Ancient Measurements
Ancient measures were human-based, not scientific; they were optimized for practical everyday life. Unlike modern metric units, these did not divide into 100, but into other fractions that were easier to split into thirds, quarters, and fifths.
They often varied by place and time period.
For clarity, we convert them to rounded modern imperial and metric units. Where sources give a range, we use a simple average so readers can quickly picture sizes without wading through footnotes.
Length
- Finger (Greek ‘daktylos’): ~0.8 in (2 cm).
- Greek foot (Greek ‘pous’): ~12 in (30 cm), varies by city-state.
- Cubit (Hebrew ‘forearm and palm’ ; Ezekiel 40:5): usually ~19–22.5 in (48–57 cm).
- Stadion (Greek): ~200 yd (185 m).
- Fathom (Greek ‘orgyia’): ~6 ft (1.8 m).
Area
We express areas in acres and square meters/hectares. Where Greek areas appear, a plethron (a square of 100 Greek feet) is ~0.24 acres (~950 m²).
Volume
Ancient dry and liquid measures differ; we normalize to US gallons and liters.
- Bath (liquid): ~6 US gal (22 L).
- Hin (liquid): ~1 US gal (3.7 L).
- Ephah (dry): ~0.62 bushels (22 L).
- Cor/Kor/Homer (dry): ~6 bushels (220 L).
Mass
We convert weights to pounds/ounces (and grams/kilograms).
- Shekel: typically ~0.4–0.5 oz (11–14 g).
- Mina: ~1.1–1.3 lb (0.5–0.6 kg; about 50 shekels).
- Talent: ~66–75 lb (30–34 kg; about 60 minas).