Tholos is an app designed for converting to and from different ancient measuring systems. The name derives from the circular structure called Tholos located in the Athenian agora, which, around 500 BCE, contained an official set of weights and measures against which the merchants were required to test their sets. The idea behind this app is to provide everybody interested in researching antiquity with a simple tool to convert among different standards. Measuring in the past was a political action. It gave the community a sense of autonomy, so in Greece, for example, each polis fought hard to keep their own standards different from those of their neighbors. In time, complex social and political developments tended to unify systems, but researchers in both the literary and archaeological records still encounter a huge variety of measurements that need to be converted to be properly understood. Tholos intends to facilitate that task as much as possible. The app allows the conversion not only between the metric system and the ancient ones, but among different cultures as well. Hence, Greek stadia can be converted to Roman milia. The ancient names are used instead of the modern anglicized versions, but a glossary allows for the translation of those terms and an explanation of their equivalents in metric system. This first version supports basic conversion among metric, Greek (Classical Athenian) and Roman systems. Inmediate future developments scheduled include:- Complete Greek and Roman systems (with lesser known units). - Basic Egyptian units.Tholos is designed by Emilio Rodríguez-Álvarez, Ph.D.
Tholos Converter
