DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.8#0035
ί 34 )
tainiiig 10 feet of the value of the foot, which is repeated
an hundred times, in the front of the ancient Parthenon,
thence called hecatompedon : and the tenth part of
ft.7, in.3,552 is in.8,7552, which I shall hereafter call the
pyramid-foot. Besides the pyramid and the Parthenon,
we have also, recorded by Barlow, the measure of the
diamater of some fragments of the columns, 40 feet long
and broken oif some feet above the base of the Ephesian
temple ; which diamater, when measured, was found to
be 7 feet : οι this particular I shall have occasion to avail
myself in the sequel.
The utility of this discovery of afoot of in.8,7552 of
our measure, and .7296 of our foot, when we read dimen-
sions in ancient authors recorded by the foot, or by other
denominations dependant on it, as the cubit, the passus,
the stadium, must be apparent to every reader ; if it can
be satisfactorily proved, that both the ancient Greek and
Homan authors actually calculated by a foot of that pre-
cise length. And though enough has been already said
and proved to evince the truth of such an assertion :
yet as it may appear somewhat problematical to some,
and even paradoxical to others ; I shall proceed with the
particulars, that prove each author to have used this
precise measure of 8,7552 of our inches, as the foot.
Claiming, as above mentioned, an allowance for a small
variation, in some instances, of the very minute part of
an inch, affecting only the second and third place of
decimals, but never altering the 0,7 which is the first
decimal. And surely so small a difference, in the hun-
dreds and thousands into which an inch is parted, cannot
¡be fairly argued to defeat coincidence : rather should it
i>e matter of surprize, that in a lapse of so many centuries,
.and after so many specimens copied and sent from
country
tainiiig 10 feet of the value of the foot, which is repeated
an hundred times, in the front of the ancient Parthenon,
thence called hecatompedon : and the tenth part of
ft.7, in.3,552 is in.8,7552, which I shall hereafter call the
pyramid-foot. Besides the pyramid and the Parthenon,
we have also, recorded by Barlow, the measure of the
diamater of some fragments of the columns, 40 feet long
and broken oif some feet above the base of the Ephesian
temple ; which diamater, when measured, was found to
be 7 feet : οι this particular I shall have occasion to avail
myself in the sequel.
The utility of this discovery of afoot of in.8,7552 of
our measure, and .7296 of our foot, when we read dimen-
sions in ancient authors recorded by the foot, or by other
denominations dependant on it, as the cubit, the passus,
the stadium, must be apparent to every reader ; if it can
be satisfactorily proved, that both the ancient Greek and
Homan authors actually calculated by a foot of that pre-
cise length. And though enough has been already said
and proved to evince the truth of such an assertion :
yet as it may appear somewhat problematical to some,
and even paradoxical to others ; I shall proceed with the
particulars, that prove each author to have used this
precise measure of 8,7552 of our inches, as the foot.
Claiming, as above mentioned, an allowance for a small
variation, in some instances, of the very minute part of
an inch, affecting only the second and third place of
decimals, but never altering the 0,7 which is the first
decimal. And surely so small a difference, in the hun-
dreds and thousands into which an inch is parted, cannot
¡be fairly argued to defeat coincidence : rather should it
i>e matter of surprize, that in a lapse of so many centuries,
.and after so many specimens copied and sent from
country