Volume and weight measuring instruments in antiquity

In Lykia region, a measure (control) vessel was found near-by the Mnara Agora in the context of " The Survey of Bey Mountains (Taurus)" in 2008 Marmara-Mnara Archaeological Research Project studies. Measure (control) vessels in ancient times were used in order to control the weight and the scale standart of the liquid or small-grained trade products with the aim of carrying on a fair trade.The natural founding places of measuring vessels which are called ?sekomata? or?mensa ponderairia? in literature are agora buildings. In Agoras which are the center of trade and social activities in ancient times, measures particularly depending on the architectural and political views of Hellenistic Period, have an important role in social life. In the Agora there was a concept of officialdom/public service such as ?agoranomos? , ?sitophylaks?. The main duties of these officers need to be implemented in the agora is to determine the rules and guidelines to control. Therefore, these officials have also become responsible for the supervision of measure control vessels.It can be said that the referance standart studies of assesment and measurement have started with the human history. Its clear that the first studies about the standardization of measures were shekel, mina and cubit which are came out at Assyrian, Babylonian, Sumerian civilizations in Egypt and Mesopotamia Region as primitive measures origined from the human parts such as finger, foot and fathom. Then, more modern standart measurement instruments such as Talanton, mina, libra, chous have been created and used in Greek and Roman civilizations. However for the dwellings that are encountered in settlements such as Çatalhöyük, Göbekli Tepe or Çayönü in Anatolia since 10. millenium B.C., although insufficient researches about them, it is possible to say that they had been builded in a regular structure with a sense of scale. In commercial activities with the Assyrian Trade Colonies Period, the use of scale and weight measurements are being observed. Later , the Greek and Roman measures has been used in Anatolia as valid systems.Sekomatas are kinds of vessels which have circular measurement containers in various sizes and are generally produced from marble or an insulator solid material. The sekomata found in Mnara is partially destroyed and only one measurement container of it is undamaged. The other undamaged sekomata examples found in Anatolia are available in the cities of Side, Kaunos, Assos, Labraunda, Metropolis. Except Anatolia, Delos is a critical center as the typology of sekomata Besides, in cities such as Athens, Thasos solid examples of undamaged sekomata were encountered. There are also some founded in Italy, Pompei, Ostia and Tivoli which are important business centers. Despite all the researches there are sekomatas that we could not find but have come across their traces in some resources. Also two stone taken from Alanya and Usak Museums were included in our study because their forms were similar to sekomata. While the sekomatas are widely being used in agoras especially in the Hellenistic period, ın Roman period they can be seen in some sacred areas like temples and basilicas. There are also some examples from Medieval Period.In our study, sekomata types and characteristics were examined elaborately and the data was presented about the agoras, their place of use, and their role of commercial activities. Depending on the sekomata?s being measuring vessels of standart capacity, a metrologic study about the measures of Antic period has been presented.