The pertica (from , measuring rod) was a pre-metric system 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, was a unit of length, usually equal to 10
Roman feet (
pedes), or approximately 2.96
.
The variants of pertica contained 12 and 15 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. Kidson 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.
Italy
The linear unit in Italy was about 3 meters, area unit contained about 600
. After switching to the metric system, the unit became equal to 1
decare.
[
]
The regional area values significantly varied per province (in square meters):
Sources
