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98-692: 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 , and Solomon's Temple . The common cubit was divided into 6 palms × 4 fingers = 24 digits . Royal cubits added

196-483: A barleycorn . A system of measurement is a collection of units of measurement and rules relating them to each other. As science progressed, a need arose to relate the measurement systems of different quantities, like length and weight and volume. The effort of attempting to relate different traditional systems between each other exposed many inconsistencies, and brought about the development of new units and systems. Systems of units vary from country to country. Some of

294-412: A crest , for example by the families of Poyntz of Iron Acton , Rolle of Stevenstone and Turton. Units of measurement A unit of measurement , or unit of measure , is a definite magnitude of a quantity , defined and adopted by convention or by law, that is used as a standard for measurement of the same kind of quantity . Any other quantity of that kind can be expressed as a multiple of

392-553: A city wall with one known fortified gate, though four gates are believed to have existed. Since the Late Bronze Age about 50 meters have been eroded from the north end of the site by the Nahr Chbayyeb river. The southern slope of the tell is covered by orange groves, preventing excavation. A brief investigation of a looted tomb at the necropolis of Minet el-Beida was conducted by Léon Albanèse in 1928, who then examined

490-463: A club aloft, portrayed in a typical Near Eastern and Egyptian artistic style as well as a stela bearing a dedication to Baal of Sapan. Numerous statues, stelai—some offered by Egyptians—and sixteen stone anchors were found as votive offerings in this vicinity. Both temples are composed of a pronaos (porch) and a naos (sanctuary proper), aligned from north-northeast to south-southwest. The Temple of Dagan has 4–5-meter-thick foundation walls. Remnants of

588-489: A crucial role in human endeavour from early ages up to the present. A multitude of systems of units used to be very common. Now there is a global standard, the International System of Units (SI), the modern form of the metric system . In trade, weights and measures are often a subject of governmental regulation, to ensure fairness and transparency. The International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM)

686-541: A cubit was equal to 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 Roman feet or 6 palm widths (approximately 444 mm or 17 + 1 ⁄ 2  in). A 120-centimetre cubit (approximately four feet long), called the Roman ulna, was common in the Roman empire, which cubit was measured from the fingers of the outstretched arm opposite the man's hip. In the Islamic world, the cubit ( dhirāʿ ) had a similar origin, being originally defined as

784-404: A dedicated hoe, hints at its potential role as the residence of the city's chief priest. Among a cache of seventy-four bronze items uncovered beneath a doorway threshold inside the house, was an elegant tripod adorned with pomegranate-shaped pendants. Two nearby areas, Ras Ibn Hani and Minet el Beida, parts of the city of Ugarit, have also been excavated. Ras Ibn Hani, on a promontory overlooking

882-457: A defensive fortress. A "royal palace", elite housing, and tombs were found. About 169 cuneiform tablets, most in the Ugaritic language, were also found. One of the two ports of ancient Ugarit (the other, Ra’šu, is unlocated but suggested to be Ras Ibn Hani) was located 1.5 kilometers west of the main city, at the natural harbor of Minet el Beida (Arabic for "White Harbor"). The 28 hectare site

980-519: A field. At that time the region was part of the Alawite State , not in Syria. The discovered area was the necropolis of Ugarit located in the nearby seaport of Minet el-Beida . Excavations have since revealed a city with a prehistory reaching back to c. 6000 BC. The site covers an area of about 28 hectares with a maximum height of 20 meters at the top of the acropolis. The site is surrounded by

1078-519: A major supplier and transporter of food supplies. A letter from Egyptian pharaoh Merenptah referred to a missive sent by the ruler of Ugarit: So you had written to me: “Could I not have demanded my needs [from] the Great King, the king of Egypt, my lord? I demand this request: [In] the land of Ugarit there is a severe hunger (bi-ru-ú dan-niš): May my lord save [the land of Ugarit], and may the king give grain (ZÍZ.AN.MEŠ) to save my life … and to save

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1176-486: A palm for 7 palms × 4 fingers = 28 digits. These lengths typically ranged from 44.4 to 52.92 cm (1 ft 5 + 1 ⁄ 2  in to 1 ft 8 + 13 ⁄ 16  in), with an ancient Roman cubit being as long as 120 cm (3 ft 11 in). Cubits of various lengths were employed in many parts of the world in antiquity , during the Middle Ages and as recently as early modern times . The term

