Pous
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CommonsDelinker
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Replacing [[Image:EncycOrders.png]] with [[Image:Classical_orders_from_the_Encyclopedie.png]] (by [[commons:User:Siebrand|Siebrand]] because: Was in category "Duplicate", exact duplicate).
The '''pous''' was a [[unit of measurement|unit of length]] used through much of the [[Iron Age]] in [[Europe]] and the [[Ancient Near East]].
A pous is a Greek [[foot (unit of length)|foot]]. 1 [[Ancient Greek units of measurement#Length|stadion]] is always 600 pous
though the length of the pous varies like the [[ancient Mesopotamian weights and measures|Mesopotamian units]], where the cubit or ''ku'' was divided into four different digits,
a [[thumb]], palms, and various hands, fists, spans and quarters. The Greek pous also has long, median and short forms.
[[Image:Classical_orders_from_the_Encyclopedie.png|thumb|right|250px|Orders of Architecture]]
==Comparative analysis ==
A pous is divided into [[digit (unit)|digits]] (''daktylos'' or finger) which are multiplied as shown. Generally the sexagesimal or decimal multiples have [[Mesopotamian]] origins while the septenary multiples have Egyptian origins.
Greek measures of short median and long pous can be thought of as based on body measures. [[Stecchini]] and others propose the Greek pous are different sizes because they are divided into different numbers of different sized ''daktylos'' to facilitate different calculations. The most obvious place to observe the relative difference is in the Greek orders of architecture whose cannon of proportions is based on column diameters.
{|
|-
! Unit || no. of ''daktylos'' || size mm|| total mm
|-
| 1 [[Doric order]] '' pous'' (foot) ||18||18|| 324 mm
|-
| 1 [[Luwian]] ''pous'' (foot) || 17 ||19|| 323 mm
|-
| 1 [[Ionic order|Ionian Order]] ''pous'' (foot)|| 16||18.5|| 296 mm
|-
| 1 [[Athens|Athenian]] ''pous'' (foot) || 15 ||21 ||315 mm
|-
| 1 [[Attica|Attic]] ''pous'' (foot) || 16||19.275 ||308.4 mm
|-
| 1 [[Kretan|Minoan]] ''pous'' (foot)|| 16|| 19 ||304 mm
|-
| 1 [[Egypt]]ian ''bd'' (foot) || 16 || 18.75|| 300 mm
|-
| 1 [[Phoenecia]]n (''Pele'') ''pous'' (foot) || 15 ||20|| 300 mm
|-
| 1 [[Roman Empire|Roman]] ''pes'' (foot) || 16||18.5 || 296 mm
|-
|}
==References==
=== Mathematical and metrological references ===
* H Arthur Klein{{Section:Book reference after author|Year=1976|Title=The World of Measurements |Publisher=Simon and Schuster|ID=}}
* R. A. Cordingley{{Section:Book reference after author|Year=1951|Title=Norman's Parallel of the Orders of Architecture|Publisher=Alex Trianti Ltd|ID=}}
* Francis H. Moffitt{{Section:Book reference after author|Year=1987|Title=Surveying|Publisher=Harper & Row|ID=ISBN 0-06-044554-8}}
* Gillings{{Section:Book reference after author|Year=1972|Title=Mathematics in the time of the Pharaohs|Publisher=MIT Press|ID=ISBN 0-262-07045-6}}
* 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 0-486-25563-8}}
* Somers Clarke and R. Englebach{{Section:Book reference after author|Year=1990|Title=Ancient Egyptian Construction and Architecture|Publisher=Dover|ID=ISBN 0-486-26485-8}}
* Gardiner{{Section:Book reference after author|Year=1990|Title=Egyptian Grammar|Publisher=Griffith Institute|ID=ISBN 0-900416-35-1}}
=== Linguistic references ===
* Anne H. Groton{{Section:Book reference after author|Year=1995|Title=From Alpha to Omega|Publisher=Focus Information group|ID=ISBN 0-941051-38-2}}
* J. P. Mallory{{Section:Book reference after author|Year=1989|Title=In Search of the Indo Europeans |Publisher=Thames and Hudson|ID=ISBN 0-500-27616-1}}
=== Classical references ===
* 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 0486268969 }}
* Herodotus {{Section:Book reference after author|Year=1952|Title=The History|Publisher=William Brown|ID=}}
=== Archaeological historical references===
* Michael Grant {{Section:Book reference after author|Year=1987|Title=The Rise of the Greeks |Publisher=Charles Scribners Sons|ID=}}
* Lionel Casson {{Section:Book reference after author|Year=1959|Title= The ancient mariners: seafarers and sea fighters of the Mediterranean in ancient times|Publisher=Macmillan|ID={{OCLC|392365}} }}
* James B. Pritchard {{Section:Book reference after author|Year=1968|Title=The Ancient Near East|Publisher=OUP|ID=}}
* Nelson Glueck {{Section:Book reference after author|Year=1959|Title=Rivers in the Desert|Publisher=HUC|ID=}}
=== Medieval references===
* Jean Gimpel{{Section:Book reference after author|Year=1976|Title=The Medieval Machine|Publisher=Holt Rheinhart & Winston|ID=ISBN 0-03-014636-4}}
* H Johnathan Riley Smith{{Section:Book reference after author|Year=1990|Title=The Atlas of the Crusades |Publisher=Swanston|ID=ISBN 0-7230-0361-0}}
* Elizabeth Hallam{{Section:Book reference after author|Year=1986|Title=The Plantagenet Chronicles|Publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson|ID=ISBN 1-55584-018-3}}
* H.W. Koch{{Section:Book reference after author|Year=1978|Title=Medieval Warfare|Publisher=Prentice Hall|ID=ISBN 0-13-573600-5}}
[[Category:Human-based units of measure]]
[[ca:Llista d'unitats de longitud de l'antiga Grècia#Pous]]