☙

☙

pechus [Greek, πῆχυς]

A Greek unit of length belong to the cubit family of units, varying with time. It has also been romanized as pechys, pecheus and pecheuse.

1

In Greece, 19ᵗʰ century, royal decree number 56 of 16 October, 1836¹ established the metric system in Greece. As did many nations, the Greeks gave the new metric units old names: distinguishing new from old by calling them “royal”. The meter was named the royal pechus.

One source states that prior to this redefinition the “pecheus” was 1.543 meter.

In 1920 (Law 2526) Greece adopted the international system. In 1959, Legislative Decree 3957 made use of the meter compulsory, and subsequent legislation has followed the changes made by the CGPM. The meter is now called μετρητής or μέτρο.

1. Εφημερίδα της Κυβερνήσεως, nο. 56, 16 October 1836, pages 288–291.

2

In classical times, an important Greek unit of length, in concept the distance from the tips of the fingers to the elbow.

An interesting and almost unique functional test of the length of an ancient unit occurred when enthusiasts built and rowed a reconstruction of a Greek trireme.¹ Vitruvius says that the distance between oars (the interscalium) was 2 pechoi. The ship, the trieres Olympias, was built taking 1 pechus = 44.4 centimeters.

“Sea trials...demonstrated, even after taking into account the likely stature of ancient Athenian oar-crews, that the room of 0.888 m is insufficient to allow an oar-crew to develop its full potential in acceleration and endurance.”² Further research showed a value of 49.1 cm, which would have been more efficient for the rowers, was also more accurate historically.

In the Bible in English, pechus is usually translated “cubit” (Matthew 6:27; Luke 12:25; Rev. 21:17), but the RSV translates the 200 pechus in John 21:8 as “a 100 yards.”

1. J. F. Coates, S. E. Platis, and J. T. Shaw.
The Trieme Trials of 1988.
Oxford: Oxbow Books, 1990.

2. John Morrison.
Ancient Greek measures of length in nautical contexts.
Antiquity, volume 65, pages 298-305 (1991).

Copyright © 2000, 2010, 2020 Sizes, Inc.  All rights reserved.
Last revised: 13 October 2020.