in Attic feminine, in
Hellenistic masculine). The Schol. on Ar. Plut.
means some kind of shackle or
stocks for putting the legs in (cf. Dem. de
270.129), says χοῖνιξ δὲ πᾶν
περιφερές: διὸ καὶ τὸ μέτρον χοῖνιξ καλεῖται.
“the nave,” and χοινίκιον,
“the trepan,” mentioned by Celsus, 8.3: χοινικίδες,
rings serving as stands, Dem. c.
p. 616.72; c. Timocr.
p. 756.180. But
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
, and Arnold ad
): cf. κενεὰν
(Theocr. 15.95), χοίνικα
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.
Eng. Trans., p. 91). The capacity of the χοῖνιξ
varied (see F. Hultsch,
1. The Attic χοῖνιξ
was = 2 sextarii = 4
= 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
&c. p. 105, and esp. note 4. The Pontic
appears to have been the same =
2. The Aeginetan measures are to the Attic = 11 1/13:8
the Aeginetan χοῖνιξ
would be = 5
1/2 Attic κοτύλαι
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
was = 1 1/2 Attic μέδιμνοι;
but there were 96 instead of 48
a Ptolemaic χοῖνιξ
= 3/4 Attic
= 0.8208 litres= 1.443 Eng.
The symbol for χοῖνιξ