Measuring area in Ancient Egypt
The recorded units of measurement in Old Kingdom
written sources are:
- ‘land-unit’
(Egyptian tA) = 10x10 cubits (about 27.65 square metres)
- ‘thousand’
(Egyptian xA) = 10x100 cubits (about 275.65 square metres)
- setjat
(Egyptian STat) = 100x100 cubits (about 2756.5 square metres)
The smaller units are:
- ‘shoulder’
(Egyptian rmn) = half tA
- ‘account
unit’ (Egyptian Hsb) = half rmn
- sA
(Egyptian sA) = half Hsb
New Kingdom (about 1550-1069 BC) sources use different vocabulary:
- mH-tA
= 100x100 cubits (about 27.5 square metres)
- sTAt
= 1000x1000 cubits (about 2756.5 square metres) – the aroura of Greek sources
- xA-tA
= 10 sTAt (about 2.75 hectares)
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