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III

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES

I.

WEIGHTS

1 shekel	=	180 šê.
1 mina	=	60 shekels.
1 talent	=	60 minas.

The weight of the mina may be reckoned in round numbers as 500 grams.

II.

MEASURES OF CAPACITY

*Early Scale*
1 GIN	=	180 šê (?).
1 ḲA	=	60 GIN.
1 GUR	=	300 ḲA.

*Later Scale*
1 GUR	=	180 ḲA.

III.

MEASURES OF LENGTH

1 ell (U)	=	60 ubanu.
1 ânu	=	6 ells.
1 GAR	=	2 ânu.
1 KASBU	=	1,800 GAR.

On other measures see , ii., pp. 197-218. The ell is about half a metre.

IV.

MEASURES OF SURFACE

1 GIN	=	180 šê.
1 SAR	=	60 GIN.
1 GAN	=	1,800 SAR.

The area of the SAR was one GAR square, or 6 metres square. Areas were also measured by the amount of corn required to sow them, or their average yield, that is by the GUR and ḲA.

V.

MEASURES OF TIME

1 day	=	12 double hours.
1 month	=	30 days, average.
1 year	=	12 months, average.

Further details may be obtained from Zimmern’s Das Princip unserer Zeit-und Raumteilung, in the Berichten d. philolog. histor. Classe d. Königl. Sächs. Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig. November 14, 1901.

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III: WEIGHTS AND MEASURES - Rev. Claude Hermann Walter Johns, Babylonian and Assyrian Laws, Contracts and Letters [1904]

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