The canon and metrology

• kanon, Ancient Semitic: cane, measuring rod
• kanon, Pre-hellenistic Greek: ruler or standard in general, model
• canon, Latin: ruler, rule, decree, model, standard, holy scripture

In lecture 4M we mentionned Geometro-Archeology, as a branch of megalithomania, which is of course the mania of the pyramidiots. This is also known as archeo-geometry, or ancient geometry, which is our main subject. Included in this subject, then, is a fascination called metrology, the study of units of measure, or canon. And in the chronology of lecture 4M we noted two mathematicians:

• 1638 John Greaves explores and measures Cheops' pyramid
• 1660 Sir Isaac Newton determines two cubits from Greaves' data

Greaves was Savillian Professor of Astronomy at Oxford, and author of a book called Pyramidographia, in which he presented his results. His explorations were motivated by a hope of discovering the size of the planet Earth. His outlook was essentially that of ancient Alexandria, that is, of the Renaissance.

But Newton is, of course, among the first of the moderns, as far as the orthodox history of mathematics is concerned. His two cubits were determined from different sources, both ancient:

• the profane cubit, 20.63 inches, from the Great Pyramid, and
• the sacred cubit, 25 inches, from the Temple of Jerusalem.

This geometrology, determination of the size of the planet, was essential for Newton to check his universal gravitational theory, published in 1687.

Here we see the actual joint between the ancient paradigm and the modern! Another outstanding feature of the tapestry.