A SURVEY OF PUBLICATIONS ON

SUMERO-AKKADIAN MATHEMATICS,
METROLOGY AND RELATED MATTERS
(1854-1982)

Jl>ran Friberg
Department of mathematics
CTH-GU, S-412 96 GOteborg
Sweden

September 1982
 i

A Survey of Publicat:'ons en Sumero-Akkadian 14ath::.unatics, Metrology

and Related Ma~te.rsJ.1.8~1___1282) .

By Jijran Fribcrq
1. Early studies of !.:::~§...iri~!l!:.-.Babylonian, and Suroerian metrology.
The study of cuneiform mathematical texts began at an early stage
of the history of Assy...:"iology. AS early as in 1855, H.C. Rawlinson pub-
lished a table of squores from a tablet excavated the year before by
W.K. Loftus at Senkereh (Lax-sa)., Later, a second t&blet from Senkereh
was published and dis=ussed over several years by G. Smith, R. Lepsius,
Th.G. Pinches and others. This second tablet contained on one side
tables of cubes, squares, and square roots and on the other side
"metrological tables" for length measures. Such metrological tables
were, eventuallYi understood to be aids for the conversion of quanti-
. ties expressed in the ~arious units of a measure system into sexa-
gesimal multiples of some basic unit, and vice versa, all for the
sake of easier computations. The study of the multitude of compli-
cated systems of notations us~d in cuneiform texts for numbers as 'VlelI
as for measures of length, area, weight, and capacity, was to continu~
past the end of the ni~eteenth century. It is, in a sense, still going
on today (Powell' ZA [1982]}. For this study were used not only the
few preserved me"l"olcgical tablo3 that had been found in excavations,
but also a wea.lth of ether As~yri.an, Ba.bylonian and, ultimately, Sume-
rian documents. These could be i~ the form of economical or legal cu-
neiform texts, and of inscript:i.or,s on field plans or boundary stones
and other monuments .. Not:able contributions in thi.s respect were made
by J. Oppert, c. P. T... 0hmann, G. R(~isner, and I after them, by F.H. Weiss-
bach, F.-M. Allotte de la Fuye, A. Deimel, and last but not least F.
Thureau-Da.ngLn. The latter collected his views on the subject in the
comprehensive paper "Numeration et metrologie sumeriennes", RA 18 1921.
2. Metrological information. in monolingual and bilingual lexical texts ..
An independent source of information al.-out the many cuneiform
systems of numbers or meaStll:'es was provided by sections of bilingual
or monolingual lexical texts devoted to such matters. In many cases
a lexical text ~Jould give both the sign form, i.e. the standard cunei,.·
form notation, and the Sumerian ?',nd/or Akkadian pronunciation, for
each member of some linguistically coherent group of numerals (in-
cluding fractions) or measures. The first examples of such lexical
lists were published by E. Norris, F. Delitzsch, F. Lenormant, B.
Meissner, and v. Scheil, and they were used by G. Bertin, C.F. Leh-
 11

mann, and others, in their phonetical studies of Sumerian and Akka-

dian number words. In more recent times, similar material has been
included in Akkadian dictionaries (CAD, AHw), in comprehensive edi-
tions of Sumerian and .Akkadian lexical texts (MSL), etc" Of parti-
cular interest in this connection is M.A. Powell's dissertation
Sumerian Numeration and Metrology, 1971, which to a large e~tbuilds
on material from the lexical texts. Powell is also the first one,
after Thureau-Dangin, who has devoted himself seriously to think-
ing about ;the nature of the Sumero-Akkadian measure systems and
notations for numbers and measures (see, for instance, "Sumerian area
measures and the alleged decimal substratum", ZA 62 1972).
3. The Esagila tablet with the measures of the ziqqurat in Babylon.
A "metrological" text of great interest but unusually difficult
to int.erpret. is the "Esagila Tablet tt, which gives the dimensions of the
.ziqqurrat in Babylon. This t.ablet was first described by G. Smith in 1876,
after which it disappeared. It was rediscovered and published by V.
Scheil in 1914, and then again by Thureau-Dangin in 1922. Other names
connected with the study of this important text are Weissbach (1914),
s. H. Langdon (1918), W. von Soden (1971), and, mst recently, Powell [1982 J.
It was called by Powell Ha key document for Babylonian metrology".
4. Babyloni.an multiplication. tables and tables of ·'reciprocals".
A great step forward in the writing of the history of Babylonian
mathematics was taken with the publication by H.V. Hilprecht in BE
20/1 1906 of two big groups of cuneiform table texts, one from the
Isin (early OB) period, the other from the later Kassite period. The
collection contained 20 multiplication tables, 3 tables of recipro-
cals ("division tables"), two tables of squares and square roots, 15
metrological tables, and one algorithm text (further discussed below).
However, due to an incomplete understanding of the principles behind
the Babylonian system of notation used for sexagesimal numbers, Hilp-
recht was in many cases unable to give a correct interpretation of
the details of organization of the table texts he published. Thus,
Hilprecht's imaginative interpretation of his "division tables" was
not rejected until V. Scheil in RA 12 1915 was able to describe the
real character of a Babylonian table of reciprocals. Als~1 the idea be-
hind the organization of the big combined sexagesimal multiplication
tables remained hidden until o. Neugebauer in QS B 1 1930/1931 could
show that a close connection exists between such combined multipli-
cation tables and the standard table of reciprocals.
5. Babylonian mathematical algorithm texts.
 ii!

The algorithm text published by Hilprecht, the very early OB tab-

let CBM 10201, was observed by Scheil in RA 13 1916 to be·an example
of a clever iterative .method to compute the reciprocal of a given
(regular) sexagesimal number, and to derive a series of reciprocal
pairs from an initially given pair of reciprocal numbers. Scheil's
observation was subsequently confirmed by several other (younger)
texts published later, in particular by the very explicit algorithm
text CBS 1215 presented by A.J. Sachs in JCS 1 1947. Another impor-
tant algorithm text,. IstS 428, published by Scheil in ~ 1902,
was correctly interpreted first when P. Huber in EM 3 1957 was able
to show that it is an example of t~hc employment of a certain factori-
zation method fer the3 extrac·tto:n c,f squa_ce roots. A comment on the
choic~ of data in thi.s particular application of the method can be

found :tn J. F::cibo5::'g H:t-'~ 8 1981.

6. ~abylonian mat_h.ematical cuneiform texts, Eubl1shed 1900-1935.

The first mathematical cuneiform texts to be published, other
than table texts and algor1trun texts, were the collections of Old Ba-
bylon!an mathematical problems BM 85194 and BM 85210 (L.W. King eT
9 1900). For several reasons (lack of understanding of the Babylonian
sexagesimal notation, unfamiliarity with the specific mathematical
meaning of otherwise kn.own Akkadian or Surnerian words or logograms,
the use of abbreviation.s in the often very lapidary:texts, etc.), these
problem texts turned out to be very difficult to understand, and they
remained untransliterated and uninterpreted for a long time. A first
breakthrough came in 1916, when E. Weidner (OLZ 19 1916) managed to
give an essentially correct interpretation of two geometrical pro-
blems from the text VAT 6598, probably helped by the presence on the
tablet of line draw~ngs illustrating the problems. In two other papers
in the same issue of OLZ, H. Zimmern and A. Ungnad followed up with a
number of linguisti.c improvements to Weidnerts article and even made
some comparisons with problems from the big mathematical texts in
f! 9. A further imp(~tus came from the publication of the unique text
BM 15285 (C.J .. Gadd RA 19 1922) with its many geometric diagrams and
brief accompanying texts (later joined by an additional 1,arge frag-
ment. in Saggs RA 54 1960). Gadd' s text gave visual clues to the meaning
of many geometric terms, and hint.ed at an unexpected sophistication
of Babylonian mathematics. Eo. Peet's modern edition of the Egyptian
"Rhind Mathemati~al Papyrus appeared in the following year, 1923. It
t
•

demonstrated how relatively advanced Egyptian mathematics was at a

time roughly corresponding to the Old Babylonlan (OB) period in Meso-
 iv

potamia. And thenCe Frank published, in strKT 1928, the six "Strass-
burger" texts, small OB tablets with only one or a few mathematical
problems on each tablet. The presence of line drawings onc'e more faci-
litated the interpretation. This was given by O. Neugebauer in QS B
1 1929. The same year, Neugebauer analyzed, together with V.V. Struve,
some of the problems on the big tablet BM 85194 which clearly showed
that the "theorem of Thales" and the "Pythagorean theorem" were known
and applied in OB geometrys Sensationally, H.-S. Schuster was then able
to show (in QS B 1 1931) that quadratic equations were posed and corr-
ectly solved in OB mathematical texts. Schuster based his arguments
on problems from the OB StrKT and C! 9 texts, but he was able to iden-
tify problems leading to quadratic :>quations also in the nearly 1500
years Y0unger SE:~leuctd mdthemat 1 text. AD 6484, published by F .. Thu-
reau-Dangin in ~ 6 '1.922. Deriving from Thureau-Dangin are also seve-
~al other publications of important mathematical cuneiform texts: the

early OB prism AO J1862 (RA 29 1932), the small tablet AO 17264 with its
sophisticat.ed "six brothers" problem (RA 31 1934), the big text with
mixed problems BM 85196, and the systematically arranged algebraic
text BM 13901 (RA 32 1935, 33 1936). In addition, Thureau-Dangin pub-
lished in TCL 6 1922 the "six-place" table of reciprocals AO 6456
from Seleucid Uruk (cf. Neugebauer QS B 1 1931, Friberg HM 8 1981, 465).
7. funeiform mat,hem~tical texts published in MKT and MeT I 1935-1945 ..
All the important mathematical cuneiform texts mentioned above
were analyzed in Neugebauer's massive volumes MKT 1-2 1935, 3 1937,
which included also the first publication of two new big tablets with
mixed mathematical problems (the. joined text. BM 85200 + VAT 6599,
and the Seleucid text ~~34?6~),many new table texts, several smaller
VAT-texts from Berlin, and a number of "series texts" from the YBC-
collection in New Haven, Conn. A fascinating account is given by
Neugebauer in 9.§. B 3 1934 of his work with the difficult interpre-
tation of the exhaustingly systematic and extremely abbreviated lists
of problems, mostly algebraic, in the series texts. Complementary
to the publication c~f ~K~ 1-3 was the appearance of Thureau-Dangin t s
!MB 1938, with many improvements, mathematical as well as linguistic,
of Neugebauer's translations and interpretations. The next big step
forward was taken with the publication by Neugebauer and A.J. Sachs
of Mc'r 1945, with many new texts from American museums in Chicago,
Philadelphia, New Haven, etc. (museum numbers beginning with ~; CBS,
or MLC, ~BC, YBC ... ). Particularly interesting in this new volume
are the mathematical-practical itlists of constants If YBC 50. 22 , 7243,
 v

and the famous tablet Plimpton 322, which proved beyond doubt that
the mathematical discipline called number theory has Babylonian ori-
gins. (Cf. the paper by S. Gandz on "Indeterminate analysis in Baby-
Ionian mathematics", Osiri~ 8 1948.) In MC! is included also a chap-
ter by A.Goetze on "The Akkadian dialects of the Old-Babylonian
mathematical texts", which allows a tentative grouping of many of
the MKT and .MC! texts with respect to age and geographic origin.
An often exaggeratedly critical but occasionally clever and con-
structive review of !:1_~.T is contained in a paper by H. Lewy in OrNS
18 1949* Other interesting complements to the discussion in MeT are
contained in a sho.rt note by Sachs in BASOR 96 1944.

8 •.~e~_ts from museums in the ,~l;tL_~:~,:ubJ,;,.t ',?hed after 1945.

i~f·GQ? }hn t
/l. r1:l·i~'~~~Ll.·on
: : , ..i... ...... ,u..
,.• '~... I, •· ....n;... - of Mv'r
. 2 - 1_~
: a-na~ V~T only a handful of new
>,) ~

Babylonian mathematical texts from American and European museums have

-been published: by Sachs in JNES 5 1946 (a small table of diminutive
rectangular areas), in JCS 1 1947 (texts concerned with the algorithm
for computation of pairs of reciprocal numbers), and in ~~~ 6 1952
(a table of approximate reciprocals to irregular numbers, and a text
with an algorithm for extraction. of cube roots by factorization); by
W.F. Leemans and E.M. Bruins in CRRA 2 1951 (a small text about con-
centric circles, possibly having to do with indeterminate quadratic
equations); by A.A. Vafman in ~V 10 1955 (a tablet with a series of
drawings of triangles divided into parallel strips--a similar text
was published by Bruins in CPD 1951 1 and a tablet with a drawing of
a single subdivided triangle was presented by Va~man in EV 12 1958):,
a9ain byVarman in his very attractive book 1961 (in particular SVM
the new compilatory text Erm 15073 with eight problems, among which
is a problem recognized by VaYman as a "two-way trapezoid partition
problem't); by Pigulla and Martin in UET 5 1953 (several texts, iden-
tified by Vatman in SVM as mathematical problem texts written uin
Sumerian", cf section 10 below); by A~ Draffkorn Kilmer in OrNS 29
1960 (two new "lists of constants"); by T.G. Pinches, posthumously,
in ~ 1955 (a number of fragments of Seleucid "six-place lt tables of
reciprocals, etc., edited by Sachs (three further fragments were pub-
lished by A. Aaboe in JCS 19 1965), and in eT 44 1963 (a "catalO9"Ue
text" of quadratic equations for squares and circles, ef Friberg JCS
[1982). Of great interest, finally, is the discussion in Valman DV
2 1976 of an obscure pOint in pr.1 of the unique "sketchy" text VAT
8522 (concerning the links between the OB measures of volume and ca-
pacity,and the meaning of an enigmatic phrase in one of the lists of
 vi

constants). Worth mentioning here is also K. Vogel's book Vorgriech-

ische Mathematik 2 1959.
---.~.---~

9. Texts of known provenance, published after 1950.

On p. 60 of his book The EacL~S: iences in Ant igui!y {2nd ed.,
(1957)1969), Neugebauer remarks that "until 1951 not for a single
astronomical or mathematical (cuneiform) text was its provenance
established by excavation". 'rhe situation changed when T. Baqir,
in §.~!!~!: 6 1950 I 7 1951, 18 1962 , published a number of small OB
mathematical tablets from the new sites Tell Harmal and Tell Dhiba 1 i,
similar in content to previously published tablets, yet clearly dis-
tinc:rL:<L~<"lable from those in sty~. ~,n(;. fo '0 t", Other tablets of the same
general appearsLce were observed by Bruins in the Iraq Museum, Bagh-
dad, cH1d pub st:<':d in Sume~ 9 1953, 10 1954. Together with M. Rutten,
Bruins publi.shed also Mb~ 34 (!~§), a collection of 26 unusually
sophisticated mathematical texts, dating from the OB period but ex-
cavated in Susa. (in south-west. Iran) in 1936 by R. de Mecquenem. The
uniqueness of the TMS texts is made clear by the fact that the only
other cuneiform mathematical texts known to have a non-Mesopotamian
origin are the "school exercises" from Susa in P.E. van der Meer MD~ 27
1935, the strange metrological tables, also from Susa, in Scheil
.~A 35 1938, and the metrological tables from Ugarit (Syria) pub-
lished by J .. Nougayrol in ,UgaI:~): ic~ 5 1968. In addit ion, of course,.
there are the recently published mathematical tablets from Ebla,
about which more will be said below. (The tablets from Ugarit re-
semble a metrological tablet from Assur, which was published by o.
Schroeder in KAV 1920, in that they presuppose the use of a decimal
system of numeration. Cf. also, in this respect, the unusual Late-
Babylonian metrological tables in Hunger STU 1 1973. Still another
recently published metrological text is the nearly intact big table
for area measures in s. Greengus 1s~chal~ 1979. Further could be
mentioned, in this context, the table of reciprocals from Mari in M.
B.i.rot ARMT 9 1960, the table of square roots from Kisurra in B. Kie-
nast bBUl\ 19 1978, and the short list of constants in D.O. Edzard
!el~ e~-D~E. 1970.) An interesting and useful review of TMS is given in
!3_!..Q~. 21 1964 by W.. von Soden, who similarly reviewed MKrr 1-3 and
TMB in ZDMG 91 1937, 93 1939. After TMS and the tablet from Tell
Dhiba'i, no further mathematical cuneiform text from recent excava-
tions have been published r apart from the pre-Babylonian texts dis-
cussed on the following pages. However, a new tablet from Tell Haddad 1
 vii

wi th a number of mixed problems I and some smaller texts I are present'-

ly being prepared for publication by M.D. Roaf and 1"'. ar-Rawi, with
the cooperation of J. Friberg.
10.. Sumerian and Akkadian . (Ere-Baby_loniarL) mathematical texts.
I quote again from the book ESA (2nd ed. (1957)1969), p .. 49, where
Neugebauer says! ~There exists a single fragment of a mathematical
text written in Sumerian (MKT I p. 234f.). Because Sumerian was still
practiced in the schools of the Old-Babylonian period nothing can
be concluded from such a text for the Sumerian origin of Mesopota-
mian mathematics. The same holds for the exceedingly frequent use
of Sumerian words and phrases throu!'~;hOt;t all periods." The fragment
mentiored by Neugebauer is tts ~r CR 1} text CBM 12648 from
Hilprecht BE 20/1. 190( 6 v7hich 'V'las left untranslated and uninterpreted
. in MKT 1. Ac':.ua.l:.y, ,... I remark tn. my review below of MKT I, this
unique text contains a problem that can be reconstructed, and in
which the sides of a rectangular solid figure are computed (by way
of the solution of a cubic equation), given the ratios between the
sides in addition to the volume. As the solid turns out to have the
dimensions (1/2 x 1/3 x 1/6 cubic cubits) of a common type of bricks, thif'
"Sumerian n mathematical text provides a link between the many OB
mathematical "brick texts" in MKT and MeT and Ur III economic texts
dealing with bricks, such as for instance the two tablets discussed
by Scheil in RA 12 1915. In addition to the CBM tablet, many of the
series texts of the YBC and VAT collections (in MKT 1-3) are written
entirely or rilmost entirely with Sumerian words and phra.ses, but as
they lack, as a rule, all Sumerian grammatical elements, they cannot
wi th certainty be clas sed as true Snmer ian texts. An often repeated
argument (see, in part icular I \/oge1 t!~i 18 1958) is that the use in
mathematical cuneiform texts of words like "upper" for what is really
"left", etc., is a proof of the allegation that the origin of Baby-
lonian mathematics must be ascribed t.o some time early in the Sumerian
period, when the cuneiform script was still written in a vertical
";1\\ ,'\
direction. This argument is now no longer valid without qualifica-
tion t after the publication of picchioni I s paper in Or~.~ ,49 1980,
where it is contended that vertical writing was still in use at the
beginning of the OB period. (Cf. for example the inscription on the
OB jar which was used by J.N. Postgate in Jraq 40 1978 for a compu-
tation of the absolute value of the OB capacity unit.) Nevertheless,
the pre-Babylonian origin of several central themes in "Babylonian
 viii

mathematics" can hardly any longer be put in doubt. It is only the

theory of quadratic equations, with its many algebraic and geometric
applications, that cannot yet with certainty be traced back to a date
before the early OB period. Thus, it is probably not an empty boast, when
the Ur III king Sulgi in a royal hymn (see Castellino Two 5u19i h~ns
1972) claims that he is skilled in many things, in particular accomp-
lished in Usubtracting, adding, counting and accounting", etc. Cf. in
this connection the ext.remely interest1ng paper by A. Sjoberg in ASum
20 1975, "The Old Babylonian eduba". It contains explicit quotations
from an uexaminattion t~:~.xt U and some so called ·'dialogue texts", where
the curriculum of the OB school (t:.he e- dub - bet or • tablet house I) is
described in considerable detaiJ, SUffi2r1an, with an interesting enu-
~.~

merat,i')J1 c.,f, in :part.-' cu~]a!. InatJ':'!11(,t:'ical -c.erms such as a-Ita .ig1.. igi-ba
,lgi-g~b-ba, etc~ Four importa~t early OB mathematical texts, written
entirely in Sumerian, were discussed for the first time in Va!-
man's book ~VM 1961, among them the quite sophisticated UET 5 121
(Figulla and Martin 1953)e From the Sargonic period are four other
mathematical texts~ which were published in H. Limet !:tude 1973 and
further discussed by M.. Powell in HM 3 1976, small tablets with appa-
rently simple" but really quite sophisticated, geometric-metrological
exercise.s .. A fifth Sargonic tablet of similar type is MAD 5 112
(Gelb 1970), a geometric exercise involving very big numbers. This
text has so· far, unfortunate.ly, proved impossible to understand (un-
less it con·tains a serious nurnerical error) '" A sixth example is HS
.§15 in Pool 1'MH 51935 (see again Powel1 1976). Slightly older than
this small group of Sargonic exercise texts is probably the mathema-
t ical····metrological table of squares (or rather square areas) alP
14 70 (Luckenbill 1930; cf. the interpretation by Edzard in Fest-
schrift V.SOdEH~ 1969)t \vhich is a verit.able treasure trove of early
Sumerian metrologic<ll notations. An even older table of square areas
is the well known Para text VAT 12593 (Delmel Inschr.Fara 2 =: SF 1923
n82). Interestingly enough, another Fara t~ablet contains an area com-
puta.tion probably based on data from just such a table of square
areas, namely rrss 188 (see my comm.entary to Jf~stin 1937). Jestin's
book TS~ contains in addition two other well known mathematical Fara
t ex t .s, 'h e
t.. ~.
I"a1r 1.?..:>~ ,::>tL
1 e'~' ,- d
an r c~ 671
.r:::"~':. __ f . h
\vl.t ' eren t so
two d'l ff it u'
,10ns .t 0
the same mathematical-metrological division problem. Attempts to
reconstruct. the division algorithms used in these two parallel texts
have been published by G. Guitel (.FA 57 1963), Powell (HM 3 1976),
and J. Hv5yrup O:!!:.1 9 1982). A non-mathematical text from the Fara
 ix

period, finally, which nevertheless is of mathematical interest, is

the sheep text IM 81438, published by R.D. Biggs and J.N. Postgate
in Iraq 40 1978~ This text gives the oldest known example of the
use of the tfSemit.ic u decimal hybrid system of number notation, and
also an early example of the simultaneous use of cuneiform and curvi-
form or "round" number signs (as in the texts from Ebla) •
11" Mathema.'tical texts from Ebla (the middle of the third millennium) ·
Out of the many thousands of tablets that were excavated at now
famous Ebla (Syria) just some years ago, only three have so far been
identified as mathematical texts. On the other hand, each one of
these three texts is of the greatest importance from the point of
view t hat has been a.dopted in this s'~'_·vey .. One of these, TM. 75. G. 2198 I is
D. slna.l J m(~nolin,::;ual Jexlci21 1> x~ ',,j.t'l. th.:::: first ten Sumerian cardi-
nal numbe:.cs in syllabic spelling, but as such valuable because of
its great antiqLity~ Indeed, the lexical list on this tablet was com-
posed when Surnerian was still a living language. Commentaries to
the text can be found in Edzard 5Eb 3 1980, Pettinato MEE 3 1981.
The interpretation of the second mathematical text from Ebla. on the
other hand, turned out to be more problematic. It has been explained
in various ways in articles by A. Archi (SEb 3 1980), by Pettinato
and by I .. Vino and T. Viola (MEE 3 1981), and by F .M. Fales (SEb [1982]),
However, a simple comparison with the notations used in a number of
Sumerian texts from the Fara period suggests that this text, too,
is a kind of lexical list, namely of Sumerian number notations for
big numbers. (In particular, the comparison with the Sumerian usage
shows tha<t the text in one case list.s two notations for the same big
number.) The text is of special interest because it may be an abort-
ive attempt to figure out a notation for the (unrealistically big)
number 60 4 (about 13 millions). 'rhis interpretation is confirmed by
the observation that TM~75.G.1700, an economic Ebla text published
by Archi. in CRRA (1981) [1982], seems to indicate that there existed
a number word in the Eblaite decimal number system for a hundred
thousand, but not for a million. The third of the mathematical Ebla
texts is !~~1...5.G~!}9.?, which has been claimed by F. Pomponio in MEE
3 1981 to be a metrological table for Eblaite capacity measures. A
closer analysis reveals instead that the text contains an example
of the use of a clever algorithm for the division (with round-off)
of a big decimal number by a small "non-regular" decimal number
(namely in this case 33). If the interpretation is correct, then it
follows that Eblaite mathematicians at the middle of the third mill-
 x

ennium B.C. were experimenting with what we would call, in modern

mathematical terminology, "representations of non-regular rational
numbers by periodic non~terminating decimal fractions"" However, all
praise should not go to the Eblaites. In factI the parallelity of
the third mathematical tablet from Ebla and the pair of division
texts 1'S~~.Q_ and !§~$__§11. from Suruppak is so obvious that it may be
reasonabl(~ to a.ssume that rnathemat icians of the F'ara period in Sumer
were equally familiar with the approximation of non-regular rational
numbers by sexagesimal fractions. Let me finally mention also the
interesting paper in QrA_l!.~ 19 1980, in w'hich Pomponio shows that,
in the Eblaite system of notations for capacity measures, the frac-
;.JJ'l n s of a shekel h r i t ten a;,; ;t -- N v 3 - 1\[ I 4 -NI, 5 - NI, 6 - NI, must
~1tdnj fe: , L'e;..iIl~c:tj"'elYI 2/3 { It "L/3, 1/4, 1/5, and 1/6 of a shekel.
12. Prot_o-·S\11';}~~r-7t~.n and. proto-Ela:mlte metrology (c.. 3000 B.C.).
_ _ . . " ' ... _",,, _ _ _ - . . _ " - " ' ' ' ' •• , ..''' "L~_' -...--.,' .. '''.~t .. ___.,~ ...

Over the years, many more or less well-founded attempts to ex-

plain the origin of the Sumero-Akkadian sexagesirnal system of nume-
ration have been published by a number of authors. See, for instance,
Neugebauer ~G~g 13 1927 I Thureau-~Dangin §.sg,uisss: 1932, H. Lewy JAO§.
69 1949, and, most recently, Powell VL 6 1972. Actually, as pointed
out by Pawell, the problem has several different aspects: it is
#

necessary to discuss separately the late Sumerian (7) origin of the

Sumero-Babylonian positional sexagesi.mal system (cf. powell HM 3
1976), the early Sumerian (7) origin of the written sexagesimal sys-
tem of number nota.tions, and finally, the not necessarily directly
related, and spd.rely documented t history of Sumerian (Akkadian; etc.)
spoken systems of numeration~ It is also important to keep in mind
Neugebauer's observation (op_ cit~) that the history of the sexage-
simal system is intimately associated with the history of the various
Sumero-Akkadian metrological systems. With our present state of know-
ledge, this means that we have to take into consideration the struc-
ture of the metrological systems for length, area, and capacity
that are documented in texts from the end of the fourth millennium
B.C., that is, in texts from the Uruk IV and Jemdet Nasr periods, in
Sumer and neighboring Elam (Iran). No texts clearly documenting the
use of a system of notation for weight measures during tHe "proto-
literate" period have so far been published. It is difficult to say
what the significance is of this circumstance. Note, for instance,
l ~ +
the observation by M. Dahood, in ~~chives_ 1981~' that the term 'mina'
for a well known Sumero-Akkadian weight unit, may very well be
"Canaanite" in origin. As for the other metrological systems of the
 xi

prato-literate period, to begin with only the systems for length and
area were well understood, as they are identical with the correspon-
ding classical Sumerian systems. The structure of the system for
capacity measures, on ·the other hand, was for a long time completely
misinterpreted, due to an erroneous "proof" in van der Meer RA 33
1936 of the alleged decimal character of this system. This in-
correct view was still prevailing when Varman wrote his otherwise
very informative papers on proto-literate metrology in VDI 3 1972
and 13thMKI~ 1974. Not until in Friberg DM.§ 1978 was it shown that
the basically identical proto-Sumerian and proto-Elamite capacity
systems of the Jemdet Nasr' period (and the preceding Uruk period ?)
had a kind of inverted sexagesimal. structure, with the su6cessive
(1),60,180, lOx 180, •••
"prot6-ban" units. The fractional parts of a smaller qnit, equal to
- 1/5 such proto-ban unit, Wf-Jre written I physically, as 2, 3, 4 I 5, or
6 "eyes~ (this is true for the proto-Sumerian system only), fore-
shadowing the classical Sumerian 'igi-n-g~l' notation, in which n
runs from 3 to 6 (and the Eblaite 'n-NI' notation as well). With
the correct interpretation of the proto-literate capacity system,
it became possible for the first time to understand in every de-
tail the nature of the computations on a large number of proto-
Sumerian and proto-Elamite account tablets. Perhaps the best example
of this is the big Pbread and beer" text rH 23426 published by A.
Falkenstein in OLZ 40 1937~ (The lack of signatures on this tablet
makes it quite likely that it is an advanced mathematical-metrologi-
cal exercise text.,) New in Friberg .Q.~g 1978 was also the observation
that a decimal system of numeration was used in proto-Elamite (but
not (!) in contemporary proto-Sumerian) texts, exclusively in con-
nection with counting of (probably) animals. (ef .. Vaiman VDI 3 1972 8
where the simultaneous existence of decimal and sexagesimal counting
in proto-Elamite texts is noted, but not correctly explained.) It
is important to point .out that the met.rologi.cal and numerational
systems in use in the proto-literate texts may actually predate the
invention of writing .. Thus, clear examples can be found on so called
"numerical" or ~impressed" clay tablets (the immediate p~edecessors

of the inscribed tablets of the Uruk IV period) of the use of the

~proto-literate" capacity system described above, both fractional
units <.godin...-!~~,pe 71...:191; ef .. Weiss and Young Iran 13 1975) and
higher units (§b 2313. from Susa; ef .. MD~ 43 922, Amiet 1972). The use
of the proto-Elamite decimal system on impressed tablets is also
 xii.

documented (SB 6299, MDP 43 666). All the mentioned examples are
reproduced in photographs in D. Schmandt-Besserat VL 15 1981.
13. Pre-literate numeration and metrology: clay tokens and bullae.
In JNES 17 1958, A~Lo Oppenheim made public his view that the
hollow clay ball tISS 16 449 with its original content of 48 little
"stones h
that matched an inscription naming 48 small cattle, must
have been a device for recording and documentation in the Nuzi ad-
ministration (middle of the second millennium B.C.,. He also made
references to certain entries in a bilingual lexical text,
.. which may
be interpreted as giving the Sumerian and Akkadian names of various
counting boards on which "stones" of a similar kind were used as
~'L::jl>'~"'rt; • Later, ir:i~rc;:.!2~gl~9i:..c:'( }.2 -; 966'1od ~lam 1966 f Amiet made
the c:ruc 1 obscrvntion tLat th,~ "s:-.. herical bulla" Sb 1927 \vas a pre-
litera.te document (re~~embling th,e much later Nuzi bulla in that it
contained a number of stones and had a matching impression on its
outer surface). The lack of a proper inscription in the case of the
archaic document from Susa was compensated by the fact that the
stones it contained were of a number of different shapes: one big
and three small cones, and three disks. Hence, Amiet drew the con-
clusion that such stones, or rather formed pieces of clay, of several
shapes and sizes, l~(:::re symbols for: various kinds and quanties of
traded commodi t ies ~ This idea was ta.ken up by Schmandt -Besserat in
a series of articles (seer for instance tel::JA 83 1979)
and it soon t

b(~ca.me clear tha.t the clay bulla wi th its content of clay symbols
was a very "late" innovation, on the threshold to the invention of
writ.ing in the second half of the fourth millennium. In fact, "loose u
tokens of clay in the form of cones, disks, spheres, or rods, could
be shown to have been in use over the whole Middle East, continuous-
ly since the seventh millennium and almost certainly as a means
B.C*I
of counting and documentation. Therefore, it now seems natural to
assume that the Sumero-Akkadian metrological and numerational sys-
tems of notation, "'Y'ith which we have been concerned above in this sur-
vey, were the direct descendants of an ancient system of record
keeping with its roots stretching much farther back than anybody
would have dared to guess just one or a few decades ago~ 'It is only
fair to add, however, that not all the interpretations offered by
Schmandt-Besserat of the existing pre-literate material are unopposed
and the final word on the subject. Polemizing against too hasty con-
clusions and contributing new i.mportant observations are, in parti-
cular, two interesting papers by MeA. Brandes in Akkadica 18 1980,
 xiii

and by S.J. Lieberman in AJ~ 84 1980. For the further development,

see for: instance the article by A. Le Brun and F. Vallat in DAF! 8
1978. There it is shown, with refererlce to excavations at'the Susa
Acropole, that, at least in this part of Elam,·the transitions, first
from envelopes (bullae) with seal impressions and containing clay
tokens to similar envelopes with impressed number notations, and then
from such envelopes to tablets with seal impressions and impressed
number signs, took place within a very short time period, correspond-
ing to th(:~ level Acr" 18. Impressed tablets with i.solated non-numeri-
cal signs began to appear shortly after that, in the level Acr.l?,
succeeded in levels Acr .16-14 by t.hc first inscribe.d tablets with
writing in the proto-Elamit~ scr r . T~8re is no reason to doubt
~~hat .,he (~.eveJr;;pll!ent in iV\8,S ;';m';,~~ ,"'; it ':;;e if followed a similar pattern.

