Much of the ancient Egyptian system of measurement is based on that of Mesopotamia and had a strong influence on the Greek system . The ancient Egyptians based their measurements on the royal cubit Meh , for the king ( Pharaoh ) a prototype of granite ready made. With this standard, precision down to a sixteenth, the Djeba (about 1 mm), was possible. It is noteworthy that Elle and Remen form an irrational relationship. In addition, the volume measurements were based on the length measurements. The length of the royal cubit is known very precisely, but far less precise information is known about the units for land surveying, especially since the Greek stadion and skhoinos were also used later .
royal river (length = one Egyptian mile ) and hours of sunshine (time)
20,000 Meh
10,500
corresponds in length to Beru and Danna ; “Schoinos”, “parasang” and “ater” were used almost synonymously for the length measure “iteru”. Herodotus writes that the Egyptian mile measures two Persian “parasang”, that is, 20,000 Meh (meh-nesut).
Derivations
The factor 7 was possibly introduced because of the approximation √2 ≈ 7/5 ≈ 10/7. The geometry was already highly developed in ancient Egypt, the Egyptians could indeed the square root of two is not calculated, but distinguished. Finding that “5 · √2 ≈ 7” , they divided the cubit into 28 parts. The ancient Egyptian geometrists divided the nippur cubit into 28 instead of 30 fingers , since they did not use the sexagesimal system anyway .
Description
conversion
Explanation
with an assumed value of the Mesopotamian 30-finger cubit of Nippur of 518.6 mm
The later Roman digit ( digitus , finger, Roman inch) was founded with the Egyptian finger , although this differed slightly (approx. 1%) with a statistically reconstructed 18.522 mm.
The Egyptian building remen of the third millennium BC is called pygon in Greek .
Centuries later they used a construction remen of 20 fingers from the old royal cubit.
The foot of the new royal cell ( Japanese Shaku ) and the Roman foot ( pes ) have a ratio of exactly 100 to 98.
The megalithic yard (≈ 83 cm) is almost exactly 1.6 nippur cubits.
The theoretical length of a Roman barley grain is exactly 8.252 mm.
Surfaces
Description
conversion
Cha-ta (charo, chara)
10 setjat (supposedly still in use today) = 2.75 hectares
where x is a length that is historically determined in Schesep (hand width),
e.g. B. x = 7 Schesep → 7 Seked = 45 °, x = 5 Schesep → 5 Seked = 54.46 °, x = 5½ Schesep → 5½ Seked = 51.84 °.
The use of the long cord (12 Königsellen or Meh) of the harpedonapten enables an immediate conversion from Schesep to Seked (when the short cathete is stretched as a base). It is divided down to the width of a finger (Djeba).
Explanation of the Seked, English names: Cubit (royal cell), Palm (hand width), Digit (finger width)
literature
Rainer Hannig : Large Concise Dictionary Egyptian-German: (2800 - 950 BC) . von Zabern, Mainz 2006, ISBN 3-8053-1771-9 , p. 1319 ff.
Wolfgang Helck : Measures and weights [Pharaonic times]. in Wolfgang Helck, Wolfhart Westendorf (ed.): Lexicon of Egyptology. Volume 3, Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1980, ISBN 3-447-02100-4 , column 1199-1209.
Wolfgang Helck, Eberhard Otto : Small Lexicon of Egyptology. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1999, ISBN 3-447-04027-0 , p. 179 f. → Dimensions and weights.
Nobility camel: dimensions and weights. In: Science in Ancient Egypt. Kemet Heft 4, 2000. Kemet, Berlin 2000, ISSN 0943-5972 , pp. 38-40.
Jean Vercoutter : Les poids de Mirgissa et le "standart-cuivre" au Moyen Empire. In: Erika Endesfelder u. a. (Ed.): Egypt and Kusch (= writings on the history and culture of the ancient Orient. No. 13, [Festschrift Fritz Hintze]). Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1977, pp. 437-445.
Sven P. Vleeming : Measures and weights in the demotic texts. In: Wolfgang Helck, Wolfhart Westendorf (Hrsg.): Lexikon der Ägyptologie. Volume III, Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1980, ISBN 3-447-02100-4 , column 1209-1214.
Individual evidence
↑ Adel Kamel: Dimensions and weights in: Kemet Heft 4/2000 , p. 39.
