Modern builders and designers are practical people, they stand firmly on the ground, like the buildings they erect. And any, the most ancient wisdom is tested by them simply - is it applicable in practice? But the ancient architects were also practical people. If something was used in construction, then only what was really needed. And the fact that they knew their business is said by the palaces and temples that have passed through the millennia and have survived to this day, surprising descendants not only with harmony and beauty, but also with the blessed sensations that arise inside these ancient buildings, as if they were alive. How did the masters of antiquity manage to create these magnificent proportions, not knowing about fractions, roots, logarithms, not having modern geodetic instruments? What's the secret here?
Why were there many fathoms?
In The Legend of Solomon and Kitovras, the wise King Solomon, having conceived to create a temple, invited the architect Kitovras to himself: “I brought myself not for the sake of your needs, but to simplify the outline of the holy of holies”. Kitovras, knowing in advance why he was called by the king, came to him with wooden yardsticks, standards of some measures. "He (Kitovras), having died a rod of 4 cubits, and went in before the king, bowed and laid the rods before the king in silence."
It was 4 cubits each that the ancient fathoms had in them. The legend accurately reflects that there were several fathoms, and they were used in the construction of the building at the same time. The length was laid in one sazhen, the width in another, the height in the third, and the internal dimensions in the fourth. When erecting several floors, fathoms of different lengths were used for each of them. What a strange method?
Each locality had its own fathoms - Chernigov, Moscow, Novgorod … Any knowledgeable craftsman could invent more than one personal fathom. Directively, it was not an invariable instrument, and, which is especially unusual, the fathoms were disproportionate to each other.
Today, the whole world costs one meter - a standardized but exclusively measuring instrument. And the meter is no longer good for anything. And the system of fathoms was created for comparison. Setting one size - most often, height - the architect already had a set of possible sizes for length and width, from which he had to choose the one that corresponded to the occasion and his creative flair. But with any of his choice, the proportions of the building turned out to be within the "golden".
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Gold of Ancient Russia
Before the works of the famous architect A. Piletsky, it was believed that the church fathom was based on the ancient Roman passes, the Greek one was based on Greek orgies, the great fathom was the Swedish boundary cubit, and the royal one was the Egyptian royal cubit … In other words, the people of Russia were not able to introduce a single measuring instrument and therefore, he unconsciously collected and disproportionately used the knowledge gained by neighboring peoples. From these positions, even the assumption of the existence of a strict proportional system of ancient Russian fathoms seemed incredible.
However, Piletsky managed to establish a systemic relationship between the fathoms of Ancient Rus, which he conditionally called the “Old Russian Vsemer”. It turned out, a kind of numerical matrix, which showed that all Old Russian fathoms are multiples of the "golden ratio". This clearly demonstrates the far-fetched reasoning about accidental borrowing of measuring instruments. Old Russian architects did not allow unreasonable or random sizes.
To be precise, the relationship of fathoms among themselves turns out to be "generally golden" or wurf. Wurf connects not two, like the golden ratio, but three parameters through the formula W (a, b, c) = (a + b) (b + c) / b (a + b + c).
S. Petukhov investigated the change in proportionality of human body structures in the process of his growth using "wurf" proportions and found that the ratio, for example, of the lengths of the foot, lower leg and thigh changes with age, and the wurf remains constant and equal to the "golden wurf" - 1.309. This leads to the fact that the human body, changing its proportions with age, remains always harmonious and beautiful.
When designing a building, we draw its views from three sides, and we can even achieve that it looks harmonious from these sides, but if we only change the point and angle of view, the structure becomes heavy and ugly. At the same time, an ordinary birch tree is beautiful from any direction and distance - and the secret is that it is arranged by nature using “golden” wurf proportions.
As A. Piletsky showed, the ancient Russian architects were not only familiar with the existence of wurfs, but also used them in their daily work, simply because their measuring instruments were designed according to this principle. If the proportions of the works of architecture around us are random, as in most modern structures, then such an environment, which does not possess any of the groups of characteristic symmetries of a person, is not perceived by him, and is often rejected. This is the root of the unfavorable psychophysical impact of the environment on a person, and not only that residential buildings are a set of the same type of "boxes".
Living figures
When visiting the temple, the feeling that the room is alive does not leave, and in an ordinary, standard room we do not catch this state. What's the matter here?
As the geometer A. Chernyaev notes, a room built in Russian fathoms, even if it seems square, can not be a square. And when we glance over it, we do not find symmetrical severity, although the total proportions of each corner of the room remain unchanged. From the movement of the eyes, the room comes to life, changing its visual dimensions. A living figure, for example, a square, is a transitional boundary that separates the perception of a square from a rectangle, a figure that is not yet a square, but no longer a rectangle. In the old rooms, there was never a strict parallelism - everywhere there were life-giving angles of inclination.