1274-1917: A poetic narrative, letters, legal documents such as land transfers, a few international treaties, and a number of administrative lists. Fragments of several poetic works have been identified: the " Legend of Keret ", the "Legend of Danel ", the Ba'al tales that detail Baal - Hadad 's conflicts with Yam and Mot , among other fragments. ( Shamshi-Adad dynasty 1808–1736 BCE) (Amorites) Shamshi-Adad I Ishme-Dagan I Mut-Ashkur Rimush Asinum Ashur-dugul Ashur-apla-idi Nasir-Sin Sin-namir Ipqi-Ishtar Adad-salulu Adasi (Non-dynastic usurpers 1735–1701 BCE) Puzur-Sin Ashur-dugul Ashur-apla-idi Nasir-Sin Sin-namir Ipqi-Ishtar Adad-salulu Adasi ( Adaside dynasty 1700–722 BCE) Bel-bani Libaya Sharma-Adad I Iptar-Sin Bazaya Lullaya Shu-Ninua Sharma-Adad II Erishum III Shamshi-Adad II Ishme-Dagan II Shamshi-Adad III Ashur-nirari I Puzur-Ashur III Enlil-nasir I Nur-ili Ashur-shaduni Ashur-rabi I Ashur-nadin-ahhe I Enlil-Nasir II Ashur-nirari II Ashur-bel-nisheshu Ashur-rim-nisheshu Ashur-nadin-ahhe II Second Intermediate Period Sixteenth Dynasty Abydos Dynasty Seventeenth Dynasty (1500–1100 BCE) Kidinuid dynasty Igehalkid dynasty Untash-Napirisha Twenty-first Dynasty of Egypt Smendes Amenemnisu Psusennes I Amenemope Osorkon

1372-606: A proportional relationship, by virtue of standardized commerce, to Bronze Age Harappan and Egyptian metrologies. In 1916, during the last years of the Ottoman Empire and in the middle of World War I , the German assyriologist Eckhard Unger found a copper-alloy bar while excavating at Nippur. The bar dates from c.  2650 BCE and Unger claimed it was used as a measurement standard. This irregularly formed and irregularly marked graduated rule supposedly defined

1470-424: A quantity may be described as multiples of that of a familiar entity, which can be easier to contextualize than a value in a formal unit system. For instance, a publication may describe an area in a foreign country as a number of multiples of the area of a region local to the readership. The propensity for certain concepts to be used frequently can give rise to loosely defined "systems" of units. For most quantities

1568-559: A request from the Egyptian king to send a physician to Ugarit. From the late 13th century into the early 12th century BC, the entire region, based on contemporary texts, including Hititte areas, the Levant, and the eastern Mediterranean, faced severe and widespread food shortages, potentially from plant diseases . Ugarit received a number of desperate pleas for food from other realms. The food shortage eventually reached Ugarit, previously

1666-500: A result, units of measure could vary not only from location to location but from person to person. Units not based on the human body could be based on agriculture, as is the case with the furlong and the acre , both based on the amount of land able to be worked by a team of oxen . Metric systems of units have evolved since the adoption of the original metric system in France in 1791. The current international standard metric system

1764-400: A small set of units is required. These units are taken as the base units and the other units are derived units . Thus base units are the units of the quantities which are independent of other quantities and they are the units of length, mass, time, electric current, temperature, luminous intensity and the amount of substance. Derived units are the units of the quantities which are derived from

1862-432: A terracotta depiction of Hathor , bronze tools and weaponry, cylinder seals, stone weights, remnants of banded dye-murex shells used in the production of purple dye , and inscribed tablets. The site is thought to have been largely evacuated before it was burned (resulting in a thick ash layer) and destroyed as few valuables were found in the residences or in the southern palace. About 130 cuneiform tablets were found in

1960-433: A unit is necessary to communicate values of that physical quantity. For example, conveying to someone a particular length without using some sort of unit is impossible, because a length cannot be described without a reference used to make sense of the value given. But not all quantities require a unit of their own. Using physical laws, units of quantities can be expressed as combinations of units of other quantities. Thus only

2058-432: A year, allowing a tight synchronism. The latest datable text was from the reign of Kassite ruler Meli-Shipak II (c. 1186–1172 BC) about the time of the destruction of Ugarit. An example of the archive involving one ton of copper: Thus Kušmešuša, king of Alašiya, say to Niqmaddu, king of Ugarit, my son. All is well with me, my households, my countries, my wives, my sons, my troops, my horses and my chariots.… In exchange of

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2156-413: Is verb–subject–object , subject-object-verb (VSO)&(SOV); possessed–possessor (NG) (first element dependent on the function and second always in genitive case); and noun – adjective (NA) (both in the same case (i.e. congruent)). Apart from royal correspondence with neighboring Bronze Age monarchs, Ugaritic literature from tablets found in the city's libraries include mythological texts written in

2254-485: Is central to the scientific method . A standard system of units facilitates this. Scientific systems of units are a refinement of the concept of weights and measures historically developed for commercial purposes. Science , medicine , and engineering often use larger and smaller units of measurement than those used in everyday life. The judicious selection of the units of measurement can aid researchers in problem solving (see, for example, dimensional analysis ). In

2352-710: Is divided into four fingers , and the fingers are further subdivided. Hieroglyph of the royal cubit, meh niswt Early evidence for the use of this royal cubit comes from the Early Dynastic Period : on the Palermo Stone , the flood level of the Nile river during the reign of the Pharaoh Djer is given as measuring 6 cubits and 1 palm. Use of the royal cubit is also known from Old Kingdom architecture, from at least as early as

