Misplaced Pages

Rope stretcher: Difference between revisions

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
Browse history interactively← Previous editContent deleted Content addedVisualWikitext
Revision as of 12:12, 30 August 2005 editRktect (talk | contribs)3,917 editsm cleaned up a little← Previous edit Latest revision as of 07:38, 24 April 2024 edit undo195.164.226.178 (talk) not actual source link 
(101 intermediate revisions by 64 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
], '']''.]]
<!-- Please do not remove or change this VfD message until the issue is settled -->
In ], a '''rope stretcher''' (or '''harpedonaptai''') was a ] who ] ] demarcations and ] using ]s, stretched so the rope did not sag. The practice is depicted in tomb paintings of the ].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n-4eWtgEXjoC&pg=PT282 |page=282 |title=Evidence and Procedures for Boundary Location |isbn=9780470901601 |last1=Robillard |first1=Walter G. |last2=Wilson |first2=Donald A. |last3=Brown |first3=Curtis M. |last4=Eldridge |first4=Winfield |date=31 January 2011 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons }}</ref> Rope stretchers used ] and the ],<ref></ref> which are still in use by modern surveyors.
<div class="boilerplate metadata" id="vfd" style="margin: 0 5%; padding: 0 7px 7px 7px; background: #EDF1F1; border: 1px solid #999999; text-align: left; font-size:95%;">
'''This article is being considered for deletion in accordance with Misplaced Pages's ]]'''<br />
Please vote on and discuss the matter. See ''']''' on the Articles for Deletion page. For older discussions, ] instead.<br />
You are welcome to edit this article, but please do not blank, merge, or move this article, or remove this notice while the discussion is in progress. For more information, read the ].</div>]
<!-- End of VfD message, feel free to edit beyond this point -->


The commissioning of a new sacred building was a solemn occasion in which pharaohs and other high-ranking officials personally stretched ropes to define the foundation. This important ceremony, and therefore rope-stretching itself, are attested over 3000 years from the ] to the ].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fWKYBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA98 |page=98 |title=Architecture and Mathematics from Antiquity to the Future: Volume I: Antiquity to the 1500s |isbn=9783319001371 |last1=Williams |first1=Kim|author1-link=Kim Williams (architect) |last2=Ostwald |first2=Michael J. |date=9 February 2015 |publisher=Birkhäuser }}</ref>
{{cleanup-date|August 2005}}


Rope stretching technology spread to ] and ], where it stimulated the development of ] and ].
]


== See also ==
In ancient Egypt '''Rope stretchers''' were ] who ]d out the sides of fields 3ht using ] which they stretched in order to take the sag out of the rope and keep the 3ht measures uniform. As far back as the ]s of ] and the ] the Egyptians document the process the royal surveyors used to restore the boundaries of fields after each innundation or ].
* ]
* ]
* ]


==References==
* ]
{{reflist}}
* {{cite book |first=Alistair |last=Macintosh Wilson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nh7rwAEACAAJ |title=The Infinite in the Finite |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1995 |isbn=9780198539506 }}
* ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica,'' Encyclopædia Britannica 1974
* James Henry Breasted Ancient Records of Egypt, Part Two, Chicago 1906
* Joel F. PAULSON, "Surveying in Ancient Egypt,", ] Working Week 2005 and ]-8, Cairo, Egypt April 16-21, 2005.


==External links==
] and the Scorpion ] portray themselves controlling the land through their control of the water that irrigates the land. On the ] palette ] assists ] by opening the ways of '''3kr''' the personified god of the land itself shown in the image to the right as a man with a field growing out of his head.
*
* "The knowledge of pleasing proportions of the rope stretchers was incorporated by the Greeks"


{{DEFAULTSORT:Rope Stretcher}}
The ] pose (]) is a man striding forward with raised mace toward a subservient subject, which in this case is labled st3t or a field whose kht is 100 royal ]s.
]
: 1 ] = 1 side of an 3ht of length 100 ]s
]
: 1 st3t = a field of side 100 royal cubits.
]
]


