Measurement during the Mesopotamian Era

Mesopotamia is derived from the Greek words, mesos means 'middle' and potamos refers to 'river'. It covers the geographical area between the rivers, Euphrates and Tigris; and hence is also known as the 'land between two rivers'. Measurement General rules were used for measuring areas and volumes. Circumference of the circle was measured as three times the diameter and area as one-twelfth the square of the circumference. Volume of cylinder was measured as product of base and height. Babylonian mile was used to measure distance, which is a measure of distance equal to 7 miles or 11 kilometers today. Ancient Mesopotamian units of measurement originated in the loosely organized city-states of Early Dynastic Sumer. The units themselves grew out of the tradition of counting tokens used by the Neolithic (c 6000 BCE) cultural complex of the Near East. The counting tokens were used to keep accounts of personal wealth and had both metrological and mathematical functions. Each city, kingdom and trade guild had its own standards until the formation of the Akkadian Empire when Sargon of Akkad issued a common standard. This standard was improved by Naram-Sin, but fell into disuse after the Akkadian Empire dissolved. The standard of Naram-Sin was readopted in the Ur III period by the Nane Hymn which reduced a plethora of multiple standards to a few agreed upon common groupings. Successors to Sumerian civilization including the Babylonians, Assyrians, and Persians continued to use these groupings. Akkado-Sumerian metrology has been reconstructed by applying statistical methods to compare Sumerian architecture, architectural plans, and issued official standards such as Statue B of Gudea and the bronze cubit of Nippur.

Archaic system
The systems that would later become the classical standard for Mesopotamia were developed in parallel with writing during Uruk Period Sumer (c 4000 BCE). Studies of protocuneiform indicate twelve separate counting systems used in Uruk.

Sexagesimal System S used to count slaves, animals, fish, wooden objects, stone objects, containers. Sexagesimal System S' used to count dead animals, certain types of beer Bi-Sexagesimal System B used to count cereal, bread, fish, milk products Bi-Sexagesimal System B* used to count rations GAN2 System G used to count field measurement E system used to count barley by volume E system ' used to count malt by volume E system " used to count wheat by volume E System * used to barley groats EN System E used to count weight U4 System U used to count calendrics DUGb System Db used to count milk by volume DUGc System Db used to count beer by volume

In Early Dynastic Sumer (c 29002300 BCE) metrology and mathematics were indistinguishable and treated as a single scribal discipline. The idea of an abstract number did not yet exist, thus all quantities were written as metrological symbols and never as numerals followed by a unit symbol. For example there was a symbol for one-sheep and another for one-day but no symbol for one. About 600 of these metrological symbols exist, for this reason archaic Sumerian metrology is complex and not fully understood. In general however, length, volume, and mass are derived from a theoretical standard cube, called 'gur', filled with barley, wheat, water, or oil. The mass of a gur-cube, called 'gun2' is defined as the weight a laden ass can carry. However, because of the different specific gravities of these substances combined with dual numerical bases (sexagesimal or decimal), multiple sizes of the gur-cube were used without consensus. The different gur-cubes are related by proportion, based on the water gur-cube, according to four basic coefficients and their cubic roots. These coefficients are given as:

Komma = Leimma = Diesis = Euboic =

correction when planning rations with a 360-day year conversion from decimal to a sexagesimal number system

One official government standard of measurement of the archaic system was the Cubit of Nippur (2650 BCE). It is a Euboic Mana + 1 Diesis (432g). This standard is the main reference used by archaeologists to reconstruct the system.

Classical system
Royal Gur Cube of Naram-Sin A major improvement came in 2150 BCE during the Akkadian Empire under the reign of Naram-Sin when the competing systems were unified by a single official standard, the royal gur-cube.[5] His reform is considered the first standardized system of measure in Mesopotamia.[5] The royal gur-cube was a theoretical cube of water approximately 6m 6m 0.5m from which all other units could be derived. The NeoSumerians continued use of the royal gur-cube as indicated by the Letter of Nanse issued in 2000 BCE by Gudea . Use of the same standard continued through the Babylonian, Assyrian, and Persian Empires.

Length
Units of Length are prefixed by the logogram DU a convention of the archaic period counting system from which it was evolved. Basic length was used in architecture and field division. Basic Length

Unit Ratio Ideal Value Sumerian Akkadian grain 1/180 0.0025m finger 1/30 0.015m foot step rod 2/3 2 12 0.333m 0.497m 1.000m 3.000m 6.000m 60.000m cubit 1 reed 6 cord 120 e u-si u-du3-a ku3 iri3 gi nindan ee2 uatu ubnu zu ammatu pu qan nindanu aslu

Distance units were geodectic as distinguished from non-geodectic basic length units. Sumerian geodesy divided latitude into seven zones between equator and pole. Distance Unit Ratio Ideal Value Sumerian Akkdian rod cord 1/60 6.000m 1/6 60.000m 360m 10,800m nidan ee2 u da-na nindanu aslu u bru

cable 1 league 30

Area
The GAN2 system G counting system evolved into area measurements. A special unit measuring brick quantity by area was called the brick-garden which held 720 bricks. Basic Area Unit shekel garden half-field field estate Ratio 1 10 100 Dimensions Ideal Value Sumerian Akkdian 1m gin2 sar uzalak upu iku bur iqlu maru ? ub ik bru 1/60 1ku3 1ku3

12ku3 12ku3 36m 60ku3 60ku3 900m 120ku3 60ku3 1,800m 60iri3 60iri3 3,600m 64,800m

quarter-field 5

1,800 3ee2 6ee2

Capacity
Capacity was measured by either the E system for dry capacity or the E system * for wet capacity Basic Volume

Unit shekel bowl vessel bushel

Ratio Capacity Ideal Value Sumerian Akkdian 1/60 1 10 60 ?L 1L 10L 60L 300L ?m 0.001m 0.01m 0.06m 0.3m gin2 sila3 ban2 gur iqlu q sut kurru

ba-ri2-ga parsiktu

gur-cube 300

Mass

A series of old Babylonian weights ranging from 1 mina to 3 shekels Mass was measured by the EN system E Basic Mass Unit Ratio Ideal Value Sumerian Akkdian grain 1/180 0.05g shekel 1 pound 60 load 9g 497.7g e gin2 ma-na gun2 uatu iqlu man biltu

3600 30,000g

Time
Main article: Babylonian calendar In the Archaic System time notation was written in the U4 System U. Multiple lunisolar calendars existed; however the civil calendar from the holy city of Nippur (Ur III period) was adopted by Babylon as their civil calendar. The calendar of Nippur dates to 3500 BCE and was itself based on older astronomical knowledge of an uncertain origin. The main astronomical cycles used to construct the calendar were the synodic month, equinox year, and sideral day. Basic Time

Unit Ratio Ideal Value Sumerian Akkdian gesh day year 1/360 240s 1 360 86,400s mu-e da-na ud ge bru immu arhu attu watch 1/12 7,200s month 30

2,592,000s itud 31,104,000s mu