Theancient Egyptian units of measurement are those used by thedynasties ofancient Egypt prior to its incorporation in theRoman Empire and general adoption ofRoman,Greek, andByzantine units of measurement. The units of length seem to have originally beenanthropic, based on various parts of thehuman body, although these were standardized using cubit rods, strands of rope, and official measures maintained at some temples.
Egyptian units of length are attested from theEarly Dynastic Period. Although it dates to the 5th dynasty, thePalermo stone recorded the level of theNile River during the reign of the Early DynasticpharaohDjer, when the height of the Nile was recorded as 6 cubits and 1 palm[1] (about 3.217 m or 10 ft 6.7 in). AThird Dynasty diagram shows how to construct an elliptical vault using simple measures along an arc. Theostracon depicting this diagram was found near theStep Pyramid ofSaqqara. A curve is divided into five sections and the height of the curve is given in cubits, palms, and digits in each of the sections.[2][3]
At some point, lengths were standardized bycubit rods. Examples have been found in the tombs of officials, noting lengths up to remen. Royal cubits were used for land measures such as roads and fields. Fourteen rods, including one double-cubit rod, were described and compared byLepsius.[4] Two examples are known from theSaqqara tomb ofMaya, the treasurer ofTutankhamun. Another was found in the tomb of Kha (TT8) inThebes. These cubits are about 52.5 cm (20.7 in) long and are divided into palms and hands: each palm is divided into four fingers from left to right and the fingers are further subdivided into ro from right to left. The rulers are also divided into hands[5] so that for example one foot is given as three hands and fifteen fingers and also as four palms and sixteen fingers.[6][3][7][8][9][5]
Cubit rod from the Turin Museum.
Surveying and itinerant measurement were undertaken using rods, poles, and knotted cords of rope. A scene in the tomb ofMenna inThebes shows surveyors measuring a plot of land using rope with knots tied at regular intervals. Similar scenes can be found in the tombs of Amenhotep-Sesi, Khaemhat and Djeserkareseneb. The balls of rope are also shown inNew Kingdom statues of officials such asSenenmut, Amenemhet-Surer, and Penanhor.[2]
Records of land area also date to theEarly Dynastic Period. ThePalermo Stone records grants of land expressed in terms ofkha andsetat. Mathematical papyri also include units of land area in their problems. For example, several problems in theMoscow Mathematical Papyrus give the area of rectangular plots of land in terms ofsetat and the ratio of the sides and then require the scribe to solve for their exact lengths.[6]
Thesetat was the basic unit of land measure and may originally have varied in size across Egypt'snomes.[20] Later, it was equal to one squarekhet, where akhet measured 100cubits. Thesetat could be divided into strips onekhet long and tencubit wide (akha).[2][6][37]
During the Ptolemaic period, the cubit strip square was surveyed using a length of 96 cubits rather than 100, although thearoura was still figured to compose 2,756.25m2.[17] A 36squarecubit area was known as akalamos and a 144squarecubit area as ahamma.[17] The uncommonbikos may have been1+1⁄2hammata or another name for the cubit strip.[17] The Copticshipa (ϣⲓⲡⲁ) was a land unit of uncertain value, possibly derived fromNubia.[43]
Units of volume appear in the mathematical papyri. For example, computing the volume of a circulargranary inRMP42 involves cubic cubits, khar, heqats, and quadruple heqats.[6][9] RMP80 divides heqats of grain into smaller henu.
Problem 80 on theRhind Mathematical Papyrus: As for vessels (debeh) used in measuring grain by the functionaries of the granary: done into henu, 1 hekat makes 10;1⁄2 makes 5;1⁄4 makes2+1⁄2; etc.[6][9]
Green glazed faience weight discovered atAbydos, inscribed for the high stewardAabeni during the lateMiddle KingdomSerpentine weight of 10 daric, inscribed for Taharqa during the25th Dynasty
Weights were measured in terms ofdeben. This unit would have been equivalent to 13.6 grams in theOld Kingdom andMiddle Kingdom. During theNew Kingdom however it was equivalent to 91 grams. For smaller amounts the qedet (1⁄10 of a deben) and the shematy (1⁄12 of a deben) were used.[2][9]
The qedet or kedet is also often known as thekite, from theCoptic form of the same name (ⲕⲓⲧⲉ orⲕⲓϯ).[49] In 19th-century sources, the deben and qedet are often mistakenly transliterated as theuten andkat respectively, although this was corrected by the 20th century.[50]
TheEgyptian civil calendar in place byDynasty V[54] followedregnal eras resetting with the ascension of each newpharaoh.[55] It was based on thesolar year and apparently initiated during aheliacal rising ofSirius following a recognition of its rough correlation with the onset of the Nile flood.[56] It followed none of these consistently, however. Its year was divided into 3 seasons,12 months, 36decans, or 360days with another 5epagomenal days[57]—celebrated as the birthdays of five major gods[58] but feared for their ill luck[59]—added "upon the year". TheEgyptian months were originally simply numbered within each season[60] but, in later sources, they acquired names from the year's major festivals[61] and the three decans of each one were distinguished as "first", "middle", and "last".[62] It has been suggested that during theNineteenth Dynasty and theTwentieth Dynasty the last two days of each decan were usually treated as a kind of weekend for the royal craftsmen, with royal artisans free from work.[63] This scheme lacked any provision forleap yearintercalation until the introduction of theAlexandrian calendar byAugustus in the 20sBC, causing it to slowly move through theSothic cycle against thesolar,Sothic, andJulian years.[6][3][64] Dates were typically given in aYMD format.[55]
The civil calendar was apparently preceded by an observationallunar calendar which was eventually madelunisolar[q] and fixed to the civil calendar, probably in 357BC.[67] The months of these calendars were known as "temple months"[68] and used for liturgical purposes until theclosing of Egypt's pagan temples underTheodosius I[69] in the AD390s and the subsequent suppression of individual worship byhis successors.[70]
Smaller units of time were vague approximations for most of Egyptian history. Hours—known by a variant of the word for "stars"[71]—were initially only demarcated at night and varied in length. They were measured usingdecan stars and bywater clocks. Equal 24-part divisions of the day were only introduced in 127BC. Division of these hours into 60 equalminutes is attested inPtolemy's 2nd-century works.
^Parker extensively developed the thesis that the predynastic lunar calendar was alreadylunisolar, usingintercalary months every 2 or 3 years to maintainSirius'sreturn to the night sky in its twelfth month,[65] but no evidence of such intercalation exists predating the schematic lunisolar calendar developed in4th century BC.[66]
^Abd el-Mohsen Bakir (1978),Hat-'a em Sbayet r-en Kemet: An Introduction to the Study of the Egyptian Language: A Semitic Approach, General Egyptian Book Organization, p. 70.
^abKatz, Victor J.; et al., eds. (2007),The Mathematics of Egypt, Mesopotamia, China, India, and Islam: A Sourcebook, Princeton University Press, p. 17,ISBN978-0-691-11485-9.
^"Weights and Measures",Encyclopaedia Britannica,9th ed., vol. XXIV, 1888.
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