Measuring rod: Difference between revisions

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Margaret Ponting has suggested that artifacts such as the [[Dalmore Bone]] found in [[Callanish]], the [[Patrickholme bone bead]] found in [[Lanarkshire]] and the [[Dalgety bone bead]] found in [[Fife]] in [[Scotland]] have shown some evidence of being measuring rods based on the [[Megalithic Yard]] in [[Britain]].<ref name="Ruggles2003">{{cite book|author=Margaret Ponting|chapter=Megalithic Callanish|editor=Clive Ruggles|title=Records in Stone: Papers in Memory of Alexander Thom|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=oZ3JGYd1kJoC&pg=PA431|accessdate=22 April 2011|date=13 February 2003|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521531306|pages=423-441}}</ref>
Margaret Ponting has suggested that artifacts such as the [[Dalmore Bone]] found in [[Callanish]], the [[Patrickholme bone bead]] found in [[Lanarkshire]] and the [[Dalgety bone bead]] found in [[Fife]] in [[Scotland]] have shown some evidence of being measuring rods based on the [[Megalithic Yard]] in [[Britain]].<ref name="Ruggles2003">{{cite book|author=Margaret Ponting|chapter=Megalithic Callanish|editor=Clive Ruggles|title=Records in Stone: Papers in Memory of Alexander Thom|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=oZ3JGYd1kJoC&pg=PA431|accessdate=22 April 2011|date=13 February 2003|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521531306|pages=423-441}}</ref>


A wooden measuring rod recovered from [[Borum Eshøj]] in East [[Jutland]] by P. V. Glob in 1875 and an [[Oak]] rod from the [[Iron Age]] fortified settlement at [[Borre Fen]] have shown marks on them for the Meglalithic Yard in [[Denmark]].<ref name="New scientist">{{cite book|title=New scientist, p. 50|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=MdE-AQAAIAAJ|accessdate=23 April 2011|year=1994|publisher=New Science Publications}}</ref><ref name="Critchlow1979">{{cite book|author=Keith Critchlow|title=Time stands still: new light on megalithic science, p. 37|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=jK3aAAAAMAAJ|accessdate=23 April 2011|year=1979|publisher=Gordon Fraser}}</ref><ref name="North1996">{{cite book|author=John David North|title=Stonehenge: Neolithic man and the cosmos, p. 302|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=TnFnAAAAMAAJ|accessdate=23 April 2011|year=1996|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=9780002557733}}</ref>
A wooden measuring rod recovered from [[Borum Eshøj]] in East [[Jutland]] by P. V. Glob in 1875 and an [[Oak]] rod from the [[Iron Age]] fortified settlement at [[Borre Fen]] have shown marks on them for the Meglalithic Yard in [[Denmark]].<ref name="Critchlow1979">{{cite book|author=Keith Critchlow|title=Time stands still: new light on megalithic science, p. 37|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=jK3aAAAAMAAJ|accessdate=23 April 2011|year=1979|publisher=Gordon Fraser}}</ref><ref name="North1996">{{cite book|author=John David North|title=Stonehenge: Neolithic man and the cosmos, p. 302|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=TnFnAAAAMAAJ|accessdate=23 April 2011|year=1996|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=9780002557733}}</ref>


==Iconography==
==Iconography==

Revision as of 20:42, 23 April 2011

Graeco-Egyptian God Serapis with measuring rod
Gudea of Lagash with measuring rod and surveyors tools

A measuring rod is a type of ruler or measuring-stick. Measuring rods for different purposes and sizes (construction, tailoring and land survey) have been found from China and elsewhere dating to the early 2nd millenium B.C.E.[1] It is likely that the measuring rod was used before the line, chain or steel tapes used in modern measurement.[2]

Ancient Egypt

Flinders Petrie reported on a rod that shows a length of 520.54 mm, the approximate quantum of the Egyptian Royal Cubit.[3] A slate measuring rod was also found, divided into fractions of a Royal Cubit and dating to the time of Akhenaten.[4]

Further cubit rods have been found in the tombs of officials. Two examples are known from the tomb of Maya—the treasurer of Tutankhamun—in Saqqara. Another was found in the tomb of Kha (TT8) in Thebes. These cubits are ca 52.5 cm long and are divided into seven palms, each palm is divided into four fingers and the fingers are further subdivided.[5] Another wooden cubit rod was found in Theban tomb TT40 (Huy) bearing the throne name of Tutankhamun (Nebkheperure).[6]


Cubit rod from the Turin Museum.


Egyptian measuring rods also had marks for the Remen measurement of approximately 370mm, used in construction of the Pyramids.[7][8]

Other regions

Margaret Ponting has suggested that artifacts such as the Dalmore Bone found in Callanish, the Patrickholme bone bead found in Lanarkshire and the Dalgety bone bead found in Fife in Scotland have shown some evidence of being measuring rods based on the Megalithic Yard in Britain.[9]

A wooden measuring rod recovered from Borum Eshøj in East Jutland by P. V. Glob in 1875 and an Oak rod from the Iron Age fortified settlement at Borre Fen have shown marks on them for the Meglalithic Yard in Denmark.[10][11]

Iconography

The sun-god Shamash holding a ring of coiled rope and a rod [12]
Measuring rod and coiled rope depicted in the Code of Hammarubi