* ] "The knowledge of pleasing proportions of the rope stretchers was incorporated by the Greeks"


{{AncientEgypt-stub}}
"Of the officials, some are market commissioners, others are city commissioners and others are in charge of the soldiers. Among these, the first keep the rivers improved and the '''land remeasured''', as in Egypt, and inspect the closed canals from which the water is distributed into the conduits, in order that all may have an equal use of it. The same men also have charge of the hunters and are authorized to reward or punish those who deserve either. They also collect the taxes and superintend the crafts connected with the land -- those of wood-cutters, carpenters, workers in brass, and miners. '''And they make roads, and at every ten stadia place pillars showing the by-roads and the distances.''' Strabo. "The Geography"

]

Many people think the Romans invented the idea of the milestone but here we can see that it may have originated as a benchmark used by rope stretchers to reastablish the metes and bounds of fields after all other references had been washed away by flood.

The idea of surveying fields using benchmarks would be to establish them along a baseline so that from any one a bearing could be taken and a distance measured out to the place where the next should be. Baselines could be laid out by sighting on the sun or stars, Very likely this would be accomplished by the use of mekhert and bey the Egyptian sighting instruments which preceeded the Greek Dioptra and Roman Groma. The Egyptians also used hayt of ten cubits which were very similar to what modern surveyors call stadia rods and served the same purpose. The Egyptians also used the plumet and 3 - 4 - 5 triangles which are still in use by modern surveyors. The plumet can be used with a square ruled off into intervals on tounge and blade to get a unit rise and run or angle when taking an elevation to a distant point as with a modern sextant.

* ]

On Every Road built by the Romans throughout ] a milestone, was erected every mile to announce the distance to Rome.

Many ''mile'' units based on or similar to this standard of measure have been used historically. It was derived from the The Greek Milos or ] of 4800 ] and from it the English of c 49 BC - 1593 AD are 8 ]s, ]s, ]s of 185 m was derived.

Other classically related divisions and multiples of the Mille Passus include the ] and ].

Miles and ] have been intended to be ] ] of a ] of the Earth's ] ] since they were first] as ] of ] by the ] of ] and ].

The most interesting thing about the Mille passus is that it is classically alleged to have been composed of 8 stadia such that the Mille Passus and its subdivisions of stadium, passus and pes were geo-commensurate with a degree of the Earths great circle.

A Mille Passus, meaning thousand paces or milliare, is a division of a degree of the earth's great circle. This may have derived from the baselines between benchmarks or milestones which often terminated at an omphalos or geodetic marker.

The Roman ] of 5000 ] and 5000 ] was derived from the Greek milion.

* 1 Mille passus = 1/75 Degree of the Earths Great Circle
* 1 Stadia = 1/600 Degree of the Earths Great Circle
* 1 Passus = 1/75,000 Degree of the Earths Great Circle
* 1 Pes = 1/375,000 Degree of the Earths Great Circle

=== The Degree Mille Passus ===

* 1 ] ] = 75 ] = ]
* 7.5 milliare = 1 ] = 1 ] = 60 stadiums of 185 m
* 60 ]s = 60 ]s = 11.1 km = 1/10 degree

===The Degree of Aristotle ===
* 1 Degree = 1/360 of 400,000 stadia = 1111.1 stadia = 111km
* 10 Stadions = 1 km
* 1 Stadion = 100 m = 300 pous of 333.3 mm
* 111 km divided into 600 stadions of 600 pous of 308.4 mm = 185 m

===The Degree of Posidonius ===
* 1 Degree = 1/360 of 216,000 stadia
* 1 Degree = 600 stadions = 111km
* 111 km divided into 600 stadions of 600 pous of 308.4 mm = 185 m

===The Degree of Marinus ===
* 1 Degree = 1/360 of 180,000 stadia
* 1 Ptolomaic Degree = 500 stadions = 111km
* 111 km divided into 500 stadions of 600 remen of 14.7" = 222m

===The Degree of Ptolemy ===
* 1 Degree = 1/360 of 180,000 stadia
* 1 Ptolomaic Degree = 500 stadions = 111km
* 111 km divided into 500 stadions of 600 remen of 14.7" = 222m

The Ptolomaic stadia is divided into ]instead of ] because in Egypt Remen had always been used for land surveys.