-§~ary.
On the preceding pages, I have tried to write a brief historical
survey of what has been published during the last 125 years, or so,
in various books and journals, on the subject of "Sumero-Akkadian
mathematics, metrology and related mattersH~ As should be clear from
my division of the survey into subsections, my intention has been
to consider the following main topics:
1-3. The initial struggle t lasting half a century or more, to under-
stand the nature of the many diverse systems of expressing numbers
and measures, used in the cuneiform texts of the Sumerians and their
successors duri.ng tvlO and a half millennium.
4-5. The efforts to understand the method of construction and the
purpose of certain unusually complicated or enigmatic table texts
(combined multiplication tables 6 reciprocal tables, .• ,.) or algorithm
texts (computations of sequences of pairs of reciprocals, or of
Pythagorean triples, etc., square root extraction through factori-
zation, .... ).
6-8. The difficult work with the interpretation of OB and Seleucid
mathematical problem texts, culminating in the volumes of mathemati-
cal cuneiform tex.ts MKT 1-3, TMB, MeT (and TMS).
---- --- -- --
9--13. The escape from the limitations of the previous studies, as
new mathematical texts started coming in from controlled excavations,
not only in Mesopotamia but also in the neighboring countries, Iran
(Susa, .• ~), Syria (Ebla, Ugarit), etc., and as more and more texts
of mathematical interest were identified belonging to various pre-
Babylonian periods (Ur Ill, Sargonic, Fara, proto-literate). Thus,
 xiv.

as a result of the most recent developments, it now seems that a

fairly complete picture is emerging of the evolution of mathematical
and metrological ideas and practices in the Middle East, from the
pre-literate record keeping by use of clay tokens and all the way
to the very sophisticated Seleucid mathematical tables and problem
texts. •
* * '* '* ..
Bibliogr~£hy and reviews.
The bibliography that follows is designed so that it matches the pre-
ceding survey with regard to choice of topics. It is also chronologi-
cally arranged in order to stress the historical aspect, to make it
~o3sibJ9 to follow the progrps~ o~ ou~ ':nderstanding of and access
to the source water~al, and, a00ve all, to view every mentioned book
or article :lst t~~ background of what was known about the subject
·when it was written. I have not included more than a few references
to publications dealing with Babylonian astronomy, of which I am too
ignorant. Neither have I tried to write a bibliography of works on
Sumero-Akkadian metrology as such (efforts to determine the absolute
values of various weights and measures, comparisons between Mesopo-
, tamian weights and measures and those used in other later or contem-
porary cultures t etc.), or on the influence of Babylonian mathema-
tics on the early stages of development of Greek, Islamic, Hindu,
or Mediaeval European math.ematics ..
Within its given boundaries$ I have made the bibliography reasonably
complete .. Thus I for instance, some otherwise unimportant contribu-
tions have been mentioned just because of their historical interest
(they show when a certain aspect of the subject was first considered),
or because they are often mentioned in references in other publica-
tions (in which case a cross reference in the bibliography may elimi-
nate the need to read the publication at all). The abbreviations used
have, as far as possiblc t been chosen to conform with the abbrevia-
tions in R. Borger's HI$l: (Handbuch der Keilschriftliteratur 1-3,
1967-1975). It ought to be quite clear, otherwise too, that Borger's
HKL has been of invaluable help in my preparation of the bibliogra-
phy. As for the way of transliterating quotations of words or sen-
tences in Sumerian, Akkadian, etc., I have been facing various
difficulties, in particular when quoting from older publications.
As a compromise I I have chosen to use a uniform mode of transliteration
in the majority of the quotations: words in non-Sumerian languages
 xv

are underlined, words in Sumerian are not. The convention that capi-
tal letters denote an uncertain phonetic.reading has been used only
sparingly_ In some cases I have tried to modernize a transliteration,
to the best of my limited ability in this respect. On the other hand,
I have consequently chosen to keep the sexagesimal number notation of
the original texts also in my transliterations and translations. In
the same W9Y, I have tried to stay as close as possible to the origi-
nal in my transliteration of measure notations of various kinds. My
reason for- doing this is that r am strongly convinced that simple nume-
rical relations in the original can be entirely hidden in the trans-
literation if this rule is not followed. (Let me mention just one
xcmple, the not uncommon practic<2~o C;,r<'Y1Vert all capacity numbers in-
to sc: ;:.~() rr:;t:',\y t ila i I . There ar~:: caS(:G when the original computa-

tions ~ere based on tile choice of, for instance, the 'bin' as the most
convenien·t unit, and a tra:nsli teration wi th conversion into 'silA t
will then make the text unnecessarily difficult to understand. Cf, for
instance, my commentary to the an.alysis in Powell RA 70 1976 of the
brE~ad and beer texts from Urruna f.! 50 55-59 .. ) For the transliteration

of sexagesimal numbers in the Babylonian positional notation, I have

found it convenient to use a simplified version of Neugebauer's con-
vention, writing, for example, 1 00.40 for 1><60 + Ox1 + 40><1/60; ef my
review of Neugebauer i\fQ 8 1932-'1933 .. Numbers in the pre-Babylonian,
non-positional sexagesimal nu.mber system and other similar systems
2
have occasionally been transcribed using the model 1 (60 ) + 2(60) for
2
1>:60 + 2)(60, etc4
The work on this survey 2~nd blbliography has been highly rewarding,
in that it has given me a. unique opportunity to look through almost
everything (I hope) that has been written on the chosen subject. As
a result, I have come across quite a few open problems, or problems
that in my opinion have not found their definitive solution. Thus the
bibliogra.phy and the introductory survey is in some sense also a re-
search report: I have in many instances included my own thoughts and
improved interpretations in the reviews of the individual publications.
In each such instance, my own contribution has been clearly indicated
by being written within square brackets.
* * * '/I.' *
 1

1854-1870

Hincks, Edward. Cuneiform inscriptions in the British Museum LG 38,

August 1854, 707; On the Assyrian mythology TRIA 22 1854, 405-422.
H. Observes here that in ~_~, a tablet allegedly concerned with
"the magnitude of the illuminated portion of the lunar disk on each
of the thirty days of the month", the sequence of numbers 5, 10, 20,
40, 1 20, 1 36, 1 52, ..• , 4 makes sense only if 1 20, 1 36, 1 52,
are equal to 80, 96, 112, •.. , i e only if the numbers are ex-
pressed in a sexagesimal number system with identical symbols for 1
and 60. (Cf. Sayee ZA 2 1887; Weidner Babyl. 6 1912.) Consequently,
in K 170, a list of eleven deities, the "numbers" of the most impor-
tant gods are 60 (not 1), 50, 40, 30, .•. (Anu, B~l, Ea, Si.n, •.• ).
(Note the appropriateness of the number 30 for the moon god Sin.)
Rawlinson, Henry Creswicke. Notes on the early history of Babylonia
JRAS 1 5 1 85 5 •

Remarks, on p217, n.4: "that the Babylonlans did really make use
both of the centesimal and sexagesimal notation, as stated by Berosus,
is abundantly proved by the monuments; and from the same sources we
can illustrate the respective uses of the Sa~u~, the Ne~u~, and
SO~6U~ in the calculation of higher numbers"~ Appends, as a specimen,

"the concluding portion of a table of squares, which extends in due

order from 1 to 60" . (This is one of the !'tablets from Ser.kereh", so
called in Lenormant 1868, excavated by Loftus at ancient Larsa in
1854. ef Neugebauer MK'r 2 1935, 3: BM 92 680; pho·to in Pullan 1968.)

Rawlinso~, Henry Creswicke, and Norris, Edwin. 2 R = The cuneiform

inscriptions of Western Asia 2 (A selection from the miscellaneous
inscriptions of Assyria). London 1866.
pl.14-15: K 50, 56, 6~, obv.II, 27-41, a section of a bilingual
lexical text, with Sumerian and Akkadian phrases involving the frac-
t ions 1 /3, 1 /4 f 1/5, and 1 /10 . (ef. MK,£ 1 1 935, 28; Landsberger MSL
1 1937 ~ aYl~ ittiXu. tabl.4 p. 51, 58.)

Lenormant, Fran~ois. Essai sur une document mathernatique chaldeen,

et ~ cette occasion sur le systeme de poids et mesures de Babylone.
Lithographed, Paris 1868.
Publishes~and renews the study of Rawlinson's "table of squares"
(Rawlinson 1855), and makes a not very successful survey of Babylo-
 2

nian notations for numbers and measures.

1870-1880
Smith, George. On Assyrian weights and measures Z~§ 10 1872, 109-112.

Discusses a second tablet from Senkel'eh, with non one side a table
of cube roots, and on the other a comparative t~able of measures of
length". This metrological text allows s. to give an almost correct
description of the "Assyrian" system of length measures, and also to
identify the cuneiform signs for the fractions 1/3, -1/2, 2/3, and 5/6.
(See MKT 2 1935, 3: BM 92 698 (obv.III-IV, rev.I) i "pi.nches ~_.R:' 1891.)

.Oppert, Jules. L'€talon des mesures assyriennes, fix~ par les textes

cuneiformes JA (6)20 1872,157-177; (7)41874,417-486. (Reviewed by

M. Cantor ZMP 20 1875, 149-165.)

Concerned with a somewhat premature attempt. to describe the cunei-

form systems of notations for length, area, and weight, relying rather
more on a comparative analysis than on avai.lable cuneiform texts.
1
Smith, George. ~ == The cuneiform i.nscriptions of \\festern Asia. 4

(A selection from the misce1laneous inscriptions of Assyria.) (U pre -

pared by H.C. Rawlinson U ). London 1875.

p40, n1: here is published the fragment ~~ 92_~98 (Smith 1872).

Cf. Pinches 4 R2 1891.

Lenormant, Fran~ois. Ch..2ix de textes cuneiformes inedits ou incom-

pl~tement publies. Paris (1873-)1875.

p80-a1, 219-225: L. publishes here a hand copy of ~ 90 (Hincks 1854)

which he says is a "table des phases de la lune", and republishes
BM 92 680 and the fragment of B~_ 92_.§J.~ as "premiere" and "deuxi~me

table mathematique de Senkereh".

Sayce, Archibald Henry. The astronomy of the Babylonians Nature 1875.

p489: A better translation, and a new interpretation of K 90.

Sayee, Archibald Henry. Babylonian augury by means of geometrical

figures TSBA 4 1876, 302-314.

s. discusses here the two omen texts K 99 and K 2087. In both of

these the omens are coupled to the observation of certain "geometric"
figures. In K 9~, for instance, the following figures appear in the
left margin: ~ , ~ , ~ ,
o·
I

I
$
 3

Smith, George. The temple of Belus Athenaeum Feb. 12 1876, 232-233.

Preliminary discussion of a Babylonian text. wi th "a remarkable

account of the Temple of Belus at Babylon ..• giving the arrangement
and dimensions of the buildings". ef Thureau-Dangin JA (10)13 1909;
rXL 6 a nd RA 1 9 1 922 •

ZA~ 15 1877, 49-5E; D.ie bdbylcnisch-assyrischen LangenrnassE~ nach der

'rafel von Senkereh A-;i.\WB 1B77, 105-144 + tables and photograph; Die
Langenm~sse der }\lten. Berlin 1884, 48-71.

L. gives a ren(~wed and improved disGussion of the metrological list

on the second tablet from Senkereh, and makes some important remarks
concerning the absence of the sexagesimal point and of any special
.signs for final or medial zeros in the Babylonian notation for sexa-
gesimal numbers. L. identifies also correctly tile cuneiform signs for
Ka.~_ (60 x 60) and !!:!:~~. (10:x: 60), a.nd corrects a mistake in Lenormant
1868 concerninq the form of some signs i.n the Babylonian (non-mathe-
matical) "centesimal~ system of number notations.

Contains, in particular, an interesting d:lscuss.i.on. of the meard.n9

of the passage I} (X (~>~) 3 ( fi (!.fr) US :3 ..()-~ a -- H,L 2 k
"'--"'-
ilr n,( - b .Lt -
--_._----- - -~ -
rum ,( , m,t..- ..r.i -
a -.- ~ ~-.---

..ih·-t.i.. du,~.{-Ku at-f~(ul

....._ fiof" ____ ~_. _d_ '4 .~a·'l 3 ne·ft 1 ,60~,j 20 cubits, the number of my
___ ... .., _ ... ~_" __ •___ .. ____ .•.• _._ ... ~~_ .....

name, do I make the measurG of my wall', in an inscription by the Assy-

rian king Sar90n (.~._!~ '1884 36 f 55).

"1880-1890
Hau.E!., Paul. AS¥.T :-:: Akkadische und sumerische Keilschrifttexte (AB 1).

Leipzig (1881-)1882.

p63: n 177, a hand copy of Cl. sec1:i.on ot· a lexi.cal text , with only the
Sumerian part preserved of a list of the names of the fractions 1/2,
••. , 1/5, 1/10, 2/3 (!S __~~~.E~}t ef MKfr 1 1935, 29; Landsberger MS!! 5
1957, 1 ff); p73: !S~~?..Q.l_~~~.!...._~Q (ef Rawlinson and Norris ~-B 1866) •

tury haldeev ' • Kiev' 1881.

Bel~ti12/·George. The Assyrian numerals TSBA 71882,370-389.
Discu.sses th(:~ pb.onet. ic forms of .A.ssyr ian nUlOera Is for integers and
fractions, mentioning l in par~icular, the vocabulary fragments K 4604
(5 R 1 8 8 4 1 2 ) and ~~I2...}-, 2_~:!Q •
 4

!,j nches, Theophi lus Goldridge. 5 R :;:; 'rhe cuneiform inscriptions of

western Asia 5 (A selection from the miscellaneous inscriptions from

Assyria and Babylonia). London 1884(1909).

pl.36-37: ,:S!'-!-.-:~£93, a lexical text (cf Thol"npson f! 12 1901).

?e_~5!E~~~.' Ernest. p~~ ::= Decou\/ertcs en Cha ldp,:.;:: 2 (" avec la concours
c;rc';c
de Arthur Amiaud et F _.',1.0 Thurea1.l-Dangin'l) ~ Paris 1884-'1912.

pS, pl.16: Gudea Statue B c61.11I,10: in the phrase Aa-la-td~xbti~lu­

ta ffrom the midst of a multitude of men', the number sign ld~xbuk'U
is o·thcrwise knov,H1 only frcm the f ish text ~2,_i-~Q.~ (eras 1910) wi th the
?
value 1 Ox60~· I and from the area text. A~~9.E 1 n303 (Schneider 1931) with
the value 10x60 b~~ (ef Edzard 1959, Archi 1980); p47: a copy of the
inscription on the silver vase of Entemena (ef ~rhureau-Dangin !~ 17
1903), and of the Ente~ena cone A; p51-52; copies of the Uru-KA-gina
cones B, C (cf the photo on pl.32 bis of the three cones together, and
t-\i s
C0 ~~l:~~~. 1 9 S 6: Ent. 2 8 I Uk Cl • 4 - 5) ~ p:' 7 I P 1. • 5~: a Sa rgo n i c s te 1 e wit h big
area num 1;ers ..i..'l.lUreaU'- I".lcHlqln ~:.,
( r"f\ ,."S·.,. ~:m:J
...· r.' ~ .; p_34. - 3r:'-), 't'l,1
189\"1) 1:.1...• "lbi,s an c!'lorc'n
:::1. a"c
...

cla.y tablet (Uthe figl,.lrC aux plumes H), and a fragment. of an archaic
ste le, bot~h .1 ike\·,is(~ \<o?i t.h big are'::l numht:~rs; pI. 15: a photo of the draw-
ing board in the lap of Gudea Statue F, with a half-cubit(?) ruler di-
vided into 1.5 (possi.bly 16) fingers f 'V,There five of the fingers are fur-
ther subdivided into halves, thirds, fourths, and fifths; tllis ruler
gave valuable information about the absolute size of the finger (tu-~l)
in post-Sargonic Laga~ (Thureau-Dangin ~A (10)131909); pl.26
bis
: photos
of one big and two small Ur III weights, and of an older weight with
. , . . '. . , d v cl x .~ I ' .' . f~ -L
'thelnSCr~fytlon S met - na 9 ,t - na; ~.£~.:. ...~~~.~:~. i i.u9a R ka.f - get I ..eug al UJ['{.2 - ma.
!
,euga,r.··a.I1.~. u.b-da-4-b(1. '5 minas true, fht-S'in, might:l king, king of Ur, king
of the four COrnf?l:"S of thE~~ worl<l' (ef Oppert .~~ 5 1898, SNM 1971, 252).
Sf;~e Borger rU~~!:: 1, 436 fer furtlv:~r references.
")

D~.1i~7~Ct:., Frtedrich .. A:r,..) ;:; A~~syr:1schE; I.esef:tHcki::!, 3rd edition. Leip-

zig 1885.

pa6-90: the lexi.caltext H~~•. _~•.~.?-.?" (Landsberger ~~E.!: 5 1957 143ff),

a bilingual lexical text with, in particular, names for water clocks
(col.I,10-11), counting instrlooents (col.I,16-22, ef saionen Hans-
~.EatE:~ 1965, Lieberman !:..JA 84 1980), and ships loading- various num-
bers of 9 tilL (col.VI, 15-22i cL Po\'~c:ll .~_~'i~ 1971, 85 n~4) ..

Lel~~l!:u',:.!:!.~,~"~) 1 Carl Friedrich. Ueber pro"tobabylonische Zahlw'orter

ZA 1 1886, 222-228.

Discusses the phonetic forms of proto-Babylonian (= S\ooerian) num-

 5

her words, with departure from the lexical text 5 R 36-37 (Pinches
1884; ef Lehmann BA 2 1892; Thompson eT 12 1901) •
..
Bezol~S!." Carl. Lit£,ra!:_~ == Kurzgefasster Uberblick uber die babylonisch-

assyrische Literatur. Leipzig 1886.

SaYee, Arctlbald
, - - M.. _ ...-..
Henrv~ ..A
Miscellaneous notes ZA 2 1887.

Gi,ves the full text of !i_..?.S~ (Sayee 1875), here called 1<. 490.

QEE~rt, Jules .. Les mcsures a~-:sy:riennes de capaci t~ et de superficie

~. 1 1886, 124-147; La notation des mesures de capacite dans les docu-

ments juridiques cun~iformes !~ 1 1886, 87-100; Confirmation d~fini-

tive du systeme des meSL1res aqraires babyloniennes ZA 4 1889, 97-100;

Les si9n(;.·S numeriques des mesures babyloniennes de capaci t.e ZA 4

1889, 371-373.

This series of articles presents a well documented analysis of the

Neo-Babylonian-l\ssyrian systems of capacity and area measures,. with a
discussion of tlH:! values of tJ1E: spec.ia 1 number signs employed for capa-
cj"t):" meaS'llrt:~S. It is shown t.lla,t the simple flag.rimensor formula" A :=

! (a+c) x (b+d) was i.n regular use. ('fhe formula gives, as a rule, slight.-
Iy hi9h values.) Basic area. unit: 1 gl {xgA~l, wi.th 1 yt-<.vtdart = 7 gJ...
Bez~l~1' CarJ.. Cat.::: Catalogue of the cuneiform tablets in the
Kouyunjik collection of the British Museuni 1. l~ndon 1889.

p4 00: pa.rt 0:[ the CUricnJf; mat:hemati Col table ~ ...]:.Q.6 ~ (ef Hilprecht
BE 20/1 1 9 () 6) w

~.!!J.:...au.~, Arthur. ~,es nCHnbr'es ordinaux en assyrien JA (8) 13 1889,

297-312.

1890-1900

P.
_-:lnc~~,
1i. Tt·H=OP,"U
'\. ...1 UB 4 R2
""'''''''':'1.. • .___.....::.. ..
\.~70.LOr~age :.::: Tt.lle CUn€l.:orm
·f . . t'~ons 0 f
lnSCrl.p

Western Asia 4 (2nd edition) (A selection from the vari~us inscrip-

tions of Assyria) ("prepared by H.C. Rawlinson"). London 1891.

pl .. 37, p9: the init.ially published fraqment. of ~~_ ..2l...i_2.~ (G. Smi.th
4 R' 1875) is here joined to a second fragment (obv.I-II, rev.II-III),
 6

containing on the reverse tables of squares and square roots, and on

the obverse a new metrological table of length measures (ef Neugebauer
MKT 1 1935, 71 n.1) .. [The first published fragment contains a table
of length measures, from 2/3 kar/ISO to 2 ka~kal.gld//12, while
the similar table on the new piece goes from ... 5/6 kat 1 lu-~i//4 40
to 1 5/6 ka~kal.gld!/55 . . . . Therefore the first metrological table
shows how to convert length measures into sexagesimal multiples of the
basic unit: ha.! (Akk •.~~~E:~.J!:) or 'cubit I, and the second table gives
the same information relative to the basic unit nindan (= 12 cubits) •
~hus, the addition of the new fr~)rr~nt could have been used to show

. :~E~ f> 1 (~ne::?iS of t:h(=' r~onj':~;t1..-'- C; "-j L-~p;:· :L~'~ '1877 that the metrological
table of ~ength l~easur05 was used for the conversion of Assyrian, less
sophist ~:. ca t:eL:, ;~;t.h H~,.;:asures into Babylonian f sexagesimal, length
measures.]
~eissne~, Bruno. Studien zur Serie ana itti~u ZA 7 1892.
p31-32: copies of the lexical text fragments BM 64390 (82-9-18,
4370) and Rm 2200, both essentially duplicates of K 8687 (Haupt ASKT
(1881-) 1882; ef MK_~ 1 1935 I 29-30). All three fragments are pub-
lished, in the form of one single text, in Pinches 5 R 1884, 40 n4.
Le}lmann:!}au..E!., Carl-Friedrich~ Das altbabylonische Maass- und Ge-
wichts-System als Grundlage der antiken Gewichts-, Milnz- und Maass-

Systeme .§:.!:h COE.it!:!:,~. 2 1893, 165ff.

9.E..E£..:r.:..t, ,Jules .. Les mesures de Khorsabad ~ 3 1893, 89-104.

Meis~ller, Bruno .. ,!;3AP = Beitrage zum altba.bylonlschen Privatrecht (AB

11). Leipzig 1893.

p9a-l01: an analysis, due to Lehmann-Haupt, of the OB system of

capacity measures, found to be different from the Assyrian system
(cf Oppert .?!~ 4 1889). In particul ar, it is noted that phrases of
the type n re gu~ are typical for OB texts; p56-57: a metrological
list of weights (\i'AT .L155), from ... 15 .6 e ku-babba,'t to 50 gu~ ... i
p58: a copy of a metrological list of capacity measures on the cylin-
der V~T_.e96, from 1/36rt.f:a 6e. t:o ralt x 50 te guJr.-" Jall.;1 'X"!.:X{(?) re gun.

Delitzsch, Friedrich. Der Berliner Merodachbaladan-Stein BA 2 1894,

258-273 .
 7

Presents in transliteration and translation the text on a Marduk-

apil-iddina kudu~4U (ef the hand copy in Messerschmidt and Ungnad 1907)
The text contains three area compu;:ations I wi th the results expressed
in a form reproduced by D .. as 1'n (capaci.ty units) seed grain: .ina. KAR.
AJ J fi ~abl-tif' (the correct version is given in Weissbach 1914). The
three area computations as well as the total sum (pap-pap) seem to be
grossly in error (1). ef the reference to this text in Powell ZA [1982]
Scheil, Vincent. E"'ragments de syllabaires assyriens ZA 9 1894, 218-2236

p129: a copy of the lex~cal text fragment 1st S 485 (Sche1) from
:'ippar, witJ-b. part of a standard t~:;J~~ ~ of reciprocals, augmented by
a of phon~:::tic spell:Lng::;: f .':.:~' i,:)ier.>~T:v~rian number words. ef Neu-
gebauer MKT 1 19~5, 26-27 for an accurate hand copy, and for a join
. with a secon.d fr,,,t9;Jk!I1~. See also 1/'owel1 SNM 1971, 54-58; Steinkeller
1979.

Lehmann{-HauE!), Carl-Friedrich. Eln Siegelcylinder Konig Bur-Sin's

von Is.in !?A 2 1894, 601-608~

Continues the discussion of the lexical text 5 R 36-37 (Lehmann

1886) •

Thu~~ea~:Dangin, F'ranc;:ois" La comptabili te agricole en Chaldee RA 3

1895, '118-146_

Having been given access to photographic copies of some of the

newly excavated Sumerian texts from Telloh, T. is here able to show
e 9 that 1) the sign LAL was used as a cuneiform minus sign; 2) the
values of the cuneiform capacity units deduced from the table on the
cylinder V~T 2596 (Meissner 1893) are confirmed by texts where ex-
penses or taxes are computed by use of fixed proportions, as for in-
stance 8 4ild per ass and day, or 1 (ba~iga)3(ban) per gun, etc., 3)
v ,.
the area measures Aak and ~ku are equal to the areas of squares of
side 1 nindan and 10 ~i~da~, respectively.
Oppert, Jules. Un grand UZA 10 1895, 254-257.

Gives an incorrect interpretation of the seed grain-area formula

on the Marduk-apil-iddina kud~~Jt~ (Delitzsch 1894), based on the mis-
taken idea that the ammatum ~abZtum would be an area measure. ef
Weissbach 1914, Powell ZA [1982].
Reisner, George. Altbabylonische Maasse und Gewichte SPAW 19 1986,
417-426.

I
I
..L
 8

In an exemplary analysis of the metrological relations in about

500 Sumerian texts from rr'el1oh, now in Berlin (Reisner TUT 1901) I R.
gives here an accurate description of the "o ldbabylonian" (actually
Sumerian) metroloyical systems for weight, area, and capacity measures.
The results pa.r-tly CVCJ::la.p tho~;e in !rhurei3.u-Dangin i895.

428-432.

An analysis of the method used for the computation of areas in

some texts from Telloh (King eT 1 1896). Concludes in particular,
erroneously, that the Pythagorean theorem was employed for the compu-
tation of the height against the base of "synooetric" trapezoids. Actu-
ally, the height is, in the texts quoted by T., given among the data
as the "north U dimension of the tr-apezoidal fields. (ef Allotte de la
Fuye 1915 .. )

d'A9ade !<s.em 5 1897, 166-173.

Hand copy, transliteration, and translation of a fragment of a text
in which some Sargonic king clai.ms sovereignty over a territory cover-
ing an area of 5 51 34 b (Ut. '1'he reading of the area number is doubtful
( C.L~ th
.; e p h ot.o J.n
. r.)1'I.
l\..t"'
3' ..p 1 .. o,.. (H. Dr. 18t')~..
-' _,~~ 01 p .1. ~..Sbis T .. rea d S 11 01 34 b (l/i..,
.....
with some hE.~sitation) .. 'l'hi.s causes 'r. to make a survey of notatj.ons for
big numbers and area mea.sures ..

Thurea'~-Da!!.9.~.;~, Frant;ois.. Un cadast.:c~:; chaldeen RilL 4 1897 J 13-27.

Discusses the methods (among them an ingenious way of checking the

accuracy of the lengthy calculations) involved in the computation of
the area of the Ur III district ~ulgi-sib-kalama in the field plan·
t.ext~IQ.,-"l.1_07 (HTc; 416, rrhureau···Dangin 1903). This t.ext gave T. a wel-
come opportunity to analyse the structure of the Ur III system of area
measure notations~ A conflicting and incorrect interpretation was off-
ered in Oppert, Un cadastre chaldeen du quatrieme millenium CRAI~
1896, 33-348. It
~
\1aS iITU1.1ediately refuted in Reisner 1 Notes on the Baby-
lonian system of measures of ar€::a ~~ 11 1896, 417-424.,

Thur~~1:!:--Dan9,i~, Franc;ois. Les chiffres fractionnaires dans 1 r ecri-

ture babylonienne archaIque ~A 3 1898, 588-589.

A. brief survey, ba.sed on texts from Telloh, of the Sumerian nota-

t
 9

tions for numerical fractions and fractional area or capacity measures,

with inclusion of both curviform and cuneiform variants •
...
Thureau-Danqin I Fran~ois ...REC = Recherches sur 1 f origine de I' ecri-

ture cun€iforrne 1: Les formes archaIques et leurs €quivalents moder-

nes. Paris 1898.

n481-517: number notations.

Oppert, Jules. lIes poi.ds chaldecns Iq 5 1898, 57-64.

o. tries here to dE?ternine t.he absolut.e value of t:he Sumerian

weight unit ma-na, with departure from an "archaic" marble cone (in-
scription ma-na ~a I!, meaning 1/3 mina), a big diorite ellipsoid and
two smaller simi.lar ellipsoids (ef de Sarzec DC 2 1884; the inscriptions
re ad: 5 ma. - n a ~~f~. _. d~!:~~ ..., 1 0 gt. n 9 J. - r1 a. I S 9 .t n , hence Ur I I I) , and a
duck wei.ght from 1'elloh of \ihit:f~ limestone (Powell SNM 1971, 257) with
the vertically written(!) inscription 1/2 ma-na. Computing with a Sumc-
rian cubit of .54 meters (the value given by Gudea's graded ruler, see
again de Sarzec !2f 2) r and with a density of diorite ot 3.1, o. finds
that the value of the mina may have been determined originally as
the weight of a cube of diorite with sides of length 1/10 cubit, i e
3 fingers (tu-hi). o. repeats also an argument from his paper in
v
l~ (6)20 1872 , based on a small weight with the inscription 22 1/2 .6 e.,
and resulting in the conclusion that a weight of 1 grain (le) is
equal to 1/180 of a g1,I1 (0. calls i.t drachme). ef Powell E!~M 1971,273 ..

1900-1910

K~, Leon.a.rd Willi.am .. ~;T 9 .. London '1900 (reprinted London 1962).

pl.8-·13: hand copies of the two big mathematical problem texts

BN 85 194 and !?l'~ _.§.2_~.l.~~. These texts remained uninterpreted for a
long time, partly because of the use of a special, unfamiliar, mathe-
matical vocabulary, partly because of considerable intrinsic diffi-
cuI ti.es of sev€:ral kinds .. er Zim..rnern a.nd Ungnad OLZ 19 1916; Neuge-
bauer ~:!5.! 1 1935, 142~'193, 219-233; 2 pl.5-6, 9 .. The mathematical
character of BN 85 .J 94~ vias indicated, for instance I by the presence in
the text of line drawj.ngs of several circles and a eire,le segment.

pcheil, Vincent. MDP 2 (Textes elamites-semitiques, premi~re serie).

Paris 1900"

pl.6, p24: on the obelisk of the Sargonic king Maniltusu one can
read, for instance, the following passage, giving the price of a field

t
 10

v
in barley and in silver: col~7F'"!9 -col.8~4:
. y.... 'j
.3 l,o(Ut. '7 I
5!OtVt
I , \
Uj
3 \t b'"U/[ ) a.6 a. ~II
0. i

ntg-14m-6uI3 gunu, 3(ger'uJ3(ge~} gu~-~ag-gdt!nlg-Xdm! 1 gtn kQ-babbaA!

- I .

1 (guJt) .. re.
gUf!.-~a9-gafl fltL-babba/r--~t~i 3 gl1Vt 33 ma-net f~u-ba.bbaJtI ntg-Xam
aXag; the passage shows that in the Sargonic period the price of 1
ban of land was 60 8un-sag-gfft of barley, or 1 md-na of silver (ef
Neugebauer and Sachs Mc'r 1 S4 5 I 74 n. 17 ~! where i t is :remarked that
the equating in OB mathematical texts of wages of 1 ban of barley
with wages of 6 le of silver corresponds exactly to the rate of ex-
change in the Ur III period: 1 gu~ of barley = 1 g[n of silver; the
~ame passage also shows that the ~uh'L, ~ig~ in the Sargonic period

-:... ·t;:
t'~
U ~, 0I... (.:JJ. en
.,> ;
_ r-d··
....
,(- ... a r ' ~ p ..., ,-,; it-
p ~_
~:- fl
>'.1 ../ ~ ., ,'~
. . r) (
_~ G.:..."\.
(j - ,'" 1i fJ
if l ' · · .(, (! v J' us t as'; t 'n the
~..... ' e.... !~) "', ~ ~1 l .... .(... , ...l....a...
'" '. ...... ' > -r," ' .JO.." (. ....
,;. . \.. .1 ,..i'

Ur III .pel.iod w(j;11d Le ",sec} to deno~e 60' gUlt{ -.f..uga£.} (ef Maekawa ASwn
3 1981): p13C: s. fubl~shes here ~and copies of a) the "WaIters' tab-
let n (Inschr.Fara 1 1Y22,. 73 n3) I a stone tablet of Jemdet Nasr type
with the area number 1 ($AR' U) aXa.g I b) two proto-elamite tablets; the
first such tablets excavated at the Sus a Acropole. [One of these
tablets (::::; MDP 6 3~2., Scheil 1905) gives a unique example of a compli-
cated computation involving both a proto-Elamit.e decimal system used
for counting animals (1) and a proto-literate system of capacity mea-
sures, different from the system of capacity numbers used in the
classical Sumerian texts~ ef Friberg 1978.]

Thompson, Regin,. . ld Campbel1. c'r 12,. London 1901"

P 1 • 1 - 3: BM 926 9 3
< g..[-gU-ll.U. and i.t3 multiples (c::' Borgcr !IK~ 1, 540 for references;
see also Pawe11 SNM. 197 '1;- 18ff);, thus, th8 text contains the names of
. ' .",S,
th e area unl, .. -Jr'-
rrom ou.Jt- I / i f1. g.f..' gu.--/tu 1/1ib''"u../t }bu-u'r,
i b
_._"_'_o~~ to . UfL- 50/1
0' .. ,' • .
I i '\

5 ( bu.1l. P u) 115 0 E~!tU, but also ent.ries of ma~~ c:th;r types, as for example
• • v 'I
bu i-t ' - -<.n
m.t . /. II
uu ' 'b
g-<- - 9 u - 'tu. '1'Lt~1"' na·' -t. /1 I..f' ( b'"(Lit,'~.6
-,{,
--- - I. g~~;'1.A..
-tVL fJ'
- -<..6 I uu u " / /
e.b-Ita-a~; ••• ; m/-.-tni/uu tl n!/'[i-na.; Xu-'ta.--nalltJ.ll H nIIXu.-uX-.'6a-an.; •.• ;
v v dv v. -----
.6a-ma..6/lu. u u ,,1 / ,~.~m~~_ {here it is ShO\in that the same cuneiform sign
can be read as '2 bak', '20r, 'two', '1/3', 'the sun-god ~arna~', etc.);
pI. 24: BM 3812~ (ef Borg-er HK~ 1, 541 for references t see also Powell
SNM 1971, 73-78), a lexical test VJith a section for raft'u. and its mul-
y, >.;... v-
from ,~a.n. .. l 0 ! / [.,\ alt.. x 1 0/ / 1G .·6 ~hl..L] to.6 ait - 9 al·- 2 /1 J:i alt.. x gat.. - 7. ;' / g al- Z
V "
tip l es I
I'

(6a~u]. ef my commentary to Fales [1982J.

Reisner, George • .T_UT :::: rr"'empelurkunden aus rrelloh (MOS 16). Berlin 1901 ,.

