Lever scale, Pompeii |
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The weighing instruments found in Pompeii were used to carry out a wide range of activities: they were used by physicians, pharmacists, goldsmiths, potters, merchants, and peddlers. This led to diversification in the types of instruments available. The main difference is between balances and scales. While balances had been in use for some time in the Mediterranean area, the scale, which appeared in Campania towards the mid-4th century BC, became the typical weighing instrument of the Romans; the mechanical procedures by which it worked were also studied by the leading scientists of ancient times. |
