Page:The Journal of Classical and Sacred Philology, Volume 1, 1854.djvu/394

 In English Keet. 0610 In French Metres. 0186 2439 0744 . -7928 2417 fa little less) (than a foot i 1-5856 4833 . 1-8295 5577 384 Journal of Philology. ' ponied' should have been the Hebrew name of this measure? This, as we have seen, is marked on the standard ell at between 15 and 16 finger-breadths. The approximate values of the Hebrew measures of length will therefore be as follows : Finger-breadth Hand-breadth ( = 4 hug. brs.) Span (=13 fing. brs.) Gomed (between 15 & 16 fing. brs.) Cubit or ell ( 2 spans) Later cubit The value thus obtained for the later Hebrew cubit is cor- roborated by one of the few existing remnants of Jewish archi- tecture. The south side of the Haram esh-Sherif at Jerusalem, on which the Jewish temple is supposed to have stood, is, accord- ing to the best measurement, 915 feet in length*. Now the tract of the Mishna called Middoth says that each side of the Temple measured 500 cubits. Dividing 915 feet by 500 we get 1*83 feet, which accords almost exactly with the value of the later Hebrew cubit just given. I would not lay too much stress on the talmudic statement, because it may have been derived from the account of the Temple in the vision of Ezekicl (Ezek. xlii. 19, 20: where the LXX. gives the true reading, not "reeds," but " cubits"). But it is difficult to believe that the coincidence is the result of mere accident. A Sabbath-day's journey is reckoned in the Talmud and by Origen at 2000 cubits. It is reckoned by Epiphanius at 6 stadia, This would give for the length of the cubit 1*8205 feet, which does not differ much from the preceding value. The distance of the Mount of Olives from Jerusalem, which is called a Sabbath- day's journey in the New Testament (Acts i. 12), is stated by Josephus in one passage at 6, in another at 5 stadia. (B. J. v. 2, 3. Ant xx. 8, 6.) The measures of the temple in the vision of Ezekicl arc given in reeds of 6 large cubits in length. The measure of this reed will therefore, according to our reckoning, be 10'977 feet. It is probable that such reeds were in use with the Babylonian*.
 * Robinson's 'Bibliotheoa Sacra.' 1843, p