Of the texts published her.~, tLe following were used in Reisner

 11

SPA~ 1896, for the study of the Sumerian v;eight measure system: VAT
2243, ~244_; respectively for the study of t.he area measure system:
VAT 2201, 2202, 221 0, 2:2 ~.~ ~

Schei~, Vincent. S~~ = Une saison de fouil J er-; a S.ippar. Cairo 1902.

Presents, unfortunately in a corrupt form, hand copies of a unique

and important mathen',a·tical text (..!. s~~~.~§_; ef Oppert 1902), of a
table of square roots, and of several fragments of metrological lists
for measures of weight ("rnon~y") and capacity.
S~heil.' Vincent. NDP 4 (Textes .§la.mites-semitlques, deuxieme s.erie).

Paris ·1902.

p11-162: Kodex liarnmurapi (ef Borger HKL 1, 89: Ba1.2.!: = Driver+Miles.

The Babylonian laws 2 1955); this law codex contains several numeri-
cal data of potential interest for the understanding of OB mathemati-
cal texts; for instance: the fee for stori.ng barley in another man's
house (§121: 5 ~~ for 1 re gUh during 1 year), the wages paid to vari-
ous kinds of workers (§274: 5 shekels of silver for a tailor for 1
day, •.. ), the cost of renting a 60-guk boat (§276: 1/6 shekel for 1
day), etc.

Oppert, Jules. Six cent ci.nquante-·troi~:;: les carres mystiques chal-

deens ~RAIB. 1902, 457-468 i Sechshundert drei und funfzig. Eine baby-

lonische Quadrattafel ZA 17 1903, 60-74.

o. offers here an entirely unfounded "mystic-cabbalistic" inter-

pretation of the admittedly far from trivial text 1st S 428 (Scheil
SFS 1902i ef Huber 1957, Friberg HM 8 1981, 293-294).

Thureal!.-"Da_~~;221 Fran<;ois .. La mesure du ~ ZA 17 1903, 94-95.

Interpreting the somewhat vaeJue inscription on Entemena' s sil ver vaRO

(Sollberger ~E)rl?_~~ 1956 Vase D) as saying that the vase has a capacity
of 1 YLtgA..n, and using the kno\V!1 relations 1 du.g :;: 30 (sometimes 20)
~ila =3
nigin, T. arrives here at the conclusion that the size of a
Sumerian ~ila was about .41 litres. (ef Thureau-Dangin RJ~ 9 1912, and
Postgate Ir~ 40 1978, with an estimate of about .. 82 1 itres for the
Neo-Babylollian a.nd the Old Babylonian g.E: (.6.Ltd) , respectively. T. t S

estimate in the present note seems to be wrong by a factor 2.'

Thurea~-Dar.!.9J.:.!l' Fran.;ois. RT'C ::: Rc=cueil de ·tablettes chaldeennes.

Paris 1903.
 12

n 137, 413: a Sargonic and an Ur III text, both concerned with

bricks (~~g4) i ef my commentary to Powell ZA [1982]; n412: an Ur III
text concerned with volume computations; ef Allotte de la Fuye 1907;
n 416: the field plan fer ~ulgi-sib-kalama; ef Thureau-Dangin RA 4
1897~ Interesting are also, for instance, n106 and n129 with unusual
notations for big numbers, and n408 with scribbled positional sexage-
simal numbers in an Ur III seed grain text (unfinished; cf Powell 1976).

Mentions texts such as ~~lf §.~~.62 If etc., listed in Bezold' s

f~.!:. '5 1889, 20310, all with dravlings of squares and other geometric
figures .

. Sch,~il~, Vinc(~nt. NDP 6 (Irext~es elarnites-sl!mitiques, troisieme series).

Paris 1905.

s. here publishes a substantial collection of proto-Elamite tab-

lets I in hand copi.es and/or photos I \vith a sign list and an attempted
decipherment of the proto-Elamite system of numer~tion. Thus, in n219
(dealing with people ~?)), s. identifies the sign for 1/2 correctly
(see p116); otherwise most of the identifications are incorrect, ex-
cept for a conjectural identification of the signs for 1/30 and 1/60
(capacity units) .. 1'ypical i.s that S. postulates the use of a decimal
number system and then announces that some computations on the tablets
are correct, such as the one on n220, while others contain "a small
error (which is customary)" (this is said, in particular, about the
barley text n221; ef p116). (n5242 is a quite spectacular, big and
almost intact tablet with an addition of a long series of capacity
numbers (barl.ey) .. In tb(-:?- phot() pu.blished here, a big capacity number
on one edge is ommitted (verified by inspection); taking this fact'in-
to· a.ccount, it is possible t.o check that the the sum on the reverse
pr.oba.~.:ly is correct. :3.inc/:?; this sum is an Ualmost-rounded nurr:ber u (ef
Friberg 1978), and since it is followed by a second almost-rounded num-
ber, which is about 3/10 as hig, this· text offers an interesting
parallel to the big proto-Sumerian bread-and-beer text IM 33426 in
Falkenstein OLZ 40 1937.]

HilJ?.Eech~:, Herman Vollrat 0 Die Ausgrabungen der Universitat von Penn-

sylvania im !3.~2:,,:'·TemEe~ zu Nippur. Lei.pzig 1903; B~ 20/1 (Ma.themat.ical,

metrologica.l and chronoloq:icaJ tablets from the Temple Library at

I
I

t
 13

Nippur. Philadelphia 1906.

After publishing in B@l-Tempel (p60) the first two known examples

of Babylonian multiplication tables, H. proceeds in !3E 20/1 to publi.sh
and analyze in detail two groups of mathematical and metrological
table texts, one from the Isin period (early OB), the other from the
time of the Kassites (post-OB (1)). Many of the texts are still of
great importance .. n1-16 are Hsingle n sexagesimal'multiplication
tables {for the "head numbers" 2,6,9,18,30,36,130,140 , 230,
7 12, 7 30, 12 30; n17-24 are 'tcombined" multiplication tables (or
fragments of such), often with a la .le of reciprocals at the end (cf
Ncuget~),ui.3r. 2§. B 1 1930-1931} ;'''.~~:. is arc __ nteresting exercise text,

with the teacher's original and the pupil's copy side by side .. Older
than the other tablets in the collection is n25 (CBM 10201), an im-
portant algorithm text, which is in part correctly interpreted by H .. ,
but which also tempts him to specula.tions (see p28-34) about the role
in Babylonian mathematics of the "number of Plato" (simply because he
does not yet understand the nature of the Babylonlan sexagesimal nota-
tion which lacks special signs for final zeros and for any indication
of where the fractional part of a number begins) .. Cf .. Scheil 1916,
a
Sachs 1947. Quite old (Ur III (?) or early OB) is also n2S (CBM 1264~)
a fragment of a text with several mathematical problems, written in
Sumerian I wi th Sumerian grammatical verb fox-ms, and because of this
uniqu.e (ef Neugebauer MK! 1 1935, 234-235: u.b-.te.-ku, ba-e...·t-f, ba-zupzuj,
bl-gah, e-du g1 ••• ,. [The text seems to have contained a series of
parallel problems. A complete problem with solution can therefore be
reconstructed from two problem fragments, and it turns out that this
reconstructed problem asks for the sides of a rectangular solid figure,
given the volume and the ratios between the sides. The sides are com-
puted in terms of the solutions of a cubic equation, and the answer
given is such that it is probable that the whole text was originally rE
stricted to problems dealing with bricks of certain standard formats.]
n26 is a table of squares, n27-28 two tables of square roots. On p11-
34, H. discusses the mathematical texts of his collection, and also,
on p25-28, the unique fragment K 2069 from Ninive, with its strange
table of reciprocals (of the type 7/6n or 70/n). After the mathemati-
cal tablets follow the metrological tablets, of which two are of extra-
ordinary interest: n29 (CBM 10990+19185+19757) is a fragment of a big
i combined metrological list for capacity measures (from ... , l(biin) to
I
I

L
 14

v...
,6aJtX 50 gUlL
, v_
-6aJt-ga-t (,I gUJt
, y~
-6il.h-ga.{
{} v
~~U-I1U-,(a·90X
" gill')
.. - '- . ;
f" or . h t measures
we~gl.

(from 1 40 ~a-babbah, 2 1/2 X~ to td~x50 gUn, !dh-gaf gan, Kd~~qal

... .
nu.-ta.g~gun) " for area measures (from
1 '&aJL
Y
a.-~a (? to SA R x 5 0 ala '0"' 1 V" ... )

SARxGES .GAL (l/Xag, SARxGES. GAL 6U-YU1-taga )'

x
and for ~ength measures
(from 1 lu-~i to 1 10 ninda~, ... )-- this metrological table belongs
to the Isin group; nJO (CBM 853~) is a biq piece of a IJKassite tt (Neo-
Babylonian) combined metrological table for a) length measures, basic
unit 1 nindan (from .. ", 3 ZO//2/3 laX to 1 30//3 ~a~~al-gZd) I b)
length measures, v
basic unit 1 kUX of 30 iu-~i (caption: an-ni-ti rU-6~
:r .r - - - - - . - . -..... >,;r" --
V"

a 3 0 U - b i.. me. hit k il X o. m... ma t Xe. - n i: nu q'l Lt. 9 .( m(', J., ! tal a. - d a _. p if I a. m- ma..t
. --
------

';' 1", b
'1...-Ci~..t !:::. . d,aga-<..- ..t, uvt!~:
{J '.. I ,. I" rUif
_v 9 A f,
;!;
. {! ,,- ?,:
; : : ; t i.; , -
3 8 , T;lnere
• H • cOl1)ec
. t ures

that the (lciapa \<~;~s a cyliLdl:ica..i vessel, in the present case with upper
and 10\';'(;;:(' wi~,lth C·,:cLt?c.ku and a,gi.~"1.,.tnnu) and hei9ht (~,{..e.e.u.) all equal to
1 cubit; the tabl:;-goe-;-from 2//1 rU-ll..t to 1//30 i kuX-;i , ... ), c)
length measures, basic unit 1 kDt of 24 ru-~i (from ... , 30//12 1/3
IlL/.,6 . 1 12 u.X, ' .. .. v
~~ to 1//24 ~~) * d) length measures, baS1C unlt 100 ku~ of

24 Xu-.&..i. (ef Vaiman ,5VM 1961, 28-32 i the table goes from 1 30 1/1 ~U-6.[
to .... 361124 .6i..'/ /1 kaX, and it has the 'VI'
caption -arI-H,t-tJ..
,-,-- - . - - - -
rU.-~ i. 'la.
--_.
24 .6U-A.t
me.6 11 l... ... v 1: v .me,!.>
f~ u.6 a m- met.... 6 e - rt u mu. rt u. 9 .(
I v...,
I .!J a 1 l., .... v 'I" 1 t .. v
rn e. r<. U,~ U /.} , me> rt u..6 .6 a 9 !I t.:(b"
J a. n II
3 .6iR..il. 3 1/;-;;nda XLi t"e.-tlu.;u.n ~ me
gi 6' .. ~~- cf Thureau-Dangin JA (10)
13 1909, Neugebauer and Sachs !'1CT 1945~ 143: the Neo-Babylonian cubit
of 24 fingers was used at a tim8 when areas were measured in "seed-
gra.i.n according to the formula f 300 sq. cublts :: 1 -6 if-a seed grain' (of
it

Powell [1982]), e) length med.SUl:es (only about. half the caption is pre-
served, and nothing of the table), f) wcigh~ measures, basic unit 1
ma-na (from .. ~, 50//1 ~! 50 ie/!5/6 gfn to 30//1/2 rna-na), and g)
capacity measures, basic unit 1 pi (from 10//1 ni~da to 1//12 guk,
... ); n31-34 are small t:ablets or frc.gments with tables of weight (7)
measures; 35-36 are OB tables of capacity measures, basic unit 1 ~ila

(or 1 bakiga)~ n37-38 are nB lists of capacity measures (on one side
syllabaries) i n39-40 are OB tables of area units I basic unit 1 talt i
n41-43 are OB tebles of length units, basic unit 1 kar (n41) or 1
ninddn. The collection includes also a king-list for the dynasties
of Ur and Isin (n46), lists of names of the months, etc. In n46, with
names of the thirteen months, the ideogram for ·month' is very clear]j
written as ud x 30, i e as '30 days'.
~esserschmidtf Leopold r and Ungnad, Arthur. VS - Vorderasiatische

SchriftdenkrnHler 1. Leipzig 1907.

i
t
 15

n37: the Merodachbala.dan Eudu.ftlt~; er Delitzsch 1894; .!.iKL 1 1967,351.

Weissbach, Franz Heinrich. 5ber die babylonischen* assyrischen und

altpersischen Gewichte ZDMG 61 1907¥ 379-402 1 948-950; Zur keil-

schriftlichen Gewichtskllnde ZI?!1~~ 65 "1911, 625-696 ..

A sharp critique of the methods followed by Lehmann-Haupt, the

last major representative of the school of comparative metrology, and
from 1888 to 1907 "the oracle of metrological wisdom" (see the exten-
sive dlscussion in Powell AOAT 203 1979 of this and related subjects) ~

textes archaIque~~ dE:: la Ch"~.ildee "£~A 6 1907 I 75-78 ~

Discusses R're 412 (::::§!'Q:'~_;~; lJ'hureau-Dangin 1903), an Ur III text

involving computations of the volume of certain irrigatlon construc-
tions, and concludes that the unit of volume, a "volume-ra~", used in
this text is the volume of a flat rectangular solid of base 1 area-
taJt and height 1 cubit. In fact, the word used in this text for 'vol- u

ume' is the word normally used for area (a-tet).

Schei~, Vincent. MDP 1 (} (Text~~s elami tes-s~mi tiques, quatrieme s~rie) <>

Paris 1908.

p97: the first published hand copy of Cl unumerical u or "impressed u

tablet, with only seal impressions aIld numbers Ca "ten" and two unit~) ~

Cf Amiet t-1.DP 43 1972 629; Schmandt-Besserat VL 15 1981 ..

cantor, Moritz . Babylonische Quadrat~·~urzeln und Ku.bikwurzeln ZA 21

1908, 110-115 ..

A discussion of the terminology used in OB tables of square roots

and cube roots.
Ungnad, Arthur. Aus den neubabylonischen Privaturkunden §S: Zum baby-
lonischen Geldwesen OLZ 1908, Beiheft 2, 26-28.

Using insufficient data in a very clever way, u~ here manages to

deduce a correct list of the values and names of the Neo-Babylonlan
fractions of a shek.el (2/3, 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/5, 1/6, 1/8,' 1/10, 1/12,
1/24 shekel). Cf Sachs 1947; Powell SNM 1971, 234.
Pinche~, Theophilus G. The Amherst tablets 1: Texts of the period
extending to and including the reign of BUr-Sin. London 1908.

1
 16

n52 ("accounts of asses, cattle, etc."): P .. points out here (p105)

how the simple sign ~u-n{gXn is used to indicate subtotals in the main
text, while the iterated sign Au-nigin (= ~u-nig1n+nigtn) is used for
grand totals (col.XIV), an~ the sign ni9Z~tnigrn+nig1n for totals of
profit and loss: if ,jIf, rID .
N!kol __~~~.r, Nichail Vasil 'e~ri.~. !?~~ 3/2 (Dokumenty hozyaistvennOl

ot~etnosti drevnerseI ~pohi Haldci 'Economical documents from the

oldest period of the Chaldeans'). St. Petersburg 1908.

n8: A Sumerian excavation text, in which a number of work teams,

comprising in all 80 1/2 men, excavate a canal (?), with a work norm
of 2 cubi ts per mun and day (tu. 1 - '£ il : Qi.,VL u. - Z- ta.). 'rhe total length of
the excavation is given as kin-bi 1 eXe n 1 gi <Ral> Q 1 kin-dfr-a. [This
L

,use of eXe Z gi (reed), and G (cubit) as length units, with the

(rope) I

exclusion of the nindan which was reserved for longer distances, is

characteristic of the pre-Sargonic Sumerian texts (ef Allotte de la
Fuye 1915). The same system of notations for length measures is employed
in n34, a text with two area computations using an interesting round-off
technique (round-off before the forming of the product) .. See also DV
5 1915 n64-65.]

Pinc~es, Theophilus G. Some mathematical tablets of the British

Considers, in particular, the combined multiplication table BM80150

(ef eT 44 1 963 i ~~.! 2 1935, 6), which ends wi th a part~ial copy of the
algortthrnic table on Hilprecht·s tablet ~BM_102lQ (Hilprecht 1906) ..

~.!:_lotte .dle la I:~~~,~, Fran~ois-·t-lauri.ce$ Un document de comptabilite de

l'epoque d'Orouka0jna ~~~ (10) 6 1905, 551-558; lviesures de capacite

dans les textes archaIques de Tclloh ~~ (10)13 1909, 235-247; Le gour

saggal et. ses subdivisions d' apres les documents presargoniques de

Lagas B~ 7 1910, 31-47.

After a false start in JA 1905, A. gives here a correct description

of the gu~-~ag-9d£ system ef capacity measures used in the pre-sar-
gonic texts from Laga~ (from Entemena and onwards). A. also discusses
the gu~-2-UL of the earlier texts, as well as the use of cuneiform
number signs as variants to the normal curvi.form number signs in the
pre-Ur III textso

Kugl~, Franz Xaver. Die Syrobolik der Neunzahl be! den Babyloniern
Hilprecht Anniversary_ \To 1 ume 1909, 304-309.
I
$
 17

K. suggests here that not only 7 but also 9 may have been a sacred
number in cuneiform texts, used in particula.r as a symbol of t.he
eradication of evil things. As an example is mentioned the year for-
mula for the year §ulgi 54: mu S~-mu-u~-~u-umki ... a-h4 10 lal l-kam-
aX ba-hut 'the year Simuru was destroyed for the "ninth" time'.

Evans, Arthur J. 9cri.E~~ino~ 1 (The hieroglyphic and primitive

linear classes). Oxford 1909.

p147-148, 170, 256-259: E. gives a description of the system of
numerals used on "hieroglyphic", or rather semi-pictographic, clay
bars, etc., from the earliest lit~r :e period of the Minoan civili-
ation O'~1 Crete {contcrJ.PGr2';1.(;O".,·;~ ':1 t late OB period in Mesopo-
tamia (?). The units or this decimal system of numeration were
Ylri tten as !llozeLges ll
LOt: t.housands, long straight lines for hundreds,
dots for tens, and short straigh't or curved lines for ones. [Although
not noticed by E., the similarity with the Sumerian-Early OB system
of notations for sexagesimal numbers is strikin9.. (Cf also Evans sr~
2 1952.)]

~arton, George Aaron. H~~ :::: The Haverford Library Collection of cunei-

form texts from the temple archives of Tel1.oh 2. Philadelphia/London

1909.
p13-19: A study of the reed text. HLC 1 1905 n,24 enables B. to de-
n~tat.ion Xa'~.·-!Ja.l
3
monstrate that the Sumer.ian number' has the value 60
::: 216,000 .. H .. then goes on to discuss the meaning of the big numbers
occurring in the big metrological list ~E 20/1 29 (Hilprecht 1906),
and in the lexical text BM 92693 (Thompson eT 12 1901) .. The interest'-·
ing suggestion that the highest number occurring in the metrological
text should be read as Xa1"r-gat tu-nu-turn 'the great raft; its double',
is probably not correct.

ThuEeau-Dangj;n, Fran<;oi.s .. Le rapport de valeur entre 1. i or et l' argent

en Babylonie O~~ 12 1909, 304-309.

Claims that the Babylonian values of gold, silver, and copper ori-
ginally were to each other as 600 : 1 : 'j /6, and suggests that these
ratios were fixed by the Sumerian inventors of the sexagesimal system.
T. discusses also lexical information about notations for '1/6' and
its derivatives, with departu.re from the lexical entry tu-ut; I /U / / !u.. . .
u.t-tu (eT 12 1, col.II, 8). ef the extremely interesting discussion
in Powell SNM 1971 Ch.S.
 18

Deimel, Anton. Studien zu eT I, Ill, V, VII, IX und X ZA 23 1909,

107-144.
lt
Considers in detail the computations on a group of: "round tablets
(Ur Ill), concerned with fields and their produce. ef Thureau-Dangin
1895, 1896, Reisner 1896, Pettinato TVLU = AnOr 45 1969.

Thureau-Dangin, Fran~ois. LIU, le Qa et la Mine, leur mesure et leur

rapport JA (10)13 1909,79·-111 ..

A comparative study of Sumeri~n, Old Babylonian, Neo-Babylonian,
and Assyrian metrological systems for length, capacity, and weight
measures. T. claims that all three systems were based, originally, on
a length uniti the cubite However r an essential part of the discussion
builds on a (probably) fa],~e assJmFtion about the size of the Sumerian
.&ilil (see rrhureau-Da.ng.i.n _Zl: 17 1903) I and on an unwarranted estimate of
the number of Xe (grains) in a &ild. In an appendix, T. reprints G.
Smith's Athreneum article of 1876, with its preliminary discussion of
the implicat~ions of the important "Esagila tablet H •

1910-1920
Myh~m.~!!., David W.. BE 3/1 (Sumerian administrative documents dated in the

reigns of the second dynasty of Ur ~ •• ) ~ Philadelphia 1910.

n92: ef Pettinato and Waetzoldt 1975, Maekawa 1981.
Cros, Gaston (+Th~-Danain). Nouvelles fouilles de Tello. Paris 1910.
---- ~

p1S3ff: note in the late Sargonic{?} text ~.9 430~ the big number
lu-nigin 2(14~}-g4l la~xbuk'U 3(la~J lal 4{60} 10 ~a.ab.ba (ef Archi
1980); AO ~21!l: a bronze t.ext (ef Limet 1960) t p263: an archaic con-
tract, with the field productivity formula Xe-gu~-1-ul-2-ta aXag-l-a.

Q.elaporte, Louis. Document mathli.matique de l1epoque des rois d'Our

RA 81911,131-'133.

Discusses the earliest known example (Ur III (1) of what was to
become the standard Babylonian type of tables of reciprocals. This
particular table, however (I~t T 7375..; ITT 4 1912 pl .. 14) I is unique
in that it begins 2 [~gi 30] and ends 59 ~gi nu, 1 igi 1,_ In other
words, it does not list the "reciprocals" of 2/3, 1 20, and 1 21, but
mentions instead that certain numbers lack reciprocals. (ef MKT 1
1935, 10.)

Langdon, Stephen. TAD = Table·ts from the archives of Drehem. Paris 1911.
I

n12: an excavation text i note vO L = t depth r

:
i n42 -; see f.1K~ 1 1935, 82.,
I
I
1
 19

Thureau-Dangin, Fran~ois. La mesure du qa RA 9 1912, 24-25.

Using a plausible reconstruction of a stone jar, of which is pre-

served a relatively big fragment with the inscription 3 1/3 »~nda (1 e
one third of a Neo--Babylonian ga), T. draws the conclusion that the
~ of the NB period must have had a value of about .81 li tres. The frag~

ment (Scheil MDP 14 60) was found at Susa. (ef Postgate 1978.)

Lehmann-Haupt, Carl-Friedrich. Vergleichende Metrologie und keilin-

schriftliche Gewichtskunde ZDM~ 66 1912, 607-696.

For comments to this and other publications (not mentioned in this

bibliography) from the decade of exchanges between L. and his oppo-
nent Weissbach, see the paper by pr ~11 quoted under Weissbach 1907.

tablets in the Harvard Semitic

Museum 1: Chiefly fro~ the reigns of Lugalanda and Urukagina of

Lagash. Cambridge, Mass. 1912.

p2-a (numerical notation): a thorough investigation of the principles

after which cuneiform respectively curviform number signs were used
in the texts of the collection, in particular in the "detailed totals",
the "summary", and the ft sum total". pS-11 (clerical errors): H. notes
here that "the accurate and analytic method with which accounts were
kept is astonishing".

Weidner, Ernst F. Zur babylonischen Astronomie 2: Mondlauf, Kalender

und Zahlenwissenschaft ,~byl. 6 1912, 8-28 a

p11-15, pl.3: a new interpretation, and a photo, of the astrono-

mical text K 90 (Hincks 1854).

Weidner, Ernst F. Babylonische Messungen van Fixsterndistanzen Babyl.

6 1912, 221-233.

1. The text K 9794: although the distances listed in this short

and fragmentary text are written, successively, as 9 t,i.~, 18 iim, 78
lim, 30 !-Lm 6 lim (ka.6 kat. 9 ~.d), ~v. refuses to admit tha t 30 Rim 6 lim
may be a way of writing 36000. ef, however, Safar Surner 7 1951. 2. The
tfNippurtext U with star distances (?). ef Neugebauer QS B 3 1936 and
the very interesting discussion in Neugebauer ESA (1951)1957, 99, 139~

Thureau-Dangin, Fran<;ois. ,TCL 3 (Une relation de la huitieme campagne

de Sargon (714 av. J~-C.»). Paris 1912.

Contains some interesting examples of Neo-Assyrian number nota-

tions: i.369 (p56-57, pl.18): 1 me 6(10) 2 gun 20 ma-na 6-SU lal ku-
1
 20

babba~ '162 talents 20 minas minus one-sixth of silver'; note the way
in which 60 is written as six tens, here as elsewhere in the same text,
while for instance in {~378 the number 96 is written in a more familial
way as 1 36; see n.12 on pS? for a documentation of the identity 6-SU~
10 g1n, from which it does not necessarily follow, however, that 1
SU = 1/36 (ma-na) , hence 3-SU = 1/12 mina, as claimed by T. [it is,
a priori~ equally possible that n-SU = 1/n (mina), so that 3-SU = 1/3
(mina), etc .. ]; ·£.394 (p62-63, pl .. 20): here ·the number 305,412 is written
in the form 3 me 5 lim 4 me 72, probably in direct imitation of the
spoken language.
!f~gr.:,~!:n, Leon .. Collection Louis CU'lin RA 10 1913, 41-68.

Scheil, Vincent, a~-ld J~egrain, Lean .. MDP 14. Paris 1913.

p60: cf Thureau-Dangin 1912; p90, n35: a bronze text (see Limet 196C

Thureau-Dangin, Fran~ois. Distances entre ~toiles fixes dtapr~s une

tablette de l'~poque des Seleucides p~~ 10 1913, 215-225. (ef the com-

mentary on the astronomical significance of the text in Kugler RA 11

1914, 1ff.)

A discussion of the astronomical text A:9 478 (TeL. 6 21} , with its
table of distances between zodiacal stars, listed in three separate
columns where the distances are expressed 1) in weight units (indi-
cating the use of a water clock), 2) in terrestrial length units,
and 3) in celestial length units~ Thus, the table starts (in T.ts
transliteration): II ma-n.a I~!:!Lu.{~.~J /9 uX i.·-!.UL qaq-qa.--Jt-!://16 £.,i.m 2 m~
beJtu [.i-n~ ~ame.-e,] '1'~ mina weight, 9 dE~grees ('?) on the ground, 16200
E..e!t~~ in the sky t . ('I'his shows that a Hweight n of 10 shekel s correspon-

ded to 1 u~ non the ground U , and to 1800 be.Jt~ "in the skyH.) The total/
after 26 such lines , is given as pap 1 ~_.-lit~/ /12 .6e.Jtu. 4 u.'(,/ ;tu-nigin
6 me 55 l~!!2 Z me. be.fLU, displaying two different 'Nays of writing the
word 'total', and suggesting that the maximum capacity of the water
clock corresponded to a ~weight» of precisely 1 talent. (See Borger
HR!;: 1 563 for references and parallels.)

~chei.!, Vincent. Esagil ou le temple de B~l-Marduk ~ Babylone t4AIB

39 1914, 293-308, 2 pI.

Dieulaf~, Marcel. Temple de B~l-Marduk, ~tude arithm~tique et archi-

tectonique du texte MAlE 39 1914, 309-372.

A detailed presentation of the important hEsagila tablet" (ef
1
 21

G. Smith 1876, Thureau-Dangin JA (10)13 1909), with photo, hand copy,

and a thorough discussion of the content. See also Weissbach 1914,
Langdon 1918, Thureau-Dangin RA 15 1918, 19 "1922, and !CL 6 32 (1922} .
Poebel, Arno. PBS 5 (Historical and grammatical texts). Philadelphia

1914.

pl.39-40 (hand copy) and pl.99-100 (photo): the "inscription of

three kings", an OB copy of original inscriptions of three Sargonic
kings (ef Legrain PBS 15 1926; Hirsch AfO 20 1963) .. The text contains
several examples of unusual and eni~natic notations for decimal (?)
or sexagesimal big units; in one case (a bilingual text fragment) the
;'·;.ame number appears in different:. fc·;.-'TIlS .~"1 the Sumerian and the Akka-
dian columns (obv. c";) 1 " 5-6: Sum(;ria r : 1 3 f?) e.i[,trl ::-; Akkadian 9 ( 100) (? i
or 9(600) gu~ul gu~uX; It is possible that the number in the Sumerian
~column is a badly copied 1 30 (= 90(60), i e 5400).

Weissbach, Franz Heinrich. Zu den Massen des Tempels Esagila und

des baby lonischen Turmes OLZ 17 1914, 193--201.

A discussion of the metrological difficulties involved in an

attempted interpreta.tion of the Esagila text. Among other things, h.
gives a brief survey of various standards for measuring the size of
fields in terms of their "seed grain", for instance the formula that.
is known from E-udu./LJtu. inscrip,tions. Cf Delitzsch 1894; a g'ood examplE:
take~ from the J<.Udll!{!LU of the Kassite kinq- Na.z:imaruttas (Scheil MDP
2 1900, pS7, pl.16) can be found in t.35-36: pap 1 me <gu~> le-numun
1 ("[ku) a!ag 3 ( ban) I 1 ka~ g(1.,e~~..!.~ t total: 100 gur seed-grain! 1 !;kt1 =:
3 ~a.t, the big cubit'. (ef Powell (1982), Thureau-Dangin RA 19 1922,,)

Kewitsch, Georg. Zur Entstehung des 60-Systems ZA 29 1915 t 265-283.

(ef the extensive review in Archibald 1929.) The particular inter-
est of this paper is due to the authorls coining of several thought-
provoking slogans: nCounting precedes measuring", "Counting precedes
writing", "Counting precedes computing", "Counting is an ethnological,
not a mathematical question", etc.
Weissbach, Franz Heinrich. Die Senkereh-Tafel ZDMG 69 1915, 305-320~

A detailed analysis of the "Senkereh tablet. u B~!..E69~. Not nnder--

standing the purpose for which a. metrological table was composed [con
version from metrological to sexagesimal numbers, expressing given
measures as multiples/fractions of a basic measure unit], W. believes
that the two metrological tables for length measures on this tablet:
express length measures as multiples of the hypothetized length units

1
t
 22

'1/2-finger' and t1/10-fingert, rather than of the correct basic units

'cubit' (note that 1 cubit = 1/2 x 60 fingers) and n..i..ndan (1 n,indart =
')

1/10 x 60"" fingers). ef ~rhureau-Dangin 1930.

Clay, Albert Tobias. YC2.~ 1· (Miscellaneous inscriptions in the Yale

Babylonian Collection). New Haven 1915.

n22-24: three quite complex Ur III field plans (ef Hanson 1952);
in n22, the areas are expressed as high multiples of 1 Xa~, rather
than being converted into standard area measures: n21 (a quadrilateral)
and n2S are field plan sketches (dating difficult) •

S ~_~~~d t.e:" ~:~bl;r liirtscha~tsbetl iec.t ~:'~_et se I Dar lehen und Agrarverhal t-

nisse). Leipzig 1915 .

. A useful survey, with a well documented discussion (see, for in-
stance, the paragraph on 1iseed-grainh and area measures, p54-62), and
with 15 tables of concordances of prices for various commodities, etc.,
in texts from a number of publicat.ions. Cf Snell Ledgers and Prices 1582 ..

.?cheilJ Vincent .. Le calcul des volumes dans un cas particulier i!

1 '~poque d' Ur ~ 12 1915, 16 '1-172 ..

S .. uses here the Drehem text Legrain RA 10 1913 n15 to show that
bricks in the Ur III period were counted in mult:iples of a brick-tall.
of 12 x 60 bricks. [From this fact can be inferred the one time exis-
tence of a standard brick of dimensions 1 x 1 x 1/5 cubic cubits and
weight 1 talent .. ef fL Lewy OrN~ 18 1949 .. ] S. uses also the Ur III
tablet ~9_2§67 ·to "proveu the existence of a nindan of 24 cubits.
This second text, is still badly understood (ef MeT 1945, 95-96). [It
is probably concerned with an account of the use of bricks of two
different types for the building of a brick construction similar to
the construction in the text NB~ 79J.i (~CT 1945, 55-56).] See also
ITT 5 6908 (de Genouillac 1921).

Allott~---2~ la FUY~f Fran~ois Maurice. Un cadast,re de Djokha RA 12

1915, 47-54.

A field plan (Ur Ill), of no particular interest.

Allotte dE:~ 1..a FUY~I Fran<;ois-Maurice .. Mesures agraires et formllles

djarpentage ~A 12 1915, 117-146.

Puts right a mistaken interpretation of t.he text En .. 94-10-16, 4

1
 23

(Thureau-Dangin 1896), by showing that areas of trapezoids in the

Sumerian texts from Telloh were computed by use of the correct for-
mula involving the height of the trapezoid. A. then continues with
a description of the systems of measures of length and area used in
the pre-Sargonic Lexts from Laga~, as in particular in the nine texts
DF 604-6~2 (Q£. FS 1920) $ (The basic length units in these texts are
60<y!',iyuiaYi> , lO<H{.11dan>, 1/2<"C~\.?-2>' g,{., XtL.ba.d, Ku.dD..• a, .6{L-~..t.) About
half the paper is devoLed to a study of the various methods used in
the texts to compute areas of quadrilaterals, and of the different
degrees of round-off used in calculations of areas of, respectively,
fields, gardens, and houses. (Note that areas of houses are designed
by the phrase t-bi instead of the normal alag-bi, which is reserved for
more extensive areas.)
~che~l, Vincent .. LeEi tables T ..i.g ..[ x gat-b.L, etc. RA ·12 1915, 195-198.

s. uses here the example of a previously unpublished table of reci-

procals "not later Cban the time of Hammurabi u to refute Hilprecht's
hypothesis about the tPnt1mber of Plato", and to describe the real char-
acter of a table of reciprocals. S. observes also that in this parti-
cular text, the form of the sign for 40 is different in integers and
in sexagesimal fractions, respectively, and draws the conclusion that
the table is a tab] e of fractions of t.he number 1 (00) = 60. 'rhis ob-
servation is confirmed by tbe unique conclusion of the table, which
according to s. should be read a.s: u.[g-t-gaz. r -·da.-f2a.m Fractions de 60
11

(ef Steinkeller 1979) .. ef also Neugebauer M~~_'!.: 1 1935, 10 n4.

