Modius
Modius the principal dry measure of the Romans, was equal to one-third of the amphora (Volusius Maecianus, Festus, Priscian, ap. Wurm, § 67), and was therefore equal to nearly two gallons English. It contained 16 sextarii, 32 heminae, 64 quartarii, 128 acetabula, and 192 cyathi. Compared with the Greek dry measure, it was 1-6th of the MEDIMNus. Its contents weighed, according to Pliny, 20 pounds of Gallic wheat, which was the lightest known at Rome. Farmers made use of vessels holding 3 and 10 modii (Col. 12.18.5). As a land-measure the third part of the jugerum was called σπόριμος μόδιος=Castrensis Modius. The symbol in Latin MSS. is Μ ο , in Greek Μ δ , μ ο . (Hultsch, Metr. Script. 1.70.)
From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.