Sorry Graham,

you are scientifically wrong on several points.

The earliest evidence of the Cubit was that it was 28 parts, and 52.3/4 cm, There's simply no arguing about that.

Secondly, as I say, I have carried out tests and 6'4" is the height that gives a 52.3/4cm forearm, so we certainly do have a right to compare this to the upper end of any healthy human population. There certainly were a few people of this height in Egypt, and as it is still the upper range for any population we can't derive any conclusions from this about common or royalty. Any population has individuals who vary considerably from the mean.

And as we can see from statuary of Menkaure etc, the Egyptian rulers were often extremely healthy people. I am not saying he was 6'4 but there is no reason based on race or social development that there would not have been the odd tall character around of 6'4.


But, as I say, based on the textual and archaeological evidence, there was no unit called the 'common cubit'. The glyphs on the 7 palm rule at 6 palms more likely to mean '1 short of the cubit', and simply referred to that subdivision. None of the mathematical papyrii calcs ever use a 6 part cubit, and there never was one in use.

As I also said:

More likely than strictly anthropometric, the 7 part cubit was probably based on an arbitary precursor measure that was already in use, or it was built up from Palms and was not actually related to any particular forearm.

This may sound boring, but based on the evidence it's the most likely sequence of events.

"There may have developed a 28 finger cubit in later times but the original metrology of Egypt calls for two different and non compatible cubits, one the arm's length and the other for want of a better description, the elbowspan"

This is simply nonsense!

The earliest evidence from all of the archaeology for any cubit is 28 part units :- 2750 B.C.(Lauer 1931: 59; Firth, Quibell et al. 1935)

As for that quote from Herodotus it comes from millenia later than the 28 part cubit's arrival, and is talking about a whole different region, Mesopotamia, and he may have been comparing hebrew or greek cubits with a Babylonian one, but there is no firm evidence for what they were using at all.

As for Egypt, at the time this Herodotus quote had been written they had gone through a metrological reform in the 26th dynasty, so that they were using a whole different measure :- a 533mm 24 part.

Dave Light.




Lauer, J. P.
1931 Étude sur Quelques Monuments de la IIIe Dynastie (Pyramide à Degrés de Saqqarah). Annales du Service des Antiquites de L'Egypte, IFAO 31: 60.

Firth, C. M., J. E. Quibell, et al.
1935 Excavations at Saqqara : The Step Pyramid. Cairo.