Nikol' skil., Michail Vasil' c'ilic 4 Qy" ~) (Dokumenty .•• 2: Epoha dinastii

Agade i epoha dinasti5.. Ura 'Documents ~ •. 2: The epoch of the dynasty

of Agade and the epoch of the dynasty of Ur'). Moscow 1915.

n26-36, 83: bread and beer texts; and nB, 64-65: excavation texts.
See my comment:a.ry t:o powell RJ\ 70 1976 a

Scheil, Vincent. Le texte math~matique 10201 du Mus~e de Philadelpie

RA 13 1916, 138-142.
Makes the observation that the mysterious text CBM 10201 (Hilprecht
1906 n25) exemplifies an algorithm for systematic computation of pairs
of reciproca1.s. s. further explai.ns the t.able on K 2069 (the only
known Assyria.n mathematical text of any import:ance) as a table of frac-
tional parts of 1 10 = 70. (ef Hilprecht's characterization of the same
text as a "division table, containing a number of divisors of 195,955,
7
200,000,000 (i. e of 70 x 60 !).
 24

FBrtsch, Wilhelm. VS 14 (Altbabylonische Wirtschaftstexte aus der

Zeit Lugalanda's und Urukagina'sc Leipzig 1916.
n40: an area text, in which 1 10 (n.i..n.da.n} 1/2 (eKe.,,) 3g..[)( 19,{.J:: 21/2
v L
(,.i,lut} ~ a.-6ag, hf~nce ~ ~ 1/6 . UlU.; n89: in this text l dug = 20 .b-ila.;
n129: here ~ ::: 10x60 (rtindG-¥1.) f n184: Xe.-gu'4-kU. (see Maekawa 1981).

Weidner, Ernst F. Die Berechnung rechtwinkliger Dreiecke bei den

Akkadern urn 2000 v. Chr. OLZ 19 1916, 257-263.

Succeeds in giving a correct mathematical interpretation of part

of an OB mathematical problem text. (VA';P 6598) MKT 1 1935, 277), thus
opening the way for a better understanding of the special termino-
logy used in mathematical cuneiform texts. This particular text gives
C'{a.i'1pl·~\" of two different metl~o(>~ cc· I:' hc' approximative solution of
the problem to f~nd L~e length of tile diagonal of a rectangle, of which
the sidef3 arE; kn")'YTr. Cf N;;3ur.jebauer !\£O 7 1931/1932.

Zi~~E!' Heinrich" Zu den altakkadischen geometrischen Berechnungs-

aufgaben OLZ 19 1916, 321-325~

!!.!!~{!."!ad, Arthur .. Zur babylonischen Mathematik OLZ 19 1916, 363-368.

r.rhe two papers above contain critical reviews of Weidner 1916,

mostly from a linguistic p6int of view, with repeated references to
the big cornpilatory mathematical problem texts in eT 9 1900.

weidn~1 Ernst F. Zahlenspielereien in akkad,ischen Leberschautexten

QLZ 20 19'17, 257-266.

Po 9' 110!!, Henri .. Notes l(~xicoqra.ph.iques i au sujet de la mesure de capa-

cit~ appelee aka. !:.ou <If> ~2i~ 1917, 373-382.

Discusses the question whether the names of the five Babylonian

units of capacity measure (includ,ing the ~fLal~ ::: 1/1 0 ~E:) were of
Semitic origin or not .

.!:!n9.~~d, Arthur. Lexikal isches:1.. !",tg u..JU~ "verwickel t tr Z~ 31 1917,

41-43; 2" gln'(H~anaJ!ku uMessrohr" ibid., 257; 3. k,tKu,. "Korb" ibid.

264-265; Die Platonische Zahl ibid. 156-158.

1. Suggests the reading ~I can solve complicated divisions and
mult.iplicat1.ons, hard to see t.hroughn fo:r the boast u.-pa.-,ta,! I ~GI
A. RA. E
,it-gU-JIU.-:LL ~a. Ea. i-lr1-ll ~-{.t EE..:.!:.i. in a \Y'ell known AS5ur-
banipal text (L : ~. 269! + K 305Q); 2 * Suggests the reading vt.inda. for
4

the length unit GAR; 3. Discusses the mathematical text. BM 85194

pr.14 (obv.III, 23-30; MKT 1 142). 4. Cf Hilprecht 1906.

l
 25

Langdon, Stephen. Syllabar in the Metropolitan Museum JSOR 1 1917,

19-23.

Contains a st.range list of otherwise unattested number words. See

Thureau-Dangin RA 25 1928, 119ff; l,andsberger MSL 4 1956 (NBGT 4).

Scheil, Vincent. La mesure (g,L~) BA-AN RA 15 1918, 85-86.

Discusses the possibility that the word (gil)ba-an did not origi-
nally denote a measure of necessarily the capacit.y 10~ .. (ef the
lengthy discussion in Torczyner (rrur-Sinai) ~.fR 1913, 1-4 .. )

Thureau-D_angig, Franc;ois. Note m~trologique R~ 15 1918, 59-60.

About Ilbig" ana, I'small" cubits in the Esagila text (Scheil 1914) ..

1 oLservations on the Scheil-

EsagiIa' tablet .?:E: "i5 1918, 110-112~

Explains, in particular, that the conversion factor 18 in the

Esagila text can be derived from the well known formula 1 ika area
:::: 30 1-l!. tJ seed-graj"n"" In fact, this formula can easily be transformed
int.o thf= ident.ity 1 .~aJt area :::: ~ 18 ~L~_ seed-grain (since 30/100 :;: 18/60) .

£ch~il, Vincent. Sur le marche aux poissons de Larsa &\ 15 1918, 183-

194.

Contains, in particular, a beautiful hand copy of the tablet HE 11~,

from the fish market in Larsa (early OB) ~ The tablet gives a great
deal of i.nformation about how prices were expressed in various situa-
tions. Thus, a price table on the tablet has the following headings
for its four columns: &a-zun a-ab-ba (fishes), azag-bi (price), ki-lam
_~~~_~~ 1 g,ln (sell-rate pt;!' srH:::kel), rnu-bi-,Lm (their name). Examples:

t.10: 2(gufL} 4 (baJt":-9a.) 1/2 2/3 gt.n Z4 <Je>//l gUJr./!z-<--gult-~a; £.18: 50/1
igi-6-g4l 1 1/2 <Xe>/14 £u-Xl//ha-te-ha.
v (Thus, the ki-lam could be
___ .. _ _ _ _ v

given either in ca.paclty measure or directly in numbers.)

!~eise~" Clarence Elwood. YOS 4 (Select_ed temple docum.ents of the Ur

dynasty). New Haven '919~

0293: Recogniz(:~d in Powell H~ 3 1976 as the earliest known example

of the use of the Sumero-Akkadian sexagesimal system in its mature,
truely positional form. This particular text is an Ur III account (Ibi
Sin) of silver, using the positional notation only for auxiliary com-
putations"

1920-1930
!<eiser, Clarence Elwood (,J .. B. Nies+)" BIN 2 {Historical, religious

1
 26

and economic texts and antiquities). New Haven 1920.

p1-12, pl.1-3, 57-58 (NBC ~501): the "net cylindertf of Entemena

(Sollberger 1956: Ent.29); p12-14, pl.4, 59 (NBe 2515); an archaic,
pre-Sargonic contract on limestone, with early examples of small
weight measures (8 ka-babba~ ~A.NA, 5 ka-babba~ gtn, ... ); p51, pl.
66 (~BC ~513): an OB ta.ble of weight: measures on a hexagonal clay cyl-
inder (from 1 .re//'lO to 50 9ti//50, 1(60) gul11 rlu-babbalt); pl.8, 73:
various weights and their inscriptions.

Meis~,.£, Bruno I and §cJ:!.wenzner:., Wal ter 0 Eine Flachenmassskala auf

de r E sag i 1 t a f e 1 QI.. Z. 1 920, 'I 1 2 -11 4 •

Discusses a brief paragraph towards the end of the Esagila text

with an interesting series of equations (a short bilingual lexical
text) for the successive units of the contemporary (Kassite-Neo-Baby-
Ionian) systems of area measures. Cf Thureau-Dangin 1921.

l\1ei~ne!:, Bruno .. Lexikographisches: -i.tu AOTU 2/1 (Assyriologische

Forschungen 2). Breslau 1920, 52-55.

Lu~~" Henry Freder-ick .. A mat.hematical cuneiform tablet AJSL 36 1920,

249-257.

Presents and makes an analysis of a combined multiplication table

with an initial table of reciprocals (~B~853ti, MKT 1 1935, 11, 52).
Note that in his transcription of the numbers in the text, L. is still
making use of decimal notation and common fractions, instead of a much
simpler and more informative straight-forward rendering of the sexa-
gesimal notation of the original.

Delaportt:1 Louis. ~C~ -- Musee du Louvre, catalogue des cylindres ori-

entaux 1: Fouilles et missions. Paris 1920 ..

pl.39-45: in addition to several proto-Elamite tablets with in-

scriptions and seals, D. here publishes also the numerical tablets
(tablets with sE:"!al impressions and numbers) S .170 (MDP ~97; Scheil
1908) and §~_~~I as well as tbe similar bulla §_~..?5, all from Susa.
[The bulJa is imprinted with the number ()Ooooo a , which clearly be-
longs to the prato-literate system of capacity numbers described in
Friberg 1978 .. ]

Schroeder, Otto. KAV = Keilschrifttexte aus Assur verschiedenen 1n-

halts (WVDOG 35). Leipzig 1920.

n184 (VAT 9840): a unique metrological list with capacity measures

1
 27

(from ... , l(ban) to 11 ime~u, with 1 ime~u = l(ba~iga) 4(ban) = 100

~), sexagesimal-decimal counting numbers (from ••• , 120 to 1 xu-r~
lim, and then on to ., me. f..i.m l i e to 70,000), and wetght measures
(from ... , 3 g.tn Yl.a 4 .. ' to 4 9:tn na 4 .. I and then again from 1 g1.n
to 1 ma-na .. g~n); n185 (VAT 10288): an inventory of stone weights.
(ef the photograph in Meyer 1956.)

Allotte de la Fuye, Fran~ois-Maurice. DP = Documents pr~sargoniques,

fascicule suppl~mentaire (DP 468 a 669). Paris 1920.

DP 604-612: cf Allotte de la Fuye RA 12 1915& [Of particular inte-

rest is DP 609, which on the reverse contains what seems to be hasty
notes concerning an area computation that is presented in standard
format in obv. col. I. The fact th. .?.. t the computed area is given as
a.rag-b~. 1/2 (iku) 4 ta.!t aXag on the obverse, but as 34 ra~ on the re-
verse, suggests that the scribbled notation 34 ta.IL may stand for
.",
'.34 <iku>, in the range of the ~a~', where the sexagesimal fraction
.34 iku is a first rough approximation to the correct result. In fact,
this approximate result may have been obtained as follows: given the
sides 1/2<ete 2 > 6<gl> kat 3 and 1/2 ete 2 3<gi> of a rectangle, the ar
v v v
of the rectangle is found to be 'A = .49 30 e~e2 x .39 e6e 2 ~ .50 e6e 2
2 = .33 20 iku ~ .34 lku. If this interpretation is correct,
V'
x .40 e6e
DP 609 offers us maybe the oldest example of the use of Usexagesimal
fractionsl; as an aid in computations. ef, however, Pomponio 1981.]
Thureau-Dangin, Fran~ois. Numera'tion et rnetrologie sumeriennes RA 18

1921, 123-138 .. (RAce:: Rituels accadiens .. Paris 1921.)

A continuation of the survey in Thureau-Dangin JA (10)13 1909 of
the Sumero-Akkadian metrological systems during various periods of thr"
history of Mesopotamia. New here is in particular the reference to a
1t.6 iLtu. of 10 minas tt (,?\O 6451, a Seleucid text; Thureau-Dangin RAce 1 92 I )
which is used by T. in an effort to prove that the Sumerian gu.~-.6a.g­
gal of 4x6x6 tJ.iia. represented "the volume of water of which -the weiS'ht
is equal to a quadruple-talent, or nothing but a cubic cubit u • (In
fact I if, as T. as sumes, the cubit measures .495 meters, the .6 .Lta .84.2
liters, and the mina .505 kilograms, then a cubic cubit measures abCi
.122 cubic meters or 122 liters, corresponding to a vol~me of water
weighing 122 kilograms, which is precisely 4 talents or 240 minas,
corresponding in its turn to 24 ban (~atu) or 1 gu~-~ag-g4l.) In a
table listing Sumerian number words, T. claims that the ra.~-gal. is
4
equal to 60 Xa~-geX or 60 , which is probably an incorrect conclusion
(based on an interpretation of the ambiguous list of number words in

I
t
 28

the lexical text BM 38~; Thompson eT 12, pl.24). On p.127, T.

gives (in n.2) an interesting but unconvincing suggestion concerning
the interpretation of the difficult first part of the series of metro-
logical equations (a brief lexical text) towards the end of the Esag-
ila text (TC~ 6 32, rev.9-11). [An alternative interpretation is that
the initial phrase of the metrological section describes the unit
U
1/100 brUt as follows: 18 mu-Xa.'t//l GAR//3 atA il tuXtanu GAR.GAR (?}.
____ -.1.- __ ..

In fact, as the same text states that 1 ba~ corresponds to 1 gu~ 4 PI,
i e tq 9 PI = 9x6x6 ~ = 324 ~, it follows that 1/100 bu~ should
correspond to 3 24/100 !lE: R1 3 1/3 !i~. Note the simultaneous use in this
series of metrological equations of the NB (Neo-Babylonian) gu~ of
5x6x6 ~~ and of the Kassite formula for the seed-grain/area correspond-
ance.l In the main text are used both the NB and the Kassite formulas.
ef my comment:ary to powell ZA [1982].

de Genouillac, Henri. ~TT 5 (Epoque presargonique, epoque d'Agade,

epoque d'Ur). Paris 1921.

p.6: here are mentioned some interesting Ur III brick texts, among
them ITT 5 6677 in which 9 brick-Xa4 correspond to 10 days· work (?),
and ITT 5 6908 in wh.ich the equa-tion 48 raft.. .6 i9 4 I git- e (?) ud I-a
1 ZO-ta im-du.\ Ci-bJ. tL12J '"at. u.d-l--tiE tells us that 712 man-days at
a work norm of 1 20 bricks per man and day corresponds to the fabri-
",,'
cation (?) of 48 -ba-Jr. ::: 48 x 12 00 bricks (ef Scheil 1915: Legrain RA
10 1913 n15). Interesting are also the excavation texts ITT 5 6864,
6865 ..
Thureau-Dangin, Fran~ois. ~CL 6 (Tablettes d'Uruk a l'usage des pretres

du temple d'Anu au temps des S§leucides). Paris 1922.

Here are published the impressive "six-place" table of reciprocals
AD 6456 (TCL 6 31 i et: Neugebauer Q§. B 2 1933), the Esagila text Aa 6555,1
now acquired by t-he Louvre (TCL 6 32; ef Thureau-Dangin RA 19 1922),
the important Seleucid compilatory mathematical problem text AD 6484
(TCL 6 33; M~T 1 1935, 96), and also the astronomical text AO 64?8
(TCL 6 21; ef Thureau--Da.ngi.n 1913).
n
Thureau-Dangin, Fran;;ois. Les calculs de la "tablette de l'Esagil

RA 19 1922, 89-90.
Contains a renewed analysis of the Esagila text. ef Weissbach 1914,
Langdon 1918, Thureau-Dangin 1921, and Powell [1982].

I
L.
 29

Gadd, Cyril. Forms and colours RA 19 1922, 149-158.

Presents and discusses the unique and important text BM 15285, a
large fragment of an OB tablet. bearing a number of geometric diagrams
with accompanying texts (later to be joined by a second large frag-
ment see 5aggs 1960). Although the principle behind the arrange-
ment of the diagrams is still not well understood, each diagram 1.5 a
separate exercise concerned with the computation of areas of various
smaller geometric figures int.:o which a square of unit size has been
divided by a set of strai.ght lines or circle segments. ef the dis-
cussion in Va~man VDI 1963, which is partly based on an analysis of
some of the diagrams in this text.
Zimolong I P. Bertrand (Franz). Ass. 523 (:: Das sumeriseh-assyrische

Vokabular Ass. 523). Leipzig 1922 (dissertation, Breslau).

According to the colophone "tablet 2 <of the series> 'e-a//A//na-
a-kum'". Presented by Z. in clear photographs, transliteration, and
an interesting con~entary (see for instance the discussion on p.41
of the error committed by the scribe in obv .. II,
....
70, where he writes
the incorrect equation bu~ ni-ir//~(//2(bah)a~ag). The text, which
is extensively quot.ed in Powell SNM 1971 g contains a great deal of
information about Suroerian and Akkadian notations for numbers and
measures. Thus, there are sections with the initial equations a:6'//,.-
l/iXtin (obv.I, 50-60; obv.II, 39-58; rev.II!, 30-42), UII( IIU-ba-an
(obv.II, 59-rev.III, 18), and ~a-an-takll T//iK-tin (rev.IIl, 62-
rev.IV, 17) ..

Deimel, Anton. In.~cl~r.Far~?-. (:: Dl.e Inschriften von Fara) 1 LAK (= Liste

der archaischen Keilschriftzeicheni WVDOG 40); 2 SF (= Schultexte aus

Fara; ·WVDOG 43). Leipz 19 1922-1923.

I...AK 815-870: a sec-ti.on of t~he sign list, with an up to date review

of Sumerian and Akkadi.an nurr.ber notat.i.ons, and many references both
to the Fara texts and to younqer texts; SF 82 (VAT 12593): famous as
the oldest known mathEmat.ical table, a table of square areas, from
[(1 n1..rzdan)2 = 1 talt] to (1(get'u) ~lin.dal1)2 = [3(XaJt) Z(bu/t'u.)l (ef
MKT 1 1935, 91; a photo of one side of the tablet can be found in
v
van der Waerden (1956)1961). ef my discussion of the area text TSS
188 in the review of Powel1 HM 3 1976.

I
I
t
 30

Clay, Albert Tobias. BRM 4 (Epics, hymns, omens, and other texts).
New Haven 1923.
n31: a fragment with a syllabary and a brief metrological list:
n36: on the obverse a multiplication table for 44 26 40, ending in a
strangely corrupt. wa 1' with the Itnes 335518310640145042640
v
rES-am ib-~i8' where 45 04 26 40 may be the result of a confusion be-
tween 45 and 44 26 40; on the reverse a multiplication table for 24
and a date formula (cf !Y1KT 1 1935, 54) t n37: an early OB t.able of reci-
procals (cf ~.KT 1 1935, 10); n38: a dated multiplicat:ion tablf?, for 10
(ef MKT 1 1935, 39); n39: a multiplication table for 16; n40: a dated
metrological tabl~ (from 2/3 ~i(a2//?O to 5(ban}gu~//50); n41: a metro-
logica.l list of "weight measures (from [1/2 be] kiJ.- ba.bbaJt to 75 gil, •.• ;
ef MlS..~ 1 1935, 92); n42: a table of squares (from 20 a~·Jtlt 20/ /6 40 to
< 3 1 a - Ita> 3 1 1/1 6 0 1; c f ~KT 1 1 935, 70).

Peet:;, T. Eric. RMP (= Th.e Rhind MathE~n1atieal Papyrus). London 1923.

p.27-31: a comparison of Egyptian and Babylonian mathematics. It is

still possible for P. to say here, with justification, that "our know-
ledge of Babylonian geometry is slight u •

Vette~, Quido. La rnoltiplicazione e la divisione babilonese ASS 4 1923,

233- 240 (= C~.MF ( 4 ) 5 '1 1 922 t 27 1 - 278) •

systematic discussion of the collection of multiplication and

A
"division" tables in Hilprecht 1906, with in particular the crucial
observation that the multiplicands in the multiplication tables have
as only prime factors the numbers 2, 3, and 5.
Scheil, Vincent. MOP 17 (Textes de cornptabilite proto-elamite, nouvelle
s~rie). Paris 1923.

S. publishes here Cl second substantial collection of proto--Elami te

texts. In a comment to the text n107 (an account of various kinds of
jars), he correctly identifies the sign for 60 (\J). Interesting is
also his discussion of the famous "horse tablet.·' MDP ...l.z...l O~, an a.ccount
enumerati.ng several small herds of equids, ident.ificd by owner's name
(?), and with young and old animals of both sexes separately indica-
ted (1). [On the horse tablet, the decimal proto-Elamite system of
numerati.on is used, a fact suggesting that the decimal system was used
exclusively for the counting of animals (cf Friberg 1978). Note also
the texts n328 (possibly a metroloqi.cal exercise, but only a small piece

I
I

b
 3"

of the tablet is preserved), and n 434 (a "numerical tablet" with

impressions of two cylinder seals and with the number 63 or, which is
equally possible, 6x6 + 3 = 39).]
Langdon, Stephen Herbert. OECT 1 (Sumerian and Semitic religious and

historical texts). Oxford 1923.

pl.32-35: th(~ famous "farmer 1 s almanac" (for references, see Borger
HKL 1, 285; a more complete versi.on of the text can be found in Gadd
and Kramer 1966; cf also Powel! ZA 62 1972, Maekawa 1981).

Langdon, Stephen H. OECT 2 (Historical inscriptions, containing prin-

cipally the chronological prism, W.-B. 444). Oxford 1923.

pl.l (W.-B., 1923, 444): the Sumerian king list (for references,
see Borger HKL 1, 201, under Jacobsen, Thorkild AS 11 1939); interest-
.
1ng . h ere,----:-
18 1n par t 1CU
. 1 art t h e passage 1n~.
. (J 36 - 39 : 5 u~u k-l me! I 8'
tu-gat I mu. ~a!t-l-ga.e 1 (.6tiJt) I a-rna-Jtu b~-i1It-lta-ta 15 towns, 8 kings,
1 (60 ) 7(60 2 ) years; the flood came up', in which an unusual form of
3
the notation for -ba.It-gal is used (ef the cotn..rnent on p9, n.3) .

Poebel, Arno. Grundztige der Sumerischen Grammatik. Rostock 1923.

§287-338 and p324: a chapter on number words in Sumerian, wi.th many

explicit and interesting examples from the literature.
Deimel, Anton. SG' = Sllmerische Grammatik der archaistischen Texte

mit UbungsstUcken (zum Selbstunterricht). Or 9-13 1923.

p179-228: A detailed account of Sumero-Akkadian metrology, with

many explicit references.
Deimel, Anton. Die Vermessung der Felder bei den ~umerern urn 3000

v. Chr. Or 4 ed.2 1924.

p1-43: Discussion of a number of new Sumerian texts from the YE..

collection in Berlin, in particular of some belonging to the class of
so called "mu-gid texts". D.'5 claim here to have discovered the use
of the area measure 1 GAR :: 60 ~all in the difficult text BE 3/1 92
(Myhrman 1910) depends on a misinterpretati.on (ef the cqrrect inter-
pretation in Powell ZA 62 1972).

de Genouillac, Henri. PRAK = Premieres recherches archeologiques A

Rich /Fouilles fran~aises d'El-'Akhymer 1911-1912) 1 . Paris 1924;
2. Paris 1925.

With a number of (fragmentary) metrological lists, multiplication

t
 32

tables, tables of square roots or reciprocals, a piece of a table of

powers (B 199 = 1st 0 4583.; cf MKT 1 1935, 77-78; Bruins (1969) 1970),
and two fragments of mathematical problem texts, AO 10642 (C 22: MKT
1, 123) and AO 10822 (D 63, concerned with brick problems; cf MKT 1,
124; TMB 1938, 204; von Soden 1939, 149). See also MKT 1 1935, 388
to
and MKT 2 1935, 5.
Meissner, Bruno. BuA = Babylonien und Assyrien 2. Heidelberg 1925.
p380-39S: a chapter on the exact sciences in Mesopotamia.
Thureau-Dangin, Fran~ois. La grande coudee assyrienne RA 22 1925, 30.
In this brief note, T. suggests that the Assyrian "big cubit" was
equal to the normal Babylonian cubit (.495 meters), and that the normal
Assyrian cubit was 4/5 of the Assyrian big cubit, while the Babylonlan
big cubit on the other hand i.s known to be equal to 1 1/2 normal Baby-
lonian cubits.
Speleers, Louis. RlAA = Recueil des inscriptions de l'Asie Ant~rieure.

Bruxelles 1925.
n125: a field plan; n268-274 (0 160-166): a number of multiplica-
tion tables (see MKT 2 1935, 6).
v
Thureau-Dangin, Fran~ois. Le ~e, mesure lineaire RA 23 1926, 33-34.
Presents a small Assyri.an lexical text (cf Landsberger ~ 56
1960, 109ff) with a series of equations for the successive units of
the Sumero-Akkadian system of length measures, starting with 6 ~~//
XU-41 (this relation was not known before this text wa~ published) •
Interesting are a 1 so 1 0 hU-4~
v • / / ~~-zu~u,
\I • 15""
~U-6~. / / 1 / 2 -u. - • •• KU6,
1.. - '" and 3
kur//nig-9a~. Cf the similar text on STU 1 102 (Hunger 1973).

Scheil, Vincent. Qata dans les fractions RA 23 1926, 45-47.

Discusses the idiomatic expressions Z-ta Xu 1I me! '2 hands' for 2/3,
3 Xu 11 me '3 hands' for 3/4, in the NB te~t H.S.146. ef Rundgren 1955.
Legrain, Lean. PB~ 15 .(Royal inscriptions and fragments from Nippur
and Babylon). Philadelphia 1926.
n41: a new large fragment of "the inscriptions of the kings of
Agade, as compiled by a scribe of Nippur on a large 28 column clay
tablet CBS.13972. About B.e. 2500". The first recovered fragment was
published in PBS 5 (see Poebel 1914). As in Poebel's fragment, the
text of the new fragment contains several big numbers written by use

I
I
I
?
 33

of a series of unfamiliar notations for number units, possibly deci-

ma 1 ( ?): t-- (1), ( (1 0) , ~ ( 6 0) , ~ (1 00 or 600), ~ (1 000 or ••• ), and
o (3600?). Example (in col.17): Xu-n.igin Ln raIL 3(~) 16 gu1tul-guJtut.
Thureau-Dangin r Fran~ois. Tablettes ~ signes picturaux RA 24 1927,

23-29.
T. presents here an archaic onyx t:ablet (~O 8844.> with unmistakable
area number notation, and 12 clay tablets from Jemdet Nasr (AD 8850-
8861) wi'th what T. erroneously holds to be evidence for the use of
a decimal, hence non-Sumerian, number system. (ef Friberg 1978.)
Dossin, Georges. MDP 18 (Autres textes sumeriens et accadiens). Paris

1927.
n9, 11, 15, 16: "school texts"; a metrological exercise, two frag-
ments of metrological lists, and a fragment of a combined multiplica-
tion table.
Woollex, C. Leonard. The excavations at Ur, 1926-7 AJ 7 1927.
pl.47 tu 7803): a "geometrical tablet illustrating method of cal-
culating area"; cf, however, the similarity of the drawing on this
tablet with the schematic drawings of ziqqurrats discussed in Wiseman
1971.
Neugebauex:, otto. Zur Entstehung des Sexagesimalsys'tems (~Math.'­
Phys. Kl. N. F. 13/1). Berlin 1927 ..
The most interesting of several publications over some decades
(cf' in particular Kewlt$ch 1914), all containing more or less wild con-
jectures about the origin of the Babylonian sexagesimal system. How-
ever, since N. does not question the general opinion at this time that
decimal (or centesimal) number systenls were used in the recently ex-
cavated archaic tablets from Kish and in the proto-Elarnite tablets
from Susa (ef Thureau-Dangin 1927), the discussion in the book is based
exclusively on the several centuries younger Fara texts, or even later -
Surnerian and Babylonian or Assyrian texts. Consequently, N. is led to
develop a highly hypothetical theory (which must now be 'abandoned) aOOut
the evolution of the sexagesimal system. Anyway, his main thesis is
still valid, namely that the history of the sexagesimal system is in-
timately associated with the history of the Sumero-Akkadian metrologi-
cal systems.
 34

Hoppe, Edmund. Die Entstehung des Sexagesimalsystems und die Kreis-

teilung Archeion 8 1927, 449-458.

H. criticizes the theory developed in Neugebauer AGWG 1927, and

suggests an origin for the sexagesimal system in angular and time
measures based on the number 1/6. (Cf Neugebauer's answer in Archeion
9 1928, 209-216.)

Thureau-Dangin, Fran<;ois. L'origine du systeme sexagesimal Bli 25 1928,

115-121; L'origine du systeme sexagesimal. Un postscriptum RA 26 1929,

43.
T. criticizes Neugebauer's suggestion that the sexagesimal system
was developed from an original "natural core" 1/2, 1/3, 2/3, 1, 10,
and proposes instead the simpler core 1/6, 1, 10 or 1, 10, 60.

Thureau-Dangin, Fran~ois. Le syst~me ternaire dans le numeration sume-

rienne ~RA 25 1928, 119-121.

T. calls attention here to a section of a Sumerian.-Akkadian lexi-
cal test (Langdon JSOR 1 1917) I which seems to indicate the existence
of a primitive Sumerian (?) ternary number system with the number
words me~9a, taka, pel, pet-baia, pet-bata-g~4' . . . . ef MSL 4 1956,
163ff and 191; Powell SNf1: 1971, 28-32.
Thureau-Dangin, Fran~ois. La division du cercle RA 25 1928, 187-188.

Allotte de la Fuye, Fran~ois-Maurice. La sens du mot ka~ dans les

cornptes rendus de Larsa RA 25 1928, 23-30.
A discussion of the meaning of phrases such as un (units of mer-
chandise) kal'L-bi m gtn-t.a (or ma.-na-ta., qa.--ta) flu-bi w(silver units) It,
where w ~ mxn or f.{1 == m/ yt, depending on the text. Clearly the Raft in the
texts considered (C.-F. Jean RA 24 1927, 51ff) stands for the rate of
exchange silver-merchandise per unit of silver (or merchandise). In
one quoted example the corresponding computation is quite laborious:
2 gUI't ,of sesame at a kalt of 110 qa ::; 5 1/3 ma-na 7 1/4 gXJ!l 5 le.

D&vid, An-tal. La mesure de capacit~ "ma.tu" sur les tablettes de Kirkuk;

La mesure de superficie "ep..inJ'1u 1t RA 25 1928, 99-100.

Blome, Friedrich. duI GAB in Angaben iiber die Grosse der --Brote Or
34-35 1928, 129-135.

I
2
 35

A review of the use of expressions of the type m ninda ba-an-NE

n-du g to measure the size of loaves of bread in Sargonic and pre-
Sargonic texts. (ef the Jemdet Nasr bread and beer text IM 23431, dis-
cussed in Friberg 1979, and DV 5/2 31, referred to in my review of
Powell RA 70 1976.)

Mercer, Samuel Alfred Browne. Two Babylonlan multiplication tables

AA 26 1928, 145-146.
Presents multiplication tables for 12 30 (ROMA 711) and 7 (ROMA 767)
and a photo of an unrelated mathematical(?) text. ef MKT 1 1935, 237~
Neugebauer, Otto. Zur Geschichte des Pythagoraischen Lehrsatzes NGWG
1928, 45-48.
Shows, in a commentary to the text VAT 6598 rev.l-I! (cf Weidner
1916), that the OB mathematicians might have been familiar with the
h~ythagorean" theorem.

Frank, Carl. StrKT = Strassburger Keilschrifttexte. Berlin/Leipzig

1928.
p19-23, pl.4-9: hand copies and a preliminary transliteration and
translation of six very important OB mathematical problem texts, n6-
11 = Str 362-364, 366-368. Cf MKT 1 1935, 238-263.
Langdon, Stephen Herbert. OECT 7 (Pictographic inscriptions from
Jemdet Nasr). Oxford 1928.
A collection of almost 200 hand copies (often of inferior quality)
of texts or fragments from J'emdet Nasr, important because of the light
they throw on the origin of the cuneiform script and its various nume-
rational and metrological number systems (see the sign list, n438-463).
ef Borger HKL 1, 287 for references.
Belaiew, N.T. Au sujet de la valeur probable de la mine sum~rienne

RA 26 1929, 115-127.

Neugebauer, Otto. Zur Geschichte der babylonischen Mathematik QS B 1

1929, 67-80.
N. gives here improved translations of the texts Str 367 and 364
(in particular with respect to the rendering of the Babylonlan sexa-
gesimal number notation) (cf Frank 1928). The problems in the~e texts,
concerned with the partitioning of, respectively, a trapezoid and a tri-
angle into parallel strips, are shown to lead to systems of linear
 36

and, in some cases, quadratic equations (with no indication of the

solution method). The mathematical meaning of the terms a-Xa (area),
~d (strip), and RI (transversal line) are derived from the context.

Neusebauer, Otto, and Struve, Vasilij Vasil'evic. Uber die Geometrie

des Kreises in Babylonien g~ B 1 1929, 81-92.

Discusses the technical terms RI, tu..:.!!-Jt..- dam, and CAM : : Ilippatu.m (arc,
circle, circumference). Goes on to show that in BM 85194 obv.I, 37
to obv.II, 18 (dealing with a ring-formed construction) the approxi-
mations 3 and 5 (=1/12) are used for the constants nand 1/4n. In
addition, BM 85194 obv.II, 23-37 is shown to give an incorrect for-
mula for the volume of a truncated cone, while rev.I, 33-43 proves
t~at the "theorem of Thales" and the Pythagorean theorem were employed

in OB mathematics in problems about circle segments and chords.

