Technikatörténeti szemle 9. (1977)

A MÉRÉS ÉS A MÉRTÉK AZ EMBERI MŰVELŐDÉSBEN című konferencián Budapesten 1976. április 27–30-án elhangzott előadások I. rész - Bowsher, H. F.: Régi mértékegységek fejlődése

etc., but they did have a geographical basis. Space wall not permit a discussion of these units except to mention that the metrological ratios contained in the following tables often appear in ancient literature in connection with these units. After proposing the values for the ancient units it was satisfying to me to discover that these numbers occur in ancient literature in connection with concepts not related to length, area, volume or weight. For example, Kepler, in his attempt to gain further insight into the harmony of the universe, visualized a musical scale linked to the heavens and concluded that the frequencies of the notes were 2160, 1920, 1728, 1620, 1440, 1296, 1152, 1080, 960 and 864. These numbers appear in the proposed values of various ancient feet or cubits. Berosso's list of dates of ancient kings also contains the propsed metrological values. Caution: ancients often added to a unit name, a prefix such as semi, double, quarter, quadruple, large, small, long or short to indicate some factor times the basic unit. At times it appears the writer would omit the prefix believing the reader would not be misled. No rule has been established as to when an unwritten prefix is implied. This practice continues today. For example, the long and short tons differ; however, the author does not always qualify to which he intends. List of Length Units (Inches) Cubit Foot 14.58 9.72 Egyptian Remen 15.552 10.368 Eratosthenes 16.3296 10.8864 Thebes 17.28 11.52 Old Italian and Egyptian Short 17.496 11.664 Roman and Early Greek (Solon) 18.0 12.0 Hebrew cubit of 5 palms 18.144 12.096 Egyptian Equatorial 18.225 12.15 Greek Olympic 18.6624 12.4416 Proplyae-Greek 19.44 12.96 Assyrian 20.736 13.824 Royal 21.6 14.4 Hebrew cubit of 6 palms 25.2 16.8 Hebrew cubit of 7 palms