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Egyptian units of length are attested from the Early Dynastic Period.Although it dates to the 5th dynasty, the Palermo stone recorded the level of the Nile River during the reign of the Early Dynastic pharaoh Djer, when the height of the Nile was recorded as 6 cubits and 1 palm [1] (about 3.217 m or 10 ft 6.7 in).
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.
It is possible to group official measurement systems for large societies into historical systems that are relatively stable over time, including: the Babylonian system, the Egyptian system, the Phileterian system of the Ptolemaic age, the Olympic system of Greece, the Roman system, the British system, and the metric system.
A number of units of measurement were used in Egypt to measure length, mass, area, capacity, etc. In Egypt, the metric system was made optional in 1873 and has been compulsory in government use since 1891. [1] [2]
Yojana – a Vedic measure of distance used in ancient India. Its value was about 10 km (6.2 mi), although the exact value is disputed among scholars (between 8 and 13 km or 5 and 8 mi) Its value was about 10 km (6.2 mi), although the exact value is disputed among scholars (between 8 and 13 km or 5 and 8 mi)
The Egyptians also used two different ells, one of which—the royal ell—was a sixth larger than the common ell; [1] this royal measurement was the earlier of the two in Egyptian use, and the one which the Pyramids of the 3rd and 4th Dynasties seem to be measured in integer multiples of. [9]
The earliest evidence for deben is from the Early Dynastic Period.It was found at the site of Buto in Nile Delta.The weighing stone was uncovered in an archaeological context from Second Dynasty, in the so-called "labyrinth" building, it bears the inscription of the "friendly is the heart of Horus, director" (of the installation) "Hemsemenib".
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]