Gandz, Solomon. The origin of angle-geometry Isis 12 1929, 452-481.
Refutes all claims that the Greek angle-geometry and concept of
parallel lines had Egyptian or Babylonian origins.
Archibald, Raymond Clare. Bibliography of Egyptian and Babylonian
mathematics. In A.B. Chase, L. Bull, and H.P. Manning RMP = The
Rhind Mathematical Papyrus 2 .. Oberlin, Ohio 1929.
Contains an extensively annotated review of publications on (Egyp-
tian and) Babylonian mathematics between the years 1854 and 1930.
Scheil, Vincent .. Tablettes ptctographiques RA 26 1929, 15-17.
n2: a. copy of a Jemdet Nasr text wi th an area number on one side
and a capacity number on the other, hence probably a seed-grain text.
[Gives a clue to the absolute size of the proto-Sumerian capacity
units. For details, see my review of Maekawa 1981.1

1930-1940
Thureau-Dangin, Frant;ois. La table de Senkereh RA 27 1930, 115-119.
T. gives here an essentially correct interpretation of the "Sen-
kereh tablet" Bl-t 92698, which he says has been If since the beginnings
of Assyrlo1ogy, a e~ux inte~p~et.umlf_ While refuting the mistaken ex-
planation in Weissbach 1915 of the purpose of the metrological tables
on this tablet, T. does not himself venture to propose an alternative
explanation. (ef my commentary to Pinches 1891.]

i
2
 37

Luckenbill, Daniel David. Inscriptions from Adab (OIP 14). Chicago

1930.
n70 (A 681): a pre-Sargonic baked tablet with a table of (small)
square areas, expressed in the cumbersome notation of the time for
fractions of the ta~ (see Edzard 1969); n116: a Sargonic (1) tablet
with an early and interesting example of area computation [indeed, the
surprisingly nice end result of the computation suggests that the
sides of the trapezoidal field considered in this text may have been
obtained after some preliminary calcl11ationi note that the area of the
field is 1 bu~ru = 5 00 00 lan, the long side (the height) is 5 15
(i e 7 x 45) Yl.indan, and the longer of the parallel sides is 1 10 (i e
7 x 10) nindan; thus I the shorter of the parallel sides can be computed
as the solution of the'equation 1/2 x (x+1 10) x5 15 = 50000, or
9x + 10 30 = 2 00 00/7 ~ 2 x 8 35 = 17 10 t from which follows that x ~
640/9 = 44.26 40~44 1/2, which is precisely the length of this' side
given in the text]; ef the close parallel in the text BIN 8 24 (Hack-
man 1958); other texts with interesting computations are the wool text
n155 (1 1/4 mina wool per sheep; cf Waetzoldt, Textilindustrie 1972),
the area text n163 (6 gu~ of barley per ba~ of area), the fragment
n168 (12 Xe silver per ban of barley), etc.

Allotte de la Fuye, Fran~ois-Maurice. Mesures et calcul des super-

ficies dans les textes pictographiques de Djemdet-Nasr RA 27 1930,
65-71.
Correctly interpreting the two proto-Sumerian texts OECT 7 99-100,
A. shows that, except for the use of curviform number signs of an
archaic type, the proto-Sumerian system of area measure notations is
essentially identical with the corresponding Sumerian system, and that
in the system for length measures multi.ples of the unnamed length unit
are counted in tens and sixties i e as numbers in the sexagesimal sys-
tem~ It is noteworthy that in these texts the total area is divided
into thirds (with a remainder of fractional area units), of which two
thirds are kept for the EN, while the remaining third is further divi-
ded among several functionaries. This indicates that the texts may
be contracts about leases of land by thirds.
Jordan, Julius. UVB 2 (APAW 1930/4) . Berlin 1931.
Fig.36-39: photographs of proto-Sumerian account tablets from Uruk
(Uruk IV), clearly demonst,rating that a sexagesimal numerational sys-
tem was used in this period (as confirmed by a communication from o.
i
b
 38

Neugebauer) •

Wieleitner, Heinrich. Zur Geschichte der Entdeckung des babylonischen

Sexagesimalsystems Festgabe G. Sticker (Historische Studien und
Skizzen zu Natur- und Heilwissenschaft). Berlin 1930, 11-17.

Neugebauer, Otto. Sexagesimalsystem und babylonische Bruchrechnung

I: g§. B 1 1930, 183-193; II: QS B 1 1931, 452-457; IIl: QS B 1 1931,

458-463; IV: QS B 2 1933, 199-210.

I,l!: Here it is made clear, with departure from the example of the
combined multiplication table in Lu~z 1920, how Babylonian tables of
r,,!'G:tprn:::als and (combined) mult:!;: 1. ~_CEi.ti':n~ tables were constructed. Thus I
it is shown that, with very few exceptions, the "head numbers" of
m.ultiplication tables are identical with the reciprocals of suitably
restricted ·'regular" sexagesimal numbers I and that the numbers appea-
ring in the first column of the reciprocal tables by necessity are
just such regular numbers. III: Considers more unusual types of tables
of reciprocals. IV: Contains a detailed (although not quite convin-
cing) explanation of how the enormous table of reciprocals AO 6456
(Thureau-Dangin 1922) may have been constructed. (Cf Friberg HM 8
1981, 465.)
~hureau-~~~in, Fran¥ois. La graphie du systeme sexagesimal RA 27
1930, 73-78.
Contains a copy of columns I, 11 of the cylinder AD 8865 (Samsuiluna,
year 1) wlth a metrological table of length measures (from 1 Ju.-.6.i1/10
to 20 ka~kat-gldl/20; basic unit 1 ~indan). See MKT 1 1935, 88.

~~uge~~ue£1 OttOa Uber die Approximation irrat.ionaler Quadratwurzeln

in der babylonischen Mathematik AfD 7 1931-1932, 90-99.

Gives a renewed discussion of the approximate formulas for (h2+w2)i
in VAT 6598 rev.I,ll (Weidner 1916, Neugebauer 1928; ef also the re-
mark in MKT 1 1935, 287). Makes further the important observation that.
in mathematical texts sexagesimal numbers for length measures may
stand for multiples or fractions of the nindan, even if ,other length
units are mentioned in the data. In particular, a phrase like 40 kaX
4ukud may have to be read as "0.40 nindan, the height [in the range of
the cubits]".

~nger, Eckhard. Altorientalische Zahlensymbolik FF 7 1931, 263.

 39

Schuster, Hans-Siegfried. Quadratische Gleichungen der Seleukiden-

zeit aus Uruk QS B 1 1931, 194-200.

s. uses here the example of the four problems in Aa 6484, rev.10-

27 (Thureau-Dangin TCL 6 1922, MKT I 1935, 96ff)! all of them equa-
tions of the purely algebraic type "i,gu ~ ~.£j,L-bu.-il m (x+1/x ~ m), to
show that Babylonian mathematicians of the Seleucid period were
familiar with general quadratic eql1ations and possessed algorithms
for their correct solution. For examples of correctly solved quad-
ratic equations in Old Babylonian texts, he refers to Frank 1928 and
King fT 9 1900. S. furt.her notices the continuity of the Babylonian
mathematical tradition, at the same time as he points out differences
in terminology between Old Babylonian and Seleucid mathematical texts.

~?h~eider, Nikolaus. Die Drehem und Djoea-Urkunden AnOr 1 1931 ..

n303: in this text appears in several places the unique notation

Xanxbu~'u for the area unit 10x60 ba~.· The same notation is used for
the number 10x60 in the fish text Aa 4303 (eras and Thureau-Dangin NFT
1910), and in the inscription on Gudea statue B col.IIl, 10 (DC 1884}.

'rhureau-Dangin, Franc;ois. 1 .. Notes sur la terminologie des textes matht§-

matiques ~ 28 1931, 195-198; 2. Le prisne ma"thematique AO 8862 RA 29

1 93 2 1 1 -1 0, pI. 1 - 4; 3. Un post-scriptum RA 29 1 932, 89 - 90 •

1. Explains the technical terms en-nam (what), ~ama~u (add), and

Xu~a~u!t{L (multiply) by reference to examples in the combined probleln
text AO 886~ (a four-sided prism from Senkereh). 2. Gives photos and
a full tra.nslation of AO 8862.• The text (early Old Babylonian) con-
tains a) problems stated in terms of quadratic equations, b) problems
concerned with payments to groups of workers for carrying bricks.
T. observes that the quadratic equations are formulated so that they
regularly lead to a unique solution. 3. An improved interpretation of
the brick-carrying problems, due t.O a remark by Neugebauer ..

Thureau-DaEgin, Franc;ois. Le syst~me decimal chez les anciens Sume-

riens RA 29 1932, 22-23.
Puts forward the (correct) idea that the allegedly decimal system
of numeration used in some of the texts from Uruk IV, Jerndet Nasr,
and archaic Ur, 'maybe a special system of notations for capacity mea-
sures.

Allotte de !a Fuye, Fran~ois-Maurice. La table math~matique AD 6456

RA 29 1932, 11-19.
I
ef Neugebauer QS B 2 1933.
2
 40

Thureau-Dangin, Fran90is. 1. lku "lev~e de terre"; 2. Ulleltii "s'~le-

ver"j 3. Le calcul de la surface d'un segment de cercle RA 29 1932,

24-28; 4. Mathematique babylonienne RA 29 1932, 60-66; 5. Encore un
mot sur la mesure du segment de cercle; 6. BAL = "raison (arithm~-

tique ou geometrique)tI; 7. WaILadu "abaisser une perpendiculaire"; eta

nelever une perpendiculaireni 8. La mesure du volume d'un trone de
pyramide RA 29 1932, 77-88; 9. Le theor~me de pythagore RA 29 1932,
131-132.
In tilis series of hrief notes, T. gives translations, interpreta-
tions, and discussions of technical terms in a number of mathemati-
cal problems in the compilatory problem texts BM 85194, 85210 (eT 9
1900), as well as in some of the StrKT texts (Frank 1928).

Thureau-Dangin, Fran~ois. Esquisse d'une histoire du syst~me sexag~- .

simal. Paris 1932.
See the English translation Osiris 7 1939.
Waschow, Heinz. Angewandte Mathematik im alten Babylonien (urn 2000
v. Chr.). Studien zu den Texten eT IX, 8-15 AfO 8 1932-1933,127-
131; 215-220.
A discussion, similar' to the one in Thureau-Dangin RA 29 1932, of
various questions related to the texts BM 85194, 85210 in eT 9. In par-
ticular, W. observes that vertical dimensions in these thexts are
measured in cubits, hence volumes in volume-ra4s, with 1 ra~ equal to
1 nindan 2 x 1 cubit (ef Allotte de la Fuye 1907). This observation
leads him also to a correct evaluation of phrases like .i-na. 1 kilt 1
kat ta-gal (inclination 1 cubit per cubit, i e 1:1). In addition, W.
pOints out, that the special 'notation for area numbers is employed
in the previously badly understood problem 7 of Str 364 (see MKT 1
1935, 249).

Vogel, Kurt. Eine Pyramidenstumpf-Aufgabe bei den Babylqniern AfO

8 1932-1933, 220-221.

Suggests, in a commentary to BM 85194 rev.II, 41-49, that OB matbe~

maticians may have known the formula V = hx[ (l(a+b»)2+(!(a-b»2/ 31
for the volume of a truncated cone. ef MKT 1 1935, 187.
 41

Neugebauer, Otto. Zur transkription mathematischer und astronomischer

Keilsehrifttexte AfO 8 1932-1933, 221-223.

N. presents here two well motivated suggestions for a standardized

rendering of numbers and ideograms in Babylonian mathematical and
astronomical texts: a) sexagesimal numbers in mathematical texts
should be reproduced as, for instance, 1,.,40 in transliterations,
but as, say, 1,.;40 in translations (for the number with the value
1
1 x60 + Ox 1 + 40 60- ), while numbers in astronomical texts should be
, dB 0
reproduced as, for ~nstance, 29 + 3;11,0,50 or 0;17 [ef ~"riberg

HM 8 1981, where I have suggested the use of a simplified version of

Neugebauer's convention, namely to write 1 00 40 rather than 1,.,40
and 1 00.40 rather than 1,.;40]; b) ideograms and whole phrases in
Swnerian should not be replaced by their Akkadian equivalents, in
·particular because ideograms may be supposed to have played the same
role in Babylonian mathematical texts as symbols in modern mathema-
tical texts!

Thureau-Dangin, Fran~o1s. Carre et demi-cercle ru~ 29 1932, 136-139.

Treats the difficult and today still badly understood problem ~M

85210 rev. I, 0-22 (see MKT 1 1935, 229).

Thureau-Dag.gin, Fran<f:ois. La clepsydre chez les Babylonlens RA 29

1932, 133-" 35; Clepsydre babylonienne et clepsydre egyptienne ~ 30

1933, 51-52.
An interesting discussion of four texts concerned with what is pro-
bably waterclocks (g~Xdib-dlb) of various dimensions (BM 85194 obv.II,
27-33, 34-40, 41-48, and BM~?J10 rev.II, 10-16). (T. gives an im-
proved interpretat.ion in TMB 1938, 25-27, 52-53. ef Salonen 1965, 292.)

Thureau-Dangi!!1 Fran~oi.s .. La mesure du IIqa U R~ 29 1932, 189-192.

A first, unsuccessful attempt to derive the size of the ~ measure
from the data in t.he capacity problems BM 8]194 rev .. I, 44-46, rev.II,
1-6. ef the improved interpretation in TMB 1938, 32-34, and Varman 1976.

Jord~.!!, Julius. Ausgrabungen in Uruk 1930/31 UVB 3 1932.

pl.19: photos of a "numerical tablet" in gypsum (n10133).

N61deke, A. Ausgrabungen in Uruk 1931/32 UVB 4 1932; 1932/33 UVB 5 1934.

UVB 4 pl.14, 5 pl.14: photos of three more numerical tablets.

Fish, Thomas. eST = Catalogue of Sumerian tablets in the John Rylands

 42

Library. Manchester 1932.

n4-6, 14: see my commentary to Powell RA 70 1976.

Waschow, Heinz. Verbesserungen zu den babylonischen Dreiecksaufgaben

QS B 2 1932, 211-214.
This paper suggests an improved reading of Str 364 pr.3, a geomet-
ric problem leading to a system of ten linear equations in ten un-
knowns. (See MKT 1 1935, 248ff.)

Neugebauer, Otto .. Studien zur Geschichte der antiken Algebra 1 QS B

2 1932, 1-27, 253-254.

A methodological study, illustrating a "synoptic" method, on the
example of the quadratic equation problems in AO 8862 (Thureau-Dangin
'RA 29 1932, 1-10), and' a "comparative" method, in a comparison of
Aa 8862 with texts of, respectively, the "StrKT-type" and the "eT 9-
type". N. quotes in his introduction an observation by S. Gandz that
the origin of the title of al-HwarizmI' s famous book ~i-6ab ct.{gabJt
wa.lm~~~ba,£aJ!. is to seek in a noun related to t,he
(Assyrian) verb 8abJtU.
maha~u 'correspond, be equal to' and its Arabic counterpart mu~~balah
= -v----· _
'equation'. ef Gandz 1936. (Note the frequent use of the (Sumerian) word
gaba-~i to denote copies of clay tablets, etc. ef, for instance, the
colophone of the Esagila tablet, or the inscription ~-,na. gaba-Iti ki-la.
dSu.l-g,L 'in imitation of a w(~i.ght of Sulgi 1 on BM 91005 (SNM 1971, 254).:

Neugebauer, Otto, and !ascho~, Heinz. Bemerkungen ilber Quadratwurzeln

und Quadratwurzel-Approximationen in der babylonischen Mathematik
QS B 2 1933, 291-297.

N. and W. consider here three gf}ometric problems in the text AD 648~

obv.12-20 (Thureau.-Dangin 1922), concerned with a) an isosceles tri-
angle with rational sides (5, 5, 6) and height (4); b) a rectangle
with rational sides (8, 15) and diagonal (17); and c) approximations
to 12' (1.2.5) and 1/./2 (.42 30). The dssertion that the indeterminate
2 2
equation a = b + 22 30 in ~~ 8519.~. obv.II, 8-12 can be reduced to
the equation a 2, = 12 ":fo l'S prooaD'
• \. 1 y not correct.

Waschow, Heinz (+ Neugebauer, Otto). Reihen in der babylonischen

Mathematik QS B 2 1933, 298-304.

Deals with: 1. arithmetic and geometric progressions in Babylonian

mathematics (the siege ramp problem Str 362 rev., 15-21, and the broken
I cane problem Str 362 rev., 11-14; cf, however, the remark in MKT 3

1
 43

1937, 56}; 2. the meaning of the phrase ki ma-~~; 3. a geometric pro-

gression in the Seleucid text AD 6484 obv.,3-5; 4. a sum of squares
5. a table for n +n (VAT 849~ rev.II; see MKT
2 3
(ibid. obv . , 3-5;
1 1935, 76f, and Neugebauer NGWG 1933)@
Thureau-Dan2:t2, F ran<f=ois. La ville ennemie de Marduk Rl-i 29 1932,
1

109-119; 139-142.
Neugebauer, Otto. Babylonische uBelagerungsrechnung" QS B 2 1933,

305-310.
Thurea~~pang~n, Fran~ois. Poliorcetique babylonienne RA 30 1933, 126;
Le nom du "cercle" en babylonien RA 30 1933, 187-188.
Waschow, Heinz. wehrwissenschaft und Mathematik im alten Babylonien
(urn 2000 v. Chr.) UntM 39 1933, 368-373.
In the five papers.enumerated above are treated problem texts
dealing with constructions for military purposes: siege ramps (aJLammu)
in BM 85194 obv.I, 1-12 and Str 362 rev., 15-21; similar construc-
tions in texts beginning with phrases like u.,~.u.-k.;. na-k..i-iJt dMaJtduk
'a town, enemy of Marduk' (BM 85194 rev.II, 7-21, 22-33, and BM 85210
obv.I, 1-7,8-12, 13-16, 17-21; obv.II, 1-14, 15-27); the circular
fortification in the difficult text BM 85194 obv.I, 37-obv.II, 18.
ef Powell JCS [1982], Thureau-Dangin FA 30 1933, 187f,
Voge!, Kurt. Zur Berechnung der quadratischen Gleichungen bei den
Babyloniern UntM 39 1933, 75-81.
v.makes the important observation that the four quadratic equation
problems in Aa 8862, for instance, can all be reduced to systems of
equations of the normal form x+y = a, xy = b, and that such systems
can be solved, without any detour over general quadratic equations,
by use of, say, the identity (!(x+y)}2- xy = (l(x-y»)2. Parallels are
then drawn with Euclid's Elements II, 5, and with a passage in Dio-
phant's Arithmetica II (Opera I, 27, ed. Tannery p60ff).
Neugebauer, Otto. Zur Terminologie der mathematischen Keilschrifttexte
AfO 9 1933-1934, 199-204.

1. [!z.abL1tu. "Quadrat U 1; 2. RI = p-iJtkum .. rrrennungslinie"; 3. mutaJt.i.dum

"Hohe ll ; 4. i-guy!! und :fg,Lbu..!.~ "Zahler" und "Nenner"; 5: si. = Xana.rzLt.
Schot~, Albert. Zur Terminologieder mathematischen Keilschrifttexte 1:

k.i ma.-.6i Q~ B 2 1933, 364-368.

 44

Thureau-Dangin, Fran~ois. 1. La lecture de Cl ~r dans les textes

mathematiques; 2. Le zero dans la syst~me babylonien ~ 30 1933, 144;

3. Igu et ~g~ba RA 30 1933, 183.
Allotte de la Fuye, Fran~ois-Maurice. La table math~matique AO 6456

RA 29 1932, 11-19.

ef Neugebauer 95 B 2 1933, 199-2"10.

Neugebauer, Otto . Das Pyramidensturnpf-Volumen in der vorgriechischen

Mathematik QS. B 2 1933, 347-351.

A discussion of various interpretations of BM 85194 rev.II, 41-49.
Ne~..sebauer, Otto. Uber die Losung kubischer Gleichungen in Babylonien

NGWG I: 43 1 933, 3 1 6 - 3 21.

Discussing a series of cubic equatIons in BM 8520Q, N. claims that

Babylonian mathematicians solved such equations by reducing them to
certain "normal forms", which could then be solved by use of tables
3
such as the n +n 2 -table VAT 8492 (MKT 1 1935, 76). [A less preten-
3
tious explanation regarding the n +n 2 -table is that it was used as an
auxiliary table for the computation of the sum of the geometric series
,2+ •.• + n 2 in the form (n 3 +n 2 +jn(n+1»/3. Cf the similar formula for
,2+ ••• n in !in 6~! obv. I 3-5 (~!K'1" 1 1935, 103).] ef also Vogel 1934.
2
!i " /
'" Labour.
Matolls, ~
LT~A 1 (Lexikalische Tafelserien: Serie tIAR-ra =
hubullu).
u
Berlin 1933.
n63, 1:.30-31: 1 a-Jul. 1 1 5 a-'T.a 5 25 8 a-ftll 8 1 4 (twice). ef
MSL 5 1957 83ff, 143ff.

Thureau-Dal]_giI~, Fran~ois. Note sur la "tablette de 1 t Esagil" RA 30

1933, 116.
Thureau-Dan9..!:~, Fran<;ois. La tablette de Strasbourg nO 11 RA 30 1933,

184-187; ~ 31 1934, 30, 70.

A discussion of the U broken cane" problem on Str 368 (which leads to
a quadratic equation). ef f'.1KT 1 1935, 311-314.

Vogel, Kurt. Kubische Gleichungen bei den Babyloniern? SBAW 1934, 87-

94.

v. uses a geometric approach in an effort to elucidate the method

 45

of solution of a "general" cubic equation, used in the two problems

BM 85200 obv.I, 9-14, 15-20 (MKrr 11935,210-211).

Dossin, Georges. !CL. 18 (Lettres de la premiere dynastie babyloni-

enne) .. Paris 1934.

n154: a hand copy of the small compilatory mathematical text AD
6770. Cf Thureau-Dangin RA 33 1936, !4KT 2 1935 37ff, 3 1937, 62.

Gordon, Cyrus Herzl. Numerals in the .Nuzi tablets RA 31 1934, 53-60.

A review of phonetic vlriting of numerals (1--5, 9, 60, 100, 1000)

in the Nuzi texts.

Scheil, Vincent. Meru = 100 R~ 31 1934, 49-52.

Thureau-Dangin, Fran~ois. 1. Nombres ordinaux et fractions en acca-

dien; 2. Carr~ et racine carr~e RA 31 1934, 49-52.

Thureau-Dan9..in , Franc;ois .. Une nouvelle tablette math~matique de

Warka RA 31 1934, 61-69.

Contains a hand copy and a discussion of the small mathematical

problem text Aa 17264, with a partly novel terminology, and with a
problem of "six brothers". This text:. gives, although in a badly corrupted
form, the first known example of an "iterated trapezoid partition
problem" , of greatest importance for the history of number theory.
[In fact, the trapezoid partition problem can be used to generate a
complete set of rational solutions to the indeterminate equation
x 2 _y2 = y2_z2 (closely related to the familiar Pythagorean equation
a 2 +b 2 = c2; cf Friberg 1980).] The problem solution in the text is
plainly seen to be using similarity of triangles in an essential way.
ef ~~ 1 1935, 126-134, Gandz (1938)1948, and Caveing HM [1982].
Neuge.baue.~1 Otto. Uber die Rolle der 'rabellentexte in der Babylo-

nischen Mathematik K~_YE~ 12:13 1934, 3-14.

Neugebauer, otto. vorgriechi!3che Mat.he.m~tik (Vorlesungen uber Ge-

schichte der antiken mathematischen Wissenschaften I). Berlin 1934.

A rapid survey, without references f of (Egyptian and)' Babylonian

mathematics: 1. Babylonian techniques of computation; 2. General
history, language, and writing; 3. Number systems; 4-5. Egyptian and
Babylonian mathematics. (The new texts soon to be published by N.
in MKT 1-2 1935, are not taken into consideration in this book.)
 46

Neugebauer, Otto .. Serientexte in der babylonischen Mathematik QS B

3 1934-1936, 106-114.

N. announces here the existense of extensive Babylonian "series

texts", i e groups of numbered clay tablets, each with a large num-
ber of systematically arranged, stereotyped problems (or equations).
The text category is exemplified by the text YBC ~708 (~KT 1 1935,
389f£; MCT 1945, 94), with its 60 linear or quadratic equations for
brick constructions (rectangular prisms or truncated pyramids).

V0ge1, Kurt. Babylonische Mathematik BBIG 71 1935, 16-29.

A bibliography covering the period 1916-1934, with a brief survey.
(Vogel's publication served as a model for the present bibliography.)

Schneider, Nikolaus. Die Keilschriftzeichen der Wirtschaftsurkunden

von Ur III. Rome 1935.

p123-136: a comprehensive survey of number notations occurring in

Ur III texts, with references. Noteworthy is a quotation from Chiera
STA 1922: 26 41 57 1/3 5 g-tn g1.m 126 41 57 1/3 5/60 women (x 1 day)'.

Sehe!l, Vincent. MD!: 26 (Textes de comptabilit~ proto-61amites

(troisieme serie) + suppl~ment (suite de la premiere serie». Paris 1935 ..

s. continues here to improve his analysis of the proto-Elamite

number systems. In particular, he points out the importance of the
texts n362, possibly an exercise in addition {of a long series of big
and small capacity numbers}, and n109-113 (rations or wages, in mul-
tiples of two lIS-units). s~ still believes that the capacity unit
is 1 gu~ [instead of the correct value: about 1 bdn]. [Big capacity
numbers occur not only in the text n362 considered by S., but also
in n48. The evidence of these two texts together makes it possible,to
correct a small error in n362 and so arrive at the conclusion that
the succesi ve integral uni t.s in the protodwElami t.e capacity syst.em were:
Q t t;g I V ,0
(J ::: 60x180, 10x180, 180, 60, 6, and 1 capacity
! 0 I

units, ·not counting the secondary unit D = 1/5 capacity unit.

Burrows, Ertc. U~T 2 (Archaic texts). London 1935.

pl.35-37: a sign list for number signs in the archaic Ur texts.

On p.5 (§ 12), B. st.ates: "The numeral system agrees on the whole
with that of Jemdet Nasr. The centesimal system is used when the
reference is to a measure of capacity_ The barred numerals occur
frequently." In fact, the archaic Or tablets seem to use the same
archaic sexagesirnal number signs (see naB), the same capacity number

L
 47

system (ef nB3), and the same barrred number signs for spelt (z1z,
see n73) as the IN texts. On the other hand, in these texts appear
for the first time in Sumerian texts the signs for ~~fa (as a measure
of capacity), gUll. and ma-Ha UfLLUiu, as well as the term for summation
- " ... (mostly in area texts; cf n 127, and pS, §8; note, however,
gu+an+hu
that the text OE~~ 7 12 (Ldngdon 1928) was found in the palace of Kish
and cannot be precisely dated (see Falkenstein !\TU 1936, 13 n.2); ef
also the discussion in Pomponio 1980, which takes into account new
evidence from the Ehla texts).

Pohl, Alfred. THH 5 (Vorsargonische und sargonische W1rtschaftstexte).

Leipzig 1935.
n65 (HS 815): a geometric exercise from the Sargonic period, with
one of the earliest known examples of the deliberate use of regular
sexagesimal numbers. ef the review of Powel1 HM 3 1976, where ot.her
similar texts are mentioned.
Thureau-Dangin, Fran~ois. I,a mesure des volumes d t apr~s une tablette
in§dite du British Museum RA 32 1935, 1-28.

Presents in full detail the important compilatory mathematical pro-

blem text BM 851~6. Of its problems, 12 are concerned with volume com-
putations, 2 with rope-making, one with interest paid out in barley
(?), and one with a Pythagorean triangle (the "cane-against-a-wall pro-
blem", cf Friberg HM 1981). For a discussion of the difficult sixth and
tenth problems, see my review of Sachs 1944. [In these problems occurs
an otherwise rarely documented volume unit, the volume-Xe, equal to
0.00 00 20 volume-Xalt (ef CBM 12648 in my review of MKT 1 1935).J

Meek, Theophile James. HS~ 10 (Excavations at Nuzi Ill: Old Akkadian,

Sumerian, and Cappadocian texts from Nuzi). Cambridge 1935.
n160, 214: two examples of the use of the phrase a-~4 n-kdm 'for
the n-th time' in Sumerian economical (non-mathematical) texts.
Thureau-Dangin, Franc;ois. Terminologie roathematique babylonienne RA
32 1935, 188.

Legrain, L~on. Quelques texts anciens ~ 32 1935, 128-;129.

Presents, in photographs and translation, an interesting brick

text from Surnerian Umma I v1i th volume computattons and conversions into
brick-Xa~ units. Two different kinds of brick are mentioned ( 6i9 4
a-ku-~u-um and ~ig4 za-hi-in), but the data in the text are not suffi-

i
~
 48

ciently detailed to allow a computation without ambiguity of the para-

meters (in particular the linear dimensions) of these types of bricks.

van der Meer, Petrus E .. , MPP 27 (.Textes scolaires de Suse). Paris 1935.

n57: a fragment with a syllabary and a list of capacity measures;

n59: an almost complete list of capacity measures (from 1/2 Xe (?) to
2 gu; notations in a middle column are difficult to understand); n60:
an arithmetical exercise of unknown significance; n61: a syllabary and
a multiplication table fUr I1I (?); ef the interesting discussion in
MKT 3 1937, 50); n63: a few lines of a syllabary and of a list of weight
measures; n291: an arithmetical exercise (1): n292-297: fragments of
'lltiplication tables, a combined yr. Itiplication table, and a table of

·Neugeb~~:·r, Otto. Der Verhaltnisbegriff in der babylonischen Mathe-

matik AnOr 12 1935, 235-258.

In this fascinating paper, N. discusses in detail the detective
work that led him to the correct interpretation of the series text
YBC 4712 and the new technical terms appearing in it (such as ~gi-TE-EN
la. uX ~a.g-le for y/x, if U.6:,: x, i>a.g ::: y, and -igi-TE-EN ~a u.~ 4a.g-~it
.6ag -Z e t.,,t for (y Ix) y :::: y2/x The text contains 10 basic systems of
$

linear, quadratic, or simple cubic equations, each with a number of

systematic variations, indicated by brief, stereotyped phrases. A
bigger series text, YBC 4668, itself marked as u3rd tablet tt , contains
the text of YBC 4712 in its columns rev.II-III (MKT 1 1935,420-466).

Neugebauer, Otto. MKT = Mathematische Keilschrifttexte 1: Texte; 2:

Reg.ister I Glossar, Nachtrage, Tafeln. Berlin 1935.. (Reprinted as one
volume B(~rlin/Heidelberg/New York 1973 .. )

1: With the ambition to collect in two big volumes everything that

can be said about Babylonian mathematics, N.. presents in this classic
work tr'ansli terations, translations, and commentaries to all Babylonian
mathematical texts known to him in 1935. Ch.1, Table texts, contains
many useful diagrams with systematic surveys of, in particular, 33
single and 38 combined multiplication tables, 26 tables,of squares
or square roots, cubes or cube roots, and 28 tables of reciprocals.
Interesting are the three new fraqments VAT 2117, 3462, 3463 [all three
possibly belonging to one common ~able with entrie-;-for 10/n, (10/n)2].
In a section on metrology are published two metrological tables in-
cluded as parts of big combined table texts, VAT 6220 and 1st A 20 +

I
 49

VAT 9734, the latter (MKT 1 1935, 47, 92) with a multiplication table
-- 2
for 1 40 replaced by a table of areas, from 1 d-n4 <1 40 n~nddn >/1
1 40<Xa4>//l(iku)dXag to 50 <a-~a 1 40 n~rtdan2>1/7 23 20<ta~>//2(bu~)
V'

2{el~}2'lku}a4ag, and with the concluding lines 1 40 4-44 1 40 12 46 40

1/5 b[U-U4 1]0 i-kl ••. (100 iku = 5 bu~ 1 ete 4 lku). Ch.2 and 3 con-
tain only previously published· texts from Paris and London: AO 6484,
8862, 10642, 10822, 17264, BM 15285, 85194, 85200 (+VAT 6599), 85210.
Previously published are in Ch.S and Ch.6: CBM12648, to which N. adds
some signs readable near the edge of the reverse, still without be-
ing able to offer an interpretation of the text [actually, anyway, this
unique "Sumerian mathematical text contains an example where a volume
tl

of 1 1/12 Xe has the sides uX, &ag bu~ = 1/2, 1/3, and 1/6 kaX, res-
P2ct:t·~,1'ely], and Str 362-364, :~56::..:1-§7 (of which Str 366 still resists

interpretation; cf von Soden 1937). New 1s here the fragment 1st 0

A360 with its series of drawings of triangles. In Ch.6, VAT 6598 and
Str 368 are already published, while 19 other VAT texts are new. Par-
ticularly interesting among these are: VAT 6505 with its explicit de-
scription of an algorithm for computation of reciprocals of regular
sexagesimal numbers through factorization (a related text is CBM 10201,
Hilprecht 1906); the fragment VAT 7530, dealing with prices (m4bZ~um);
VAT 7531 with some curious trapezoid partition problems; VAT 7532,
7535, two "broken cane problems which are more complicated variants
If

of the artificial area measuring problem in Str 368: VAT 8389, 8391,
two texts concerned with relations between the areas of two fields
with different productivity figures (4 and 3 gU4/bu4, respectively);
VAT 8390, a system of two quadratic equations; VAT 8512, a geometri-
cally interesting triangle bisection problem; VAT 8521, a curious text
with interest calculations, in which the interest 1s assumed to be a
square number (a.·-JL4 Xd .<.b-4.{.8)' a cube number (a-Jt.i1 l'a. ba.-.6.i), or a
number of the fo:on ~(n-1) (a.-tr.4 ·Xa. ba.-~.L i-lal) (cf Thu;reau-Dangin
-
RA 33 1936, 71 ff) i VAT 8528, dealing with interest (ma! or «,J('5 -4a.) ,
in one example with interest added to capital after each five year
period, in another with interest paid on a steadily decreasi'ng debt
(Thureau-Dangin RA 331936, 65ff); VAT 8522, unique because its
four problems are accompanied by sketches of solutions, scribbled
on the lower half of the tablet; one of the problems is'about a
wooden log (truncated cone); see the discussing of this important text
in the interesting paper Valman 1976; VAT 8523, concerned with earth
work for a canal (simple computations but difficult terminology). In
Ch.7, entirely devoted to series texts, YBC 4708 and YBC 4668 (and
the parallel texts YBC 4712, 4713) have already been published. New
 50

are: YBC 4709, 4710, 4715, VAT 7537 (and, less well preserved, YBC 4695,
4697, 4711), all dealin9, formally, with rectangular areas, but in
fact with series of variants of certain basic systems of quadratic
and linear equations; YB~ 4696, formally dealing with bisected tri-
angles; the very interesting y~C 4714, dealing with sums and diff-
erences of squares; YH~ __2..?28, about canal work; and finally YBC 4669,
with volume computations for a series of vessels of standard capacity,
from 1 ba4iga to 1 gtn, as well as problems dealing with work norms
(lX-ka~), and interest (computed year by year).
2 : Starts with concordances with respect to a) museum numbers, and
b) publications, with a short bibliography, and with Akkadian and
Sumerian glossaries. A preliminary discussion of the five problems
on AD 6770 is based on the hand copy in Dossin 1934 (ef Thureau-Dangin
RA 33 1936, 75ff) i new discussions are given of BM 85196 and YBC
4696~;then follow 34 plates with phot,ographs, 26 with hand copies I
and 9 with schematic drawings of a number of combined multiplication
tables (as a rule, photos and hand copies published elsewhere are not
reproduced here). (Ij~or references see Borger HKL 1, 360-361.)

Waschow, Heinz. Revie"'J of MKT 1 , 2 1935 AfC 11 1936-1937, 245-247.

Thureau-Da~~in, Fran.;ois .. L· ~quation du deuxieme degr~ dans la math~­

matique babylonienne d'apr~s une tablette infidite du British Museum

RA 33 1936, 27-48 ..

T . presents here, in hand copies and with extensive commentaries, the

early OB t.ablet BM .J]9,Ql, wi th i.ts collection of 24 systematically
arranged quadratic equations or systems of quadratic and linear equa-
tions, all with deta.iled solut.:.ions ..
Thur:eau-Dan...9.....in, Fran<;ois. Review of MKT 1, 2 1935 RA 33 1936, 55Y.
This review, as well as Waschow's review cited above, contains many
improvements in detail of the readi.ngs and commentaries in MKT 1, 2,
but also some more essential observations. Thus, T. observes that the
"tables of reciprocals" are really conversion tables (fractions into
sexag~~imal numbers), that in the first four problems 9f "BM 85210,
the g,c6 1- V1B is a siege ramp with steps of given width (na.kba..6um)
and height (gZJt-gLtb-ba), and that the flbroken cane" problems in Str
362 and AO 6770, as well as the interest problem in VAT 8528, are nice
examples of computation with arithmetic series. In several cases, T.

Pr
 51

and Waschow have coinciding views on ·these matters. (ef Waschow' s

discussion of the ramp-with-steps problem in UntM 39 1933.)

Thureau-Dangin, Fran~ois. Textes mathematiques babyloniens RA 33 1936,

65-84.

T. starts the discussion by giving new, improved interpretations

of the interest texts VAT 8521.' 8528 (ef 'll.' s review of MKT 1,2 above
in RA 33 1936). He then proceeds to present i.n full detail, with
photos, new transliterations, translations, and interpretations, the
five problems in the important but difficult text Aa 6770 (Dossin
1934). The first of these problems is a unique "abstract" text, de-
scribing an arithmetical problem and its solution without the use of
any numerical example; the second is an interest problem with what is
. probably a linear interpolation in an interest table; the third is a
Uweight stone problem" leading to a linear equation with "irregular"
coefficients; the fourth is a problem about spreading of bitumen,
using the coefficient (~~~9Llb-"bu~~~) 15, denoting a rate of spreading
corresponding to .15 ~~ per square cubit (?)i while the last problem
is the "broken cane problem" mentioned above (Thureau-Dangin RA 33
1936, 55-62).

Thureau-Da!l9in, Franc;ois .. 1. LUL ::: /~aJt.!Lu.; 2. VAT 7530; 3. AD 6484

t .. 21 ss; 4. YBC 4708; 5. yAT 6505 RA 33 ·1936, 161-168; 6. Nouvelles

observations sur YBC 4708; 7 .. BM 85200, nO XXIi 8. La notation num§-

rique des mesures dans les textes math~matiques ibid. 180-184.

1. An improved interpretation of the ubroken cane" problems in

VAT 7532, 753~f and Str 368, based on the reading LUL ::: .6a.ILILU. 'false,
provisional' in several places; 2. Some crucial observations regarding
the meaning of the phrase ~a~.l?!Hn S:.i:~~~: Q l,{:_~':..i-,[d 'may the silver go
up and down t in the text VAT .E30 [the still remai.ning difficul ties in
this text depend largely on th~ misreading of the word which is simp-
a-at -
ly )..g.t- 4 - - ' (::.: ltiba_! '1/4 of a
y
~ e') as
v
,6.(.- za-a-at]; 3. A discussion
of the mysterious volume-coefficient 6 NI.VUB (NI.VUS = natpaku) in
the five otherwi.se simple problems in AD 6484 obv., 21-rev., 9 (ef
my conunentary to Postgate 1978 f Ir~ 40, 67-69) i 4., A. d<;monstration
of the fact that the series text YBC~708 is a brick text, in which
the opening phrase is -6.tg~ig4-an.Ku. (= amcrfLum 'pile of bricks')i 5.
4
T. pOints out here the important connection between VAT 6505 and the
algorithm text ~~M 102Ql (Hilprecht 1906): both texts are concerned
with an algorithm for the computation of reciprocals of long regular
sexagesimal numbers; 8. Exceedingly important is T.'s clarification

t
 52

here I thrOtlgh a number of examples, of the confusing Babylonian custom

of writing, for instance, 5 ru-~i, when what is really meant is some-
thing like 15, the sexagesirnal equivalent (in nindart) of a not very
big number of fingers (-tU'-.6.{.) ' or, in modern notation, .05 n..i.nda.n!

Vogel, Kurt .. Bemerkungen zu den quadratischen Gleichungen der baby-

lonischen Mathematik Osiris 1 1936, 703-717.

Contains the interesting conjecture that the origin of the Baby-

Ionian theor::l .of quadra tic equations is to be sought in the systematic
reversal of linear problems. (ef Slavutin 1974.)
Henri. Fifth preliminarv report of the Iraq expedition
Ol',~: 20 3.

Fig ~ 19: a. phot:o of· a. numerical tablet from Kha£aje, inscribed only
wI th 1 ( It ,:C e, Vf. ") 6 ..

~~ugeba~~~1 OttOe Zur geometrischen Algebra QS B 3 1936, 245-259.

N. stresses here the possibility of a smooth transition from pre-
Greek (i e Babylonian) to classical Greek mathematics.
Neugebauer,. Otto. Review of J. Schaumberger, Drittes Erganzungsheft
zu F.X. Kugler, St~r~kunde und Sterndienst in Babel QS B 3 1936, 271-277.
In a discussion of Hilprechtts "Nippur text" with star distances(?) I
from the Kassite period(?) and closely resembling a mathematical pro-
blem text, N. poi.nts out the unique way in which in this text the num-
b(~r 14 04 26 SO 15 written as 14 KUV 4 26 50, where KUV pa.Jt.a4u' ·sepa- :&

rate 3 • ef Sachs 1947~

~£..chib.9-1<!, Raymond Clare" Babylonian mathematics Isis 26 1936, 63-81.

gax:dz, Solomon" Mene r.1ene Tekel Upharsin, a chapter in Babylonian

mathematics _~sis_ 25 1936, 82-94 ..

G. suggests that the f:amous 'ilords in Daniel 5:25-28 with the omi-
nous interpretation tnumbered, weighed, and divided' were an allusion
to a mathematical phrase men-i, ten.u.t, P~)ttt-6 with the original meaning
'add and subtract, multiply, and divide'. ef Sj5berg 1975.
,!3ortolott.i;1 Ettore .. 1 '. Interpretazione storica dei testi matematici

babilonesi; 2. I problemi del secondo grado nella matematica babilo-

nese PM 161936,65-81: 128-143; 225-241.

1. An attack on some overly enthusiastic claims in Neugebauer's

MKT 1-2. B. shows that the cubic equations in BM 85200 have possibly
I

l
 53

been solved simply by factorization and testing, that no traces of

nbiquadratic equati.ons" can be found in the texts themselves, that
the interest computations in VAT 8521, 8528 show no signs of the
use of "logarithmic tables", etc. 2. B. makes here the sweeping claim
that all quadratic problems in Babylonian mathematical texts were
ultimately reduced to one of thettJlo normal forms xy = A, x ± y = B.
von2 oden , Wolfram. Leistung und Grenze sumerischer und babylonischer
Wissenschaft (Schluss) DWG 2 1936, 509-533 (rep~inted, Darmstadt 1965).
It is attempted here 1) to separate from each other the Sumerian
and the Akkadian contributions to what we call "Babylonian mathe-
matics", and 2) to look at Babylonian mathematics against the back-
ground of what we otherwise know about Babylonian and Sumerian
science and wisdom literature. Some of the new insights won in this
way are: The Sumerian i.nfluence is apparent. in the mathematical and
metrological tables, and in the :'series texts" of mathematical pro-
blems, all so similar to Sumerian lexical lists and enumerations,
while the Akkadian influence is stronger in the mathematical problem
texts with full solutions (keyword: za-e.. or _a,t-·~~ 'you') f comparable
,'1 (
I,
with Babylonian chemical, medical, or even ritual texts. In this
connection it is remarked that, strangely enough, the renaissance of
Babylonian mathematics that was brought about by the bir.th of Baby-
Ionian computing astronomy came much later than the middle-Babylonian
renaissance of the other just mentioned branches of Babylonian science.
Falkens~ein, Adam .. A'ru _. Archaische 'rexte aus Uruk (ADFU 2). Berlin'
1936.

n202-214: a sign list for number si.gns used in this big collection
of Uruk IVa and Jemdet Nasr texts, with extensive references to ocur-
rences in the individual texts. In the older texts (Uruk IVa), the
proto-sexagesimal number system of the Jerodet Nasr texts is already in
use. Hints of the use of the Jemdet Nasr capacity system (here called
the "hundred system") can be found in a few texts. The use of the class-
ical Sumerian notation for area mCClsures also in some Uruk IV a texts
(w '10602, 14731 g) is announced on p49, n. 1,. 'roday I half a century after
they were excavated, these and many other important pro,to-literate
texts from Uruk are, unfortunately, still unpublished (although they are
now, a't last, being prepared for publication i.n the near future, by
H.J. Nissen and M. Green in Berlin). The meaning of a special series
of number notations in the t.exts n214-235, 293, 311, 321 (Uruk IVa) is
not clear (ef Vogel vorgri~?his,?he Mathematik 1 1958, p19).

L
 54

van der Meer, Petrus E~ Dix-sept tablettes semi-pictographiques RA

33 1936, 185-187, 3 pl§

A collection of well preserved tablets from the Jemdet Nasr period,

often with interesting computations. ef Friberg 1979. [The tablets are
now part of the KU collection at Nijmegen. In his paper, vdM gives an
incorrect uproof" of the value 300 .6ila for the basic unit in the J'N
capacity system. This mistake, which was finally corrected in Friberg
1978, made .it for several decades impossible to understand the com-
putations in all proto-Sumerian and proto-Elamite texts involving the
use of the prato-literate capacity system, i e in almost all early
~x_s o~ any importance.]

15 Gandz ¥ Solomon .. !rhe BD.bl1onian tables of reciprocals Isis ~ 1936 t

(,1) t.lj7 ) '-1\0
426-43".
-I..(~ 7.
G. suggests that the name ntables of reciprocals" is a misnomer,
and that it ought to be replaced by the more correct "tables for the
convers.ion of common fractions into sexagesimal fractions" (why not
simply ntables of sexagesirnal fractionslf?). In appraisal of Neuge-
bauer's MK!t G. says also that HWhen, in 1926, I first established
the fact of the Babylonian origin of the term Ifalgebra" (AMM 1926, 437
ff) and uttered the conjecture that the Babylonians must have culti-
vated the science of algebra, I hardly dreamt of it that the next ten
years would bring such a splendid confirmation of my vague hypothesis".
~~eugebauer, Ott.o .. Overleveringen a,f babylonsk.e matematiske Metoder
. ;'
gennern grreske Skrif"ter M'r B 1937 I 17-21 ..

N. pOints out here the importance of the work Anaphorikos by Hyp-

sikles (c. 150 B.C.) for our evaluation of the influence of Babylo-
nian models on classical Greek mathematics and astronomy_ In particu-
lar, this work introduces sexagesimal fractions for the first time in
}, Greek literature, i t deals wi th H linear zigzag functions· t and linear
interpolation to describe the generation of periodic fluctuations, and
it contains in its first part three theorems about arithmetic pro-
gressions, with non-geometric proofs. N. claims that these proofs are
exactly the kind of proofs that may have been in existence in the
Babylonian oral mathematical tradition .
Falkenstein, Adam. Archaische Texte des Iraq-Museums in Bagdad OLZ

40 1937, 402-408.

L
 55

Of the six Jerndet Nasr texts published here, one (IM 23426) is
a bread and beer text with a whole series of computations,involving
at the same time large sexagesimal numbers, large and small capacity
numbers (including fractions), and possibly special numbers for jars
of beer. ConsequentlY,this text is important for our understanding of
the proto-Sumerian number systems of the Jemdet Nasr period. [Falken-
stein, unfortunately, relying on the erroneous notion of a IN "cente-
simal system (van der Meer 1936), claims that most of the computations
l
'

on his tablets are "almost, but not quite, correct".] ef Friberg 1979.

~l'"'1:l~eau-Dan.sLin I Fran<;o.is ~ Observ2ct.~J' s sur 1 r algebre babylonienne

Arche i9n 1 J, 1 937 1 1 - 'I 1 .

T. begins by showing how quadratic systems in one of the Babylonian

normal forms xy:::: a, x ± y ::;; b or x 2 + y 2 ::: a, x ± y ;;:; b may have been
solved by methods identical with the ones in Diephant's Arithmetica
1,27-30; but he also shows that, contrary to the claim in Bortolotti
1936, t"bere. are examples of Ba.bylonian quadratic equations or systems
that are solved after being reduced to normal forms of the type
2
ax + bx :::: c, as for instance the system in Str 363 obv .1-12.

Thur~~-Da.!):s:~.n, Fran~ois. Notes sur la mathematique babylonienne

R~ 34 1937, 11-28.
Treats f in pa.rticular, the harvest. problem BM _.85194 rev. 11, 34-40
(see also r.rM:El 1938, 36), with the introductory phrase .i-n.a. 4 ab-.6.:tn
30 im-_gu·'u~ -t.-na 1/2 rt,Lnda.rt 1, fJita te. 'on 4 furrows falls .30 (nindan),
on the half-nindarl 1 ~~ of barl(~y t . T. shows also that. the cubic equa-
tion in BM 8520_C! rev .. I, 9,-14 may have been solved by a clever trial
and (;rror method, hence that there is no reason to assume that Baby-
Ionian mathematicians possessed any sophisticated methods for the solu-
tion of "general" cubic equations.
Je~tin, Raymond. TS~ = Tablettes sumeriennes de suruppak (MIFA Stam-
boul 3). Paris 1937.

Contains the oldest known mathematical exercises: the two parallel

texts TSS 50, ~?l. (sexagesimal c.iivision problems), and a ' probable
geometrica.l exercise, TSS 77 (ef Powell HM 3 1976). [In addition, TSS
188 is an exercise in area computation, involving very big numbers
just like the division texts above. It is worth noting here that while
TS~ 50, for example, uses the classical purely sexagesimal system, other

b
 56

texts in the collection use the "duo-sexagesimal" number system that

is otherwise known from archaic Ur and Jemdet Nasr texts. Thus, in
TSS 969, the total is written ~u-nig;tYl. 1{10x2x60} 4(2x60) 1(60) 1(10).]

Neugebauer, Otto. MKT = Mathemati.sche Keilschrifttexte 3: Erganzungs-

heft. Berlin 1937 (reprinted Berlin/Heidelberg/New York 1973).

Ch.1 presents, in addition to the previously published text BM 13901,

also two new texts. The. first of these, BM 3..!568, is a Seleucid text,
in style and content clearly related with the only other known Seleucid
mathematical problem -text I AO 6484. (Translation and commentary are
due to Pinches and Waschow.) BM 34568 contains 18 systematically
arranged problems about "Pythagorean" right triangles (and one odd
p~oblem about a metal object). Of particular interest is obv.II,17-24,
a ttcane-agalnst-a-walltr problem which may have been the prototype for
the other Pythagorean triangle problems in this text. (Cf BM 85196
obv. II, 7-16; Friberg H~ 1981.) The other new text, YBC 6504, contains
a series of four closely related systems of quadratic and linear equa-
tions. Ch.2 contains new or improved material about some of the series
texts presented already in MKT 1, Ch.7: YBC 4669 with a series of dis-
parate and still incompletely understood problems about bricks, work
norms, linear equations, metal work, wool, etc.; YBC 4673, similar
to YBC 4669, and equally difficult to penetrate; YBC 4695, a series
text with 97 linear equations; YBC_iQ..2.~,another difficult series
text with disparate groups of problems, concerned with various kinds of
pr ice relations (cf rrllureau-Dangin ~ 34 1937); ~.~:= 4.697, 4711, both with
sequences of quadratic equations. Ch.3, about table texts, discusses
the atypical multipl.icat.ion tables !i!?!: 27 61 (primitive typej Ur III ?) I

and ~ 169 (head numbers 3 3D, 2 13 20; Seleucid ?). Ch.4 takes up, in
particular, a number of important remarks and corrections due to
Thureau-Dangin, Waschow, Becker, and Schott. Important is the observa-
tion that nine problems in YBC 4669 and two in BM 85194, all dealing
with the capacity of standard containers, lead to the conclusion that
1 qa (in Old Babylonian texts) is the capacity of a cube of side length
6 tu-~i (1 e .01 nindan!). (Cf, however, Vaiman DV 2 1976, and Post-
gate Iraq 40 1978.) Important is also the interpretation of the compu-
tation in the interest problem AD 6770 obv., 9-17 as a correctly exe-
cuted linear interpolation (only with the result by error given in
months rather than days). The volume ends with a complementary gloss-
ary, an index, and hand copies (unfortunately no photographs) of the
 57

new or recently cleaned texts.

Waschow, Heinz. Review of MKT 1 1937 AfO 12 1937, 277.

w. makes here the important observation that the computation in YBC

4669 rev.II,1-11 of the area of a piece of silver (Jt..uqqum) shows that
1 g~n = 180 te; he gives also an improved reading of the maht~um
--"'--
text
YBC 4698 rev.I,11-13, a parallel text to VAT 7530. [If X and Y have
'!!E:n·tltu.m 7 and 11" and if you spend 1 g:tYl sil\rer, then you can buy (tarn)
equal amounts (i6--6d) of each, namely 7 x l1/(7+11) :: 4.1640ma-na..]

Thureau-Dangln, Franc;:ois. 1. La. mesure du "qa" RA 34 1937, 80-86;

2. Revi.ew of MKT 3 1937 RA 34 193 7 87-92.

1 • ..)t;.OV;~;:; tha-:;' the :loat text S::'1 85'i 94 rev. Ill, 1-6 refers to bricks
of the dimensions 1/2 cubit x 1 i3 cubit x 5 fingers [cf CBM 12648, in
my revie,·, of ~ 1 1935] I and gives a new proof of the basic relation
1 ~ = (6 tu-.&..i.) 3 (1 e ~ .97 liters). T. gives also a plausible ex-
planation of the puzzling phrase GAM a GAM in the container text
BM 85'194 rev .. I,4 4,,,,,46. 2 .. Through improved readings of words and
phrases, T. facilitates here the understanding of some problems left
open by Neugebauer, for instance the lX-kdk problem YBC 4669 rev.I,1-7.
Convincingly explained is also the strange problem AD 8862, in which
lI-k4~s, days, and men are added together to give a quadratic equation.
The many improved readings of difficult te.rms in the unique series text
YBC~,698 give clues to the understanding of most of the problems in ,
this important text .. [For instance, in obv,II,12-18, which may be read
as 1 §l.Ot ~>,g.tr I .i-n~ Xclm 1 g:in I 2 !lE: TAG! 1 1/2 g1.n 1<.i1-d.iltig I en-nam
h(],m-ma I en-nam ba,e,-Il.a I 1. {ban} Xam-ma! 8 !lE:. ba,i-Ita., we are told that 1
gu~ of oil is sold with an overhead (TAG) of 2 ~ per gtn, and a total
profit (ka-di~ig) of 7 1/2 gln, hence that the selling rate (bat-Ita) is
8 ~ and that the buying rate (tarn) is 1 bdn (per gA:.rt). A related ex-
ample appears in MLC 1842; cf Ilewy Or 1 8 1 949.. Both examples lead to
quadratic equations.]

!~ureau-Dangin, Fran~ois. La clepsydre babylonienne RA 34 1937, 144.

er.
returns here to the water clock problems in BM 85194 and shows,
in particular, that the phrase in rev.II f 4: 15 ~4-ma~ 10 lU-4i 1/2 10
Xu-~i must be translated '.15(nindan) you see, i e .10(nind«n) or its
equivalent~ a finger, and 1/2 of e10(n~nda~), equivalent to a finger'.
This translation leads to a physically reasonable interpretation of the
tex't ..
 58

von Sode~r Wolfram. Review of MKT 1-2 1935, 3 1937. ~pMG 91 1937.

Contains a great number of new or corrected readings of words or

entire sentences, often resulting in a decisive improvement of the
comprehensibility of the problem texts. In addition, vS emphasizes
in this review how very unfortunate the method is, which is used in
MKT 1-3 to explain Babylonian mathematical algorithms and solution
methods, namely by way of a reform.ulation in terms of equations and
formulas using modern mathematical symbols and terminology. In fact,
this method is not only historically incorrect, it also tends to ob-
scure the meaning of the texts, and it makes the understanding of them
'ore difficult than necessary a

cI d<'
Ga:1 ". '., .... ~, ""'m ""\,¥",
.l~ '. .;:J·t." 4. Cl t,
3

b ' ..
rrh e
"'" Lopment of the quadratic equations
in Babilonian, Gx:~ekl' and €laxl} A:rabic algebra Osiris 3 1937, 405-557.

Gives a very useful classification of all the "normal types" of

quadratlc equations or systems (consisting of a quadratic and a linear
equation) to which quadratic equations or systems appearing in Baby-
lonian mathematics are always ultimately reduced. Of six normal tyP(!S
for quadratic systems, four can be seen to reappear i.n the works of
Euclid and Diophant, while three normal types for quadratic equations
in one unknown are identical with the three "Arabic" types introduced
by al-Khuw~rizmI. G.'s method of presenting the Babylonian solution
algorithms is true to the original texts and easy to understand (cf
von Soden's objections above to the style of the mathematical commen-
tari,es inMK'I' 1-3). 'fhe paper abounds with examples, and many improve-
ments are given of earlier interpretations. An Appendix is devoted to
a discussion of the precise meanin.~l of the difficult terms .tb-.64 (1.b-
• \ . ., ,. ~ ~ 1-
.6 ~ g J ana. gt,.(. ~'~~~Ja.!t .:.". . ~m..

f.aEdsbe.;}L~!> Benno. MSr.., 1 (Die Ser.ie 4t1d itt.l.6u.). Rome 1937.

An OB lexical series in 7 tablets (found in the library of Assur-

banipal), mostly with phrases borrowed from the language of legal con-
tracts. Interesting relations with mathematical texts have, in parti-
cular, the following passages: tabl.2 I, 41-43: mar 1 gl~ igi-5-gal Xe-
ta-am tan interest per shekel of 1/5 shekel', etc., tabl.4 11, 43-72:
igJ.,--3-gai--.f,Ct//Xai!..··Xa-a.-tu. '(a fee of) one-third', etc.; tabl.6 Ill, 11-
12, 21-22: d-ud-da-bi ud-l-kam I 1(ban) r~-ta.-am an-dg-e 'as his pay
for 1 day he will measure up 1 ban of barley', ••• , a-mu-a-ni 10 gZn
Ilu-babbaJt ! lugal-a.-na irt-na.-la.-e 'as his pay for 1 year he will weigh
up 10 shekel of silver to his lord ' •
 59

Legrain, Lean. UE~ 3 (Business documents of the third dynasty of

Ur). Plates, London 1937; Indexes, etc., London 1947.
n447: ef Vatman 25th Congress 1960; n1377: note the phrase 1 4ila
z Xe-bi J(ban)-ta (ef YBC~698, MKT 3, 42); n1386: see Varman SVM 1961.
Riftin, A.P. SVIAQ (= Staro-vavilonskie yuridiceskie i administra-
tivnye dokumenty v sobraniyah SSSR 'Old-Babylonian legal and admini-
strative documents in collections of the USSR'). Moscow/Leningrad 1937.
n112: a dated wool text (from Larsa, Rim-Sin year 19), with a
curious simultaneous use of sexagesimal and decimal numbers, and with
correctly executed non-trivial divisions; the text contains accounts
of three herds of sheep and goats, male and female, the total amounts
-of wool produced by each herd separately and by all the three herds
together, the average amount of wool per animal in each herd, and the
differences between the actual amounts of wool produced and the calcu-
lated amounts (corresponding to an assumed average of 2 minas of wool
per animal); example (the first herd): 3 30 gan.am I 51 ~a.l/.),itd-ilz I 3 21
udu.-n-itii I 53 -5i.ea.-uz I 5 me 21 galtam-udu. I ,6Zg-bi 18 gun. 3 ma-na I l.b-
Xi..-te udu.-l-e 2 ma.-na 3 g:{.n ,Lgi-4-glii 9 t(~. 1 d-iItJ..g 29 ma.-na; n114, 116:
two similar accounts in tabular form of the monthly expenditure of
barley to three groups of workers and their foremen: headings of the
columns: e,/t:[n-pa. la 6 2/31 eJr~:tn!1fi ~_~ 2 6-LJ~ii I Xu.-nigtn. e.Jt.l.yt b4 Ile.-bi..
rtZg-ud-l-k.a.m! Xu-n,i.gi..rl te-bl_ n1..,g-itu.-l-k.am I mu-bi.-.Lm (superficially
these tabular texts resemble very much the famous mathematical table
text Pl!mpton 322 (MeT 1945), whi.ch, as a matter of fact, was first
catalogued as a commercial account); these two texts are from Larsa,
Rim-Sin year 31, and they use decimal numbers throughout (note, in
particular, the writing & me, 1 34 for 1894 in n116 II, 5).
van der Meer, Petrus E~ OEeT 4 (Syllabaries A, B', and B with miscell-
aneous lexical texts). Oxford/London 1938.
n 132: an exercise tablet with a syllabary and a metrological list;
n 156: a six-sided prism (W 1923-366: the 15in dynasty) with 1. a
table of length measures (1 tu-~l to [60] ka~ka.l-gtd, basic unit 1
nlndan); 2. another table of length measures (1 XU-6i'to 10 nlndan,
basic unit 1 cubit) [the explanation for the use of two basic units is
that separate tables were needed for the conversion of length measures
into ninda.n and cubits, respectively, because volumes were measured
2
in the unit volume-iaJt = n.-i.ndan x cubit]; 3. a table of square roots

t
 60

v
Q2penheim, Leo. Seqel, Mine und Talent in Nuzi OLZ 41 1938, 485-486.
Lewy, Hildegard. La rnesure de l'imeru dans les textes de Nuzi RA
35 1938, 33-35.
Demonstrates that the Nuzi area measure ime~u had a value of 80
--'-
hundred GIR 2 , by quoting formulas such as i..!ne,!: eqli k.i-a.-am 1 ma-at
GiR. TA eqti 80 GIR Ei-,Lt-ki t~ egli (N V 550, 5). Suggests, in addi-
tion, the identity of the GiR with the "step" pu~ldu (= 1/2 gilt ef
the list of metrological equations in the Late Babylonian text
W 22309a+b (Hunger 1973), which includes a section where the basic
unit is the pu.Jtl~u. (Hence, 1 !-meJtu = 2,000 g.£2::: 500 ~a~ = 5 -i.ku (?). J
Thureau-Dangin, Fran~ois. TMB (= Textes mathematiques babyloniens) •
. Leiden 1938.
A reedition of almost all the mathematical problem texts in MKT
1-3 1935-1937, valuable because it incorporates, in the introduction
and in a great number of footnotes, many amendments due to T. him-
self in the first place but also to von Soden, to Waschow, etc. Un-
fortunately, any direct comparison with MKT is made difficult by a
different organization and a new numbering of the texts, and by a
different mode of transliteration where consistently ideograms and
Sumerian words and phrases have been replaced by their Akkadian equi-
valents. No texts are reproduced in hand copies or photographs, but
the volume is provided with an ample set of references to relevant
older publications, and the glossary is very useful (the Sumerian
section is organized as a cuneiform mathematical dictionary) •
Thureau-Dangin, Fran~ois~ La methode de fausse position et l'origine

de l'algebre RA 35 1938, 71·-77.

The solution of a certain class of algebraic problems, for instance
those that can be reduced to a pure quadratic equation, can be ob-
tained through a "method of false value". Typical examples are BM
139~ pr.10-11, 15, 17. In this article, T. tries to show that also

the broken cane problems in Str._368, VAT 7532, 7535, and the barley
field problems in VAT 8389, 8391 were solved by the same method. (This
mathematically suspect interpretation was caused by the appearance in
these texts of technical terms such as "false area", etc., or "false
(quantity of) barley" (a-ra LUL :: eqlum .6aJtJtu.m) .6e.-u~ .6a.JtJtum), although
these terms are possibly denoting just the coefficients in quadratic
or linear equations.]

t
 61

Scheil, Vincent. Tablettes susiennes: exercises scolaires, calcul

des surfaces RA 35 1938, 92-103.

An interesting metrological table on two OB tablets (ef MeT 1945,

6-10). Tablet I lists in a semf-systematic way a sequence of 33 almost-
square rectangles and their areas, from 112 ku,6 u.t I 1/3 kut ~a.g I a-Xa.-
b-i 12 112 re to 13 nindan 4 kilt ut I 12 1/2 n.-i.ndart .6£1g I a-ta-b-i.. 1 (-i..ku)
aXag 1(60) 6 2/3 ta~~ Tablet 11 lists 30 more rectangles, ending with
2 5 ( 6 O) vt.i Yl. cl an uti 2 0 ( 6 0) n -<.11 d CHt ,6 a 9 I a - Xit - b'£ 1 ( SA R ' U) 6 { SA R} 4 ( b u.lt ' u.) •
Then come 30 squares, from 1 JU(-4.-l ib-6a. I a.·-6o.,·bi. -£gi-12-gdl .be] to
4 Yl.trtda.n ,tb·~6ii I a-.6ii-b-i 16 ~aJt, and, finally, 14 circles, from 1/2
nindan ka-:6:tJt I a-Xa-b,( 1 g-zn ,Lg,(-,L r;ai to 1 (60 2 ) ka-6,{..t(?) I a.-ta-bi
1fSAR'U~{?) ..

Thureau-Dangin. 1 Franc.;()is. ~ .. Histoire cl i un probl~me babylonien i 2.

"Multiplier parH dans les textes cun~iformes du temps des S~leucides

RA 35 1938, 104-106.

1. Shows that the cane-against-a-wall problem in BM 85196 pr.9 and

BM 34568 pr. '12 reappears in t.he L~b~r abaci of Leonardo Fibonacci i
2. Demonstrates that OH : : - E.:Jdku, as technical term for mul tiplication in
Seleucid mathematical problem texts such as ~M 34568.
rl'hureau-Dangin I Franc;ois. Le "grain u, mesure de surface RA 35 1938,

156-157.
Claims that the equation 1 ta.l!, : : : 3 00 00 ~e" whi.ch is confirmed by
the tables in Scheil R...l\ 35 1938, seems t~o be disproved by the text Tell·
S1fr 44 (Jean 1931}. [Act:ually, in this text a house measuring 1 ta.1t
is divided between six brothers so that the oldest gets two shares and
the five others one share each, with one share equal to 1/7 x 3 00 00 le
~ 830><3 Xe ~ 25(sixties!) ~e,~]

Thureau-pangin, Fran<;ois. Sketch of a history of the sexagesimal sys-

tem Osiri~ 7 1939, 95-101.

Begins with a survey of earlier aut.hors· thoughts on the subject,

from Theon, Simon Stevin, Wallis, and Formaleoni to Neugebauer. Then
follow sections on 1. The Sumerians; 2. The genesis of'Sumerian nume-
ration; 30 The unit fraction; 4. Metrology and the sexagesimal system;
S. The division of the day and the division of the circle; 6. The ab-
stract system; 7. The abstract system and the origin of algebra; 8.
The abstract system and astronomy; 9. Conclusion .
Deimel, Anton. SG 2 (:= Sumerische Grammat,ik, 2nd edition). Rome 1939.
I

L
 62

p117-121: a paragraph on Sumerian number words.

Sarton, George. Remarks on the study of Babylonian mathematics Isis

31 1939/40, 398-404~

A bibliography of memoirs on Babylonian mathematics and astronomy

published or reviewed in Jsis and Osirisl' together with short bio-
graphies over Thureau-Dangin and Neugebauer, and an appeal for "a
primer of Babylonian mat.hematics wherein a few examples would be com-
pletely explained from the very beginning "0

;'<2E~ S.?0 :::g, Wolfram. Revi.e'w of

1 f.7't~IB ::138 ~-'.DMG 931939,143-152.

Contains new "eadings of technical terms, such as ZA-ZUM = 64-4am

~base), A-R~-'UU ~ (=oeff~cient) I !~q~u (tall), and also valuable new
or improved transliterations and translations of entire sections of
diffi.cult texts I 1.n particula.r t.he three brick problems AO 10822 obv ..
1I , 7 -12 G' and the L"'1heri tant...'"'"e problem VA~ 65_97 obv ~ I 1,9-15.

