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Source Description
Steelyards, or scales, were used in the Roman and Byzantine Empires for weighing heavy objects in the marketplace. They are, in fact, still in use today. The steelyard (named for its more recent function of weighing steel in England) consists of a balance beam divided into two arms of unequal length, with suspension hooks or a pan to hold the object being weighed.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
28729
label
Steelyard
core
obj
dtoType
object
citationUrl
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
28729
sourceUrl
contentType
object
stage
normalized
title
Steelyard
description
Steelyards, or scales, were used in the Roman and Byzantine Empires for weighing heavy objects in the marketplace. They are, in fact, still in use today. The steelyard (named for its more recent function of weighing steel in England) consists of a balance beam divided into two arms of unequal length, with suspension hooks or a pan to hold the object being weighed.
provenance
Don Marcello Massarenti Collection, Rome [no. 130]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1902, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
date
2nd-4th century (Late Antique)
citationUrl
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
Metal
steelyard
imageCount
1
pageCount
1
source
import
dimensions
units
cm
width
71
height
8
depth
3
dimensionsRaw
27 15/16 x 3 1/8 x 1 3/16 in. (71 x 8 x 3 cm)
Source extras
cul
Byzantine
med
bronze
creator_ids
6640
collection_ids
ROM
exhibition_ids
none
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
aefbf7b3b244a10d