When the parameters of a room are multiples of some value (which happens in strictly parallel, symmetrical - dead rooms), a standing wave appears in it. The funny Lissajous figures on the oscilloscope screen are an example of such a standing wave. This wave is negative, since it does not contain the entire original spectrum of frequencies, but only selected harmonics that do not coincide with the frequencies of the human body. In the premises built on Russian fathoms, there is no multiplicity, because the fathoms themselves do not have it. They are always expressed through each other by an irrational number. On the oscilloscope screen, in such cases, the curve remains open, and the wave is distributed over the entire volume. The room ceases to be a filter-resonator of several harmonics and is filled with those waves - sound, electromagnetic, etc., which the person himself emits and which are good for him.
The architect of Ancient Russia, of course, did not calculate the "golden proportions". Having "Vsemer", the architect chose the proportion of fathoms according to the rule of the groups into which they were brought together. The very adherence to the technique made it possible to obtain a beautiful pairing of proportions, harmony, and correspondence to the golden number.
Russian Vsemer
A person remembers well no more than seven objects. And "Vsemer" accommodates twice as much, plus a complex combination of groups. In addition, in his daily practice, the architect mainly used a set of three to five fathoms. Over time, he forgot about the existence of others. Therefore, the reliable and secret transmission of "Semera" from generation to generation was possible only if it was recorded on some - even a relatively short-lived - iron or wooden carrier. In 1970, during excavations in Novgorod in the layers of the early 13th century, parts of a wooden measure were found - two four-sided spruce bars measuring 28x36 mm in diameter and 22 and 32 centimeters long, tightly folded together. Three sides of the bar are marked with cells of three different lengths, proportional to different fathoms. According to academician B. A. Rybakov, this meanswhat we have in front of us is a calculating architectural tool, something like an ancient slide rule. By setting the height in one of the fathoms on one scale, we automatically obtain the "conjugate" dimensions for the length and width in other fathoms.
Temple of Solomon and Egyptian pyramids
Old Russian architects used an amazing system of fathoms. But who invented it, who connected so elegantly and harmoniously the knowledge about the nature of space, the home planet (fathoms reflect the size of the Earth), wildlife and man, that they all "climbed" on a piece of wood called the "Russian Semeer"? How far in antiquity are the elements of the fathom system traced? It turns out to be very far away.
When planning the Jerusalem temple, seven different fathoms that subsequently existed in Russia were used. That is, the architect of the temple had at his hands an instrument similar to the Novgorod yardstick.
At the beginning of the XX century. An archaeological expedition led by J. Quibella uncovered a burial structure in Sakkara (Egypt), in which a nobleman named Khesi-Ra, who lived during the time of Pharaoh Djoser, who began the construction of the first pyramid, was buried. There were 11 wooden panels in the tomb, covered from the front surface with magnificent carvings. The dignitary's wands and walking sticks depicted on the panels (on different panels they are of different lengths) have dimensions that coincide with the dimensions of six Old Russian fathoms. One of the most intriguing mysteries of the Egyptian pyramids for scientists is the riddle of the measuring instruments with which they were built in Ancient Egypt. The amazing accuracy of the construction of the pyramids indicates that the builders have perfect measuring tools and a well-developed method of spatial measurement. However, for centuries, archaeologists and scientists have not been able to determine the value of the ancient Egyptian analogue of the modern meter, which most likely indicates the absence of a single measuring instrument and the possible existence in Egypt of some similarity of the ancient Russian system of measuring instruments. For example, ten ancient Russian fathoms were used in the structure of the parameters of the Cheops pyramid.
Apparently, Russia retained the measuring system, which was the same for the ancient world. Who created it and when? Magi of Russia, priests of Egypt or druids of the Celts? Most likely, even they inherited it from some more ancient knowledgeable predecessors.
How fathoms disappeared
Our ancient measuring system began to deteriorate since the time of Peter I, who translated the Russian government fathom in exact proportion with the English feet. Initially, it was equal to 217.6 centimeters, but under the great reformer, it was reduced to 213.3 centimeters. Seven English feet were laid in the official fathom. By the beginning of the 19th century, the original Old Russian system of sazhen was preserved only in church construction. Now the church is building, like everyone else, using the metric system of measurement.
Results and prospects
So, we have an instrument of fabulous possibilities. With the help of the Russian matrix and "Vsemera" we can create any objects within the "golden proportions"; there is a real opportunity to control the correctness of the course of a wide variety of technological processes associated with material production. That is, the very relationships of these processes can be made internally beautiful, perfect, since they will obey the “golden yardstick” preserved for us by the architects of Ancient Russia.
If we talk about the present day of the construction industry, then, of course, it is difficult to change many technological parameters of the construction industry. But don't firms that build private houses and cottages according to individual projects have the opportunity to implement the system of Russian fathoms now and get unique experience and unique buildings that will delight the eye from the outside and fill with grace from the inside, and, of course, get a decent payment ?! It's all about practicality.