Giotto Di Bondones Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints Essay

Giotto Di Bondones Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints - Essay Example 1305 – 1310 (Olga’s). Rendered with tempera on wood panel, this amply dimensioned painting depicts Giotto’s version of the Virgin with her Holy Infant being surrounded by the angelic entities whose spatial orientation appears to enhance the already magnified theme by the enormous significance which Giotto necessitated for the size of the subject at the center to possess. The contour and definitiveness of the black veil which highly contrasts the mild flesh suit of her child indicates how the Madonna, in the simplicity of her aura and strength in character as a mother, manages to secure the innocent even to beyond a physical warm keeping. The delicate treatment given to the shapes especially of the painting’s chief concerns and the shades cast about the throne seemingly manifest gradual departure from the Byzantine standards so as to entertain a style which takes to greater consideration keen details of human sentiment. This naturalist approach may be obser ved to have been pioneered by Giotto Di Bondone in the way he worked with colors and symbolic arrangement of figures in space which chiefly acquired a linear perspective to serve his purpose of radiating inner human experience. Such modifications in the convention of Western art can be attributed to the essence of marking a transition from the grieving centuries of the Middle Ages to the much sought-after tranquility in the time of Renaissance by which intellectual restoration in arts, sciences, and humanities flourished. Since this period entailed new hopes for the European nations awaiting for enlightenment to be ushered back in full measure, Giotto took the opportunity of getting critical attention in his involvement with artistic reformation which may be perceived in most of his murals and frescoes (Giotto-The Inventor). The undertones of past suffering during the Dark Ages through the chosen mood of shades and the artist’s strokes of varying sharpness or lightness signif y Giotto’s innovative contribution in allowing discernment of certain relevant human emotions flow out of the general impression the enthroned structure makes. It particularly responds to the summon of Renaissance for people to obtain back their religious faith and reverence toward the church and its superior role of resolving medieval lack of spiritual vitality as one further understands the painter’s idea of substantial expansion when Giotto seated the Madonna and child on the throne for which he provided a generous portion of space which likely represents the continuous sensibility of religion and the adherence to the struggling progress of Christianity. The ability to achieve prominence and the desired stimulus in the simplicity of style or in less intricate patterns may have influenced the 15th century contemporaries of Giotto Di Bondone to acquire similar interest of attaining to flexibility of form. As such, the three-dimensional persuasion of Leonardo Da Vinci in ‘The Virgin of the Rocks’, c. 1491-1508, made central the well-lighted faces to locate emphasis upon a sublime moment of holiness and humility in the manner the head of each essential character is bent down. As the painting expresses a dramatic effect which can be emotionally identified as either peace or compassion, Da Vinci rather strayed the audience from the original knowledge of the Virgin’s Immaculate Conception into a new concept (The Virgin) like how Giotto did justice to enthroning the plain situation of the virgin with the child to most probably suggest a sense of vision that must remain in thought and practice of all Italians. With Giotto’s type of profound creativity to follow, Da Vinci apparently fashioned