=== The Degree of Erathosthenes ===
* 1 Degree = 1/360 of 252,000 stadia
* 1 Persian degree = 700 stadia = 111 km
* 10 Egyptian schoeni = 20 Persian parasangs = 600 furlongs
* 1 Persian stadia = 157 m = 3 Egyptian st3t

===The Egyptian Degree===
* 1 Degree = 1/360 of 2,520,000 itrw
* 1 Egyptian degree = 10 itrw = 700 stadia = 210,000 royal cubits
* 1 itrw = 21,000 royal cubits = 70 stadia of 3 st3t
* 3 st3t of 100 royal cubits = 157 m

* 700 x 157 = 10.99 km
* 1 itrw is 1 hours river journey
* 1 atur is 1 hour of March
* 1 Egyptian Minute of March is 350 royal cubits of 525 mm = 183 m

===The Degree of Herodotus===

* 1 ] ] = 75 ] = ]
* 7.5 milions = 1 ] = 1 ] = 60 stadions of 185 m
* 60 ]s = 60 ]s = 11.1 km = 1/10 degree

=== The Stadium Mille Passus ===

A ] is a division of a degree into a fraction of a mile.

* The ordinary ]n ] or side at 6 ] and 180 meters was the basis for the ]
* the ] at 183 m and 350 ]s was the basis for the of the Greek Milos or ]
* The stadion of the ] Milos at 6 ]s or 100 ] and 600 Atic ] of 308.4 mm at 185 m was the basis for the ] of the Roman ]
* The ] of the ] ] at 625 ] of 296 mm was also 185 m and at 1000 ] of 5 ] was the basis for the ] of 625 ] of the English ]

===The Leauge of The Mille Passus ===

A ] is a division of a degree into a multiple of a mile.

* 3 ] or Milos of 4800 pous = 24 ]s = 14,400 ]
* 1 leauge of a Milion = 4440 m
* 3 ] of 5000 ] = 24 ] = 15,000 pes
* 1 leauge of a Milliare = 4440 m
* 3 ] of 5000 fote = 24 ]s = 15,000 fote = 9375 ]
* 1 ] = 4440 m
* 3 Miles of 5280 feet = 24 furlongs = 15,840 feet = 9900 English cubits
* 1 Leauge of a Mile = 4828 m

=== Metrological References ===

* R. A. Cordingley{{Section:Book reference after author|Year=1951|Title=Norman's Parrallel of the Orders of Architecture|Publisher=Alex Trianti Ltd|ID=}}
* Gardiner{{Section:Book reference after author|Year=1990|Title=Egyptian Grammar|Publisher=Griffith Institute|ID=ISBN 0900416351}}
* H Arthur Klein{{Section:Book reference after author|Year=1976|Title=The World of Measurements |Publisher=Simon and Schuster|ID=}}

=== Mathmatical References ===

* Lucas N. H. Bunt, Phillip S.Jones, Jack D. Bedient {{Section:Book reference after author|Year=1976|Title=The Historical Roots of Elementary Mathematics|Publisher=Dover|ID=ISBN 0486255638}}
* Somers Clarke and R. Englebach{{Section:Book reference after author|Year=1990|Title=Ancient Egyptian Construction and Architecture|Publisher=Dover|ID=ISBN 0486264858}}
* Francis H. Moffitt{{Section:Book reference after author|Year=1987|Title=Surveying|Publisher=Harper & Row|ID=ISBN 0060445548}}
* Gillings{{Section:Book reference after author|Year=1972|Title=Mathematics in the time of the Pharoahs|Publisher=MIT Press|ID=ISBN 0262070456}}