2450-409: Is expressed as the product of a numerical value { Z } (a pure number) and a unit [ Z ]: For example, let Z {\displaystyle Z} be "2 metres"; then, { Z } = 2 {\displaystyle \{Z\}=2} is the numerical value and [ Z ] = m e t r e {\displaystyle [Z]=\mathrm {metre} } is the unit. Conversely,

2548-467: Is now defined as exactly 0.0254  m , and the US and imperial avoirdupois pound is now defined as exactly 0.453 592 37   kg . While the above systems of units are based on arbitrary unit values, formalised as standards, natural units in physics are based on physical principle or are selected to make physical equations easier to work with. For example, atomic units (au) were designed to simplify

2646-513: Is still used in hedgelaying , the length of the forearm being frequently used to determine the interval between stakes placed within the hedge. The English word "cubit" comes from the Latin noun cubitum "elbow", from the verb cubo, cubare, cubui, cubitum "to lie down", from which also comes the adjective " recumbent ". The ancient Egyptian royal cubit ( meh niswt ) is the earliest attested standard measure. Cubit rods were used for

2744-448: Is taken from the measure of the forearm. For the part from the elbow to the wrist and the palm of the hand is called the cubit, the middle finger of the cubit measure being also extended at the same time and there being added below (it) the span, that is, of the hand, taken all together." Rabbi Avraham Chaim Naeh put the linear measurement of a cubit at 48 cm (19 in). Avrohom Yeshaya Karelitz (the "Chazon Ish"), dissenting, put

2842-478: Is tasked with ensuring worldwide uniformity of measurements and their traceability to the International System of Units (SI). Metrology is the science of developing nationally and internationally accepted units of measurement. In physics and metrology, units are standards for measurement of physical quantities that need clear definitions to be useful. Reproducibility of experimental results

2940-489: Is the International System of Units (abbreviated to SI). An important feature of modern systems is standardization . Each unit has a universally recognized size. Both the imperial units and US customary units derive from earlier English units . Imperial units were mostly used in the British Commonwealth and the former British Empire . US customary units are still the main system of measurement used in

3038-514: Is the conversion of the unit of measurement in which a quantity is expressed, typically through a multiplicative conversion factor that changes the unit without changing the quantity. This is also often loosely taken to include replacement of a quantity with a corresponding quantity that describes the same physical property. One example of the importance of agreed units is the failure of the NASA Mars Climate Orbiter , which

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3136-833: The 4th and 3rd millennia BC among the ancient peoples of Mesopotamia , Egypt and the Indus Valley , and perhaps also Elam in Persia as well. Weights and measures are mentioned in the Bible (Leviticus 19:35–36). It is a commandment to be honest and have fair measures. In the Magna Carta of 1215 (The Great Charter) with the seal of King John , put before him by the Barons of England, King John agreed in Clause 35 "There shall be one measure of wine throughout our whole realm, and one measure of ale and one measure of corn—namely,

3234-576: The Amarna letters found in Akhenaten's capital of Egypt from the mid-14th century BCE were written in Ugarit. Most of the letters were broken and their reading proved difficult, but some information was recovered. The population of Ugarit in this period is estimated to be between 7,000 and 8,000 individuals. The kingdom of Ugarit controlled about 2,000 km on average. In the mid-14th century BC, Ugarit

3332-685: The Malay hasta , the Tamil muzham , the Telugu moora ( మూర ), the Khmer hat , and the Tibetan khru ( ཁྲུ ). A cubit arm in heraldry may be dexter or sinister . It may be vested (with a sleeve) and may be shown in various positions, most commonly erect , but also fesswise (horizontal), bendwise (diagonal) and is often shown grasping objects. It is most often used erect as

3430-484: The United States outside of science, medicine, many sectors of industry, and some of government and military, and despite Congress having legally authorised metric measure on 28 July 1866. Some steps towards US metrication have been made, particularly the redefinition of basic US and imperial units to derive exactly from SI units. Since the international yard and pound agreement of 1959 the US and imperial inch

3528-609: The measurement of length . A number of these rods have survived: two are known from the tomb of Maya , the treasurer of the 18th dynasty pharaoh Tutankhamun , in Saqqara ; another was found in the tomb of Kha ( TT8 ) in Thebes . Fourteen such rods, including one double cubit rod, were described and compared by Lepsius in 1865. These cubit rods range from 523.5 to 529.2 mm ( 20 + 5 ⁄ 8 to 20 + 27 ⁄ 32  in) in length and are divided into seven palms ; each palm

3626-401: The metric system , the imperial system , and United States customary units . Historically many of the systems of measurement which had been in use were to some extent based on the dimensions of the human body. Such units, which may be called anthropic units , include the cubit , based on the length of the forearm; the pace , based on the length of a stride; and the foot and hand . As