The Longest Day Essay Example for Free

The Longest Day Essay The primary task of many forms of media, and in this case films, is to entertain an audience. Taking the examples of The Longest Day directed by Darryl F. Zanuck and Saving Private Ryan directed by Steven Spielberg however, it is possible for the audience to look past the story of the D-Day landings at face value and begin to think of the deeper meanings and true purpose of the film. What does the director want to convey with his use of lighting, dialogue or camera movements? How does he or she want the audience to react? Both The Longest Day and Saving Private Ryan have been made for entertainment, but although the clips analysed cover the same event and try to be as histrically accurate as possible, they vary in many ways. In summary, The Longest Days purpose is to convey a historically accurate idea of the D-Day landings and inform its audience of the events that took place. It also glorifies the bravery of the soldiers who took part in the landings. The film is what can be expected of a war film made in the 1960s made less than 20 years after the war ended it tries to pay tribute to the men who risked or gave their lives to their country, some of whom would have been very much alive when the film came out. The purpose of Saving Private Ryan is slightly different. It also tries to convey a historically accurate picture of the landings but focuses more on the horrors of war and the attitudes and reactions of individual soldiers. Both films are aimed at the same audience, which is the whole of society. The two clips can both be split into five sections. Both clips begin with the troops arriving in the landing craft, but the shots are very different. In The Longest Day the landing craft are filmed moving quickly through the water with the soldiers sitting quietly and reasonably relaxed inside them. The commmanders are giving their orders to the troops calmly and clearly. This is a huge parallel to the same scene in Saving Private Ryan. The shots are filmed as though from another landing craft, giving the audience a real feeling of moving through the water and discomfort in the small boats. The conditions are much wetter and rainier and the troops seem much less confident. Some are being sick, some are taking drinks from hip flasks and some are saying prayers and kissing crucifix pendants. Historically, the audience is watching the same day played out in front of them but there is a difference in purpose, as Spielberg is focusing on specific characters rather than the D-Day landings a a whole event. The image of the troops given in Saving Private Ryan therefore seems much more disheartening and depressing than that in The Longest Day. Spielberg has focused on individual soldiers, and has used many more close-ups than Zanuck. This has the effect of the audience feeling like they could themselves be one of the soldiers on the craft, and makes the same shot in The Longest Day seem a lot more comfortable for the troops and appears less tense. In this section, Saving Private Ryan succeeds in extracting emotion from the audience and draws us into the story. The next shot is of the troops disembarking from the landing craft. The biggest difference to be seen is when the ramp of the craft is opened. In The Longest Day, the soldiers begin to cheer and shout as they run up the beach, with very few being shot straight away. In contrast, as the ramp is opened in Saving Private Ryan at least half of the soldiers appear to be killed before they even get out of the landing craft. Men that are not killed jump into the water for safety, and here there is a long section which is not included in The Longest Day. The camera appears to escape the craft with the soldiers and the audience is made to feel as thought they are going underwater as well. As the camera becomes submerged, the sound effects change also. The action above the water becomes muffled and distant but we are remoinded that the soldiers are still not safe, as in front of us we are shown soldiers being shot or drowning. The images Spielberg creates are graphic and disturbing but they are part of the historical facts he tries to convey to the audience. One of the ways in which Saving Private Ryan succeeds in its realism is the editing of scenes in real time. All the events that take place are filmed for the amount of time they would take in real life, for example The Longest Day spends about twenty-five seconds showing the troops disembarking from the landing craft whereas in Saving Private Ryan the same scene takes around a minute and a half. Saving Private Ryan is very realistic but, ironically, Spielberg uses unreal techniques to achieve this; slow motion doesnt occur in real life but when it is used in the clip it works because it shows something beneath the surface of the action. Spielbergs audience is being shown the psychology of the scene and slow motion is used to explore workings of Hanks mind. We look around the beach through his eyes, hear what he hears and experience it with him. A lot of emotion is evoked from the audience in this way. Real time gives us a feeling of involvement in the scene and viewers are made to feel more connected with the characters. In the next section of the clips the troops are getting on to the beach and running up towards the land. Both clips show in detail the injuries many soldiers receive and bring home to the audience some of the horrific deaths that were suffered by them. Brutal realism is widely used but especially in Saving Private Ryan; the audience is shown open wounds, dying men and even a soldier picking up his own arm, all in a very graphic way. A big difference to be seen in this section of both the clips is first or third person narration. As with books, scenes in films usually take on the view of either someone involved in the action (in this case a soldier). by using the camera as eyes and showing what a soldier might see, or showing the action from further away and using the camera to give a wider perspective. The Saving Private Ryan clip is shot almost entirely from a first-person viewpoint, which therefore shows the audience a lot more gory injuries and suffering. A first person viewpoint can often give a much more shocking effect can change the audiences emotions more directly. Spielberg uses this type of filming to bring feelings not only of horror at the situation but sympathy and sadness. The Longest Day is mostly shot from a third-person perspective because its main purpose is to inform the audience, and give the viewer an accurate picture of the situations encountered by soldiers and the action that took place. There are almost no close-ups in the clip, and it seems Zanuck has concentrated on showing us the big picture, whereas Spielberg uses close-up shots to initiate a feeling of friendship between the audience and the characters, as we follow the same characters throughout the film. To show troops moving up the beach. The Longest Day uses a continuous shot which lasts approximately thrity seconds. In this shot the camera pans steadily up the beach, slightly raised from the troops. The audience is given a view along the coastline and is shown hundreds of troops cheering and shouting, running up the beach. This shot is used by Zanuck to give an idea of the vastness of the operation, and to show the viewer the number of lives that were lost even on a a small part of the coastline. As a significant part of this films original audience would have been involved in the war and specifically this operation, Zanuck focuses also on a sense of heroism in the characters, the courage and willpower in the most difficult of situations. At the end of each clip, dialogue between two soldiers takes place, but the tones of voice, attitudes, reactions, and expressions of the characters couldnt be more different. This scene in The Longest Day seems staged and unemotive, as a young soldier is told to go back and get his rifle which he has dropped on the beach, because, as the General tells him, hes sure to need it before this day is over. This sentence seems too structured to be realistic; in a war situation it wouldnt be normal to come out with such a complex sentence. However, the General reassures this young, frightened soldier and the short scene illustrates the kind of bonds that were created between troops. A feeling of security and trust is portrayed to the viewers in the father and son relationship we see on screen. The same scene in Saving Private Ryan shows more spontaneity and realism as a young soldier screams to the commander What the hell do we do now, sir?! . He is panicking because he has no idea what he ought to be doing, but when he asks his commander he too has no clue. There is much confusion and the audience feel uncomfortable and unsafe as we do not know the fate of the people we see before us. The characters are presented in different ways but the important thing that links both the scenes is why the director has decided to introduce the characters at all. By the introduction to the characters of the boy and his superior we start to care about their individual fates, and pathos is used over us to so that we become concerned over whether the characters live or die. Both directors use this to evoke sadness and pity among the audience. One of the most important aspects of the clips to analyse is the directors presentation of war. The Longest Day is an epic, giving an accurate, historical account of the D-Day landings. It conveys to the audience the bravery of the soldiers who fought in the war and the situations they had to deal with. A huge proportion of its original audience would have either fought in the war themselves or been closely related to someone who had, so the purpose of the film would have been to pay tribute to those people. The purpose of Saving Private Ryan is different because almost none or even none at all of its audience would have fought in the war. Spielberg shows us the operation not just from a factual view but from an emotional view and shows us tragedies and horrors. Although the two clips cover exactly the same event we can see that they are very different in style, but even though they were made decades apart from each other there are also a similarities. By comparing and analysing these films so closely, we as an audience can begin to see into the directors minds and realise their hidden purposes behind making the film.

