Measurements Of The Ideal Man

MEASUREMENTS OF THE IDEAL MAN



"For without symmetry and proportion no temple can have a regular plan;
that is, it must have and exact proportion worked out
after the fashion of the members of a finely shaped human body."

According to Vitruvius, the most important unit to ancient metrology
is considered to be the Fathom of 24 units;
all other units are computed as fractions of this fathom.

The length of the fathom is the distance
between the tips of the middle fingers with the arms outstretched,
which again is equal to the side of the square, the man's height.

"For nature has so planned the human body that the face
from the chin to the top of the forehead and the roots of the hair
is a tenth part; also the palm of the hand from the center of the wrist
to the top of the middle finger is as much; the head from the chin
to the crown an eighth part; from the top of the breast
with the bottom of the neck to the roots of the hair,
a sixth part; from the middle of the breast to the crown a fourth part;
a third part of the height of the face is from the bottom of the chin
to the bottom of the nostrils; the nose from the bottom
of the nostrils to the line between the brows,
as much; from that line to the roots of the hair,
the forehead is given as the third part.

The foot is a sixth of the height of the body;
the cubit a quarter, the breast also a quarter.

The other limbs also have their own proportionate measurements.

And by using these painters and famous sculptors have attained
great and unbounded distinction"

So Vitruvius says that:
A cubit, the distance from the tip of the middle finger
to the end of the elbow is equal to a fourth part,
as is the measure from the center of the breast to the crown of the head.

The foot is a sixth part, and the head from chin to crown
was an eighth part of a fathom. The "Fathom" for Vitruvius
was equal to 4 Cubits, 6 Feet, 8 Heads, 10 Hand-lengths
or Face-heights divided into 30 units, 24 Palms, and 96 Digits or Fingers.

The Cubit was 6 Palms and 24 Fingers, and the Foot
was 2/3 of a Cubit, 4 Palms and 16 Fingers.

The Fathom as calculated using the geometric Desiderian Canon
and squared circle geometry is (40 Pi) units
divided by the Golden Ratio cubed or 29.665 head-fourths,
(40 Pi/Phi cubed (4.236) = 125.663 / 4.236 = 29.665 head-fourth units
for a Fathom - often rounded off to 30 head-fourths or 7 _ head-heights).

To be more mathematically accurate,
the Cubit would actually be based on the golden proportion,
its exact measurement being equal to the total height of the man
(31.416 hf.) divided by the golden section cubed, or 7.416 head-fourths,
equal to _ Fathom of 29.665 head-fourths - 10 Pi / Phi cubed
or the square root of 55.

(This can apply to either an Egyptian Royal Cubit of 20.625 inches
- large scale; or an Egyptian Small Cubit of 17.678 inches
- 6/7 Royal Cubit - small scale.)

Now, if the man's hand is raised above his head with the elbow
even with the top of the head, and another circle is drawn,
with its center at the navel, around the man so that it touches
the soles of his feet and toes and the tip of his middle finger
above his head, then: the cubit, from the tip of the middle finger
to the elbow and top of the head is in golden proportion
to the distance from the top of the head to the navel,
and this second distance is also in golden proportion
to a third distance from the navel to the soles of the feet,
just as in the modular work of Architect Le Corbusier and others.