of foot rules, one from every nation, ancient and modern, there would not be a very unreasonable difference in the
lengths of the sticks.
It was simply by comparing the foot lengths of the different national systems that a very elegant order was perceived,
leading to the conclusion that all of these "national systems" formed a single organisation. It has become customary for
us to name a unit from the society in which it is found to have been used, but most often, the bureaucracies have adopted
particular units during the historical period. Obviously a universal system had been fragmented into these various cultures.
The difficulties of research are compounded by the lack of agreement as to nomenclature, for example, what are universally known
as Roman feet are often called Attic, and at one of its variations, Pelasgo.
Which brings us to the most confusing of all the aspects of metrology -- the variations. In all ancient societies, there is a
quite broad variation throughout the modules, which has been wrongly regarded as slackness in the maintenance of standards.
It would seem that the range of variations and the fractions by which they vary, are not merely similar from nation to nation,
but identical. Once these fractions == and the simple mathematical reasons for them == had been established, it became possible
to then classify these dissimilarities of the same module. The feet of the various national standards could then be compared at
their correct relationships. By seeing the fractional integration through the basic foot structure, many modules could be
discarded for comparative purposes, until very few Root feet remained. In fact, there are probably only twelve distinct feet
from which all other "feet" are extrapolated. For example the Pythic foot is a half Saxon cubit, and many modules attributed to
different cultures are in fact variations of the same basic foot, such as Saxon and Sumerian, or
pied de roi and Persian. These feet in
ascending order, in terms of the English foot are as follows:
- .9ft -- When cubits achieve a length of 1.8ft such as the Assyrian cubit they are divisible by two, instead of the
1 ½ ft division normally associated with the cubit length. Variations of this measure are distinctively known as Oscan, Italic
and Mycenaean measure.
- .9142857ft -- This is the foot of 1/3rd of the Spanish vara, which survived as the standard of Spain from prehistory
to the present.
- .96ft -- Most who are interested in metrology would consider this value to be too short as a definition of the
Roman foot, but examples survive as rulers very accurately at this length.
- Common Egyptian
- .979592ft -- One of the better-known measures, being six sevenths of the royal Egyptian foot.
- 1ft -- The English foot is one of the variations of what are accepted as Greek measure, variously called Olympian or Geographic.
- Common Greek
- 1.028571ft -- This was a very widely used module recorded throughout Europe, it survived in England at least until the reforms of Edward I in 1305. It is also the half sacred Jewish cubit upon which Newton pondered and Berriman referred to as cubit A.
- 1.05ft -- Half the Persian cubit of Darius the Great. Reported in its variations throughout the Middle East, North Africa and Europe, survived as the Hashimi foot of the Arabian league and the pied de roi of the Franks.
- 1.071428ft -- Develops into the Drusian foot or foot of the Tungri. Detectable in many Megalithic monuments.
- 1.097142ft -- Perhaps the most widely dispersed module of all, recorded throughout Europe, Asia and North Africa, commonly known as the Saxon or Northern foot.
- Yard and full hand
- 1.111111ft -- This is the foot of the 40 inch yard widely used in mediaeval England until suppressed by statute in 1439. It is the basis of Punic measure and variables are recorded in Greek statuary from Asia Minor.
- Royal Egyptian
- 1.142857ft -- The most discussed and scrutinised historical measurement. Examples of the above length are plentiful.
- 1.166666ft -- One half of the Russian arshin, one sixth of the sadzhen. Variants at