3724-553: The social sciences , there are no standard units of measurement. A unit of measurement is a standardized quantity of a physical property, used as a factor to express occurring quantities of that property. Units of measurement were among the earliest tools invented by humans. Primitive societies needed rudimentary measures for many tasks: constructing dwellings of an appropriate size and shape, fashioning clothing, or bartering food or raw materials. The earliest known uniform systems of measurement seem to have all been created sometime in

3822-468: The "small" Hashemite cubit of 60.05 cm ( 23 + 21 ⁄ 32  in), also known as the cubit of Bilal ( al-dhirāʿ al-Bilāliyya , named after the 8th-century Basran qāḍī Bilal ibn Abi Burda); the Egyptian carpenter's cubit ( al-dhirāʿ bi'l-najjāri ) or architect's cubit ( al-dhirāʿ al-miʿmāriyya ) of c.   77.5 cm ( 30 + 1 ⁄ 2  in) , reduced and standardized to 75 cm ( 29 + 1 ⁄ 2  in) in

3920-472: The 19th century; the house cubit ( al-dhirāʿ al-dār ) of 50.3 cm ( 19 + 13 ⁄ 16  in), introduced by the Abbasid-era qāḍī Ibn Abi Layla; the cubit of Umar ( al-dhirāʿ al-ʿUmariyya ) of 72.8 centimetres (28.7 in) and its double, the scale cubit ( al-dhirāʿ al-mīzāniyya ) established by al-Ma'mun and used mainly for measuring canals. In medieval and early modern Persia,

4018-790: The Akkadian Empire dissolved. The standard of Naram-Sin was readopted in the Ur III period by the Nanše Hymn which reduced a plethora of multiple standards to a few agreed upon common groupings. Successors to Sumerian civilization including the Babylonians, Assyrians, and Persians continued to use these groupings. The Classical Mesopotamian system formed the basis for Elamite , Hebrew, Urartian , Hurrian, Hittite, Ugaritic , Phoenician , Babylonian, Assyrian, Persian, Arabic, and Islamic metrologies. The Classical Mesopotamian System also has

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4116-543: The Egyptian pharaohs Senusret III and Amenemhet III have also been found. However, it is unclear at what time these monuments were brought to Ugarit. The city reached its golden age between 1500 BC and 1200 BC, when it ruled a trade-based coastal kingdom, trading with Egypt, Cyprus, the Aegean (primarily Crete), Syria, the Hittites, cities of the Levant (including Ashkelon ), and much of the eastern Mediterranean. Five of

4214-583: The Land of Hatti, and all my ships are in the Land of Lukka ? ... Thus, the country is abandoned to itself. May my father know it: the seven ships of the enemy that came here inflicted much damage upon us. Eshuwara, the senior governor of Cyprus, responded: As for the matter concerning those enemies: (it was) the people from your country (and) your own ships (who) did this! And (it was) the people from your country (who) committed these transgression(s) ... I am writing to inform you and protect you. Be aware! At

4312-796: The Late Bronze levels, so little is known about earlier occupation. Ugarit was associated with the Great Kingdom of Yamhad (Halab, Aleppo) in Northern Syria. Ugarit is also mentioned in the Mari Archive . In the Middle Bronze, evidence indicate that Ugarit had contacts with the Egyptian Middle Kingdom. A carnelian bead can be inscribed with the name of Senusret I . A stela and a statuette from

4410-626: The London quart;—and one width of dyed and russet and hauberk cloths—namely, two ells below the selvage..." As of the 21st century, the International System is predominantly used in the world. There exist other unit systems which are used in many places such as the United States Customary System and the Imperial System. The United States is the only industrialized country that has not yet at least mostly converted to

4508-538: The Mediterranean 5 kilometers south of the city, was discovered during commercial construction in 1977. Salvage excavation occurred in 1977 followed by regular excavation which has continued to the present by a Syrian-French team led by A. Bounni and J. Lagarce. Occupation began in the mid-13th century BC. Abandoned along with Ugarit, it was re-occupied in the Hellenistic period, including the construction of

4606-960: The Phoenician and Ugaritic systems were not wholly independent inventions. A Unicode block for Ugaritic has been defined. The existence of the Ugaritic language is attested to in texts from the 14th through the 12th century BC. Ugaritic is usually classified as a Northwest Semitic language and therefore related to Hebrew , Aramaic , and Phoenician , among others. Its grammatical features are highly similar to those found in Classical Arabic and Akkadian . It possesses two genders (masculine and feminine), three cases for nouns and adjectives ( nominative , accusative , and genitive ); three numbers: ( singular , dual , and plural ); and verb aspects similar to those found in other Northwest Semitic languages. The word order in Ugaritic