Originality Of Philosophy :: essays research papers fc

Originality of Philosophy Feb.25.1997   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  What is philosophy? What does a philosopher really do? Questions like these can be answered in a review of Philosophy Now. What can possibly be answered.....questions which have them. And what is it that philosophers study? Generally, most philosophers study questions in which there is no rational or justifiable answer. And the type of articles in the magazine are very interesting because they elighten the reader to question the answers. Some of the articles in this issue are â€Å"Bakunin: Anarchist or Antichrist?†, â€Å" Practical Solipsism†, â€Å"Introduction to Ontology†, â€Å"Orwell and Philosophy†, some other brief articles, an Internet page, and even some classifieds. The overall view of this magazine was very intellectual and professional because it did not contain any advertising throughout the magazine. The articles are more in the manner meant for either philosophers or someone in school studying Philosophy, or even anyone interested in a very different approach to society.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  An idea in the article â€Å"Practical Solipsism† reads: â€Å"Solipsism - the idea that only I exist and that you, and all other material things in the world are mere figments of my imagination - is one of those peculiar notions that make everybody realize just how barmy philosophers truly are.† Philosophy is often translated as the love of wisdom or the love of truth. One way to get a vague idea as to what philosophy is about is to dissect the subject and investigate its skeleton. there are many branches in philosophy. Metaphysics is†(after- physics, after Aristotle's book of physics.)†, and has questions about the nature of time, categories of existence, including god. Epistemology asks what is knowledge? what is the difference between knowledge, belief and opinion? Can we really know anything? How could we know that we did? Logic questions the truth and even now employs a sort of algebra which is used to crunch logical problems. There is Philosophy of mind, which asks questions about the human mind, how it thinks, and how is it related to the body. Ethics is like how are we living, what is good and bad, what is unethical, and what is happiness. Aesthetics asks mostly about beauty and how to define it. In particular though, there is political philosophy, and it asks questions like What would Utopia be like? Is Utopia possible? How should social life be organized? In my opinion this philosophy is not one related to our government but is very interesting to me. As I was reading, many questions arose about our society and what I thought should be changed. Another Article that I went over was called â€Å"Ontology for

