Elbow taken as six handbreadths; three to the elbow and three from the elbow to the shoulder. Another measure was the "cubit" (from "cubital"). This was taken to be the length of a man's arm from the elbow to the end of the middle finger. Though the elbow is similarly adapted for stability through a wide range of pronation-supination and flexion-extension in all apes, there are some minor differences. In arboreal apes such as orangutans, the large forearm muscles originating on the epicondyles of the humerus generate significant transverse forces on the elbow joint. The structure to resist these forces is
Ancient Greek units of measurement measures of length were named after parts of the body, such as the ("daktylos", plural: "daktyloi") or finger (having the size of a thumb), and the ("pous", plural: "podes") or foot (having the size of a shoe). The values of the units varied according to location and epoch (e.g., in Aegina a "pous" was approximately , whereas in Athens (Attica) it was about ), but the relative proportions were generally the same. The ordinary units used for land measurement were: Greeks measured volume according to either dry or liquid capacity, suited respectively to measuring grain and wine. A common unit