surface, the , by a natural analogy, became the double of the ; and that this new meaning of it superseded its old use as the double of the single .
Pliny (Book XVIII. Chapter 3) states "That portion of land used to be known as a "jugerum," which was capable of being ploughed by a single "jugum," or yoke of oxen, in one day; an "actus" being as much as the oxen could plough at a single spell, fairly estimated, without stopping. This last was one hundred and twenty feet in length; and two in length made a jugerum." (The Natural History, Pliny the Elder, translated by John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855).
The uncial division as was applied to the , its smallest part being the of 100 sq ft or 9.2 m². Thus, the contained 288 (Varro, R. R. l.c.). The was the common measure of land among the Romans. Two formed an , a hundred heredia a centuria
Centuria
Centuria is a Latin substantive from the stem centum , denoting units consisting of 100 men. It also denotes a Roman unit of land area: 1 centuria = 100 heredia...
, and four a . These divisions were derived from the original assignment of landed property, in which two were given to each citizen as heritable property (Varro, l.c.; Niebuhr, Hist. of Rome, vol. ii pp156, &c., and Appendix ii.).