METRO´NOMI
METRO´NOMI (
μετρονόμοι）
were officers in the Athenian police appointed by lot, whose special duty
was to see that proper weights and measures were used in the market and to
proceed against those who used false measure (cf.
Aristoph. Thes. 348,
εἴ τις τοῦ χοὸς ἢ τῶν κοτυλῶν τὸ νόμισμα
διαλυμαίνεται). It is probable that they also had charge of
the standard weights and measures, which were kept in the shrine (
ἡρῷον) of the hero Stephanephoros (whom some
take to be Theseus), just as those at Rome were kept in the temple of Juno
Moneta (Boeckh,
Staatshaush. ii.3 p. 324
f.), and hence we may conjecture that the metronomi also supervised the
coinage. They had as subordinates in the market
Prometretae
(Boeckh, i. p. 62). As to their number, there is a conflict between
Harpocr., Suid., Phot. and
Lex. Seg. s. v., as the texts now
stand, but Fränkel in his note on Boeckh (vol. ii. p. 14*) gives
plausible reasons for taking as the true reading a total number of ten; five
for the city and five for Peiraeus. According to this view, one was chosen
by lot from each tribe. (Schöimann,
[p. 2.171]Antiq. of Greece, pp. 416, 420; Boeckh,
op. cit.) [
L.S] [
G.E.M]
(Appendix). Fränkel's
view as to their number (see p. 170
b) is
confirmed by
Ἀθ. πολ. 100.51.
