Grain Measure (IMG 8718)

Date: Made AD 90–91 but used for much longer
Material: Copper alloy
Place found: Carvoran Fort, a few yards north of the north-west corner of Chesters Fort.

This modius (grain measure) is an extremely rare find – grain measures are depicted on coins but almost none survive as objects. The inscription on the outside dates it to the reign of the emperor Domitian and says it holds 17½ sextarii. It can in fact hold 20.8 sextarii, however, so if it was used to measure tax paid in grain, the tax payers were being swindled!

Domitian’s name has been scratched out, a practice linked with the phenomenon of damnatio memoriae – where the memory of someone was damned, and wiped from all official records.