4704-491: The Sumerian cubit as about 518.6 mm ( 20 + 13 ⁄ 32  in). There is some evidence that cubits were used to measure angular separation. The Babylonian Astronomical Diary for 568–567 BCE refers to Jupiter being one cubit behind the elbow of Sagittarius. One cubit measures about 2 degrees. The standard of the cubit ( Hebrew : אמה ) in different countries and in different ages has varied. This realization led

4802-516: The Temple of Baal encompass sections of an enclosing wall, a likely courtyard altar, monumental steps leading to the elevated pronaos and naos, and another presumed altar within the naos. The temple was destroyed, possibly by an earthquake, in the mid 13th century and not rebuilt. The Temple of Dagan was also destroyed at that time but was rebuilt. Another significant structure within the Acropolis

4900-496: The arm from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger. Several different cubit lengths were current in the medieval Islamic world for the unit of length, ranging from 48.25–145.6 cm (19– 57 + 5 ⁄ 16  in), and in turn the dhirāʿ was commonly subdivided into six handsbreadths ( qabḍa ), and each handsbreadth into four fingerbreadths ( aṣbaʿ ). The most commonly used definitions were: A variety of more local or specific cubit measures were developed over time:

4998-414: The base quantities and some of the derived units are the units of speed, work, acceleration, energy, pressure etc. Different systems of units are based on different choices of a set of related units including fundamental and derived units. Following ISO 80000-1 , any value or magnitude of a physical quantity is expressed as a comparison to a unit of that quantity. The value of a physical quantity Z

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5096-471: The citizens of the land of Ugarit. The last king of Ugarit, Ammurapi (circa 1215 to 1180 BC), was a contemporary of the last known Hittite king, Suppiluliuma II . The exact dates of his reign are unknown. However, a letter by the king is preserved, in which Ammurapi stresses the seriousness of the crisis faced by many Near Eastern states due to attacks. At this time Ugarit possessed a large army and navy and both joined with Hittite forces to try and stem

5194-522: The city's primary temples dedicated to Baal and his father, Dagan. Though the existing remnants date to the Late Bronze Age, these temples might have their origins in the Middle Bronze Age. Stelai discovered in this area portray or name these gods, affirming their identification for the respective cults. Within the Temple of Baal, discoveries include the Baal with Thunderbolt depicting Baal holding

5292-448: The city's ruins, archaeologists have studied various attributes of Ugaritic civilization just before their destruction and compared artifacts with those of nearby cultures to help establish dates. Ugarit contained many caches of cuneiform tablets inside of libraries that contained a wealth of valuable information. The destruction levels of the ruin contained Late Helladic IIIB pottery ware, but no LH IIIC (see Mycenaean period ). Therefore,

5390-570: The construction of the Step Pyramid of Djoser designed by Imhotep in around 2700 BC. Ancient Mesopotamian units of measurement originated in the loosely organized city-states of Early Dynastic Sumer . Each city , kingdom and trade guild had its own standards until the formation of the Akkadian Empire when Sargon of Akkad issued a common standard. This standard was improved by Naram-Sin , but fell into disuse after

5488-506: The crew confusing tower instructions (in metres) and altimeter readings (in feet). Three crew and five people on the ground were killed. Thirty-seven were injured. In 1983, a Boeing 767 (which thanks to its pilot's gliding skills landed safely and became known as the Gimli Glider ) ran out of fuel in mid-flight because of two mistakes in figuring the fuel supply of Air Canada 's first aircraft to use metric measurements. This accident

5586-476: The cubit (usually known as gaz ) was either the legal cubit of 49.8 cm ( 19 + 5 ⁄ 8  in), or the Isfahan cubit of 79.8 cm ( 31 + 7 ⁄ 16  in). A royal cubit ( gaz-i shāhī ) appeared in the 17th century with 95 cm ( 37 + 1 ⁄ 2  in), while a "shortened" cubit ( gaz-i mukassar ) of 6.8 cm ( 2 + 11 ⁄ 16  in) (likely derived from

5684-505: The date of the destruction of Ugarit is crucial for the dating of the LH IIIC phase in mainland Greece . Since an Egyptian sword bearing the name of pharaoh Merneptah was found in the destruction levels, 1190 BC was taken as the date for the beginning of the LH IIIC. A cuneiform tablet found in 1986 shows that Ugarit was destroyed sometime after the death of Merneptah (1203 BC). It is generally agreed that Ugarit had already been destroyed by

5782-619: The destruction date of Ugarit. It is important to remember that the chronology of the ancient Near East and that of the ancient Egypt are not yet perfectly synchronized. A large number of arrowheads were recovered from the destruction level in 2021. Their typology has not been published as yet. Early in the excavations a partial text of the Ugarit King List, in Ugaritic, was found. Later, complete renditions in Akkadian were discovered. They list twenty six rulers, all deified. Only

5880-468: The different systems include the centimetre–gram–second , foot–pound–second , metre–kilogram–second systems, and the International System of Units , SI. Among the different systems of units used in the world, the most widely used and internationally accepted one is SI. The base SI units are the second, metre, kilogram, ampere, kelvin, mole and candela; all other SI units are derived from these base units. Systems of measurement in modern use include

5978-415: The early 12th century BC. A tablet from the 14th century BC found in the Amarna archives , EA 89, Rib-Hadda of Byblos likening the palace at Tyre to the grandeur found in the palace within Ugarit's walls. The palace was well constructed, predominantly crafted from stone, with preserved ashlar blocks reaching heights of up to 4 meters. Wooden crossbeams were also incorporated, inserted into slots within

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6076-440: The eighth year of Ramesses III (1178 BC). Recent radiocarbon work, combined with other historical dates and the eclipse of January 21, 1192, indicates a destruction date between 1192 and 1190 BC. Bay , an official of the Egyptian queen Twosret , in a tablet (RS 86.2230) found at Ras Shamra, was in communication with Ammurapi , the last ruler of Ugarit. Bay was in office from approximately 1194–1190 BC. This sets an upper limit on

6174-520: The end Ammurapi begs for forces from the Hittite viceroy at Carchemish, the enemy having captured Ugarit's other port, Ra’šu , and was advancing on the city. To the king, my lord say, thus Ammurapi, your servant.… I wrote you twice, thrice, [new]s regarding the enemy! … May my lord know that now the enemy forces are stationed at Ra’šu, and their avant-guard forces were sent to Ugarit. Now may my lord send me forces and chariots, and may my lord save me from

6272-600: The establishment of the Kingdom of Ugarit . The city had close connections to the Hittite Empire , in later times as a vassal, sent tribute to Egypt at times, and maintained trade and diplomatic connections with Cyprus (then called Alashiya ), documented in the archives recovered from the site and corroborated by Mycenaean and Cypriot pottery found there. The polity was at its height from c.  1450 BC until its destruction in c. 1185 BC; this destruction

6370-419: The forces of this enemy! The ruler of Carchemish sent troops to assist Ugarit, but Ugarit had been sacked. A letter sent after Ugarit had been destroyed said: When your messenger arrived, the army was humiliated and the city was sacked. Our food in the threshing floors was burnt and the vineyards were also destroyed. Our city is sacked. May you know it! May you know it! By excavating the highest levels of

6468-459: The gift which you had sent me, I sent to you thirty-three (ingots of) copper; their weight is thirty talents and six-thousand and five-hundred shekels. One small tablet written in Cypro-Minoan was found on the surface of the tell. While it traditionally has been assumed that syllabic texts are in the Akkadian language and alphabetic texts are in Ugaritic it has been suggested that much of

6566-424: The largest being that of the household of Urtēnu, a merchant with trading ties as far afield as Emar . This area of the tell was under military control at the time and about 100 tablets were found in the rubble from military construction. Later excavation found several hundred tablets in the actual home. One tablet mentions the enthronement of Kassite ruler Kadashman-Harbe II (c. 1223 BC) whose rule lasted less than

6664-407: The late 15th century. This port town, featuring an urban layout akin to the city of Ugarit, displays irregular street formations. Dwellings were structured around courtyards with adjacent rooms, including provisions like wells, ovens, and occasionally subterranean tombs. Besides residential spaces and shrines, warehouses were present for storing diverse goods earmarked for import or export. One of them

6762-452: The later rulers are supported by texts or known synchronisms. Given that Ugarit was abandoned between the Middle and Late Bronze Ages it is thought that the earliest names on the list were more on the order of tribal chiefs than kings. After its destruction in the early 12th century BC, Ugarit's location was forgotten until 1928 when a peasant accidentally opened an old tomb while plowing

6860-542: The length of a cubit at 57.6 cm ( 22 + 11 ⁄ 16  in). Rabbi and philosopher Maimonides , following the Talmud , makes a distinction between the cubit of 6 handbreadths used in ordinary measurements, and the cubit of 5 handbreadths used in measuring the Golden Altar , the base of the altar of burnt offerings , its circuit and the horns of the altar. In ancient Greek units of measurement ,

6958-528: The letters bear no relation to Mesopotamian cuneiform signs; instead, they appear to be somehow related to the Egyptian -derived Phoenician alphabet . While the letters show little or no formal similarity to the Phoenician, the standard letter order (seen in the Phoenician alphabet as ʔ, B, G, D, H, W, Z, Ḥ, Ṭ, Y, K, L, M, N, S, ʕ, P, Ṣ, Q, R, Š, T) shows strong similarities between the two, suggesting that

7056-810: The main mound of Ras Shamra. Beginning in 1929 excavations of Ugarit were conducted by a French team called the Mission de Ras Shamra led by archaeologist Claude Schaeffer from the Musée archéologique in Strasbourg . Work continued until 1939 when it was interrupted by the outbreak of World War II. The French excavation, now the Mission Archeologique Française de Ras Shamra-Ougarit, resumed in 1950, led again by Claude Schaeffer until 1970. At that point, directorship passed to Jean Margueron. After 44 excavation seasons all of

7154-629: The metric system. The systematic effort to develop a universally acceptable system of units dates back to 1790 when the French National Assembly charged the French Academy of Sciences to come up such a unit system. This system was the precursor to the metric system which was quickly developed in France but did not take on universal acceptance until 1875 when The Metric Convention Treaty was signed by 17 nations. After this treaty

7252-400: The northern palace. After the destruction the site was occupied by simple residences, termed a village by the excavators. Aegean style pottery and loom weights were found in this Iron Age I level. Scribes in Ugarit appear to have originated the " Ugaritic alphabet " around 1400 BC: 30 letters, corresponding to sounds, were inscribed on clay tablets. Although they are cuneiform in appearance,

7350-425: The numerical value expressed in an arbitrary unit can be obtained as: Units can only be added or subtracted if they are the same type; however units can always be multiplied or divided, as George Gamow used to explain. Let Z {\displaystyle Z} be "2 metres" and W {\displaystyle W} "3 seconds", then There are certain rules that apply to units: Conversion of units

7448-483: The numerous finds and their findspots were collated. In 2005 the excavation became a joint French and Syrian effort led by Valérie Matoïan and Khozama Al-Bahloul. These continued until being ended due to the Syrian Civil War. Archaeologists have defined a number of occupation strata at the site based on the excavations: A number of areas lay within the fortifications of Ugarit. In the northwest section

7546-471: The oncoming enemy, eventually having to fall back from Anatolia to the Syrian border. Ammurapi's response to an appeal for assistance from the king of Alashiya highlights the desperate situation that Ugarit and other cities faced: My father, behold, the enemy's ships came (here); my cities(?) were burned, and they did evil things in my country. Does not my father know that all my troops and chariots(?) are in

7644-478: The rabbis of the 2nd century CE to clarify the length of their cubit, saying that the measure of the cubit of which they have spoken "applies to the cubit of middle-size". In this case, the requirement is to make use of a standard 6 handbreadths to each cubit, and which handbreadth was not to be confused with an outstretched palm, but rather one that was clenched and which handbreadth has the standard width of 4 fingerbreadths (each fingerbreadth being equivalent to

7742-434: The same unit for the distance between two cities and the length of a needle. Thus, historically they would develop independently. One way to make large numbers or small fractions easier to read, is to use unit prefixes . At some point in time though, the need to relate the two units might arise, and consequently the need to choose one unit as defining the other or vice versa. For example, an inch could be defined in terms of

7840-618: The size of the degree and for the circumference of the Earth was therefore about 25% too small. Historical Legal Metric information Ugarit Ugarit saw its beginnings in the Neolithic period, the site was occupied from the end of the 8th millennium BC and continued as a settlement through the Chalcolithic and Bronze Ages . It was during the late bronze age that Ugarit experienced significant growth, culminating in

7938-429: The south-central archives of the palace—and examples of practice writing by young scribes. Below ground, beneath two northern rooms, lay family tombs—three large chambers constructed with corbelled vaults—found devoid of any contents. The vanished upper floor likely accommodated the private quarters of the royal family, accessed via twelve staircases. The Acropolis, positioned in the Ugarit's northeastern section, housed

8036-405: The standard forearm cubit ( ‹See Tfd› Greek : πῆχυς , translit.   pēkhys ) measured approximately 460 mm (18 in). The short forearm cubit ( πυγμή pygmē , lit. "fist"), from the knuckle of the middle finger (i.e., fist clenched) to the elbow, measured approximately 340 mm ( 13 + 1 ⁄ 2  in) . In ancient Rome , according to Vitruvius ,

8134-455: The stone masonry. A thick layer of plain plaster covered the walls. To the west of the palace was a set aside 10,000 square meter Royal Zone. Archaeological findings within the ruins have included a variety of artifacts including ivory carvings, stone stele, figurines, and numerous tablets. These tablets were discovered in archives located across the palace; their contents encompass reports on outlying regions, judicial records—particularly from

8232-405: The syllabic writing, especially in administrative documents, is actually in "a jargon where an Akkadian dialect is hard to detect given the great amount of Ugaritic elements it contained". The Royal Palace was constructed over several major phases between the 15th and 13th centuries BC. It comprised rooms arranged around courtyards, encompassing 6,500 square meters before the city's destruction in

8330-555: The tell. Numerous cuneiform tablets have been found. By the Late Bronze age Ugarit had a thriving dual-scribal system. Primarily it used the East Semitic Akkadian language which acted as the lingua franca throughout the region for diplomacy, business, and administrative purposes. In parallel, there was scribal activity in the local Northwest Semitic Ugaritic language. A few scribes are known to have worked in both writing systems. A number of archives were found,

8428-401: The unit of measurement. For example, a length is a physical quantity . The metre (symbol m) is a unit of length that represents a definite predetermined length. For instance, when referencing "10 metres" (or 10 m), what is actually meant is 10 times the definite predetermined length called "metre". The definition, agreement, and practical use of units of measurement have played

8526-515: The wave equation in atomic physics . Some unusual and non-standard units may be encountered in sciences. These may include the solar mass ( 2 × 10  kg ), the megaton (the energy released by detonating one million tons of trinitrotoluene , TNT) and the electronvolt . To reduce the incidence of retail fraud, many national statutes have standard definitions of weights and measures that may be used (hence " statute measure "), and these are verified by legal officers. In informal settings,

8624-576: The widely used cloth cubit of Aleppo) was used for cloth. The measure survived into the 20th century, with 1 gaz equal to 104 cm (41 in). Mughal India also had its own royal cubit ( dhirāʿ-i pādishāhī ) of 81.3 cm (32 in). Other measurements based on the length of the forearm include some lengths of ell , the Russian lokot ( локоть ), the Indian hasta , the Thai sok ,

8722-404: The width of a thumb, about 2.25 cm). This puts the handbreadth at roughly 9 cm ( 3 + 1 ⁄ 2  in), and 6 handbreadths (1 cubit) at 54 cm ( 21 + 1 ⁄ 2  in). Epiphanius of Salamis , in his treatise On Weights and Measures , describes how it was customary, in his day, to take the measurement of the biblical cubit: "The cubit is a measure, but it

8820-458: Was accidentally destroyed on a mission to Mars in September 1999 (instead of entering orbit) due to miscommunications about the value of forces: different computer programs used different units of measurement ( newton versus pound force ). Considerable amounts of effort, time, and money were wasted. On 15 April 1999, Korean Air cargo flight 6316 from Shanghai to Seoul was lost due to

8918-520: Was an acropolis with the temples of Dagon and Baal . In the west was the Royal Zone, including the Royal Palace . A fortress protecting the latter area was excavated, with the earliest elements dating back to the Middle Bronze Age. To the west of that lies the modern village of Ras Shamra. There were densely populated residential areas to the east of the Royal Zone and on the southern slope of

9016-481: Was discovered still housing eighty shipping jars that remain remarkably intact. Artifacts discovered in the port indicate the predominance of native Ugaritians within the local populace, accompanied by a significant presence of various foreign communities such as Egyptians , Cypriots , Hittites , Hurrians , and Aegean peoples. Among the discoveries were Cypriot pottery (both imported and locally crafted), Mycenaean pottery , ivory cosmetic containers from Egypt,

9114-403: Was excavated between 1929 and 1935 by Claude Schaeffer. The site is currently a military port and unavailable for excavation. Its name in the Late Bronze Age is believed to have been Maʾḫadu. Archaeological excavations carried out on the southern side of the bay, now reduced in size due to alluvial fill, unveiled remnants of a settlement established in the 14th century BC, and perhaps earlier, in

9212-486: Was possibly caused by the purported Sea Peoples , or an internal struggle. The kingdom would be one of the many that fell during the Bronze Age Collapse . Gibala ( Tell Tweini ), the coastal city at the southern edge of the Ugarit kingdom was also destroyed at this time. Based on archaeological soundings, the site was occupied beginning in the eighth millennium BC. Essentially all archaeology has focused on

9310-686: Was ruled by king Ammittamru I . A letter (EA45) sent by him, probably to Amenhotep III (1388–1351 BC) expresses warm diplomatic relations between the two. During the reign of his son Niqmaddu II (c. 1350–1315 BC) Ugarit became a vassal of the Hittite Empire , mainly through the Hittite ruler's viceroy in Karkemiš and then, with the Hititte collapse, directly under Karkemiš. Diplomatic relations with Egypt continued, as evidenced by two letters send by Niqmaddu II (EA49) and his wife Ḫeba (EA48), probably sent to Akhenaten (1351–1334 BC). The former includes

9408-591: Was signed, a General Conference of Weights and Measures (CGPM) was established. The CGPM produced the current SI, which was adopted in 1954 at the 10th Conference of Weights and Measures. Currently, the United States is a dual-system society which uses both the SI and the US Customary system. The use of a single unit of measurement for some quantity has obvious drawbacks. For example, it is impractical to use

9506-549: Was the House of the High Priest, situated west of the Temple of Dagan. This large, two-story residence, largely well-constructed, contained tablets containing mythological poems. Some tablets demonstrated writing exercises and included syllabic and bilingual lexicons, implying the building's use as a center for scribe training. Its proximity to the primary temples and the discovery of bronze tools, particularly four small adzes and

9604-560: Was the result of both confusion due to the simultaneous use of metric and Imperial measures and confusion of mass and volume measures. When planning his journey across the Atlantic Ocean in the 1480s, Columbus mistakenly assumed that the mile referred to in the Arabic estimate of ⁠56 + 2 / 3 ⁠ miles for the size of a degree was the same as the actually much shorter Italian mile of 1,480 metres. His estimate for

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