See under the [entry] 'Basilica'.
Exammon miliou: zêtei en tôi Basilikê.
Beta 157.
While the exact meaning of “exammon” is unclear, it probably refers to a symbol or implement of measurement, such as a balance or container. Emperors often erected commemorative monuments in the vicinity of the Milion (
mu 1065), and the Milion’s proximity to the Basilica explains the Suda’s ambiguity about the exact location of Heraclius’s exammon.
The relevant part of
beta 157 reads:
e)/nqa h)=n kai\ to\ e)/cammon e(/ws *(hraklei/ou tou= basile/ws. This derives from the eighth-century
*parasta/seis su/ntomoi xronikai/ (
Parastaseis), a collection of 'brief historical notices' on Constantinople’s monuments.
The precise meaning of
e)/cammon has confounded commentators. At
beta 157 Adler notes only the variant reading
e)/camon and directs the reader to Preger, who had tentatively suggested that it is either a Hellenization of the Latin
examen ('measure' or 'balance') or perhaps a corruption of
e)ca/gion (web address 1) (Preger 1901, p. 28). Most commentators agree with Preger that
e)/cammon relates in some way to measures or measurement. Dagron 1984 simply repeats Preger’s hypotheses and adds that the word also appears in
Parastaseis 12, as an object held by a statue of Valentinian. Cameron 1984 and Berger 1988, in their full commentaries on the
Parastaseis, also support Preger. Speck 1974 idiosyncratically suggests an emendation to
e)/cwmon, which he interprets as indicating a statue of Heraclius that either wore an unsleeved tunic, or was naked (Speck, pp. 98-99).
*)/ecamon appears twice in the
Parastaseis:
Parastaseis 37, the source for
beta 157, and
Parastaseis 12, a difficult passage on the monument of the so-called Modion or
Horreum, where an
e)/camon appears in the right hand of a statue of Valentinian. It also appears in two texts that are derived from the
Parastaseis: the ninth-century (?) Anonymous of Treu (p. 13,27f. and 21,20; its spelling of
e)/cammon is adopted by the Suda) and
*pa/tria th=s *kwnstantinoupo/lews II (41 and 51), which is roughly contemporaneous with the Suda. Given the relationship between these texts, there is no doubt that
e)/camon and
e)/cammon refer to the same object. See Cameron, pp. 3-8 for an analysis of this relationship.
Parastaseis 37 simply mentions that the
e)/camon of Heraclius was one of the monuments in or near the Basilica.
Parastaseis 12, however, offers an insight into the possible meaning of
e)/cammon. The passage concludes, 'so too a statue of the Emperor Valentinian holding an (
e)/camon) in its right hand was removed to pay tribute...' (Cameron, p. 75). This passage concerns the establishment of an official measure for grain by Valentinian and his construction of a monument in the Amastrianon to commemorate the punishment of someone who had cheated while measuring the grain dole. While
Parastaseis 12 does not describe an
e)/camon, it is logical that it was a symbol commemorating the official measure introduced by Valentinian. Further support for linking
e)/cammon with measurement appears in
Patria II, 51: 'the so-called [monument of the] Modion was a measure (
w(rolo/gion), that is to say the
e)/camon of the Modion'. While the exact meaning of this passage is also obscure, in combination with
Parastaseis 12, the relationship between
e)/cammon and measurement seems secure.
What then of the
e)/cammon of the Milion or Heraclius, whose notice does not include any mention of measurement or grain? The Emperor Heraclius (610-641) did attempt to control weights and measures, reorganized the distribution of bread in 618 (
Chron. Pasch. 711), and removed an official, nicknamed "the Earthquake,” who had attempted to double the price of bread (
ibid. 715-716). It is certainly possible that Heraclius, involved in activities similar to those that prompted Valentinian to erect his
e)/cammon, erected a similar monument.
Berger, A. Untersuchungen zu den Patria Konstantinupoleos, (Bonn, 1988)
Cameron, A. and J. Herrin. Constantinople in the early eighth century: the Parastaseis syntomoi chronikai, (Leiden, 1984)
Dagron, G. Constantinople Imaginaire: études sur le recueil des Patria, (Paris, 1984)
Preger, T., Hesychius, et al. Scriptores originum Constantinopolitanarum, (New York, 1975)
Speck, P. Die Kaiserliche Universität von Konstantinopel : Präzisierungen z. Frage d. höheren Schulwesens in Byzanz im 9. u. 10. Jahrhundert, (Munich, 1974)
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