=== Linguistic references ===

* Anne H. Groton{{Section:Book reference after author|Year=1995|Title=From Alpha to Omega|Publisher=Focus Information group|ID=ISBN 0941051382}}
* J. P. Mallory{{Section:Book reference after author|Year=1989|Title=In Search of the Indo Europeans |Publisher=Thames and Hudson|ID=ISBN 050027616-1}}

=== Classical References ===
* Strabo{{Section:Book reference after author|Year=|Title=The Geography|Publisher=|ID=}}
* Vitruvius{{Section:Book reference after author|Year=1960|Title=The Ten Books on Architecture|Publisher=Dover|ID=}}
* Claudias Ptolemy{{Section:Book reference after author|Year=1991|Title=The Geography|Publisher=Dover|ID=ISBN 048626896}}
* Herodotus{{Section:Book reference after author|Year=1952|Title=The History|Publisher=William Brown|ID=}}

=== Historical References===

* Michael Grant{{Section:Book reference after author|Year=1987|Title=The Rise of the Greeks |Publisher=Charles Scribners Sons|ID=}}

=== Archaeological References===

* Lionel Casson{{Section:Book reference after author|Year=1991|Title=The Ancient Mariners|Publisher=PUP|ID=ISBN 06910147879}}
* James B. Pritchard, {{Section:Book reference after author|Year=1968|Title=The Ancient Near East|Publisher=OUP|ID=ISBN }}
* Nelson Glueck{{Section:Book reference after author|Year=1959|Title=Rivers in the Desert|Publisher=HUC|ID=ISBN}}

=== Medieval References===

* Jean Gimpel{{Section:Book reference after author|Year=1976|Title=The Medieval Machine|Publisher=Holt Rheinhart & Winston|ID=ISBN 0030146364}}
* H Johnathan Riley Smith{{Section:Book reference after author|Year=1990|Title=The Atlas of the Crusades |Publisher=Swanston|ID=ISBN 0723003610}}
* Elizabeth Hallam{{Section:Book reference after author|Year=1986|Title=The Plantagenet Chronicles|Publisher=Weidenfield & Nicholson|ID=ISBN 1555840183}}
* H.W. Koch{{Section:Book reference after author|Year=1978|Title=Medieval Warfare|Publisher=Prentice Hall|ID=ISBN 0135736005}}

Latest revision as of 07:38, 24 April 2024

A rope being used to measure fields. Taken from the Tomb of Menna, TT69.

In ancient Egypt, a rope stretcher (or harpedonaptai) was a surveyor who measured real property demarcations and foundations using knotted cords, stretched so the rope did not sag. The practice is depicted in tomb paintings of the Theban Necropolis. Rope stretchers used 3-4-5 triangles and the plummet, which are still in use by modern surveyors.

The commissioning of a new sacred building was a solemn occasion in which pharaohs and other high-ranking officials personally stretched ropes to define the foundation. This important ceremony, and therefore rope-stretching itself, are attested over 3000 years from the early dynastic period to the Ptolemaic kingdom.

Rope stretching technology spread to ancient Greece and India, where it stimulated the development of geometry and mathematics.

See also

References

  1. Robillard, Walter G.; Wilson, Donald A.; Brown, Curtis M.; Eldridge, Winfield (31 January 2011). Evidence and Procedures for Boundary Location. John Wiley & Sons. p. 282. ISBN 9780470901601.
  2. Petrie Museum website: plumbs
  3. Williams, Kim; Ostwald, Michael J. (9 February 2015). Architecture and Mathematics from Antiquity to the Future: Volume I: Antiquity to the 1500s. Birkhäuser. p. 98. ISBN 9783319001371.
  • Macintosh Wilson, Alistair (1995). The Infinite in the Finite. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198539506.
  • The New Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica 1974
  • James Henry Breasted Ancient Records of Egypt, Part Two, Chicago 1906
  • Joel F. PAULSON, "Surveying in Ancient Egypt,", FIG Working Week 2005 and GSDI-8, Cairo, Egypt April 16-21, 2005.

External links


Stub icon

This article about subjects relating to ancient Egypt is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

Categories: