Pous
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The pous is the unit of measurement used through much of the Iron Age in Europe and the Ancient Near East
A pous is a Greek foot. 1 stadion is always 600 pous though the length of the pous varies like the 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.
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[edit] Comparative analysis
A pous is divided into 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 Ionian Order pous (foot) | 16 | 18.5 | 296 mm |
| 1 Athenian pous (foot) | 15 | 21 | 315 mm |
| 1 Attic pous (foot) | 16 | 19.275 | 308.4 mm |
| 1 Minoan pous (foot) | 16 | 19 | 304 mm |
| 1 Egyptian bd (foot) | 16 | 18.75 | 300 mm |
| 1 Phoenecian (Pele) pous (foot) | 15 | 20 | 300 mm |
| 1 Roman pes (foot) | 16 | 18.5 | 296 mm |
Pous can also refer to a woman's reproductive organs, and is typically used by young males 14 - 18 to describe them thusly. A typical phrase on a night out to find out if someone had "gone" with a girl would be "Any Pous?" The phrase is mostly confined to the South Leitrim area of Ireland (Concepts of S.Leitrim, M.Reynolds, 2001)
[edit] References
[edit] Mathematical and metrological references
- H Arthur Klein(1976). The World of Measurements. Simon and Schuster. .
- R. A. Cordingley(1951). Norman's Parallel of the Orders of Architecture. Alex Trianti Ltd. .
- Francis H. Moffitt(1987). Surveying. Harper & Row. ISBN 0-06-044554-8.
- Gillings(1972). Mathematics in the time of the Pharaohs. MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-07045-6.
- Lucas N. H. Bunt, Phillip S.Jones, Jack D. Bedient (1976). The Historical Roots of Elementary Mathematics. Dover. ISBN 0-486-25563-8.
- Somers Clarke and R. Englebach(1990). Ancient Egyptian Construction and Architecture. Dover. ISBN 0-486-26485-8.
- Gardiner(1990). Egyptian Grammar. Griffith Institute. ISBN 0-900416-35-1.
[edit] Linguistic references
- Anne H. Groton(1995). From Alpha to Omega. Focus Information group. ISBN 0-941051-38-2.
- J. P. Mallory(1989). In Search of the Indo Europeans. Thames and Hudson. ISBN 0-500-27616-1.
[edit] Classical references
- Vitruvius(1960). The Ten Books on Architecture. Dover. .
- Claudias Ptolemy(1991). The Geography. Dover. ISBN 048626896.
- Herodotus(1952). The History. William Brown. .
[edit] Archaeological historical references
- Michael Grant(1987). The Rise of the Greeks. Charles Scribners Sons. .
- Lionel Casson(1991). The Ancient Mariners. PUP. ISBN 06910147879.
- James B. Pritchard, (1968). The Ancient Near East. OUP. ISBN.
- Nelson Glueck(1959). Rivers in the Desert. HUC. ISBN.
[edit] Medieval references
- Jean Gimpel(1976). The Medieval Machine. Holt Rheinhart & Winston. ISBN 0-03-014636-4.
- H Johnathan Riley Smith(1990). The Atlas of the Crusades. Swanston. ISBN 0-7230-0361-0.
- Elizabeth Hallam(1986). The Plantagenet Chronicles. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 1-55584-018-3.
- H.W. Koch(1978). Medieval Warfare. Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-573600-5.
