In ancient times the body ruled when it came to measuring. In ancient egypt the people used their cubits to roughly measure various objects.
Primary Magazine Issue 10 A Little Bit Of History Ncetm
Ancient system of measurement using body parts. The ancient egyptian units of measurement are those used by the dynasties of ancient egypt prior to its incorporation in the roman empire and general adoption of roman greek and byzantine units of measurement. In the 14th century king edward ii of england ruled that 1 inch equalled 3 grains of barley placed end to end lengthwise. The units of length seem to have originally been anthropic based on various parts of the human body although these were standardized using cubit rods strands of rope and official measures maintained at some temples. It probably goes without saying that the unit foot was based on the length of a mans foot. The ancient chinese system completely separated from the mediterranean european history of metrology is that of ancient china yet the chinese system exhibits all the principal characteristics of the western. The cubit is approximately 18 22 inches long.
At first an inch was the width of a mans thumb. Following alexander the greats conquest of persia and subsequent de. It employed parts of the body as a source of unitsfor example the distance from the pulse to the base of the thumb. The cubit was used excessively by egyptians in the ancient times to measure various objects. Hand hand fingers thumb. The length of a foot the width of a finger and the distance of a step were all accepted measurements.
Here are a few more. Quinaria the cross sectional area of a pipe created from a flat sheet of lead 5 digits wide stremma the amount of land a person can plow in a day. The cubit was just one of numerous units of measurement based on the typical size of body parts. The cubit extends from the elbow to the middle finger.
Gallery of Ancient System Of Measurement Using Body Parts
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