wednes: (Default)
wednes ([personal profile] wednes) wrote2004-05-22 12:02 am
  • Add Memory
  • Share This Entry
  • Current Mood: Amazed
  • Current Music: Rain, of course

Two of EVERY creature!!!

Anyone know how big a cubit is?

I think it's time to start buidling an ark...

...the walkway to my apartment is totally flooded.
Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

[identity profile] fyreangel.livejournal.com 2004-05-21 09:38 pm (UTC)(link)
Lol.. I COULD be wrong.. but I believe it's somewhere between 18-20 inches.

[identity profile] cappadocius.livejournal.com 2004-05-21 09:44 pm (UTC)(link)
It's the distance from the tip of your middle finger to your elbow.
itches: (Default)

[personal profile] itches 2004-05-21 10:19 pm (UTC)(link)
The cubit was a Sumerian, later Egyptian measure.

After the foot, it is the first recorded unit of length used by an ancient people. Around 1950 BC, the copper bar cubit of Nippur defines the Sumerian cubit as 51.72 cm (20.17 inches).

There were several cubits of different magnitudes that were used. In Egypt, the common cubit was the length of the forearm from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger (about 18 inches / 46 cm). It was divided into the span of the hand (one-half cubit), the palm or width of the hand (one sixth), and the digit or width of a finger (one twenty-fourth).

Because one person's forearm tended to be a different length to the next person's, a standardised Royal Master Cubit, or Sacred Cubit, was cut in granite. This was 7 palms or 28 digits long, and was used in the construction of buildings and monuments (such as the pyramids) and in surveying.

The inch, foot, and yard are thought to be connected to the cubit through a complicated transformation not yet fully understood. Some believe they evolved from cubic measures; others believe they were simple proportions or multiples of the cubit.

[identity profile] wednes.livejournal.com 2004-05-21 10:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Damn, that's a big ship.

[identity profile] wednes.livejournal.com 2004-05-21 10:42 pm (UTC)(link)
Really?

How funny, that is also the proper length for a wiccan wand.

[identity profile] wednes.livejournal.com 2004-05-21 10:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Get right outta town! I am fascinated that so many people here know so much about cubits.

Gracias!
itches: (Default)

[personal profile] itches 2004-05-21 11:17 pm (UTC)(link)
Less that I know about it, as the internet knows about it. I just happen to have access to the net ;)

[identity profile] fyreangel.livejournal.com 2004-05-22 05:24 am (UTC)(link)
Well it wasn't a mini petting zoo ;)

[identity profile] skryche.livejournal.com 2004-05-22 02:32 pm (UTC)(link)
*holds hands a cubit apart*

About yea.

[identity profile] wednes.livejournal.com 2004-05-22 03:14 pm (UTC)(link)
Again with the Clever Trousers...
Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only