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The ancient Egyptian royal cubit (meh niswt) is the earliest attested standard measure.Cubit rods were used for the measurement of length.A number of these rods have survived: two are known from the tomb of Maya, the treasurer of the 18th dynasty pharaoh Tutankhamun, in Saqqara; another was found in the tomb of Kha in Thebes.
One cubit is originally the length from someone's elbow to the tip of their middle finger; it usually translates to approximately half a metre ±10%, with an ancient Roman cubit being as long as 120 cm. One cubit was equal to 6–7 palms, one palm being the width of a hand not including the thumb.
A 36 square cubit area was known as a kalamos and a 144 square cubit area as a hamma. [17] The uncommon bikos may have been 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 hammata or another name for the cubit strip. [17] The Coptic shipa (ϣⲓⲡⲁ) was a land unit of uncertain value, possibly derived from Nubia. [43]
Cubit [4] Ell; Girah; Guz; Hat'h; Jow; Lachter – a unit of length once used in the mining industry in most of Europe. It was usually used to measure depth, tunnel driving and the size of mining fields; it was also used for contract work. In mining in the German-speaking countries, it was the primary unit of length.
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 ...
Flinders Petrie reported on a rod that shows a length of 520.5 mm, a few millimetres less than the Egyptian cubit. [8] A slate measuring rod was also found, divided into fractions of a Royal Cubit and dating to the time of Akhenaten. [9] Further cubit rods have been found in the tombs of officials.
cubit: 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 pedes 444 mm 1.456 ft gradus pes sestertius step: 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 pedes 0.74 m 2.427 ft passus pace: 5 pedes 1.48 m 4.854 ft decempeda pertica: perch: 10 pedes 2.96 m 9.708 ft actus: path, track 120 pedes 35.5 m 116.496 ft 24 passus or 12 decembeda stadium: stade 625 pedes 185 m 607.14 ft 600 Greek feet or 125 passus
Detail of the Ancient Egyptian cubit rod in the Museo Egizio of Turin, showing digit, palm, hand and fist lengths Some hand-based measurements, including the digit (6) The digit or finger is an ancient and obsolete non-SI unit of measurement of length. It was originally based on the breadth of a human finger. [1]