Two statues of Gudea of Lagash in the Louvre depict him sitting with a tablet on his lap, upon which are placed surveyors tools including a measuring rod.[13]

Seal 154 recovered from Alalakh, now in the Biblioteque Nationale show a seated figure with a wedge shaped measuring rod.[14]

The Tablet of Shamash recovered from the ancient Babylonian city of Sippar and dated to the 9th century BC shows Shamash, the Sun God awarding the measuring rod and coiled rope to newly trained surveyors.[15][16]

A similar scene with measuring rod and coiled rope is shown on the top part of the diorite stele above the Code of Hammurabi in the Louvre, Paris, dating to ca. 1700 BC.[17]

The "measuring rod" or tally stick is common in the iconography of Greek Goddess Nemesis.[18]

The Graeco-Egyptian God Serapis is also depicted in images and on coins with a measuring rod in hand and a vessel on his head.[19][20]

Bible

Measuring rods or reeds are mentioned many times in the Bible.

A measuring rod and line are seen in a vision of Yahweh in Ezekiel 40:2-3:

In visions of God he took me to the land of Israel and set me on a very high mountain, on whose south side were some buildings that looked like a city. He took me there, and I saw a man whose appearance was like bronze; he was standing in the gateway with a linen cord and a measuring rod in his hand.[21]

Another example is Revelation 11:1:

I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, "Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count the worshipers there".[21]

The measuring rod also appears in connection with foundation stone rites in Revelation 20:14-15:

And the wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. The one who spoke with me had a gold measuring rod to measure the city, and its gates and its wall.[22]

See also

References

  1. ^ Gang Zhao (1986). Man and land in Chinese history: an economic analysis, p. 65. Stanford University Press. pp. 65–. ISBN 9780804712712. Retrieved 8 April 2011.
  2. ^ American Society of Civil Engineers (1891). Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers. American Society of Civil Engineers. Retrieved 6 April 2011.
  3. ^ Berliner Gesellschaft für Anthropologie; Ethnologie und Urgeschichte; Ibero-Amerikanisches Institut (Berlin (1976). Acta praehistorica et archaeologica. B.Hessling. Retrieved 6 April 2011. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ Broadman & Holman Publishers (15 September 2006). Holman Illustrated Study Bible-HCSB. B&H Publishing Group. pp. 1413–. ISBN 9781586402754. Retrieved 8 April 2011.
  5. ^ Marshall Clagett, Ancient Egyptian Science, A Source Book. Volume Three: Ancient Egyptian Mathematics,American Philosophical Society, 1999
  6. ^ Frances Welsh (4 March 2008). Tutankhamun's Egypt. Osprey Publishing. pp. 7–. ISBN 9780747806653. Retrieved 19 April 2011.
  7. ^ Acta archaeologica. Levin & Munksgaard. 1969. Retrieved 22 April 2011.
  8. ^ Martin Brennan (1980). The Boyne Valley vision. Dolmen Press. ISBN 9780851053622. Retrieved 22 April 2011.
  9. ^ Margaret Ponting (13 February 2003). "Megalithic Callanish". In Clive Ruggles (ed.). Records in Stone: Papers in Memory of Alexander Thom. Cambridge University Press. pp. 423–441. ISBN 9780521531306. Retrieved 22 April 2011.
  10. ^ Keith Critchlow (1979). Time stands still: new light on megalithic science, p. 37. Gordon Fraser. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  11. ^ John David North (1996). Stonehenge: Neolithic man and the cosmos, p. 302. HarperCollins. ISBN 9780002557733. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  12. ^ Judith Resnik, Dennis Curtis, Representing Justice: Invention, Controversy, and Rights in City-States and Democratic Courtrooms, Yale University Press, 2011
  13. ^ Donald Preziosi (1983). Minoan architectural design: formation and signification, p. 498. Mouton. ISBN 9789027934093. Retrieved 20 April 2011.
  14. ^ Dominique Collon (1975). The seal impressions from Tell Atchana/Alalakh. Butzon & Bercker. ISBN 9783788704698. Retrieved 22 April 2011.
  15. ^ The British Museum - Tablet of Shamash
  16. ^ William Rainey Harper; Ernest De Witt Burton; Shailer Mathews (1905). The Biblical world p. 120. University of Chicago Press. Retrieved 7 April 2011.
  17. ^ Amélie Kuhrt (1995). The ancient Near East, c. 3000-330 BC. Routledge. pp. 111–. ISBN 9780415167635. Retrieved 8 April 2011.
  18. ^ Lucinda Dirven (1999). The Palmyrenes of Dura-Europos: a study of religious interaction in Roman Syria p. 329. BRILL. pp. 329–. ISBN 9789004115897. Retrieved 8 April 2011.
  19. ^ Johann Joachim Eschenburg (1836). Manual of classical literature. Key and Biddle. pp. 343–. Retrieved 22 April 2011.
  20. ^ Maarten Jozef Vermaseren; International Association for the History of Religions. Dutch Section (1979). Studies in Hellenistic religions. Brill Archive. pp. 199–. ISBN 9789004058859. Retrieved 22 April 2011.
  21. ^ a b BIBLE: New International Version. 1984. Retrieved 8 April 2011.
  22. ^ Foundation Publication Inc (1 March 1997). New American Standard Bible. Foundation Publications, publisher for the Lockman Foundation. Retrieved 8 April 2011.

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