cubit
Sign in to savethumb|Egyptian cubit rod in the Liverpool World Museum thumb|Cubit rod of Maya (Egyptian)|Maya, 52.3 cm long, 1336–1327 BC (Eighteenth Dynasty)
Article
14 sectionsContents
- Etymology
- Ancient Egyptian royal cubit
- Ancient Mesopotamian units of measurement
- Late Assyrian cubits
- Biblical cubit
- Ancient Greece
- Ancient Rome
- Islamic world
- Other systems
- Cubit arm in heraldry
- See also
- References
- Bibliography
- External links
thumb|Egyptian cubit rod in the Liverpool World Museum thumb|Cubit rod of Maya (Egyptian)|Maya, 52.3 cm long, 1336–1327 BC (Eighteenth Dynasty)
The cubit is an ancient unit of length based on the distance from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger. It was primarily associated with the Sumerians, Egyptians, and Israelites. The term cubit is found in the Bible regarding Noah's Ark, the Ark of the Covenant, the Tabernacle, the gallows of the Book of Esther, the Miraculous catch of fish and Solomon's Temple. The common cubit was divided into 6 palms × 4 fingers = 24 digits. Royal cubits added a palm for 7 palms × 4 fingers = 28 digits. These lengths typically ranged from , with an ancient Roman cubit being as long as .