In the Roman Empire, a unit of land area, = 2 actus quadratus = 28,800 square pedes, assuming a pes of around 295 millimeters, roughly a quarter of a hectare or two-thirds of an acre. Hultsch (1862) set it at 2518.88 square meters. In concept, the amount of land that could be plowed by a team of oxen in one day.
The word comes from jugum, yoke, the yoke that harnessed a pair of oxen.
The principal subdivisions of the jugerum were based on the libra/uncia subdivisions, that is, it was divided in twelfths.
| Term | Fraction of a jugerum |
area in square pedes |
|---|---|---|
| jugerum | 1 | 28,800 |
| deunx jugeri | 11/12 | 26,400 |
| dextans jugeri | 5/6 | 24,000 |
| dodrans jugeri | 3/4 | 21,600 |
| bes jugeri | 2/3 | 19,200 |
| septunx jugeriPliny | 7/12 | 16,800 |
| semis jugeri | 1/2 | 14,400 |
| quincunx jugeri | 5/12 | 12,000 |
| triens jugeri | 1/3 | 9,600 |
| quadrans jugeri | 1/4 | 7,200 |
| sextans jugeri | 1/6 | 4,800 |
| uncia jugeri | 1/12 | 2,400 |
| semiuncia jugeri | 1/24 | 1,200 |
| sicilicus jugeri | 1/48 | 600 |
| sextula jugeri | 1/72 | 400 |
| scripulum jugeri | 1/288 | 100 |
Iugerum, quod quadratos duos actus habeat. Actus quadratus, qui et latus est pedes CXX et longus totidem: is modus acnua latine appellatur. Iugeri pars minima dicitur scripulum, id est decem pedes et longitudine et latitudine quadratum. Ab hoc principio mensores non numquam dicunt in subsicivum esse unciam agri aut sextantem, sic quid aliud, cum ad iugerum pervenerunt, quod habet iugerum scripula CCLXXXVIII, quantum as antiquos noster ante bellum punicum pendebat.
The iugerum consists of 2 actus quadratus. The actus quadratus, which in width is 120 pedes and the same in length, is called in Latin acnua. The smallest part of a iugerum is called a scripulum; it is a square 10 pedes in length and width. On this principle surveyors sometimes speak of the area beyond the [whole number of] iugerum as an uncia or a sextans, or the like, for the iugerum contains 288 scripula, which was the weight of the old as before the Punic War.
Marcus Varro.
De rustica. Book 1, section 10.
Pliny
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Last revised: 16 May 2007.