CHOENIX
CHOENIX (
χοῖνιξ,--ι<*>κος, in Attic feminine, in
Hellenistic masculine). The Schol. on Ar.
Plut. 276, where
χοῖνιξ means some kind of shackle or
stocks for putting the legs in (cf. Dem.
de
Cor. 270.129), says
χοῖνιξ δὲ πᾶν
περιφερές: διὸ καὶ τὸ μέτρον χοῖνιξ καλεῖται.
Accordingly
χοινίκη or
χοινικίς,
“the nave,” and
χοινίκιον,
“the trepan,” mentioned by Celsus, 8.3:
χοινικίδες, rings serving as stands, Dem.
c.
Androt. p. 616.72; c.
Timocr. p. 756.180. But
χοῖνιξ is best known as a dry measure
of capacity. In
Hom. Od. 19.118, a
χοῖνιξ of corn is the ordinary wages for a day's
work. It was the minimum daily allowance on which a man could adequately
live (
Hdt. 7.187), and was what slaves received
(
Thuc. 4.16, and Arnold
ad
loc.): cf.
κενεὰν
ἀπομάσσειν (Theocr. 15.95),
χοίνικα
ἀπομάσσειν (Lucian,
Navig. 25), also
ἐπὶ χοίνικος καθῆσθαι, to think only of
to-day's bread (Plut. 2.703 E). Hence the
Corinthians, who had vast numbers of slaves, were called
“choenix-measurers” by the Pythia (Boeckh,
Pol.
Ec., Eng. Trans., p. 91). The capacity of the
χοῖνιξ varied (see F. Hultsch,
Metrologici
Script., Index, s.v.
1. The Attic
χοῖνιξ was = 2 sextarii = 4
κοτύλαι = 1.094 litres = 1.922 Eng.
pints: cf. Ar.
Nub. 645, where the
ἡμίεκτον (= 1/12
μέδιμνος)
is called
τετράμετρον, i. e. = 4
χοίνικες. See Hultsch,
Metrologie der
Griechen, &c. p. 105, and esp. note 4. The Pontic
χοῖνιξ appears to have been the same =
2 sextarii.
2. The Aeginetan measures are to the Attic = 11 1/13:8
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ZZZ.
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the Aeginetan
χοῖνιξ would be = 5
1/2 Attic
κοτύλαι (
Metrol. der
Griech. 501) = 1.516 litres = 2.668 Eng. pints. This is also
the Boeotian measure (ib. 543).
3. In the Ptolemaic measures (i. e. those used in Syria and Egypt) the
μέδιμνος was = 1 1/2 Attic
μέδιμνοι; but there were 96 instead of 48
χοίνικες in it
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ZZZ.
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a Ptolemaic
χοῖνιξ = 3/4 Attic
χοῖνιξ = 0.8208 litres= 1.443 Eng.
pints.
The symbol for
χοῖνιξ is
χν or
χοι (
Metrol.
Script. 219, 17).
[
L.C.P]