Originally Ancient Mesopotamian weights and measures came from a collection of city states loosely organized by family, tribe and occupation. Consequently each city, kingdom and trade guild had its own standards until in the Letter of Nanse a call was made to agree on a common standard. After that the Sumerian city states reduced a plethora of multiple standards to a few agreed upon common groupings. All stated values are in precise unit fractions of a common standard. A city-state is a region controlled exclusively by a city. ... Viewed historically or developmentally, a tribe consists of a social formation existing before the development of, or outside of, states. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... A unit fraction is a rational number written as a fraction where the numerator is one and the denominator is a positive integer. ...

Sumerian units

Length

Area

• sar: Garden plot (Sumerian) = 1 square ninda, plot of land enclosed by a boundary dike/canal”.

• 4 square reeds = 144 square cubits

• iku (plural Akk. form of ég, ék, 'levee').:= 100 sar = 120 × 120 cubits

• = 3600 meters2 = 100 sar = 1 square 'rope' = 1/18 bùr

• 1 bùr:= 18 iku = 3 area éše = 1800 sar, the amount of land that supported a family
• 1 uzalak: = 1/4 of an iku = 25 sar
• 1 še: barley; grain; = 12 square uban
• 1 ubu : = 1/2 of an iku (= 50 sar).
• 1 éše, = 120 1/2 cubits or feet = the side of 1 square iku in area
• éš[ŠÈ]: = 6 iku; leash (can be an adverbial suffix like eš, 'much')

Volume

• 1 gur = 1 square ninda times 1 kùš = 144 cubic kùš = 18 cubic meters
• 1 bariga = 60 gur PI or UL in Old Sumerian period
• 1 bariga = 36 sìla in the Old Sumerian period
• 1 bán-rig-a = 6 bán. 'the bán from picking, gleaning'

Akkadian units

Length

• 1 ŠU.BAD: 'open hand' = 12 šusi = 220 mm = 8.66"
• 1 ammat cubit of 530 mm - 20.87 a unit of wheat or barley measure
• 1 ammatu := 6 long qat= 600 mm
• 1 ÑIŠ-BAD: =1 kùš. 600 mm
• 1 UŠ: = 6 ropes = 60 nindan rods.

Area

• 2 AŠ: = 1/2 of an iku (= 50 sar).
• 1 iku: = 3600 meters2 = 100 sar = 1 square 'rope'
• 1 iku = 1/18 bùr plural Akk. form of ég, ék, 'levee'
• 1 éš[ŠÈ]: = 120 cubits = the side of 1 square iku in area

Volume

• 1 bariga = 60 sìla in the Old Akkadian and Neo-Sumerian periods.

Other

Volume

• 1 log:= 0.54 l
• 1 homer:= 720 log ≈ 390 l

Weight and monetary

• 1 shekal:= 8.36 g, introduced around 3000 BC
• 1 mina:= 60 shekal ≈ 232 g

Silver half-shekel struck in the Greek Colony of Taras, during the Punic occupation. ... (31st century BC - 30th century BC - 29th century BC - other centuries) (4th millennium BC - 3rd millennium BC - 2nd millennium BC) Events 2925 - 2776 BC - First Dynasty wars in Egypt 2900 BC - Beginning of the Early Dynastic Period I in Mesopotamia. ...

Time

• year: The Sumerians used a 360 day year by 2100 BC.
• week: The Babylonians introduced the seven day week, due to the belief that seven brought bad luck, so they did not want to work the seventh day.
• hour: The 12 hour day and 12 hour night originates from Mesopotamia. The length of these hours changed through the year, being equally spaced over the time of light and dark, respectively.

(Redirected from 2100 BC) (22nd century BC - 21st century BC - 20th century BC - other centuries) (4th millennium BC - 3rd millennium BC - 2nd millennium BC) Events 2130 - 2080 BC -- Ninth Dynasty wars in Egypt 2112 - 2095 BC -- Sumerian campaigns of Ur-Nammu 2064 - 1986 BC -- Twin Dynasty wars in Egypt 2049... Babylon is the Greek variant of Akkadian Babilu, an ancient city in Mesopotamia (Location: 32°32′11″ N 44°25′15″ E, modern Al Hillah, Iraq). ... 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. ... 12 (twelve) is the natural number following 11 and preceding 13. ...

Mesopotamian standards

The Greek root of stadios means to stand or have standing, to establish a standard.

In Mesopotamia the problem was that there were several different standards so in the time of Gudea an agreement was circulated between the various city states much like that which is presently being negotiated in Europe.

