Ancient Weights and Measures...Measuroo.com











		Ancient Weights and Measures Many systems of weights and measures have existed throughout history in different civilisations. The definitions of some of these units are often regarded as vague and inaccurate. True enough, although the roots of many of the units were the same, the actual value of a unit differed from civilization to civilization, or epoch to epoch. That fact should not lead to a conclusion that historical units of measure were inaccurate in general. Many units were defined to a high precision, and standards of measurement and tracking were in many cases excellent. As a case in point, the Great Pyramid of Giza was built to a precision of 0.015 m over sides that are 235 meters, over four and a half thousand years ago. Mesopotamian system Mesopotamia includes a number of cultures. The Sumerian number system uses a base 60 positional notation, and is the origin for the division of 60 for hours and angles. Length kù – Cubit (Sumerian). Akkadian ammatu. The copper bar cubit of Nippur, the first known standard bar, defines the Sumerian cubit as about 518.5 mm, widely used in third millennium BC. It was split in 30 digits. The Babylonian (or Salamis) cubit was around 484 mm. foot – Defined as 264.6 mm by Sumerian ruler Gudea of Lagash around 2575 BC, this is the oldest preserved standard of length. digit – 1 / 16 foot or 1 / 30 cubit stadion – 148.5 m parasang – Babylonian league is 5.6 km Area sar – Garden plot (Sumerian) iku – "Plot of land enclosed by a boundary dike/canal", 100 sar. Probably 120 ·120 cubit² Volume log – 0.54 l homer – 720 log Weight and Monetary shekal – 8.36 g, introduced around 3000 BC mina – 60 shekal Time year – The Sumerians used a 360 day year by 2100 BC. week – The Babylonians introduced the seven day week, due to the belief that seven brought bad luck, so they did not want to work the seventh day. hour – The 12 hour day and 12 hour night originates from Mesopotamia. The length of these hours changed through the year, being equally spaced over the time of light and dark, respectively. Persian System The Persian system had influence on the Greek system. During the Persian occupation of Egypt, the Persian cubit was sometimes used there, too. The ghalva (stadion) and parasang were much used as a land measure. There are significant uncertainty, though. Length finger – 1 / 4 palm palm – 1 / 4 foot zereth – Foot, 1 / 2 cubit arsani – Cubit, 52.0 up to 64.0 cm cane – 2 paces, 6 cubits chebel – 40 cubits stadion – Forerunner to Greek and Egyptian stadion, presumably around 264 m parasang – The distance a horse would walk for one hour, 250 chebel, approx. 6 km. (6.23 km in mid 19th century. In today's Iran as well as Turkey, a metric farsang of 10 km is commonly used. Forerunner for league. schoinos – Origin of Greek and Egyptian measures mansion – Equivalent to "stathmos", 4 parsang Volume chenica – 1.32 l, probably basis of the Greek cheonix Egyptian System Much of the Egyptian system of measurement is based on the Mesopotamian. The Egyptian system in its turn formed the basis of the later Greek system. The Egyptians based their measurements on the Royal cubit, for which the pharaoh devised a standard (master) cut in granite. From these standards, it is clear that accuracies in measurements of at least 1/16 yeba (1 mm) were possible. Note also the cubit and remen which has a ratio that constitutes an irrational number. The Egyptian system was also noteworthy in having units for volume derived from the standard for length. While the Royal cubit is a very well defined unit, uncertainty is connected to the units for land measurement, especially when the Greek stadion and schoinos units came in use. Length meh nesut – Royal cubit, 52.3 cm, varied by less than 0.5 cm through the times. shesep – Width of palm, alt. shep, 1 / 7 Royal cubit. It is speculated that the fraction of 1/7 may have been so that a reasonable pi could be made of 22 shesep over 1 cubit. yeba – Digit, also zebo, 1 / 4 palm, logically enough thumb – 4 / 3 yeba, or 2.49 cm. Basis for the Roman uncia and later, the inch. meh scherer – Forearm, basically 6 / 7 Royal cubit. Also known as the common cubit, used by commons and not as precise. double remen – Approx. 72.3 cm, the length of the diagonal of a Royal cubit square remen – 1 / 2 double remen remen digit – 1 / 20 remen khet – Senus, 100 Royal cubit, also jet, hayt stadion – 400 Royal cubits, 209.2 m parasang – 10000 Royal cubits schoinos – Presumably the "common atur", 12000 Royal kubits or 6.3 km. iter – Royal river measure (pl. iteru or itrw), also atur or ater. 20000 Royal cubits, or 10.46 km. The units parasang, schoinos and ater seems to be often interchanged. The book of Herodotus clearly states the Egyptian mile as twice a Persian parasang, i.e. 20000 Royal cubits. Area setat – 100 · 100 Royal cubit², also aura jata – 100 setat, is said to be used to this day. remen – 1 / 2 setat hebes – 1 / 4 setat sa – 1/8 setat Volume hekat – 1 / 30 Royal cubit³, 4.8 l, used for grain. Was divided into fractions of 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32 and 1/64 by an "Eye of Horus" rule. oipe – Alt. ipet, 4 hekat jar – 5 oipe hinu – 1 / 10 hekat, used for perfume as well as grain. ro – 1 / 32 hinu des – For liquids, approx. 0.5 l secha – For beer hebenet – For wine Weight deben – 91 g, normally of copper, but also silver, gold and probably lead. Also used as money. qedety – 1/10 deben Time year – The 365 day year was introduced by 2773 BC Miscellaneous seked – Unit of inclination, also seqt. Indicates horizontal dimension measured in palms (and digits fractions as necessary) per vertical Royal cubit rise. E.g. 5 seked is 54.46°, 5 1/4 seked is 53.13°, 5 1/2 seked is 51.84°. shaty – 1 / 6 silver deben or 1 / 3 lead deben Greek System The Greek system was built mainly upon the Egyptian, and formed the basis of the later Roman system. Length pous – Foot (pl. podes), 31.6 cm, said to be 3 / 5 Egyptian Royal cubit. There are variations, from an Ionic foot is 29.6 cm to a Doric foot that is 32.6 cm daktulos – Digit (pl. daktuloi), 1 / 16 pous condulos – 1 / 8 pous palaiste – Palm, 1 / 4 pous dikhas – 1 / 2 pous spithame – Span, 3 / 4 pous pugon – Homeric cubit, 5 / 4 pous pechua – Cubit, 3 / 2 podes, 47.4 cm bema – Pace, 5 / 2 podes khulon – 9 / 2 podes orguia – Fathom, 6 podes akaina – 10 podes plethron – Cord measure, (pl. plethra), 100 podes stadion – (pl. stadia), 6 plethra, i.e. 600 podes. Usually stated as 185.4 m. For reference, the stadion at Olympus measures 192.3 m. With a widespread use throughout antiquity, there were many variants of a stadion, from as low as 157 m up to 211 m. diaulos – (pl. diauloi), 2 stadia. Only used for the Olympic footrace introduced in 724 BC. dolikhos – 6 or 12 diauloi. Only used for the Olympic footrace introduced in 720 BC. parasanges – Persian measure, 30 stadia, 5.5 km. Used by Xenophon, for instance. skhoinos – Lit. "reefs" (pl. skhoinoi), based on Egyptian river measure iter or atur. Usually defined as 60 stadia or 11.1 km. There are variants, see Egyptian atur. stathmos – One days journey, roughly 25 km. May have been variable, dependent on terrain. Volume kotule – Liquid measure, (pl. kotulai), 1 / 4 kheonix kheonix – Alt. khoinix (pl khoenikes), approx. 1.1 l. Initially used for wheat. modios – Bushel, 8 kheonikes medimnos – 48 kheonikes kotule – Dry measure, 6 kuathoi khous – Dry measure, 12 kotulai metretes – Dry measure, 12 choes, approx. 34 l Weight and Monetary medimnos – talent – 60 mina mina – 100 drachma decadrachm – Coin only, 10 drachma tetradrachm – Coin only, 4 drachma stater – Coin only, also didrachm, 2 drachma drachma – Weight of silver coin, 4.5 to 6 g diobol – 1 / 3 drachma obolo – 1 / 6 drachma, silver khalkoi – 1 / 8 obolo, copper Miscellaneous muriade – 10.000