User:Rktect/greek
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Aroura redirects here; you may have arrived here while searching for Aurora
The Greek system of weights and measures was built mainly upon the Egyptian, and formed the basis of the later Roman system.
Contents |
[edit] Length
Like the Mesopotamian units, where the cubit or ku was divided into two different digits (shusi of about 17 mm or uban of about 20 mm) and hands (qat), the Greek units also have long, median and short forms.
- The Ionian pous is a typical short pous measuring 296 mm
- The Attic pous measures 309.4 mm
- The Athenian pous measures 316 mm and is considered of median length
- Long pous are actually remen (4 hands) and pygons
- See cubit for the discussion of the choice of division into hands or palms
Generally the sexagesimal (base-six) or decimal (base-ten) multiples have Mesopotamian origins while the septenary (base-seven) multiples have Egyptian origins.
| Unit | Daktylos | SI (Metric) | Feet or podes |
|---|---|---|---|
| (1 shusi) | 1 (little finger) | 14.49 mm | 0.05 feet or podes |
| 1 daktylos | 1 (ring finger) | 19.275 mm | 0.06 feet or podes |
| 1 uncia ≈ | 1.33 (thumb or inch) | 25.64 mm | 0.08 feet or podes |
| 1 condylos | 2 (daktylos) | 38.55 mm | 0.13 feet or podes |
| 1 palaiste, palm | 4 (daktylos) | 77.1 mm | 0.25 feet or podes (1 palm) |
| 1 dichas | 8 (daktylos) | 154.2 mm | 0.51 feet or podes (2 palms) |
| 1 spithame | 12 (daktylos) | 231.3 mm | 0.76 feet or podes (3 palms) |
| 1 pous, foot | 16 (daktylos) | 308.4 mm | 1.01 feet or podes (4 palms) |
| 1 pygon, remen | 20 (daktylos) | 385.5 mm | 1.26 feet or podes (5 palms) |
| 1 pechya, cubit | 24 (daktylos) | 462.6 mm | 1.52 feet or podes (6 palms) |
| 1 English cubit ≈ | 25 (daktylos) | 493.44 mm | 1.62 feet or podes |
| 1 Egyptian royal cubit ≈ | 28 (daktylos) | 539.7 mm | 1.77 feet or podes (7 palms) |
| 1 bema | 40 (daktylos) | 771 mm | 2.53 feet or podes (10 palms, 1 double remen) |
| 1 yard ≈ | 48 (daktylos) | 925.2 mm | 3.04 feet or podes (12 palms) |
| 1 xylon | 72 (daktylos) | 1.3878 m | 4.55 feet or podes (18 palms) |
| 1 passus | 80 (daktylos) | 1.542 m | 5 feet or podes (20 palms, 1 Roman pace) |
| 1 orguia | 96 (daktylos) | 1.8504 m | 6 feet or podes (24 palms, 1 fathom) |
| 1 akaina | 160 (daktylos) | 3.084 m | 10 feet or podes (40 palms) |
| 1 English rod ≈ | 264 (daktylos) | 5.0886 m | 17 feet or podes (66 palms) |
| 1 hayt | 280 (daktylos) | 5.397 m | 18 feet or podes (70 palms, 10 royal cubits) |
| 1 perch ≈ | 1,056 (daktylos) | 20.3544 m | 66 feet or podes (264 palms) |
| 1 plethron | 1,600 (daktylos) | 30.84 m | 100 feet or podes (400 palms) |
| 1 actus | 1,920 (daktylos) | 37.008 m | 120 feet or podes (480 palms) |
| khet side | 2,800 (daktylos) | 53.97 m | 175 feet or podes (700 palms, 100 royal cubits) |
| English acre side | 3,333 (daktylos) | 64.359 m | 208.71 feet or podes (835 palms) |
| 1 Persian stade | 8,400 (daktylos) | 161.9 m | 525 feet or podes (2,100 palms) |
| 1 minute | 9,336 (daktylos) | 180 m | 300 great cubits (2,334 palms) |
| 1 minute of march | 9,500 (daktylos) | 183.3 m | 350 royal cubits (2,450 palms) |
| 1 stadion | 9,600 (daktylos) | 185 m | 600 Greek pous (2,400 palms) |
| 1 Roman stadium | 9,600 (daktylos) | 185 m | 625 Roman pes (2,400 palms) |
| 1 Olympic stadios | 10,000 (daktylos) | 192.8 m | 625 Greek pous (2,500 palms) |
| 1 English furlong | 10,560 (daktylos) | 203.544 m | 660 Greek pous (2,640 palms) |
| 1 Ptolemaic stade, cable | 11,520 (daktylos) | 222 m | 720 Greek pous (2,880 palms) |
| 1 diaulos | 19,200 (daktylos) | 370 m | 1,200 Greek pous (4,800 palms) |
| 1 millos | 80,000 (daktylos) | 1.542 km | 5,000 Greek pous (20,000 palms) |
| 1 English mile ≈ | 84,480 (daktylos) | 1.628352 km | 5,280 English feet (21,120 palms) |
| 1 dolichos | 115,200 (daktylos) | 2.221056 km | 7,200 Greek pous (28,800 palms) |
| 1 stadia of Xenophon | 280,000 (daktylos) | 5.397 km | 17,500 Greek pous (70,000 palms) |
| 1/10 degree | 560,000 (daktylos) | 10.797 km | 35,000 Greek pous (140,000 palms) |
| 1 schϓnus | 576,000 (daktylos) | 11.1024 km | 36,000 Greek pous (144,000 palms) |
| 1 stathmos | 1,280,000 (daktylos) | 24.672 km | 80,000 Greek pous (320,000 palms) |
| 1 degree | 5,760,000 (daktylos) | 111 km | 360,000 Greek pous (1,440,000 palms) |
- 1 daktulos (pl. daktuloi), digit
- = 1/16 pous
- 1 condulos
- = 1/8 pous
- 1 palaiste, palm
- = ¼ pous
- 1 dikhas
- = ½ pous
