History of measurement units of length referred to above and the Mesopotamian cubit were used in the 3rd millennium BC and are the earliest known units used by ancient peoples to measure length. The units of length used in ancient India included the dhanus, or dhanush (bow), the krosa (cry, or cow-call) and the yojana (stage). The common cubit was the length of the forearm from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger. It was divided into the span of the hand or the length between the tip of little finger to the tip of the thumb (one-half cubit), the palm
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