1940-1950

Thureau-Dangill l FranC';ois. 1. Les problemes babyloniens du troisieme

degr~; 2. Htawirtum" dans la math~matique babylonienne; 3. Les Baby-
loniens avaient-ils la notion du nombre n~gatif?; 4. Apropos d'Euclide

RA 37 1940 t 1--10.

2. SU(J~rests that th(~ technical terrn ;to:vV~'.~~~~tm (original meaning: irri-

gated field, as in '~~~~~~, . ~~~!' .~91) I may be behind the ideogram read
as ~~~um (canal) and the corresponding phonetic ... ---'La-turn in Str 36,i ..
367, and VArr 851.~. :" .. Translf.iting the term ba-,fai in YBC 4668 pr. 42,
45 with b(.t,-tal:.: -imtJ.. (is smaller than} f T. is able 1:0 avoid the need
--'-
to assume that Babylonian mathematics made use of negative numbers.
Thus, the phrase d.na uX u-gQ 6ag di~ig 1 40 a-ta ba-lal can be trans-
lated as "by 1 40 the area. (A) is smaller than that by which the side
(u) is greater tha.n the front (5)", or in modern terms, (u-s) - 1 40 :::: A
I'

(rather than A - (u-s) := - 1 40, the interpretation gi.ven in MKT 1 1935 I 4S5>
Thureau:pangin, .Fran<;ois. LForigine de llalgebre CRAIB'1940, 292-318.

Quoting as counter-examples ~O 8862. pr .. 3 and YBC 4668 pr.A37-47, T.

shows the inva.lidity of the claim in Gandz 1937 that general quadratic
equations of uArabic type 11", i e equations reducible to the normal
?
form ax~+c = bx, were avoided by all means in Babylonian mathematics.
Gandz, Solomor;.. St:udieb i.n Babylon,ian mathemat.icB 2: Conf lict.:.ing

interpret:ations of B&hylord. an mat.hE;nlatics. .!s~~Fl 31 1940.

1 .. Matheilta·tics and phi.lolo~r,:, ( 2 < :o:the dj~~.c·()ve:cy of Bilbylonian math€:··

rnaticsi 3 .. TranscripLion. of t.he t.e:-\"~t" SUJHerian oX" Ba.bylonian lang·ua.ge;
4. Diver<Jences in t:ranslat.j on; !). Babyloniail numerals. .. The !.-H?xagesi v
•

mal system; 6. Angle geomf.:t.ry; '1. 'rh~~ geometry of t~he circle t &. Thu-
reau-Dangin, the interpreter of Babylonlan matheffiatics~

~elJ<lebauer,
_ .. __ ..... _ _ Ot.t.o .. On ,:{ sDC'cia.l
r_ use· of t.hc siqn ~
I':zcron i.n cuneiform

astronomica.l texts .JAOS 6 '1 194 ~l 1 :<.13 - 215.

On the US(::! in te>~ts from t\,lC) f.;(':hoo1.s of sc:r.i.b~;s in SeJencid Uruk of

a medi.al n zero U

mathemati.cal ·t~xts !31\.SOR 96 19 L14: 29-"39"

s. eluci.da.tet) the difficult: terd:b p:n)ble!"i~1 of Er.i~~5196 (~ 2 1935,

4 3ff) by noti.ng t..hat t.he ''4fol u.me of t.:tu::; !:Y~!:~f!-_~(1:.~~ (trouqh) i£ expressed
in volume-le. and that the PtU~~::'} ing phxaf>f:~ .J:.f!,.;>·6-·ga.e . ~ .. is thE'~ medium
area. [In fact, tl".t£~ !'i.1ed,1tu-n axea. is ,,14 3~) g;[~Vt~ 1/tJ.([1tri.> 13 le.,. (.$1')0 the
vc 1 ume 1.' S ..~ O~)
~ 4 3~ 2· 0""
9 ..(.~t c:n.~ 2 J 3 ~:"} _~'
_"v '!.':' l:;.~. (. ;~;. .0. (. V () 1 . . i,"/'..
S'r.. ......
.• " ' )
t':O< 6<. Xl. a. ."'
"{, ..., J.'t e)_"' (.....\.)mp
p(',i,r a.j. '. u-
'

tation :in pr.- 6 f a circulax cy}i:nd(~r of CirC01'i.tf'f:r(-'"!D.Ce, • 30<HJ.,ndan> , he:i.9 ht

., 40<kilJ> 5 has the bottom aX'€!a ..~" 15<g,:t~t> and t.b(~; VOllJJh€::"! ,,50<g,{.)'!) .. E.x""·
pressing t,b.e be.:>tto!n a:n.:~;a 1.:n Xc. f p(JH~~ibly by UGe of a tcLble fo).,v circu-
lar a~:(.~as ((;f~ !.~£~ ',945- 1 9)( tJ)C'; sC):'lbe \';()J'·k~j VJi tJ.l a circnmfer€£'!flce of
., 20<H~.td'Ufi> and obtains t . he 1ncor)'.'ect ;u·t~a. ]::) e f..t ,,:~4 g.{.f~ =: 1/2<g1.,n.> 12
le, hence the incorrect volume V' ~ 2/3 x 102 te ~ 68 Ke, written as
1-¥u. !E..<:_a:.m.:.~~.~!:!,~ ~'c (!)) [~?. gi'v'es t1.1:3o i.nt.e::~est.l..ng n~~w interprf~t,at.i.on.s
of the g..i.,vbG.. Creed bu.ndlrd p:robler~\5 ~~"Ji:....5_1~i pr6'i4-1S~ !t?:~96 pr.2, and
of "c.he boat p:r'ob 1 em. BM~.. ,?.ii:!,23:. px ~ 5 fall cor.tcern.ect v.Ti th reed bundl~:!s ('()
In the fOrl!! of truncated cones wi:Lh t~he d.i..]JH::~!H~ions 24 fl.ngers (c.:i.rcum~"
ference at the base),. 12 fingers (cj.r'cumfE~.rence at t.ht:~ top), and 6
cubits (::: 1 f}..t/> :the h.eight)" ;?h(~ P.f;.pc:);: ends w;Lth t.t.C! (jb£~eJ.:vation that.
!Bc; 466;2, pr .13 is a bl"'1ck t{~xt: f bafH:.,d orl the.~ (~quivalerlce 1 bill;.. bJ...g 4 -
30 00 ,~ah -6 .l-B 4 :::: 4 1 0 VOltjX~le-·I.~:' ah •

A discussion in the ill-credited tradition of ~coo~arative metro~

logy", lead.ing up to the claim that~ thf: Middlf:'~ JH:.~~y.t'i.an al".I.d Ni,.1.zi ~qa.
measure {:: 1/1 00 {,~.g!.!~~), the Nco .... Ba,by lonia.n X\).easu:n;~ of t,h(~ ~.;am€! name
T
I
64

(= 1/180 kUJtJtu), and the "Hebrew desert measure" 1 ga.b (= 1/180 koJt =
24 "eggs" of 6 cubic fingers) all would have a capacity of 1.34 liters.
Segr~, Angelo. Babylonian, Assyrian and Perstan Measures JAOS 64 1944,

73-81.
Another paper of "comparative metrology", of doubtful value.
Neugebauer, Otto, and Sachs, Abraham J. MeT = Mathematical cuneiform
texts (AOS 29). New Haven 1945.
Ch.! (Introduction): contains a discussion of translation and tran-
scription principles, republishes Seheil's metrological tables (RA
35 1938), and presents two new metrological exercises (computations of
square areas: NCST 1913, NBe 808?)~ Ch.II (Table texts) contains: a
list of 13 new tables of recip:r.:0caJ..S; tbe early OB fragment CBS 29.13.
II with extensive examples of the use of the algorithm for computation
of pairs of reciprocals (ef CBM 10201, Scheil 1916) and with an unex-
'plained occurrence of the term 44akaJtum; two other related exercises,
YBC 4704, VAT 5457; fragments of six-place tables of reciprocals, Liv.
29.11.77.34, MM 86.11.406, ~09, !IQ [ef Friberg HM 8 1981, 465 (408
and 409 are a probable join) ]; YBf 10529" a table of reciprocals of non-
regular sexagesimal numbers (et ~, Sachs 1952), from [50] to 1 20;
YBC 7234, 7235, 7353, 7354, 735~, 7358, 11125, 11127 (and PTS 247 ?)
[exercises to the problem of equal purchases, previously known from
VAT 7530 and YBC 4698); a list of 77 new single multiplication tables
(with these, the 40 known uhead numbers" are all represented by single
multiplication tables, except for 48, 2 15, and 1 20): a list of 30
new combined multiplication ta,bles t amonq them the unique cylinder
A 7897; several new tables of squares, in particular CBS 1535, a table
of squares of half-integers; finally, the table of "exponentials" of
base 16 and "logarithms" of base 2, MLC 2078 (ef Bruins 1980). Ch.Il!
(Problem texts) begins wi th Plimpton 322 a famous OB "number-theoretical"
text with a list of Pythagorean triples (cf Friberg 1981). The chapter
continues with: YBC 6295, exemplifying a method (ma-ak-4a-4u-um !a ba.-
.6'£) of computing cube roots by factorization (cf IM 54472, Bruins 1954);
YBC 7289, a lenticular school tablet with a geometric drawing display-
ing the very good approximations 12~1.24 5110 [and 1//2~42 25 35];
the simple exercises YBC 7290, 11126, 7302, 11120 with drawings of tra-
pezoids and circles: the interesting trapezoid partition problem, in
YBC 4675, 9852 (cf TMS and ~VM, both in 1961), with the new technical
term dai mu~ub 'middle transversal' (also, once more, the unexplained
~~aka.4um); the more elementary triangle and trapezoid partition pro-
 65

blems in MLC 1950, YBC 4608~ YBC 8633 with a line drawing and a very
curious geometric factorization method (with once more the term ma-ak-
~a-~u-um 'bundlin~') for the computation of a triangular area by a

substitute for the Pyt~agorean theorem (1); elementary volume computa-

tions in NBC 7934, and a computation of the area of a circle segment (GAN-·
UV-SAR) in MLC 1354; YBC 8600 with a computation of the "thickness" of
a log, measured in ~ (2 ~lia ku-bu-u~ gi!), making use of the ~g~-gub­
ba 4 4~ (= 2/25 ~ 1/ 4n: cf TMS 1961); the excavation text YBC 5037 (catch-
word k..<.-lct) , with 44 serially arranged problems involving volume computa-
tions, work norms, and expenses for wages (10 gt~ ~t-kd4 6 Xe 4-b~);
the similar group of texts YBC 4657, 4662, 4663 (in some of these texts
the phrase 6 Je 4-bi la-bun-g4 is r2placed by 7(b4n) Ie-ta-4m 4-bi la-
hun-9ft, demonstrating the equivalence of 6
'" v
re. silver with 1 ban (or 6
volume-~e!) barley; ~c 8588 with a single k~-la problem and the diffi-

cult phrase i-n~ il~ti-en ka-la-ak-ki-lm 9 ka-la-ak-ku [in one ex-

. --
cavation there are 9 segments(?)]; the serially arranged text YBC 4666
concerned with maintenance work on a little canal (pa5-~ig) of rect-
angular or trapezoidal cross-section (with a slope of 1:2 expressed as
i-na J kfrX bu~-bl 1/2 kut ka Z-ku); the related text YBC 7164, with
different work norms at different depths of the canal: 1 flilX-tu 1/3
ma.-na .o.i.-tu.-tum' 2 ku1-tu. ~'{.ba4 10 g:tn du.6U; BM 85196. pr.1(;, which now
gets its explanation through a comparison with YBC 7164: YBC 7894, with
a single canal work problem, accompanied by a drawing [and with the
result of the computation given as 2 40 (nindan!) i..b-ka-aJr. a-w~-i~m
,t~-.te-e.rt]; the "irrigation" text YBC 4186; the important problem text
v
YBC 4607, giving the dlirensions i, b, h, and the size of the brick-~a~,
for bricks of five standard types (all with h = 5 Xu.-.6,(., and with t:b =
3:2 for ..6ig -bricks, =2:1 for~.i.g4-db-bricks and =1:1 for .6i9 -a.£.-iL1C.-
4 4
~a-bricks; the conversion formula, in some of the problems,of the type

3 te. .6aba.~-bi 5 ~tla. .t.-ram .6a.haJt·~b,i suggesting the reading -<.-Xam = mabZlt.um,
conversion rate); YBC 7284, a small lenticular tablet with an excerpt
from a coefficient list, showing that .6..ig 4 -bricks of volume .00 41 40
volume-g~n had a weight of 8 1/3 ma-na, corresponding to an igi-gub-ba.
12, standing for 12 talents of weight per volume-gZn [i e 1/5 cubic
cubit per talent of weight, giving a brick of the dimensions 1 x 1 x 1/5
cubic cubits a weight of 1 talent); the brick-carrying text YBC 10722
and the puzzling brick oven text YBC 7997; YBC 9856 with two problems
about proportions and about an arithmetic progression, both leading
to linear equations: YBC 4652 with a series of problems about stone

t
 66

weights (na 4 k~-la-nu-na-tag) f also leading to linear equations (it is

remarked here that YBC 4669 pr~B4, in a corrected transliteration, has
turned out to be a problem of similar type); YBC 4612, 4692, two seri-
ally arranged area texts leading to simple quadratic equations; MLC
1842, a matJ..tltum problem (cf Lewy 1949); the two "series texts n A 24194,
24195 with 4 00 and [3 00) equation variants (systems of quadratic and
linear equations); YBC 6962, an igi ~ igi-bi text leading to a quad-
ratic equation; and YBC 732~ (a parallel text to YBC 4669 pr.B8), a
sheep and lambs text giving rise to a system of linear equations. Of
extraordinary interest are the two lists of coefficients (mathematical
or physical constants) YBC 5022 (\</1 h the heading ig,.[-gub-ba. ta. yt~-pi­
iX-turn) and YBC 7243, both with coefficients relating to bricks, objects
of metal, geometric f\.gures, etc. A last paragraph devoted to late
texts discusses, 'in particular, a Seleucid text VAT 7848 with several
geometric problems, interesting not least because of the metrological
difficulties involved in their interpretation. (A comparison is made
with the metrological formula in a Neo-Babylonian metrological table
published in Hilprecht 1906 (CBS 8539 rev.IIl, 15-18).} The volume is
completed with indices, vocabulary, and a complete set of hand copies
and photographs. For references, see Borger HKL 1, 360.
Goetze, Albrecht. The Akkadian dialects of the Old-Babylonian mathe-
matical texts. In Neugebauer and Sachs, MeT 1945, 146-151.
Shows that, on linguistic grounds, several of the OB problem texts in
MKT and MeT can be shown to belong to one or 'another of six distinct
groups. Of these, group 1, comprising such important texts as Plirnpton
322, the prism AO 8862, the -<.gi*-gub lists X!3C 5022, 7243, and the trape-
zoid partition text YBC 4675, and group 2, with excavation texts such
as YBC 4662 and the quadratic equations text BM, 13 901, represent a ,rela-
tively old and original family of southern OB mathematical texts, at
home in Larsa. Group 3, to which belongs the interesting Str texts,
the mahtltum text VAT 7530, and the broken reed text VAT 7535, and group
---
4, with the barley field problems in VAT 8389, 8391, the triangle parti-
tion problem VAT 8512, the two algebraIc and geometric m!lk.~altum pro-.
blems YBC 6295, 8633, and the interest text VAT 8528, represent an-
other southern variety probably to be localized it Uruk. Finally, the
groups 5 and 6 with, in particular, the big compilation texts BM 85
194, 85196, 85200 (+ VAT 6599), and BM 85210, show northern charac-

b
 67

teristics and are slightly younger than the other groups; they may
therefore comprise northern modernizations of southern (Larsa) ori-
ginals.
Neugebauer, Otto. The history of ancient astronomy problems and
methods JNES 4 1945, 1-38.
With a section on Babylonian mathematics, etc.

Goetze, Albrecht .. Number idioms in Old Ba.bylonian JNES 5 1946, 185-202"

A fully documented discussion of phonetic spellings of numerals
(cardinal numbers, ordinal numbers, and fractions) in Old Babylonian
texts, in particular mathemat~cal problem texts.

Sachs, Abraham J. Notes on fractional expressions in Old Babylonian

mathematical texts JNES5 1946, 203-214.

Presents the small OB tablet MLC 1731, containing a list of computa-
tions of small rectangular areas(?), with the results expressed in
multiples and fractions of an ~:f:~!tu..m [from 10 x 5 (. 10 nindan x. 05 niVt~·
dart = 1 !u-~i x i tu-,b,.t (?») = _~.[-X~ /ta.-ba-a.t ~:'~~4-tim (one-sixth
of one-fourth of an ~f~etu~) and upwards; ef Scheil's Susa texts, MeT
1935, 6ff}; goes on to give a highly interesting discussion of how the
Babylonians may have solved the problem of converting sexagesimal frac-
tions to (a sum of) non-sexagesimal submultiples, with examples chosen
both from. one OB mathemati.cal text (YBC 7164, MeT 1935, 16), and from
Seleucid economic texts .
Neugebauer, Otto~ The water clock in Babylonian astronomy I8is 37
1947, 37-43.

Oppenheim, A~ Leo. Review of MeT 1945 JNES 6 1947, 126-128.

With a number of philological remarks.
Lewy, Hildegard. Marginal notes on a recent volume of Babylonian mathe-

matical texts JAOS 67 1947, 305-320.

It is suggested here 1. in connection with the expon~ntial table
on MLC 2078 (powers of 16) and the enigmatic problem Str 366 pr.1, that
the basic unit in Babylonian "investment" problems was 2 minas of gold
or 16 minas of silver; 2. mistakenly, that all "qa-vessels" were of
-

I
L
 68

the same height but of different bottom areas; 3. that the GAN-UV-SAR
problem MLC 1354 and some of the items in the coefficient lists were
concerned with regular polygons inscribed in circles.

Gandz, Solomon. Studies in Babylonian mathematics 3: Isoperimetric

problems and the origin of the quadratic equations 1sis 32 1947, 103-

115.

An unconvincing attempt to explain the origin of quadratic equations

in Babylonian mathematics.
Sachs, Abraham J. Two Neo-Babylon~e: metrological tables from Nippur
JCS 1 194'7, 67-71.

Ptesents two texts ~hich, together with CBS 8539 (Hilprecht 1906;
pl.20), "constitute the complete corpus of extant Neo-Babylonian metro-
logical tables". The first, CBS 1103~, is a table of fractions of the
glrr., from 2 30 I g:t l l;-t1 (1/24 g:tn) to 1 1 1 gtVL; the second, CBS 11019, is
a similar, but more elaborate table, from lO! E:.£-:ti~ I 1/2 ~ e to 1 i 1 !!!.~
20 ~e. ef Hunqer 1973; Powell SNM 1971, 226-236.
1 g,[rt.
j
- ---
Sachs, Abraham J. Babylonian mathematical texts 1: Reciprocals of regu-
lar sexage.sim.al numbers ,JCS 1 1947 , 219-240.
Contains a complete and highly interesting discussion of the alga-
I

rithm for cornputa.t.ion of sequences of pairs of reciprocal numbers which

was originally known from ~Br::!...lQ.2o.1 (Hilprecht 1906, n25: from the Ur
III 6r Isin periods). p~eviously published examples are also BM 80150
(Pinches 1909; following a combined multiplication table), the problem
text VAT 6~05 (MKT 1935) I and CBS 29.13 .. 21 (~CT 1945). New examples are
1. ~. 3958, sharing with ~BS J9:1~~ a method of div~ding many-place
sexagesimal numbers into several parts, probably for easier handling
of them, by means of a separation sign [resembling the KUV used in a
similar way in Hilprechtls star distance text; Neugebauer QS B 3 1936];
2. CBS 1215, a table listing every step of the algorithm in 21 success-
ive cases; 3. the three small tablets YBC 1839, MLC 651, YBC 1080~, and
the fragment N 3891, with excerpts from more complete tablets displayinG
examples of the algorithm. (Also mentioned are VAT 5457 and Str 366,
pr.2, both previously published.)

Gandz, Solomon. Studies in Babylonian mathematics 1: Indeterminate

I
i
 69

analysis in Babylonlan mathematics ,9siris 8 (1938)1948, 12-40.

In this remarkable paper, G. is able to demonstrate the Babylonian
origin of the ancient and venerable branch of mathematics called
indeterminate analysis, at the same time as he gives new and convincing
explanations to a number of badly understood Babylonian problem texts:
1. BM 85194 pr.4, a ring-wall problem leading to the inaeterminate
equation x 2 _y2 :::: 22 30 (cf Diophant 1I 10) i 2. AO 17264, a "composite
trapezoid partition problem" based on the existence of "chains" of ·'Baby-
lonian triples" (1 e solutions of the indeterminate equation n 2 _q2 ::::
2
q2_m , such as, 1n this text, (17,2''"R31)r (31,41,49), (41,61,71», which
can be constructed, 2ccording to ViOpha!lt III 7 and II 19, by use of
2
"the generating formula (m,q,n) = (x,x+1 ,2k-x), x = (2k -1) /2 (k+1) i 3. VAT
8512, a triangle partition problem, easily solved by transformation
into a trapezoid partition problem; and 4. AO 6770 pr~1, a purely
algebraic problem, offering the solution of the equation x+y = xy in
the general case (i e not for particular values of x or y) as, in
modern terms I Y =xl (x-1 ) •
Goetze l Albrecht. Review of MeT 1945 JCS 2 1948, 33-37.
With a nurnber of phi.lological remarks concerning technical terms
such as b-adalu.m, ~t~ia.J~~~¥!!, "~ltu.iu..m f ~~!:Jt..d~~."!., talLaU~~_1!:"' all concerned
with excavation and irrigation work,~,ig4 agUltlLUm and za)(".i~, two
different kinds of bricks, and I in the Lists of' constants, 9 eXta.. za. m.t =
~a..6:Z.6 .oammZm, GAN-zalta, and GA~J··UV-SAR, all possibly related to diffe-
rent shapes of doors 8

L~, Hildegard." Origin and development of the sexagesimal system of

numeration JAOS 69 1949, 1-11.
An occasionally interesting discussion, but built on false assump-
tions and therefore quite unreliable~

~, Hildegard. Studies in Assyro-Babylonian mathematics and rnetro-

logy OrNS 18 1949, 40-67; 137-170.

;ll In an exaggeratedly criticalreviewof!'4CT 19J5, Lo heLe considers
1. the canal work texts YBC 9874 and 7164 pr.2; 2. the ma~l~um text
MLC 1842 (discussed with some success); 3. the geometric mak~~~um text
YBC 8633; 4. items related to bricks in the coefficient list YBC 5022:
it is shown that the naibanum value of a given type of bricks is the
number of bricks of that type together weighing 1 talent, that the
 70

corresponding nazbalum value is the number of bricks of that type

carried over a distance of 1 00 n~ndan in a day's work, that 1 brick-
~a~ of bricks of type 1 has a price of .03 40 g~n, or 11 Xe, of silver
(YBC 7284), hence that 10 volume-ta~ of bricks of this type costs 4 24
gtn sil ver (?); interesting interpretations are given also of the brick or mud
carrying texts YBC 4673 pr.5 and ii~ pr.10i finally it is suggested
that the two lists of constants YBC 5022 and 7243 were compiled for the
needs of an architect or a contractor involved in the construction of
some important building i 5. the meani.ng of the terms ~uqQum (metal sheet)
_.-
and 'ut-turn (metal spiral?), as well as GAN-MAN (area of a sun-emblem??) .

Neugebauer, Otto. Comments on publications by Mrs. Hildegard Lewy on

. mathematical cuneiform texts OrNS 18 1949, 423-426.

A sharp rejoinder to some of the more exaggerated claims in the

publications referred to in the title (Lewy OrNS 18 1949, ••. ).

Bruins, Evert M. On Plimpton 322. Pythagorean numbers in Babylonian

mathematics IndM 11 1949, 191-194.

Proposes a "one parameter" generating formula for the list of Pytha-

gorean triples in PlimEton 322, and remarks that the almost linear
decrease of the ratios diagonal/length in that list may be accidental.

de 'Mecquenem, Roland. MDP = Memoires de la Mission Arch~ologique en

Iran 31 (Epigraphie proto-elamite). Paris 1949.

n31: a proto-Elamite tablet with what looks like very high numbers
in the decimal system (possibly, for instance, the total on the reverse,
written as l\JJ 2fD"YJa) 3{D+Q} 6fZ), is the number 23,600 (?)].

1950-1960

Baqir, Taha. 1. An important mathematical problem text from Tell Har-

mal Sumer 6 1950, 39-54, 2 pI.; 2. Another important mathematical text

from Tell Harmal ibidem, 130-148 + 5 pI.

1. Presentation of IM 55357 (Harmal Ill::: early First Dynasty of

Babylon), with a geometric drawing and a problem text ~roving that OB
mathematicians were acquainted with "similarity theorems" for right tri-
angles; 2. B. presents here IM 52301, with two geometric problems con-
cerned with the computation of the meb~um of two triangles or trape-
zoids, a third problem wi.th the initial phrase Xum-ma. a-ta uX la m.t-,Lt-
iJ.a-~u-.ti, and a brief list of constants with seven -<..-gi-gu.-ub values.

L
 71

Bruins, Evert M. Quelques textes mathematiques de la mission de Suse

IndM 12 1950, 369-377.
A preliminary report about the small library of important mathe-
matical problem texts which was found by de Mecquenem in Susa (Ville
Royale I) in 1936 (together with the more elementary texts already
published by van der Meer in ~DP 27 1935). See TMS 1961.
Bruins, Evert M. Nouvelles decouvertes sur les mathematiques baby-
loniennes CPD 1951, 5-29.
interesting survey of recent results, with several references
An
to the texts from Susa, as well as to other texts, for instance the
important text MAH 16055 (also discussed in Bruins 1962).
Steele, Francis Rue. Writing and history: the new tablets from Nippur
UMB 16/2 1951
pl.7 (bottom) UMathematical problem text: to find area of a field"
(a photo without any comment in the paper; the text seems to be con-
cerned with the computation of a square area) •
Safar, Fuad. A further text of Shalmaneser Ill. From Assur Sumer 7
1951, 3-21, 3 pl.
This beautiful and extremely well preserved document, recording
the annals of the first twenty campaigns of Shalmaneser, contains
many interesting examples of Neo-Assyrian number notations, just as
the Sargon text TCL 3 (Thureau-Dangin 1912): See, for instance, col.
IV, 34-40: 1 me. iim 10 lim 1 6 me. 10 Kat-t.u-tu '1 20 l.im Z i.i..m 6 me
--- -- ._.- X - - --
d..i.--i.q-tu I 9 t.i..m 9 ~~ 20 anXu.-kuli.-Jta me anXu. ku-di-n-t I 30 t.{m 5 tim.
m 19 l.<.m 6 me 11 30 aYl.6U meX 1 me t-i.m 1 20 lim 4 .tim 1
5 me 65 gud ex-
-S51 Lt d f1 me!£.,~ u. .. LL b--:- v - . .., -v - u - mex-.
+,-: - d ' I 2 0E.~~
me - ,d..l .6 a_ .{..6 t {l.IL e:.! ,~all. It u 4~~ a - ~
'V
- -<.(1
'110,610 captives, 82,600 killed, 9,920 horses (and) mules, 35,565
oxen, 19,690 donkeys, 184,755 sheep ••. , the spoils from the be-
ginning of my reign ·to my twentieth pa.£ e.' •

Leernans, Wilhelmus Fran~ois, and Bruins, Evert M. Un texte vieux-

babylonien concernant des cercles concentriques ~RRA 2 1951, 31-35.

A discussion of the lenticular text ~e Liagre Bohl 1821, with a
problem involving an area between two concentric circles (a-tCl. daR.-ba.-
an-na), leading to a quadratic equation: S:: 3 (R+r) (R-r) [actually an
indeterminate equation si.milar to the Pythagorean equation c 2 :: (a+b) (a-b)]

2
 72

Baqir, Taha. Some more mathematical texts Sumer 7 1951, 28-45 + 13 pl.

The first publication of 10 small OB mathematical problem texts

found in Tell Harmal (1949), datable to the reign of Ibalpiel 11, and
characterized by their cowman longish format, by the near absence of
ideograms, and by the common initial phrase I~m-ma k..t-~-=-am ..t-,~a-a.e.-ka
urn-me. .6u-.u-ma. 'if somebody a.sks you thus'. Important contributions to
the interpretation have been given in van Saden 1952 and Bruins Sumer
9 1953. Pr.1: IM_5447~, a simple excavation problem; 2: IH 53953, a
problem about a bisected triangle (~~-ta~ku-u~; ef Bruins 1953), solved
by the method of false position; 3: IM 54538, a brick-carrying problem
(bricks type 4; ef van Soden 1952), with the new problem formulation
k.~: ma.:.-?~ ~~-b~~.t!! u-ma-ka-f..i-a-a.m I how many men for 1 day?'; 4: IM
53961, a simple work division problem, concerned with the volume of
a mud wall (igi-gub-ba: 3 45 r3:-ti-,Lq-tu.m, 11'1:~301, Baqir 1950); 5: IM
53957, a grain vessel text, similar to YBC 4669 pr. 4 (see MeT 1945, 103), with
the technical terms t..t-t~-tum (remainder; van Soden 1952) and ~~-X.i­
e.-um (original grain quantity) [a contraction of lt~! .6e.-i..!!! ?] i 6: IM
5401~, a harvest text (1), badly damaged; 7: ~M 53965, a simple broken
reed problem (6u.!tum:: gi-kud-ai Bruins 1953), displaying also the term
meh~um, here as in IM 52301 (Baqir 1950) standing for the half-sum
- .... --
t{x+y): 8: IN 54559, a simple geometric problem [leading to a system
of linea.r equations: 8=2/3 u, u ::::u+10, 51 =8+10, US=20)i 9: IM 54
1
__ mahl~um
464: a __v _ _• problem; and 10: IM 54011, another work division pro-
blem, concerned with the volume of a mud wall [this time with a trape-
zoidal cross section of height 1 rt~..:Jza.-~~ (3 cubits), base 2 cubits (!),
and inclination 1/2 cubit (~~ ~e-pe(!» per cubitJ.
~~ckhahn, Friedrich. Ein geometrischer Beitrag zu dem mathematischen

Problem-Text von Tell Harmal IM 55357 des Iraq Museums in Baghdad ZA

50 1952, 151-162 = Sumer 7 1951, 11-17e

Lewy,., Hildegard. Studies in Assyro-Babylonian mathematics and metro-

logy OrNE 20 1951, 1-12.

A discussion, not entirely convincing, of the relations between
the "ku.!tILu.m of Gasurn I that "of AJckad" I and the one tlof Gudanisum",
all used in Old Akkadian texts from Nuzi (Meek HSS 10 1935). Interest-
ing is the observation ·that the approximation {a+u) x (b-u) ~ ab seems
to have been used in several of the t.exts in order to si.mplify compli-
cated area computations.
 73

Goetze, Albrecht. A mathematical compendium from Tell Harmal Sumer

7 1951, 126-155.

A careful presentation of three closely related OB mathematical tab-

lets, 1M 52916 (1), 5268 (2), 52304, sadly mutilated but of extraordinary
importance. The main topics are: 1A, 1 B: quadratic equa·tions, but formu-
. v
lated in a hitherto unknown, abstract way (example: a-n~C£ a-I.>a KIL
eX-~e-et ut-ia _._-- 'to add to a square area ten times my side');
-- --wa-ba-ba-am
.........

1C: constants for geometric figures; 1D: inscribing geometric figures

into each other (example: l1a-a~-=ba-=-tam .<.-na. !:.-i..-bu 11Cl:-ai-ba-,t-i..m e-pe.-
la-a~, to make a tbrick mold' within a 'brick mold'); 1E: coefficients
for brick carrying problems (example: ~-na
20 nindan a-za-bi-il 5 al-
lu-urn, were I to carry·over 20 nindan, the allum would be 5); 1H: pro-
bably problems for bisected triangles (aa-am-~a-at ~ag-ki an-ia i-na
uX wa-~a-da-am '1/5 of the upper front to descend from the side'); 1F,
11: more constants; 1J:"diverse problems (example: ~-~a-am ei-qe-e
mi-id-di-[ . .. ], the initial phrase of a "broken reed problem"). Note
in particular, on the second tablet, a group of ucommercial problems"
(example in 2F: ma.-~~.:.fta-:tim_ !l-.E...:,~a-b-~-am .6a-rna.-a.m a b.a.-ma-Ita.-am Ito
subtract or add rates and to make purchases' (1)).

Hanson, A. W. Field plans MCS 2 1952, 1-3, 21-26~

A discussion of the field plans Or 47-49 n507 and Clay YOS 1 1915
n22-23 (cf Stephens 1953).

Sachs, .Abraham. Babylonian mathematical texts, I1: Approximations of

reciprocals of irregular numbers in an Old-Babylonian text; Ill: The

problem of finding the cube root of a number ,JCS 6 1952, 151-156.

II: Presents the OB text M 10 in the John F. Lewis Collection of

Cuneiform Tablets in the Free Library of Philadelphia, a curious
table(?) of approximate reciprocals to the often appearing irregular
numbers 7, 11, 13, 14, 17; difficult to understand is here that the
last two reciprocals seem to have been multiplied by a factor 10, and
also the use of the word SI-NI-IB 'remainder, deficit', in opposition
to the common di..~.{g, to indicate the non-exactness of the reciprocals;
(cf MeT 1945, 16: YBC 10529); Ill: The OB text VAT 8547 seems to con-
tain a parallel to the maQ~a~um method in YBC~295 for the extraction
of cube roots, although it does not really make much sense.
 74
Evans, Arthur J. Scripta Minoa 2 (The archives of Knossos, clay tab-
lets inscribed in Linear Script B, edited by J.L. Myres). Oxford 1952.
(ef Evans SM 1 1909.) p51: a survey of decimal number notations in
Minoan Linear Scripts A and Bi units: t - o r ' , 0, -0-,4 (10,000).
f

von Soden, Wolfram. Zu den mathematlschen Aufgabentexten van Tel Har-

mal Sumer 8 1952, 49-56.

ef the discussion above of Baqir 1951.