- 1 spithame, span
- = ¾ pous
- 1 pous (pl. podes), foot
- ≈ 316 mm, said to be 3/5 Egyptian royal cubit. There are variations, from 296 mm (Ionic) to 326 mm (Doric)
- 1 pugon, Homeric cubit
- = 1¼ podes
- 1 pechua, cubit
- = 1½ podes ≈ 47.4 cm
- 1 bema, pace
- = 2½ podes
- 1 khulon
- = 4½ podes
- 1 orguia, fathom
- = 6 podes
- 1 akaina
- = 10 podes
- 1 plethron (pl. plethra)
- = 100 podes, a cord measure
- 1 stadion (pl. stadia)
- = 6 plethra = 600 podes ≈ 185.4 m
- 1 diaulos (pl. diauloi)
- = 2 stadia, only used for the Olympic footrace introduced in 724 BC
- 1 dolikhos
- = 6 or 12 diauloi. Only used for the Olympic foot race introduced in 720 BC
- 1 parasanges
- = 30 stadia ≈ 5.5 km. Persian measure used by Xenophon, for instance
- 1 skhoinos (pl. skhoinoi, lit. "reefs")
- = 60 stadia ≈ 11.1 km (usually), based on Egyptian river measure iter or atur, for variants see there
- 1 stathmos
- ≈ 25 km, one day's journey. May have been variable, dependent on terrain
For reference, the stadion at Olympia measures 192.3 m. With a widespread use throughout antiquity, there were many variants of a stadion, from as short as 157 m up to 211 m, but it is usually stated as 185.4 m.
The Greek root stadios means 'to have standing'. Stadions are used to measure the sides of fields.
In the time of Herodotus, the standard Attic stadion used for distance measure is 600 pous of 308.4 mm equal to 185 m. so that 600 stadia equal one degree and are combined at 8 to a mia chilioi or thousand which measures the boustredon or path of yoked oxen as a distance of a thousand orguia, taken as one orguia wide which defines an aroura or thousand of land and at 10 agros or chains equal to one nautical mile of 1850 m.
Several centuries later, Marinus and Ptolemy used 500 stadia to a great circle geographical degree. There is a long revisionist tradition of attempting to make their size of the earth correct by claiming their stadia were bigger than the standard Greek 185m stadion, being allegedly composed of 600 remen of 370 mm thus 222 m (see imaginative entry, above), so the measurement of the degree would be the same. The earth measurement of Eratosthenes is often rescued likewise by claiming that his 700 stadia to a degree were smaller, allegedly composed of stadia of 157.5 m or 300 Egyptian royal cubits. The same speculation has even been offered for stadia/degree values attributed to Aristotle, Posidonius, and Archimedes.
Most scholars (Bunbury, Neugebauer, Dicks, A.Jones) prefer instead to accept that early earth estimates were imperfect. Ptolemy switched in mid-career from 700 stadia/degree (Syntaxis) to 500 stadia/degree (Geography). His Geography's systematic 40% overestimates of longitudes between cities are consistent with the proposal of Gosselin (1790) and others that this was caused by his adjustment of travel-based longitude estimates to correspond to a real, not apparent, serious reduction in his adopted size of the Earth. If figured according to the well-established 185m stadion, Ptolemy's earlier size of the earth was 1/6 too high; the later, 1/6 too low. It has been shown that atmospheric refraction's effect upon several elementary methods of measuring the earth will cause very nearly such mis-estimates, high by 1/5 or low by 1/6. Thus, there is no need to anachronistically fiddle the stadion, to force ancient earth size estimates to seem uncannily correct.
The 1771 Encyclopædia Britannica mentions a measure named acæna which was a rod ten (Greek) feet long used in measuring land.
[edit] Area
- 1 aroura
- = ~2,700 m², The ground ploughed by a yoke of oxen in one day
[edit] Volume
- 1 kotule (pl. kotulai)
- = ¼ kheonix, liquid measure
- 1 khϓnix (pl khϓnikes), khoinix
- ≈ 1.1 l, initially used for wheat
- 1 modios, bushel
- = 8 kheonikes
- 1 medimnos
- = 48 kheonikes
Dry measures:
- 1 kotule
- = 6 kuathoi
- 1 khous
- = 12 kotulai
- 1 metretes
- = 12 choes ≈ 34 l
[edit] Weight and monetary
- 1 medimnos
- ≈ 40 kg
- 1 talent
- = 60 minae
- 1 mina
- = 100 drachmae
- 1 decadrachm
- = 10 drachmae, coin only
- 1 tetradrachm
- = 4 drachmae, coin only
- 1 stater, didrachmon
- = 2 drachmae, coin only
- 1 drachma
- = 4.5–6 g, weight of silver coin
- 1 diobolus
- = 2 oboloi = 1/3 drachma
- 1 obolus
- = 1/6 drachma, silver
- 1 chalkos
- = 1/8 obolus, copper
[edit] Miscellaneous
- muriade
- 10,000
[edit] External links
- History 310: Greek Coinage and Measures. History/Classics 310. Retrieved on December 15, 2005.
