Word.ws English Dictionary

amphoreus

amphoreus noun: an Ancient Greek unit of liquid measure reckoned as equivalent to about 9 gallons.

Noun

amphoreus (plural amphoreis)

  1. An Ancient Greek unit of liquid measure reckoned as equivalent to about 9 gallons.
    • The amphoreus of the prize-lists is a measure of capacity: in that singular “conspiracy of silence” as regards the mention of painted vases to which Greek literature almost universally adhered, the painted Panathenaic amphora is not alluded to, even in the prize-lists.1897, Cecil [Harcourt] Smith, “Panathenaic Amphorae”, in The Annual of the w:British School at Athens, number III, London: […] Macmillan & Co., Limited, page 190
    • The expensive wine of Chios was worth a mina an amphoreus; but twenty drachmas an amphoreus, or forty cents a gallon, was regarded as an extravagant price to pay for ordinary wine.1902, Charles Burton Gulick, “The Various Callings: Manufactures and Trades”, in The Life of the Ancient Greeks, with Special Reference to Athens (Twentieth Century Text-Books), New York, N.Y.: D....

Examples of amphoreus in a sentence

  • Accordingly one Amphoreus Metrétés contained 12 Choes, 144 Kotyloi, 864 Kyathoi.1957, Charles Seltman, “The Trade”, in Wine in the Ancient World, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd, page 137:
  • Figuring an amphoreus conservatively at ca. 9 gal. (34.06 l.), the silver vessel had a capacity of ca. 5,400 gal. (20,439 l.).1983, Jane C. Waldbaum, Metalwork from Sardis: The Finds through 1974 (Archaeological Exploration of Sardis; 8), Cambridge, Mass.; London...

Forms of amphoreus

pluralamphoreis

Origin of amphoreus

From Ancient Greek ᾰ̓μφορεύς (ămphoreús).

Questions about amphoreus

What does amphoreus mean?
Amphoreus means an Ancient Greek unit of liquid measure reckoned as equivalent to about 9 gallons.
How do you use amphoreus in a sentence?
Accordingly one Amphoreus Metrétés contained 12 Choes, 144 Kotyloi, 864 Kyathoi.
What part of speech is amphoreus?
Amphoreus is a noun.
What is the plural of amphoreus?
The plural of amphoreus is amphoreis.

Words near amphoreus in the dictionary

  1. amphorai
  2. amphoral
  3. amphoralike
  4. amphoras
  5. amphoreis
  6. amphoreus
  7. amphoric
  8. amphoricity
  9. amphoriloquy
  10. amphoriscid
  11. amphoriscids

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: amphoreus (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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