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Removed content

[edit]
Rktect 8/5/05
Egil, before you continue cleaning up things you apparently know nothing about
Why not take a moment and tell us what you know about the subject?
I would like to see some discussion of standards of measure and the system
they were based on. Why do you object to that?
Why do you think its so much more useful to compare Mesopotamian units to English units or
metric units than the units of their contemporaries such as the Egyptians and immediate
inheritors such as the Greeks and Romans that you would find it necessary to
remove those comparisons from the discussion?
I really don't think you know what's of value and what is not
but feel safer if you can destroy anything you don't understand

---

I have removed the following content from the article (between the two horizontal bars, below). Some of it may be of value, but in that case, it really needs to be integrated into the existing article in a proper manner, and with references. -- Egil 15:23, 4 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]


The Greek root of stadios means to stand or have standing, to establish a standard. The problem was that there were several different standards.

  • In Mesopotamia there was the sos = 180 m
  • 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
  • In Persia there were stadia of 700 feet = 222 m
  • 500 to a degree on the equator or
  • This was the geographic stadia of Marianus of Tyre and Ptolomy
  • In Attic Greece a Milos was 8 Stadions of 600 pous = 185 m
  • 600 to a degree of 111 km
  • 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
  • In Rome a Milliare of 8 Stadiums of 625 pes = 185 m
  • 600 to a degree to a degree of 111 km
  • In England a Myle of 8 Furlongs of 625 fote = 185 m
  • 600 to a degree to a degree of 111 km

Sumerian lengths

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As a collection of city states organized like the Greeks by gene, oinkos and phratre the Sumerians had a plethora of multiple standards. All stated values are in precise unit fractions of a common standard.

Unit Measure Definition Size
digit, finger
šusi little finger 3/4 uban 15 mm
shusi ring finger 5/6 uban 16.67 mm
sheshi index finger 17.67 mm
uban thumb 20 mm
ell
šusi ell short ell 3 šusi 45 mm
shusi ell median ell 3 shusi 50 mm
sheshi ell long ell 3 sheshi 53 mm
uban ell thumb-ell 3 uban 60 mm
18 shusi = 15 uban
palm
šusi palm short palm 4 šusi 60 mm
shusi palm median palm 4 shusi 67 mm
sheshi palm long palm 4 sheshi 71 mm
uban palm thumb-palm 4 uban 80 mm
24 shusi = 20 uban
hand, qat
šusi qat short hand 5 šusi 75 mm
shusi qat median hand 5 shusi 84 mm
sheshi qat long hand 5 sheshi 88 mm
uban qat thumb-hand 5 uban 100 mm
30 shusi = 25 uban
fist
šusi fist short fist 6 šusi 90 mm
shusi fist median fist 6 shusi 100 mm
sheshi fist long fist 6 sheshi 106 mm
uban fist thumb-fist 6 uban 120 mm
36 shusi = 30 uban
span
šu-dù-a span (‘hands’ + ‘to stack’) 10 šusi 150 mm
zipaþ span 10 shusi 167 mm
zapaþ šu.bad span 10 sheshi 176 mm
zipaþ span 10 uban 200 mm
quarter (span of outstretched thumb and little finger)
ñušur shaftment 15 šusi 220.5 mm
šu-dù-a shaftment 12 shusi 250 mm
foot
ñušur foot 20 šusi 300 mm
šu-dù-a foot
18 shusi ≈ 304.8 mm
18½ shusi ≈ 308.4 mm
ñiš tool rod 17 sheshi 300 mm
ñìri foot 15 uban = 3 gat = ½ cubit 300 mm
cubit
ku ordinary cubit 30 shusi= 25 uban= 6 ordinary qat= 5 long qat 500 mm
kus cubit 36 shusi = 30 uban 600 mm
kùš ‘hand’ + ‘arm’
hand and forearm, as a unit of measurement, ell/cubit
šu-da ell/cubit 2 gat of a cubit of 5 gat divided into 30 shusi
double remen
ñìr step; way, path 60 shusi = 50 uban = 1 m
kùš-numun 2 ñiš-bad = 1 m
ñidri+ uru9 ‘support’; úr, ‘leg(s)’; pace = 1.5 m
ñìri…gub to step on ‘foot’ + ‘to stand’ = 3 m
qanu 6 ammat = 3.6 m
še ñiš-è-a ‘grain’ + ‘stick’ + ‘to exit from’ + nominative harvested grain that has just been threshed and only roughly measured with a stick
gi reed (circular + to sprout) 6 cubits = 3 m
éše, éš[šè] rope; measuring tape/cord 10 nindan rods = 20 reeds = 120 cubits
Area measure square roots
side of the ordinary iku 60 ordinary 30 m
side of the ordinary iku 60 qanu = 1/6 sos
side of the great iku 60 qanu 36 m
Other
sos = 360 ganu ≈ 180 m
parasang = 30 sos ≈ 5.4 km
kapsu = 2 parasang ≈ 10.8 km

Sumerian area measure

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  • 1 uzalag
  • 1 uzalak: = 1/4 of an iku = 25 sar
  • 1 še: barley; grain; = 432 square linear barleycorns = 12 square uban
  • 1 ubu : = 1/2 of an iku (= 50 sar).
  • 1 sar:
  • 1 šar: 'garden plot' = 1 square ninda
  • 1 square ninda = 60 surface shekels = 1/100 iku
  • 1 square ninda = 4 square reeds = 144 square cubits
  • 1 iku: = 3600 meters2 = 100 sar = 1 square 'rope' = 1/18 bùr
  • (plural Akk. form of ég, ék, 'levee').
  • 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)
  • (eš, 'much', + eš, 'much') [ŠE3 archaic frequency: 152].
  • nindan,
  • ninda: rod = 12 cubits (kùš) = 6 meters; one side of a sar
  • šar, 'garden plot' square measure
  • from Akk. middatu, mindatu, 'to measure'

Sumerian volume measure

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  • 1 gur = 1 square ninda times 1 kùš = 144 kùš3
  • 1 gur = 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'
  • 1 èše: = 6 iku.
  • 1 bùr: = 18 iku = 3 éše = 1800 sar
  • the amount of land that supported a family
  • 1 bùru from Akkadian buuru IV, "hunger",
  • bii/eeru IV, "space, distance"
  • gána, gán: tract of land, field parcel;
  • (flat) surface, plane; measure of surface; shape, outline;
  • cultivation = iku = gan- field" GAN2
  • 1 ma-na-tur: little mina = 1/3 shekel = 60 surface še = 720 square uban
  • 1 a-ñá-ri-in: a flat area measured in sar
  • 1 ñarim
  • 1 A-ñar:
  • 1 e5-ñar
  • 1 gín-tur: little shekel = 1/60 shekel = 1/3600 square nindan
  • 1 sar = 3 surface še = 36 square fingers
  • 1 sar = surface of the side of a cube of 1 sìla capacity.

Akkadian length

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  • 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 : = 6 ropes = 60 nindan rods.

Akkadian area

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  • 2 : = 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

Akkadian volume

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