Grandpas Lap :: essays research papers

Grandpa's Lap She seems to be at ease. Her face was completely consumed by her smile. She was in what felt like a safe place. Grandpa's lap always felt like a safe place. He was her hero. He would protect her from anything and everything that may come her way. He was a brave warrior who would take on the world for her if he had to. He smelled of Old Spice and cheap chaving cream. It was a comfortable smell. It was the kind of smell that made her want to curl up next to him. She would always watch him shave in the morning. She would often wonder why she couldn't shave like Grandpa. Once he shaved half of his beard off. He said, "If you like me with a beard look at this side, and if you like me better without, look at the other side." He was silly like that a lot. He was always humming while he shaved. It was always a silly song she guessed. He only hummed because the words to the songs were too dirty for a little girl's ears. He was in the marines after all. he didn't know any frilly songs. Only the hearty, manly, dirty songs. He would sometimes sing her a nursery rhyme when no one else was around. Grandpa was a special man. He retired from the marines, but never retired from the lifestyle. "One can take a man out of the marines, but you can't take the marine out of a man." This was one of Grandpa's favorite sayings. The marine really does stay in a man. It added to Grandpa's loving personality. It added a feeling of security. It added a lot. Grandpa's lap was her favorite spot. The big chair wasn't the same when Grandpa couldn't sit in it any longer. Once he was gone, no one would really sit there. He used to tickle her if she took his seat.

Human Resource Management in a business is extremely important Essay

Human Resource Management in a business is extremely important. Good Human Resource Management can help make a successful business as it can help keep the employees happy and satisfied. In the leisure and recreation industry high quality human resource management is vital as the service delivered by the organisations are on a â€Å"person to person† basis. S o the business is going to need the right people with the right skills and attitude, and also need the right managers to motivate and train staff to do well in their jobs. Human Resource Management basically means the organisation of people in a company, and can also be defined by the tasks, which managers undertake in the area, such as recruitment, training and communication with the workforce and dealing with any problems that may arise with the employees. The key qualities that the employees should have are that they should be well enough trained and confident enough to communicate with customers. Most large companies organise their staff into teams or separate departments, with a head or manager of section in charge. In large organisations the role of the manager is to be largely responsible for the deployment and development of employees, a duty that can represent a substantial challenge and needs its own type of training. The manager needs to be trained in appraising staff, motivating individuals or teams in applying employment legislation correctly. The roles of the Human Resource Manager in different sized organisations differ a lot. A manager in a large business would be a trained specialist and would know how to motivate his staff a lot more effectively, as he can concentrate solely on his employees. Where as a manager in a smaller business has the equal amount of responsibility, but this will be added to the responsibility for marketing strategies, financial decisions, stock control and many other jobs to do, perhaps for fewer staff but none the less a complex range of roles to perform. Here at ECC we have a very good Human Resource Management department that motivates the staff very well and is extremely organised, we aim to make sure that our employees are happy and that there is a friendly atmosphere evident for the customers to feel welcome. External and Internal Influences that affect Human Resource Planning Many large and medium sized businesses today have a personnel department. Its main role will be to manage the firm’s human resources. These are the employees or personnel in a business that help it to achieve its objectives. They might include production workers, office staff, members of the marketing team, accountants or cleaners. Human Resource Planning is the method by which a business forecasts how many and what type of employees it needs at present and in the future. It also involves matching up the right type of employees to the needs of the business. A business will work out its labour requirements, its demand, and make sure that an appropriate supply is demanded. There are many external and internal influences that can affect the success of the human resource management team and it’s planning for the short and long term. The difference between these influences from the point of view of Human Resource Planning (HRP) is that external is outside the immediate control of organisations, where as internal are more within control of organisations and can be more responsive to good HRP. The external factors can be simplified to the mnemonic PESTLE. These factors affect any leisure and recreation organisation. Each letter influences a business in different ways. Political Economic Social Technological Legal Environmental Political This is concerned with how political developments, regionally, nationally and internationally might affect a leisure and recreation businesses strategy and objectives. A change of government might affect a Leisure and Recreation provider such as our company ECC because they may introduce new policies or taxes that would mean our business may have to have to pay more direct tax and would consequently mean that our company would have less capital to spend on improving the business, or increasing employees wages. Political Instability could also occur in the United Kingdom. This could cause unrest within a country and could reduce the amount of people visiting your organisation. Here at ECC we may be affected, as there is a possibility of war with Iraq, which would mean people wouldn’t visit the UK or the USA as the countries could be destructed by a war. That means we wouldn’t have a business, as we would not get any customers visiting our restaurants so we would end up bust. Economic This incorporates: * Government Policy – Monetary Policy and Interest Rates * Economic Variables – Inflation and Unemployment Levels. The Monetary Policy is used to manage the level of demand in the economy with a particular emphasis on controlling the money supply. Monetary Policy can be used to: * Expand the economy by allowing more money to circulate and increase spending. * Control spending and restricts increases in money flowing around the economy which may lead to price rises. The government has used a variety of methods in the past to control the money supply. One is by changing the Interest Rates. Interest Rates is the rate of which businesses and people have to pay back money on loans and on there credit cards. The Monetary Policy meet to determine how much money they want circulating in the UK economy so that it can affect the money supply and inflation. An increase in Interest Rates can reduce the money supply. If interest rates increases, the rate of borrowing rises. That can affect leisure organisations such as ECC a great deal because if we want to expand and develop more restaurants in the UK then that would cost us more money to take out a loan, as the banks would charge us more interest. So then we may have to up our prices and pass on the increase of interest to our customers, which would then decrease the demand of our products, and may go to competitors such as McDonalds or Burger King. The level of inflation is when prices are rising (the rate of inflation) this also has an effect on consumer spending tending to slow down due to the high prices. Due to the loss of demand it has a knock on effect upon suppliers, who pass the increased fixed costs to companies such as ECC. That means that we would have to pay more for all our raw materials such as our food and cooking and cleaning goods and then that means increased prices. Our Human Resource Management department would be effected as that means we wouldn’t be able to increase the wages of the employees like they may want, as we cant afford the rise in inflation, which could lead to de- motivation in our staff and the possibility of employees leaving. Unemployment levels at a high level, generally means the UK population as a whole has less money to spend on leisure and recreation activities, and instead spend the money on essential goods. When employment levels are high the population feel confident and have more disposable income to spend on luxury goods or on leisure activities. That could influence our HRP in two ways. Either by having a lot of people spending a lot in our restaurant as they have more money, which means we could afford to give our employees pay rise. Which then would make our staff more motivated and then work more efficiently and produce a better service to customers. And the opposite effect being less demand from customers and then less profit, and we would have to reduce prices to increase demand. By doing that the staff would not get any more money and become more de- motivated. Social The factors include Consumer Trends, which are the trends of the UK population. If the economy is experiencing an upturn in demand that means a company such as ourselves that means we would have to employ more staff as the increase in demand needs more staff to cope with the queues and maintain our service standard of fast, quality food to our customers. So we would employ part time staff so they can be flexible and if the demand decreases then we could not use them or pay them as much. Our HRP may need to be modified if there is a sudden demographic change to our customer base. There is an increase in the â€Å"grey market† in the United Kingdom these are the over 50’s so that means we may employ more over 50 staff to appeal to the â€Å"grey market† as they generally have higher disposable incomes and more free time to come to our restaurant. So that could be something for our HRP to decide on, so we can provide a service to a wider market and then increase our profits. Technological We should improve our technology in ECC by maybe having to introduce online booking at our restaurants to keep up with the ongoing advances in technology and make our company have an advantage over our competitors. It would need high levels of investment, and increasing amounts of customers means ECC would have to employ more staff and also have to pay more on training the staff to be suitably equipped to deal with the new technology which would then mean having to pay out more for the wages of the employees. Legal Legal factors could include new health and safety legislation, such as tighter fire precautions, which would mean that our employees would have to go away to an external environment to be trained correctly to make sure ECC cant be sued due to staff not being trained in health and safety. Environmental Here at ECC we make sure there are no reasons why we as a company aren’t being environmentally friendly and then we aren’t subject to pressure groups demonstrating against the business, which then would lead to a loss of profit, as demand would decrease because of protestors against us. There are also internal factors that can affect businesses HRP. Structure and Ownership can lead to good and bad HRP. ECC being a large hierarchical organisation has many staff on many levels need a carefully researched human resource plan, which we have to avoid poor communication between restaurants. We make sure each manager of each restaurant across the world takes into account there employees opinions to make our company better as they are the experts in their job. That is all to increase the profits of the business and make it more efficient. The Size and Location can also affect a company and its HRP. We deliver one type of service, so all staff everywhere can be trained to the same standard across the organisation so we achieve the same results and provide the same great service. The location of the business can also be key, because if it is located in the countryside instead of the town centre where we locate our restaurants then we wouldn’t appeal to such a wide market and then not get as much profit, which would lead to less money being put towards our employees who are vital.

The Importance of the Supply and Demand Model

The Importance of the Supply and Demand Model Forming the basis for introductory concepts of economics, the supply and demand model  refers to the combination of buyers preferences comprising the demand and the sellers preferences comprising the supply, which  together determine the market prices and product quantities in any given market. In a capitalistic society, prices are not determined by a central authority but rather are the result of buyers and sellers interacting in these markets. Unlike a physical market, however, buyers and sellers don’t have to all be in the same place, they just have to be looking to conduct the same economic transaction. It’s important to keep in mind that prices and quantities are the outputs of the supply and demand model, not the inputs. It’s also important to keep in mind that the supply and demand model only applies to competitive markets - markets where there are many buyers and sellers all looking to buy and sell similar products. Markets that don’t satisfy these criteria have different models that apply to them instead. The Law of Supply and The Law of Demand The supply and demand model can be broken into two parts: the law of demand and the law of supply. In the law of demand, the higher a suppliers price, the lower the quantity of demand for that product becomes.  The law itself states, all else being equal, as the price of a product increases, quantity demanded falls; likewise, as the price of a product decreases, quantity demanded increases. This correlates largely to the opportunity cost of buying more expensive items wherein the expectation is that if the buyer must give up consumption of something they value more to buy the more expensive product, they will likely want to buy it less. Similarly, the law of supply correlates to the quantities  that will be sold at certain price points. Essentially the converse of the law of  demand, the supply model demonstrates that the higher the price, the higher the quantity supplied because of an increase in business revenue hinges upon more sales at higher prices.   The relationship between supply in demand relies heavily on maintaining an equilibrium between the two, wherein there is never more or less supply than demand in a marketplace.   Application in Modern Economics To think of it in modern application, take the example of a new DVD being released for $15. Because market analysis has shown that current consumers will not spend over that price for a movie, the company only releases 100 copies because the opportunity cost of production for suppliers is too high for the demand. However, if the demand rises, the price will also increase resulting in higher quantity supply. Conversely, if 100 copies are released and the demand is only 50 DVDs,  the price will fall to attempt to sell the remaining 50 copies that the market no longer demands.   The concepts inherent in the supply and demand model further provide a backbone for modern economics discussions, especially as it applies to capitalist societies. Without a fundamental understanding of this model, it is almost impossible to understand the complex world of economic theory.

Conversion of Biblical Measurements

Conversion of Biblical Measurements One of comedian Bill Cosbys most hilarious routines features a conversation between God and Noah about building an ark. After getting detailed instructions, a puzzled Noah asks God: Whats a cubit? and God responds that He doesnt know either. Too bad they couldnt get help from archaeologists on how to count their cubits today. Learn the Modern Terms for Biblical Measurements Cubits, fingers, palms, spans, baths, homers, ephahs, and seahs are among ancient forms of biblical measurements. Thanks to decades of archaeological digs, scholars have been able to determine the approximate size of most of these measurements according to contemporary standards. Measure Noahs Ark in Cubits For example, in Genesis 6:14-15, God tells Noah to build the ark 300 cubits long, 30 cubits high and 50 cubits wide. By comparing various ancient artifacts, a cubit has been found to equal about 18 inches, according to National Geographics atlas, The Biblical World. So lets do the math: 300 X 18 5,400 inches, which amounts to 450 feet or a little more than 137 meters in length30 X 18 540 inches, or 37.5 feet or just under 11.5 meters in height50 X 18 900 inches, or 75 feet or slightly less than 23 meters So by converting biblical measurements, we end up with an ark thats 540 feet long, 37.5 feet high and 75 feet wide. Whether thats large enough to carry two of each species is a question for theologians, science fiction writers, or physicists who specialize in quantum state mechanics. Use Body Parts for Biblical Measurements As ancient civilizations progressed to the need for keeping account of things, people used parts of the body as the quickest and easiest way to measure something. After sizing up artifacts according to both ancient and contemporary measurements, theyve discovered that: A finger equals about three-quarters of an inch (roughly the width of an adult human finger)A palm equals about 3 inches or the size across a human handA span equals about 9 inches, or the width of an extended thumb and four fingers Calculate More Difficult, Biblical Measurements for Volume Length, width, and height have been calculated by scholars with some common agreement, but measures of the volume have eluded accuracy for some time. For example, in an essay titled Bible Weights, Measures, and Monetary Values, Tom Edwards writes about how many estimates exist for a dry measure known as a homer: For instance, a Homers liquid capacity (though normally seen as a dry measure) has been estimated at these various amounts: 120 gallons (calculated from footnote in New Jerusalem Bible); 90 gallons (Halley; I.S.B.E.); 84 gallons (Dummelow, One Volume Bible Commentary); 75 gallons (Unger, old edit.); 58.1 gallons (Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible); and about 45 gallons (Harpers Bible Dictionary). And we need to also realize that weights, measurements, and monetary values often varied from one place to the next, and from one time period to another. Ezekiel 45:11 describes an ephah as being one-tenth of a homer. But is that one-tenth of 120 gallons, or 90 or 84 or 75 or ...? In some translations of Genesis 18: 1-11, when three angels come to visit, Abraham instructs Sarah to make bread using three seahs of flour, which Edwards describes as one-third of an ephah, or 6.66 dry quarts. How to Use Ancient Pottery to Measure Volume Ancient pottery offers the best clues for archaeologists to determine some of these biblical volume capacities, according to Edwards and other sources. Pottery labeled bath (that was dug up in Tell Beit Mirsim in Jordan) has been found to hold about 5 gallons, comparable to similar containers of the Greco-Roman era with capacities of 5.68 gallons. Since Ezekiel 45:11 equates the bath (liquid measure) with the ephah (dry measure), the best estimate for this volume would be about 5.8 gallons (22 liters). Ergo, a homer equals roughly 58 gallons. So according to these measures, if Sarah mixed up three seahs of flour, she used nearly 5 gallons of flour to make bread for Abrahams three angelic visitors. There must have been plenty of leftovers to feed their family unless angels have literally bottomless appetites. Sources on Biblical Measurements The Biblical World: An Illustrated Atlas (National Geographic 2007).Biblical Weights, Measures, and Monetary Values, by Tom Edwards, Spirit Restoration.com, spiritrestoration.org/Church/Research%20History%20and%20Great%20Links/Biblical%20Weights%20Measure%20and%20Monetary%20System.htm Bible Passages Genesis 6:14-15 Make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. Ezekiel 45:11 The ephah and the bath shall be of the same measure, the bath containing one-tenth of a homer, and the ephah one-tenth of a homer; the homer shall be the standard measure. Source The New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha, New Revised Standard Version (Oxford University Press). New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.