Ancient Mesopotamian weights and measures

The weights and measures of Mesopotamia gradually developed with the associated city states. The Sumerian number system uses a base 60 positional notation, and is the origin for the division of 60 for hours and angular degrees. The Akkadian system adopts the Sumerian. Over a period of several millenia international trade and commerce spread the idea of standards of measure based on definitions of land and property throughout the ancient near east. This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Mesopotamia (Greek: Μεσοποταμία, translated from Old Persian Miyanrudan the Land between the Rivers; Aramaic name being Beth-Nahrain House of Two Rivers) is a region of Southwest Asia. ... Sumer (or Shumer, Sumeria, Shinar, native ki-en-gir) formed the southern part of Mesopotamia from the time of settlement by the Sumerians until the time of Babylonia. ... Sexagesimal numbering is a numeral system with number 60 as the base. ... Positional notation is a system in which each position has a value represented by a unique symbol or character. ... The hour was originally defined in Egypt as 1/24 of a day, based on their duo-decimal numbering system (which counted finger joints on each hand). ... A degree (or in full a degree of arc), usually symbolized °, is a measurement of plane angle, representing 1/360 of a full rotation. ...

International trade required the expansion of the arrangement throughout the ancient Near East as a common standard much like our metric system. The basis of the standard was a definition of a geographic degree divided into 600 parts know as stadia which were further divided into 600 feet.

Mesopotamia

In Mesopotamia there was the sos = 180 m

The copper bar cubit of Nippur, the oldest preserved standard bar, defines the Sumerian cubit (kù) as half a metre. This was widely used in 3rd millennium BC.

The Babylonian (or Salamis) cubit was about the same size and is portrayed in a rule on the statue of Gudea (Lagash, dated around 2575 BC) which depending on source measures in a range from 496 to 500 mm.

General Name, Symbol, Number copper, Cu, 29 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 11, 4, d Appearance copper, metallic Atomic mass 63. ... The city of Nippur (Sumerian Nibru, Akkadian Nibbur) was one of the most ancient of all the Babylonian cities of which we have any knowledge, the special seat of the worship of the Sumerian god, Enlil, ruler of the cosmos subject to An alone. ... The metre, (symbol: m) is the SI base unit of length. ... (4th millennium BC – 3rd millennium BC – 2nd millennium BC – other millennia) Events Syria: Foundation of the city of Mari (29th century BC ) Iraq: Creation of the Kingdom of Elam Germination of the Bristlecone pine tree Methuselah about 2700 BC, the oldest known tree still living now Dynasty of Lagash in... Babylon is the Greek variant of Akkadian Babilu, an ancient city in Mesopotamia (Location: 32°32′11″ N 44°25′15″ E, modern Al Hillah, Iraq). ... Salamis Island is the name of an island in the Saronic Gulf of the Aegean Sea, near Athens, Greece, where the Battle of Salamis was fought in 480 B.C.. Salamis, Cyprus is an ancient city on the east coast of Cyprus. ... Statue of Gudea, British Museum London Gudea was a ruler (ensi) of the city of Lagash in Southern Mesopotamia who ruled ca. ... Lagash or Sirpurla was one of the oldest cities of Sumer and later Babylonia. ... (Redirected from 2575 BC) (27th century BC - 26th century BC - 25th century BC - other centuries) (4th millennium BC - 3rd millennium BC - 2nd millennium BC) Events 2900 - 2334 BC – Mesopotamian wars of the Early Dynastic period. ...

Contemporary standards of neighboring cultures

Egypt

In Egypt the khet was 100 royal cubits

In Egypt 210 khet were an itrw or hour of travel on the river

In Egypt 300 royal cubits were the stadia of Eratosthenes = 157.5 m, 700 to a degree at ====Alexandria====

In Egypt 350 Royal cubits were a minute of march = 183.75 m

In Egypt 60 minutes of march were an atur or hour of march

Persia

In Persia there were stadia of 700 feet = 222 m or 500 to a degree on the equator. This was the geographic stadia of Marianus of Tyre and Ptolomy

Greece

In Attic Greece a milos was 8 stadions of 600 pous = 185 m, 600 to a degree of 111 km

In Ionic Greece a milos was 8 stadions of 625 pous = 185 m, 600 to a degree to a degree of 111 km

Rome

In Rome a milliare of 8 stadiums of 625 pes = 185 m, 600 to a degree to a degree of 111 km

See also

• Weights and measures
• Historical weights and measures

The definition, agreement and practical use of units of weights and measures have played a crucial role in human endeavor from early ages up to this day. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

External links

• Mesopotation bibliograpy