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Untouchable or Unrepeatable? The Upper End of the Old Babylonian Metrological Systems for Capacity and Area

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2014

Grégory Chambon  and
Eleanor Robson
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Abstract

This article re-examines the cuneiform evidence for the upper end of the Old Babylonian metrological systems for capacity and area. We demonstrate that the reading 1(šar2) gal šu nu-tag “one large šar2 that the hand cannot touch” is not supported by that evidence, and show instead that the phrase's final sign is not tag but gi4 “return” or “repeat”. We then consider several likely interpretations of this reading, arguing that the size of the largest units in both systems is probably sixty times smaller than previously assumed, but nevertheless more than adequate for practical needs. Editions of two important metrological cuneiform texts are appended.

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Type
Research Article
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IRAQ , Volume 73 , 2011 , pp. 127 - 147
Copyright
The British Institute for the Study of Iraq © 2011

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