{{Short description|Ancient Roman unit of length and area}} {{other uses|Pertica (disambiguation)}} thumb|Allegory of measurement, the <u>decempeda</u> is under the woman's feet with Xs marking the feet subdivisions (by {{ill|Giovanni Zaratino Castellini|nl}}, 17th century) The '''pertica''' (from {{langx|la|pertica}}, measuring rod{{sfn | Morwood | 2005 | loc=pertica}}) was a pre-metric unit of either length or area, with the values varying by location. For a similar unit in Northern Europe, see perch.
== Ancient Rome == In the Ancient Rome, pertica, also called '''decempeda''',{{sfn | Duncan-Jones | 1980 | p=127}} was a unit of length, usually equal to 10 Roman feet (''pedes''), or approximately 2.96 meters.<ref name=trecconline>{{Treccani|pertica|Pertica}}</ref> The variants of pertica contained 12{{sfn | Walthew | 1981 | p=22}} and 15{{sfn | Walthew | 1981 | p=25}} pedes. Isidore of Seville (per Codex Gudianus) states that sometimes a pertica of 10, 12, 15, or 17 pedes was used by agrimensores (Roman land surveyors) to accommodate the richness of the soil and approximately even the yield per unit area.{{sfn | Kidson | 1990 | pp=74-75}}{{sfn | Duncan-Jones | 1980 | p=130 | loc = note 19}} Kidson{{sfn | Kidson | 1990 | p=75}} highlights the near-perfect match between the pertica of 17 pedes and the English version of the perch.
The same names, pertica and decempeda, were used for the surveyor's tool, a rod of the corresponding length with subdivision into smaller units, similar to the Ancient Greek ''kalamos''.{{sfn | Senseney | 2013 | p=154}}
== Italy == {{see also|Italian units of measurement}} The linear unit in Italy was about 3 meters, area unit contained about 600 square meters. After switching to the metric system, the unit became equal to 1 decare.<ref name=trecconline/>
[[File:PerticaViennese.jpg|thumb|Viennese pertica is on top, Rovereto pertica at the bottom ({{ill|Palazzo Pretorio (Rovereto)|it|lt=Palazzo Pretorio, Rovereto}})]] The regional area values significantly varied per province (in square meters):<ref name=treccani1935>{{Treccani|pertica_%28Enciclopedia-Italiana%29|Pertica||1935}}</ref> * Bergamo 662; * Como (''milanese'') 655; * Cremona 808; * Pavia 770; * Piacenza 762; * Sondrio 688.
==References== {{reflist}}
==Sources== * {{cite book | editor-last=Morwood | editor-first=James | title=The pocket Oxford Latin dictionary: Latin - English | date=2005 | isbn=978-0-19-173958-3 | publisher = Oxford University Press}} * {{cite journal | last=Walthew | first=C. V. | title=Possible Standard Units of Measurement in Roman Military Planning | journal=Britannia | volume=12 | date=1981 | doi=10.2307/526241 | pages=15–35 | jstor=526241 }} * {{cite journal | last=Kidson | first=Peter | title=A Metrological Investigation | journal=Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes | volume=53 | issue=1 | date=1990-01-01 | issn=0075-4390 | doi=10.2307/751340 | pages=71–97| jstor=751340 }} * {{cite journal | last=Duncan-Jones | first=R. P. | title=Length-Units in Roman Town Planning: The Pes Monetalis and the Pes Drusianus | journal=Britannia | volume=11 | date=1980 | pages=127–133 | doi=10.2307/525675 | jstor=525675 }} * {{cite book | last=Senseney | first=John R. | title=A Companion to Roman Architecture | chapter=Plans, Measurement Systems, and Surveying: The Roman Technology of Pre-Building | publisher=Wiley | date=2013-10-28 | isbn=978-1-4051-9964-3 | doi=10.1002/9781118325117.ch8 | pages = 140–156}}
Category:Ancient Roman units of measurement Category:Obsolete units of measurement Category:Units of length Category:Units of area