Hi rich

It was a flippant remark to bolster my attempted humour.

BTW have you got any URL's to these sites which have figured it out, and I don't mean Stecchini.?

Herodotus to my mind was conversant with two measuring systems, one to measure people and statues (the arm's length/common metrios/common cubit) and the other to measure monuments (G1 = 800 Greek feet) The two are incompatible IMO.

.... and yes he would have asked the Egyptian priests about G1.

There was and article many years ago (1960) in ANTIQUITY which I thought figured it out, so I would be most interested in seeing anything that would upstage that.

Personally I am suspect of cubits and feet sharing common division. The Greek foot was an architectural measure employed by the Greeks themselves or those of whom they contracted (Parthenon and related temples) I doubt very much if there were any building projects set out with the arm's length/common metrios/commoncubit

My understanding of the Herodotus translation reads:

" ... because a fathom is six feet or four cubits, if a foot is four palms and a cubit six."

Was Herodotus savy to architectural measure or just common measure?


fmetrol
Graham Oaten

The great amount of labour involved in quarrying and transporting such a mass of masonry as even the casing, has always been a cause of astonishment - Sir Flinders Petrie.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/02/2007 12:06AM by fmetrol.