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Revision as of 14:19, 31 July 2005

Many of the ancient weights and measures used throughout history are variations on a common theme sharing the same system. Despite a number of different civilisations making adjustments to serve their own purposes the accuracy and agreement of definitions improved over time.

Measurements that are used to define property are often used to impose taxes or tithes resulting in there being one measure for ordinary transactions and another for royal or religious transactions. Though throughout history people and their various representatives in guilds and lobbys, have been very scrupulous in defending the value of their possessions, governments and religions are even more scrupulous about getting their cut.

The first measures were the lengths of the ditches that bordered and defined the fields. Since people tend to pace off a distance differently, knotted cords were used to measure their sides and cord stretchers became the first surveyors.

Ancient Cultures sharing similar systems of measurement include:

• Mesopotamian
• Indus Valley
• Egyptian

Later developments of the original systems include:

• Persian
• Greek
• Roman

• Medieval weights and measures
• Mile Standards

• Hebrew
• Arabic

Unrelated systems include:

• Vedic
• Chinese

See also

• Megalithic yard
• Weights and measures

References

• Measure for Measure, Richard Young and Thomas Glover, ISBN 1-889796-00-X.
• Masse und Gewichte, Marvin A. Powell

External links

• Dictionary of Units of Measurement
• Units of measure
• Unit systems
• Mile measurements
• Old units of measure
• Measures from Antiquity and the Bible
• Alte Längenmaße und ihre Bedeutung
• Projekt zur Erschließung historisch wertvoller Altkartenbestände

• Obsolete units of measure
• Systems of units