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In ancient Greek units of measurement, the standard forearm cubit (Ancient Greek: πῆχυς, romanized: pēkhys) measured approximately 460 mm (18 in). The short forearm cubit (πυγμή pygmē, lit. "fist"), from the knuckle of the middle finger (i.e., fist clenched) to the elbow, measured approximately 340 mm (13 + 1 ⁄ 2 in). [22]
Ancient Greek units of measurement varied according to location and epoch. Systems of ancient weights and measures evolved as needs changed; Solon and other lawgivers also reformed them en bloc . [ citation needed ] Some units of measurement were found to be convenient for trade within the Mediterranean region and these units became ...
Another wooden cubit rod was found in Theban tomb TT40 (Huy) bearing the throne name of Tutankhamun (Nebkheperure). [11] Cubit rod from the Turin Museum. Egyptian measuring rods also had marks for the Remen measurement of approximately 370 mm (15 in), used in construction of the Pyramids. [12] [13]
Detail of a cubit rod in the Museo Egizio of Turin The earliest recorded systems of weights and measures originate in the 3rd or 4th millennium BC. Even the very earliest civilizations needed measurement for purposes of agriculture, construction and trade. Early standard units might only have applied to a single community or small region, with every area developing its own standards for ...
The digit, also called a finger or fingerbreadth, is a unit of measurement originally based on the breadth of a human finger. In Ancient Egypt it was the basic unit of subdivision of the cubit. [1] On surviving Ancient Egyptian cubit-rods, the royal cubit is divided into seven palms of four digits or fingers each. [3]
Ancient Greek texts show that the span was used as a fixed measure in ancient Greece since at least archaic period.The word spithame (Greek: "σπιθαμή"), "span", [4] is attested in the work of Herodotus [5] in the 5th century BC; however, the span was used in Greece long before that, since the word trispithamos (Greek: "τρισπίθαμος"), "three spans long", [6] occurs as early as ...
The palm was not a major unit in ancient Mesopotamia but appeared in ancient Israel as the tefah, [7] tepah, [8] or topah [8] (Hebrew: טפח, lit. "a spread"). [9] Scholars were long uncertain as to whether this was reckoned using the Egyptian or Babylonian cubit, [7] but now believe it to have approximated the Egyptian "Greek cubit", giving a value for the palm of about 74 mm or 2.9 in. [8]
Traditional Greek units of measurement were standardized and used in modern Greece before and alongside the adoption of the metric system in 1836. Metric units were ...