Berrriman, A.E. Historical metrology, a new analysis of the archaeo-

logical and the historical evidence relating to weights and measures.
London/New York 1953.

Although in many·respects unreliable and a typical example of "com-

parative metrology", this book contains many interesting illustrations
and can be used as a handy reference. See, for instance, the photo of
the "Indus Valley weights" (p34; the system of weights used at Mohenjo-
Daro and Harappa can be shown to include standard weights in the form
of rectangular blocks, corresponding to 1/16, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, 1, 2, and
5 "units", with the "unit" approximately equal to 1/18 Babylonian mina).
The length of the tllndus inch" is derived from the markings on a piece
of shell (p39; the "inch", which seems to have been further divided
into fifths or tenths, is said to have been equal to 2, or possibly
4, Sumerian rU-.6,.[). The many bu·t more well known illustrations re-
lated to Egyptian metrology wi.ll not be mentioned here. Among illu-
strations of importance for the study of Babylonian metrology ought
to be mentioned, for instance, Gudea's rule (p53-S4), Entemena's vase
(p65), the duck weights of Dudu, high priest at Lagash in the reign
of Entemena (p56; 1 wool-mina~ originally published by Langdon in JRAS
1921), and of Merodach-Baladan (pS; 30 minas), etc., and the double-
mina of NebuchadnezzarII, with its reference to king Sulgi of Ur (pS7).
Raik, A.E. Iz ranner istorii algebry: kvadratnye uravneniya u vavi-
lonyan 'From the early history of algebra: quadratic equations in
Babylonia' UZPU 8 1953, 31-63.
Stephens, Ferris J. A surveyor's map of a field JC~ 7 ~953, 1-4.
A renewed discussion, with departure from an inlproved hand copy,
of the field plan ~OS 1 1915 n22 (ef Hanson 1952). The computation
of the area of a quadrilateral in y~S 1 n21 is mentioned briefly.

Lambert, Maurice. La periode presargonique: La vie economique a

Shuruppak Sumer 9-10 1953-1954.

b
 75
Figulla, Hugo Heinrich, and Martin, William J. UET :) (Letters and

documents of the Old-Babylonian period). London 1953.

Contains, as shown by Va!man, several important early OB mathe-

matical texts written entirely in Sumerian. n121 (ef Va!man ~VM 1961,
248): begins with an inheritance problem, for the solution of which
one has to sum a geometric progression and then perform a non-regular
division; continues with three "shepherd problems" exploiting the sur-
prisingly·neat divisibility properties of the exceptionally conspicu-
ous numbers 1 01 0'1 01 and 1 01 01, as e 9 in the second problem:
1 CXalt'u-gal} 1 {XiiJtJ 1 1 u.cluba. 13 .6iba ! J.>iba l-e en-nam :tb-~i-ti 14 41
31 ~b-Xi~ti '1 01 01 01 sheep 13 shepherds; what is the lot of 1 shep-
herd? 4 41 37 is his lot' [note the common term 16 -'6'-i- t.-L in this text
- -
and in the wool text Riftin 1937 n112]i n855-856 (Va1man TGErm 1961):
two interesting excavation texts; n858: a trapezoid partition problem;
n859: two geometric problems leading to pure quadratic and cubic equa-
tions and a non-regular division; one is required to divide the volume
1 04 01 36 by the area 10 40 16 (= 16 x 74) to get the depth (= 6); the
abstract number for the volume is converted into 1 Xa~ 4 g~n 4 1/2 ~e
igi-18-g4t £e-kam(?), where the fraction seems to be an error for 18/60
le (Va!man suggests the corrected version 18 te-ba~); n864 (BM 131432:
ef Va1man SVM 1961, 250-258 for a discussion of this and the two pre-
ceding texts): a still badly understood geometric problem, in which
appear the difficult technical terms ad-ku.~l:t~ and di-kj-,i.J-ti-im
(cf Draffkorn Kilrner 1960).

Brui~, Evert M. A contribution to the interpretat.ion of Babylonian

mathematics; triangles with regular sides IndM 15 1953, 412-422.

Shows that there are, basically, only two Pythagorean triples a,b,c
with the diagonal c and one of the sides regular: 3,4,5 and 7,24,25,
Proceeds to make an analysis of the data in t.he algebraic text Aa 6484
and in the geometric text BM 34568, both related to the theory of Pytha-
gorean triples.

Bruins; Evert M. La classification des nombres dans les math~rnatiques

babyloniennes RA 47 1953, '185-188.

The discussion here is based on B.' s interpretati.on (probably not

correct) in Sumer 9 1953, 241-253 of the edge inscription on IM 52301.

Falkenstein, Adam. Die babylonische Schule Saeculum 4(2) 1953, 125-137.

ef Sjoberg 1975 .. In particular, F .. gives improved readings of some

interesting passages discussed in Ungnad 1917 and Krarner JAOS 69 1949.
 76

Bruins, Evert M. Revision of the mathematical texts from Tell Harmal

Sumer 9 1953, 241-253.

A critical review of the text interpretations in Baqir 1950, 1951.

Of particular interest is the claim that the inscription on the edge
of IM 52301 (Baqir 1950) is a verbal description of a method (usually
ascribed to Heron) for the approximate extraction of square roots. [It is
equally possible, however, that the method described is the well docu-
lf
mented "agrimensor method for the approximate computation of areas of
quadrilaterals!]. In two appendices are published (in transliteration
only) IM 53963, 31247 (from Tell Harmal?J, with a series of geometric
problems leading to quadratic systems.
Bruins, Evert M. Three. geometrical problems Sumer 9 1953, 255-259.

B. publishes here: IM 43996, with the masterls original and the

student's copy of a drawing of a trisected triangle [possibly an
approximative solution to the problem of dividing a triangle into three
parallel strips of areas A, 2A, A, using the approximation 13 ~ 1.. 45 ;
the widths of the strips are then 2(00), 1 30, 30]; ef the photo in
Bruins 1964; IM 31248 [from Tell Harmal ?], with on one side a triang-
le divided into strips of widths 3, 1, 3, 1, 3, and on the other side
a problem in which a trapezoid(?) is divided into strips of widths
40, 20, 10, 10~ in this text appears the Accadian variant pa-ni ft, etc.,
instead of the more common igi n or, in other Tell Harmal texts, i-gi n.
Bruins, Evert M. Some mathematical texts Sumer 10 1954, 55-61.
Mentions the following new table texts: IM 52001, a table of square
roots on a three-sided prism; IM 5436, ~421~, ~2548, 55111, four single
multiplication tables, and IM 55292, ?2879, parts of combined multipli-
cation tables, some of these with interesting mistakes in the text; IM
54486, a metrological table for silver (?), In addition are published
here (in transliteration only): IM 54472, illustrating the use of the
mak4akum method of YBC 6295 (MeT 1945) for extraction of square roots;
IM 31210, written in six columns, with eight preserved problems concerned
with division of money. In particular, pr'-2 uses the method of false
position to solve a problem in terms of an arithmetic progression (with
the terms -
me-hILum
v-·-
for tlfalse value and i-ba-yt"t-ku..m for' "correction
lt

factor"; pr.3 is a damaged problem about nthree purses"; pr.4, which

again uses false position, is a strangely phrased exercise in counting
with fractions; pr.5 is a nicely arranged problem for an arithmetic pro-
greSSion, in which appears the phrase UR.TA.MA.BU, of unknown meaning.

t
 77

Unknown is also the meaning of the terms BAR and BAR.BI appearing in
several of the problems. The paper ends with a discussion of IM 52672,
with its brief list of types of quadratic systems, resembling the
sections 1A, 1B in Goetzels "compendium" (Goetze 1951).

Bruins, Evert M., and Butten, Marguerite. La notation des fractions,

un nouveau texte de serie CRPA 3 (1952)1954 ..

See Bruins and Rutten 1961, TMS 5 (Aa).

Gadd, Cyril John. Inscribed prisms of Sargon II from Nimrud Iraq 16

1954, 173ff.

Col.6 l.27-24 (p186-187, pl.43, 47): see powell JCS [1982].

Rundgr~n, Frithiof. Parallelen zu akk. Xinepum "2/3" ~ 9 1955, 29-30.

Bruins, Evert M. On the system of Babylonian geometry Sumer 11 1955,

44-49.
Contains a discussion, to be continued in severel other of B.'S
papers, of how OB mathematicians were able to obtain significant geo-
metrical results, for instance a derivation of the Pythagorean theorem,
without recourse to the concepts of angle and of parallel lines.

Bruin.§., Evert M. Pythagorean t.riads in Babylonian mathematics i the

errors on Plimpton 322 §.~!I.le:t: 11 1955, 117-121.

Poi.nts out t.he use of cln empty s'pace for medial zeros in Plimpton
.l~~,discusses the genera.ting formula for Pythagorean triples used in
the same text, and gives references to related texts. In addition, B.
gives here a convincing and illuminating explanation of the error in
the second line of the text.
Hube~, Peter. Zu einem mathematischen Keilschrifttext (VAT 8512) I5is

46 1955, 104-106.

ef Gandz 1948 ..
yalmaI1:. 1 A .. A .. Ermi taznaya klinopisnaya matematiC'eskaya tablicka NO

015189 EV 10 1955, 71-83.

Presents in full detail the OB(?) tablet Erm 015189 (from the Ermi-
tage, Leningrad) with a sequence of drawings illustrating the use
of similarity to set up a series of exercises from a single set of
data. The exercises in thi~1 case are related to the "composite trape-
zoid partition problem" and are based on the pair of "babylonian trip-
les" 1,5,7 and 7,13,17.

t
 78

Sachs, Abraham Joseph. L~~T (= Late Babylonian astronomical and rela-

ted texts, copied by T~ G. Finches and J. N. Strassmaier, prepared for

publication by A. J. Sachs with the co-operation of J. Schaumberger.)

Providence 1955.

Contains mainly texts of astronomical interest. (Thus, for instance,

n1-159 deal with mathematical astronomy; cf Neugebauer ACT 1955). How-
ver, n163]-1646 are tablets or fragments with tables of reciprocals
or squares of regular sexagesimal numbers, in some cases with compu-
tations with such numbers. ef Vaiman 1961, Aaboe 1965, Friberg 1980.
Small fragments of problem texts are n1647-1648.

VeselovskiI, I. N. Vavilonskaya matematika 1 TIIET 5 1955, 241-303.

A very critical review of, in particular, the theories of Neugebauer

and H. Lewy concerning the origin of the Surnero-Babylonian sexagesirnal
system.

Goff, Beatrice IJ., and Buchanan, Briggs. A tablet of the Uruk period
in the Goucher College collection JNES 15 1956, 231-325.

Presents Goucher College tablet nO 869, a tablet of a transitional

type between the "numerical tablets" and the inscribed tablets from the
Uruk IVa period. 'llhe tablet is inscribed with the single sign A (pro-
bably denoting some kind of animal. It features the number 24 (1), and
i t is covered by interesti.ng seal impressions.

Meyer, Gerhard Rudolf .. Durch vi~.Jahrtausende altvorderasiatischer

Kultur (1st edition). Berlin 1956.

p155: photo of the rnet.rological table VAT 9840 + 9889 (see Schroeder
1920) •
Hallock, Richard T., and Landsberger, Benno_ Neobabylonian grammatical

texts, in MSL 4. Rome 1956.

p163-165 (text IV): a bilingual lexical text, published in Langdon

1917, and containing a strange list of number words (ef Thureau-Dangin
RA 25 1928, 119-121.

0Epenheirn, A. Leoe CAD = The Assyrian Dictionary of the University of

Chicago (H).
v
Chicago 1956.

p74: vhamu~tu.
_ __ See Brinkman 1963, 1965.

i
L
 79

SollbergeF, Edmond. Corpus des inscriptions "royales" presargoniques

de Lagas. Geneve 1956.
... d , .
Ent. 28-29 = cones A-B: note in B 11, 15-18 the passage ga,n N'{'n-g..tJt-
.6u-ka.! 3 30 1/2 e.X~ GAR.VU lif GlS.~uk;-1 mu..-k.'[d, which ought to be
translated as follows 'the land of dNingirsu, 3 35 ninda.n [!] to the
side of Umma he cut off' (ef thE! discussion in Allotte de la Fuye
1915 of notations for length measure in pre-Sargonic Lagas); the famous
enigmatic passage in BIll, 3-11, B IV, 39 f involving big capacity num-
bers may have found its proper interpretation, finally, through a new
translation of the phrase kud-~a ba-u~ (see my review of Steinkel~er
1981); Ent.32 I 2" and Ukg.5 VIII, 5-6: examples of the phrase ~a-ia­
Xa.Ir..'u.-ta., etc.; cf Edzard 1959; Ent.34 Vase D: ef 'l'hureau-Dangin ZA
17 1903. Further references in Borger HK~ 1, 497.
Smith, Sidney, and Wi~eman, Donald J. CCT = Cuneiform texts from
Cappadocian tablets in the British Museum 5. London 1956.
BM 120508, 120508A (pl.20): ef Brinkman 1963, 1965.

Landsber~er, Benno. MSL 5 (The series HAR-ra loP

= vhubullu, tablets I-IV).
Rome 1957.
Tablet II contains long lists of terms appearing also in mathema-
tical texts concerned with measuring, storing, buying and selling
(II, 129: Kl.LAM//~a~~~~~u)! and surveying (II, 228-251: a.n-ta//e-llX
'above', •.. , uX-~ag//t~d:du-pu-u-tum frectangle(!) *; tablet IV gives
the names of instruments for measuring or computation, such as in IV,
10: gi~-di.b-dlb/ /ma.X-tak-.t(~!!!. 'water clock(?)', and in IV, 16ff: git-
v
SID-mal /:!::~::~!:. .mi-nu:..t.,f 'count-ing s'ticks(?) 1 I etc. (ef Delitzsch 1885,
Lieberman 1980, ••. ).

Borger, Rykle. ni~irti barGti, Geheimlehre der Haruspizin (Zu Neuge-

bauer-Sachs, MeT, v und W, und einigen verNandten Texten) BiOr 14
1957, 190-195.

Shows the non-mathematical character of the texts MeT 1945 V and w.

Huber, Peter. Bemerkungen uber mathematische Keilschrifttexte EM 3
1957, 19-27.

1. Suggests the use of a factorization method in some of the stages

of the construction of the tables on Plimpton 322. 2. Shows that the
myster ious text 1st S _.~ 28 (ef Opp-ert 1902) is an example of the use of
the mafz~~aJturn method for extraction of square roots through factoriza-
tion. (ef Friberg HM 8 1981, 177-318.)

t
 80

Caratini, Roger. Quadrature du cercle et quadrature des lunules en

M~sopotamie RA 51 1957, 11-20.

On the drawings on BM 15285 (MKT 1 1935, 137), and the indications

they give of a Babylonian "circle geometry" with possiblible affinities
to the much later Greek geometry (cf the "crescent of Hippocrates").

Valman, A.A. Vavilonskie ~isla 'Babylonian numbers' IH! 10 1957, 587-

589.
ef the corresponding sections in Varman SVM 1961 (p195-206).
Goetze, Albrecht. Old Babylonian documents from Sippar in the collec-
tion of the Catholic University of America ~ 11 1957, 15-40.
n33 (CUA 34)~ contains a series of area computations, arranged in
tabular form with the headings uX, ~4g, 4-~d.
2
Neugebauer, Otto. ESA (= The exact sciences in antiquity, 2nd edition).
Providence 1957. (1st edition Princeton 1952; Dover edition New York
1969) •
Ch.I: Numbers; 11: Babylonian mathematics; Ill: The sources; their
decipherment and evaluation: IV: Egyptian mathematics and astronomy;
V: Babylonian astronomy; VI: Origin and transmission of Hellenistic
science; App.I: The Ptolemaic system; 11 On Greek mathematics. What,
new material is contained in this book is mostly confined to the ex-
tensive and very informative "notes and references" after each chap-
ter. Of particular interest'among the illustrations are the two photos
on pl.9 of the tablet YBC 4712 before and after cleaning (a hand copy
of the same tablet can be found on pl.B).
varma~, A.A. Ermitaznaya klinopisnaya matematiceskaya tabli6ka NO '
15188 EV 12 1958, 89-93.
Gives a reconstruction of the slightly damaged text on the lenti-
cular tablet Erm 15188, with its drawing of a triangle divided into
parallel strips. A similar drawing on IM 43996 (Bruins 1953) is used
as a reference.
Vogel, Kurt. 1st die babylonische Mathematik sumerisch oder akkadisch?
MN 18 1958, 377-382.
It is argued here that Babylonian mathematics was inherited from the
Sumerians. This opinion is based on 1. the fact that the overwhelming'
majority of technical terms (words, ideograms, entire phrases) in Baby-
 81

Ionian mathematics are of Babylon1an origin, and 2. the assumption that

the use in Babylonian mathematical texts of words like "upper", etc.,
for what is really "left", etc., shows that the origin of Babylonian
mathematics can be back-dated to before the time when the orientation
of the cuneiform script was changed, i e presumably to some time early in
the period of Sumerian domination. (For a contrasting opinion, see
the interesting paper by Picchioni 1980.)

Lacheman, Ernest-R. HSS 14-16 (Excavations at Nuzi). Cambridge 1950-1958.

See Oppenheirn 1958, Zaccagnini 1975.
. .'
Oppenheim, A. Leo. On an operational device in Mesopotamian bureaucracy
JNES 17 1958, 121-128.

In a review of Lach~man 1958, o. observes the importance of HSS 16 449,

t -

a.hollow egg of clay which when found contained 48 little stones, and
which bears an inscription enumerating 48 animals of various kinds. This
and several other texts from Nuzi (of the middle of the second millennium)
shows clearly that small "stones" where used together with written re-
cords as a simple recording device to control the transfer of animals,
etc. Examples: HSS 16 ,282: annatu'!~ nadnu i~~ NA4.MES-t~ la nada 'these
have been handed over but not deposited among the stones': HSS 14 508:
v ---
NA 4 .MES-Xu-nu la Xu-bat-ki-tum 'their stones have not been transferred'.
o. remarks also tha,t in ~h tablet IV, 16f the entries gi..:&.SIV.ma:: i~.:.{li:
mi-nu-ti and giX.nig.SlV = MIN n~k-Ra~-6i may refer to counting boards on
which "stones" were used as counters. (See Landsberger MSL 5 1957.)
fIackman, George.Gottlob. BIN 8 (Sumerian and Akkadian administrative texts
from predynastic times to the end of the Akkad dynasty). New Haven 1958.
n3, 5: texts from the Jemdet Nasr period, used in Friberg 1978 to
demonstrate that in the IN system of capacity measures the sign 0 h~s
the value 6 (indeed, in n3 it is plainly seen that ~~g + ggg = (to ).
n4: another IN text, probably a seed-grain account (see Friberg 1979):
note that the two capacity numbers on the obverse are 472 = 8x 59 and
519 1/5 = 8 )(" 11 /10 x 59 capacity units, respectively, which implies the
presence of a "constant factor" 10/11 in this text l to be compared with
for instance the factor 5/6 = 10/12 in the seed grain text,CS 86 (Umma,
see my commentary to Pettinato and waetzoldt 1975); n24 (according to
H. from the Fc;tra period or slightly younger, perhaps 'contemporary with
I
the texts .9.!!: 14 49-77, Luckenbill 1930): [after correction of errors in
I
I H.·s copy, it seems to be clear that this text is a close parallel to
i

the mathematical exercise(?) alP 14 116 in fact, a field in the form

l
 82

of a trapezoid, of area 4 ba~ = 2 00 00 ta~, with the long side (ie the
height) equal to 5 30(!) = 30x 11 nindan, and one short side to 22 =
2 x 11 nindan, would have the remaining short side equal to the solu-
tion of the equation 1/2 x ·(x+22) x 5 30 = 2 00 00, or x+22 = 8 00 00/11
~ 8 x 5 27 = 43 36, so that x RI 43 1/2 - 22 = 22 1/2, which is the

length of this side given in the text]; in the second half of the same
text, the yield (7) of the field is computed according to the formula
1 (iku)alag_ bi l(gu~) 1 (ba4iga)le gU~-ta '1 1/4 gu~ per iku': n67-68:
two "messenger tablets" from about the time of Entemena, with detailed
accounts of deliveries of bread and beer t1to a number of cities and
people"; in these two texts, the 1 /3 dug (of beer) is denoted simply by
an "overturned" unit: 0; n81: an account of assignments of lengths (to
be excavated?) to a number of officials and workers; in this text we
. find an early example of the use of the following series of length
measures: GAR.VU (nindan}, kuX, GlS.8AV {= kut}, SU.BAV (zlpaU), and,
possibly, GAR.RA{?}; n116: a pre-Sargonic account of grain deliveries
(measured in Z~-gu~-lugai) to the superintendent of the storehouse
.
(guJt.u ) I w~th
1 ", ~
the unusually compact date formula /? rfff" ry(f+ f'"'
(1-1-1 'year 7, month 1, day 7'); n 49, 54, 62, 111: a sign copied in
these texts which looks like some new metrological unit is, in ceality,
nothing but 2(ba~~ga); similar problems arise with 8.'s copies of the
area measures (quoted from Powell HUCA 49 (1978)1979,6 n.7).
Edzard, Dietz Otto. Konigsinschriften des Iraq Museums Sumer 15
1959, 19-28, pl.1-4.
E. claims here that the inscription on the statue of alabaster
IM 8969 from Umma should be read as den-i~i-9i4 pa-GIS.BIL-ga tugat-
tdJt.xdit 'for En111, Pabi1ga, king of the 60 ~aJt.(?) " where the phrase
tuga.£. Xii~xd-l~ (or ~a.tLxgeK; .the sign is written (p.) seems to have been
an honorary title for the kings of Umma. E. quotes also the variations
of the phrase ... .ta-la.-ta~ (tall. I u) -ta tu-n-l ba.-·ta-an-dab 5 -ba.-a • as the
hand (of Ningirsu) had chosen him out of 3600(X10) men' in inscrip-
tions of Entemena, Uru-KA-gina, and Gudea (cf Sollberger 1956, de Sar-
zec 1884).
v
Gersrnan, v
I.G. Nerazresennye voprosy vavilonsko~
v , Unresolved
metrologii
problems in Babylonian metrology' 1 VDI 68 1959, 100-112.
1. On partitioning of time and work norms in ancient Babylonia;
2. On norms for plowing and seeding in the OB period; 3. The evolutinr
of the capacity measure system in the most ancient period of the his-
 83

tory of Babyloniai 4. The role of hoes for working the soil in the
OB epoch.

Varman, A.A. 0 geometriceskor figure absamikku klinopisnyh rnatemati-

ceskih tekstov 'On the geometric figure absamikku i.n cuneiform rnathe-

matical texts' VDI 1959:1, 91-94.

Several parameters associated with the geometric figure abhamikku

(GAN-ZA-Mf, etc.) appear in the Babylonian lists of constants, and
in some problem texts (see TMS 1961). V. suggests here that the figure
may be a Hskew trapezoid" and gives two possible reconstructions of it.
vygodskit, M. Ya. Proishozdenie znaka nulya v vavilonskol nurneracii
'The origin of the zero in Babylonian numeration' IMI 12 1959, 393-420.
A detailed analysis of the handling of "medial zeros" in Babylo-
nian mathematical texts from the Seleucid period (the six-place table
AO 6456), the Neo-Babylonian period(?) (W 1931-38, MKT 1 1935,72;
CBS 1535, MeT 1945, 34), the Kassi te period (HS 214a.= BE 20/1 1906 n8),
and the OB period (Plimpton 322 I MC'r 1945, 38). V. empha.sises that the
special sign for "zero" in the later texts, as well as the empty space,
could be used for various purposes: to replace missing units, as in
1. 24 for 10 24, or missing tens, as in 12 .4 for 12 04, or missing
sexagesimal places as in 10 . 24 for 10 00 24.

Vogel, Kurt. Vorgriechische Mathematik 1 : Vorgeschichte und Xgypteni

2: Die Mathematik der Babylonier. WUrzburg 1958-1959.
Contains a brief but good introduction to Babylonian mathematics.

1960-1970
Draffkorn Kilrner, Anne. Two new lists of key numbers for mathematical

operations OrN~. 29 1960 I 273-308 + 3 pI.

Publishes (in photographs but no hand copies) two new lists of con-
stants: A3553, a brief, intact list (50 entries) of the usual OB type,
and CBS 10996, a less well preserved Kassite,list with sections for:
the strings of some musical instrument, boat loads of bricks and reeds,
measuring vessels (very obscure), sesame, astronomy, pomegranates,
irrigatio~, wagon loads, and geometry(?). The paper includes also a

concordance of all known lists of constants, with an index of Akkadian

words in the lists and a Sumerian cross-reference to the Akkadian index.

Resina, Giuseppe. Sumer e Akkad: Metrologia. Catania 1960 •

 84
Contains, in particular, several references to the Code of Hammu-
rabi (cf Scheil 1902).
(Cf the references in Borger HKL 1, 89.)
von Soden, Wolfram. Zweisprachigkeit in der geistigen Kultur Babylo-
niens S~AW 235 1960, 3-33.
Says, in a secti9n on Babylonian mathematics (p.26-32): "In the
history of intellectual manifestations, Babylonian mathematics is
irrevocably a one time phenomenon, both in terms of its achievements,
and with respect to its narrow limitations, and it has by no means
been a necessary station on the road from primitive methods of compu-
tation to scientific mathematics in the modern sense".
valman, A. A. Vavilonskie georoetriceskie risunki prostranstvennyh
figur .(Babylonian geome~ric drawings of solid figures) IMI 13 1960,
379-382.
In this survey, V. points out that of six drawings of three-dimen-
sional figures in cuneiform mathematical texts, three are drawn in a
simple perspective from above (the ring wall in BM 85 194 pr.4, the
triangular fundament in BM 85 196 pr.1, the water reservoir in Erm
15073 pr.5, Valman 1961, 234). The remaining three are what V. calls "sym-
bolic" drawings with no clear perspective (~he dams with trapezoidal
cross sections in Erm 15073 pr.6 and pr.7(?), and the siege ramp in
BM 85 196 pr.17).

Landsberger, Benne. Einige unerkannt geb1iebene oder verkannte Nomina

des Akkadischen 1. ~{~ = nhalbe Elle", "Spanne n WZKM 56 1960, 109-112.
L. takes as the starting-point for his discussion the line in the
small lexical text from Assur (Thureau-Dangin 1926) which says: 75 Xu-
~il/l/Za-[~~ku~, and then proceeds to discuss the appearance in vari-
ous lexical texts of equations for the parts of the cubit: SU.BAV •
zipab = ~+~ (Nuzi, NB), ~ut~ (NA) = 1/2 cubit; Xu-du-a = tizu = 1/3
cubit. Noteworthy is that the measure unit tu-da-4 was out of use al-
v'
ready at the time of Sargon of Akkad, and the unit SU.BAV not much
later; in spite of this both terms appear in the considerably younger
lexical texts available to us.
Va~man, A.A. Uber die sumerisch-babylonische angewandte Mathematik
25th Congress 1960.
v.sketches here a program for future studies in Sumero-Akkadian
mathematics, stressing that it is desirable to consider, much more than
 85

has been done before,the relation between cuneiform documents con-

cerned with, respectively, llapplied" and theoretical mathematics. In
particular, v. suggests that economic and other texts of more or less
pronounced mathematical interest, field maps, metrological texts, etc.,
ought to be collected in one place, in a volume of the MKT type, for
ready reference, to be used both by assyriologists and by people doing
research in history of mathematics. As examples of applied texts of
mathematical interest are mentioned UET 3 447, 1386 (Legrain 1937),
UET 5 855-857 (Figulla and Martin 1953), and Erm 15066 (Riftin 1937).
Birot, Maurice. ARMT 9 (Textes administratifs de la sal1e 5 du palais) •
Paris 1960.
n299: a table of reciprocals from Mari, with the non-standard first
line l-ta-am 2/3b~-b~/140-am.
Saggs, Henry William Frederick. A Babylonian geometrical text RA 54
1960, 131-145.
s. publishes here another large fragment (recently identified by
C.J. Gadd) of the OB tablet bearing a number of geometrical diagrams
with accompanying texts which originally appeared in Gadd RA 19 1922
(BM 15285; t!KT 1 '1935, 137-142). The new fragment adds 14 additional
diagrams (+text) to the 15 considered in Gadd 1922. The paper includes
photographs of the joined fragments, hand copies of the texts of the
new fragment, plus transliterations and translations of texts from
both fragments. In his commentary, S. discusses new technical terms
documented in BM 15285, such as PAD. TA. (AM} dakaXu 'to construct a
border' (ef Draffkorn Kilmer 1964), UR.BAD 'rectangle?' (ef von Soden
1964, 47 n.5, where the undoubtedly more correct readings ~~-i~-~p­
tu~ and ~~-~t-pa-tu~ are suggested, which means that the word ~~tiptum
'diagonal' is used here as a substitute for a special word for 'rect-
angle'), GAN.GIS.KU(?) 'regular concave-sided tetragon', GAN.GIS.ZA.
MI 'figure in the form of a certain musical instrument', GAN.UV.GAG.
SAR 'kite, peg and semi-circle', GAN.GIS.BAN 'field of the bow', GAN.
GlS.SAR 'rhornb?', KA.VA(?) 'circle quadrant?', and GAN.GIS.MA.GUR g
'boat-shaped figure'. (ef Vaiman 1963.)
Y?gel, Kurt. Der "falsche Ansatz ft in der babylonischen Mathematik
MpSB 7 1960, 89-95.
v. points out that the barley field problems VAT 8389, 8391, and

2
 86

the broken cane problem Str 368, which were claimed by Thureau-Dangin
to be Babylonian examples of the use of the method of "false posi-
tion" (RA 35 1938, 71-77), are not proper examples of that method.
(Cf, however, BM 13901, pr.l0ff, quoted in the same paper.) Instead,
v. mentions the examples of the two geometric problems TMS 19 (C)
(Bruins and Rutten 1961), and YBC 4608 pr.1 (MeT 1945, 49).
e
Limet, Henri. Le travail du metal au pays de Sumer au temps de la III
dynastie d 1 Ur. Paris 1960.
p66-74: L. convincingly demonstrates here that the phrase UV.KA.BAR
(zaba~)-n-tal refers to a bronze that is an alloy of (n-1) parts copper
and one part tin, with n between 6 and 10. Examples: in RTC 23 b) (Thu-
reau-Dangin 1903), 1 1/3 mina of copper corresponds to 13 1/3 shekel
of tin (cf Hallo 1963) ~ hence n:t; 7 i in MDP 14 35 (Legrain 1913), 5 ma-
na 5 g~n 1 ma-na-tu~ AN.NA (~agga ttin') is mixed with 40 2/3 md-na 2
g:[n ma.-Y/.a.-,tU!t of copper ,hence n = 9 (cf Hallo 1963); this text is a
Susa text from the Agade period; in TUT 124 (Reisner 1901), where a
certain loss in the metallurgical process is accounted for, we have
ki-ia.-bi 1 ma-rta 10 g;[n 1 tat I ne.-rzil-b-£ 4 2/3 gZn I ... I nagga-bi 10 g.tn
2/3 I LUtu.du.-lu~-ba.-bi 1 ma.-na. 4 g~YL 'weight 1 mina 10 shekels of bronze
7, loss 4 2/3 shekel, tin 10 2/3 shekel, copper 1 mina 4 shekel' [it
is possible to follow the course of the computation here: with a "loss"
of 1/15 of the finished bronze, we see that bronze + loss = (1 10 + 4.40)
g;[n = 114.40 g;[n; one-seventh of this, precisely(!) 10 2/3 shekel, is
the required amount of tin, and the copper is 6 times as much, or the
1 mina 4 shekels given in the text]; p99-109: a section where L. dis-
cusses the relative prices of metals, etc. Example: in Amherst 50
(Pinches 1908), 1 talent 54 1/3 minas 3 1/3 shekel of wool, at 10 minas
(of wool per shekel of silver) is said to have a price in copper(!) of
28 1/2 mina 6 shekels of copper, at 2 1/2 minas (of copper per shekel
of silver). ef also BM 34568 pr.16 in ~KT 3 1937.

Vatman, A.A. Dva klinopisnyh dokumenta 0 provedenii orositel'nogo

kanala 'Two cuneiform documents about the construction of an irriga-
tion canal r ,TGErm 5 (KINV 6) 1- 961, 24- 30 •
v. shows that the two OB texts UET 5 855,856 both describe the
division of work in connection with the construction of a certain
irrigation canal, and that one of the texts is based on preliminary
measurements, while the other makes use of more accurate data.

$
 87

Va1man, A.A. 8VM (= sumero-vavilonskaya matematika, III-I tysyacele-

tiya do n.e. 'Sumero-Babylonian mathematics, third to first mill-

ennium b.o.e.'). Moscow 1961.

An excellent introduction to Babylonian mathematics, regrettably

available in Russian only. Original contributions by the author are
contained in an Appendix with: 1. A discussion of some of the mathe-
matical texts in LBAT 1955: the three-place table of squares BM 34592
(n1637), and several fragments of six-place tables of reciprocals
(n1632-1635), or squares (1636, 1638-1639, 1641), or regular numbers;
2. An interpretation of VAT 2117 (MKT 1, 23) as a table of pairs of
regular reciprocals of the form (20/n)2// (3n}2; 3. A presentation of
the new compilatory problem text Erm 15073 (late OB), with eight part-
ly preserved problems: pr.1:[a trapezoid partition problem related
to the Babylonian triple 1,5,7]; pr.2: a Utwo-way trapezoid partition
problem" for a "false trapezoid" related to the triples 7,13,17 and
7,17,23; pr.4-5: excavation problems for water reservoirs(?); pr.6
and 7(?) ~ volume problems for dam constructions; pr.8: a work divi-
sion problem [for the building a an earth wall?]; 3. A discussion of
the volume text. U~! 3 1386 (Legrain 1937), in whi.ch the formula for
the work norm is kat l-X e. ud 1-a 3 2/3 5 g.:tn -ta. 160 man-days = 3.45
taJtI [ef the ..t9,i-gub-ba 3 45 for work on an earth wall; the section
of the text with the conversion of volume into man-days is introduced
by the phrase ~ahaJt dUg 4 glt-gi 'convert the volume (and. find) the
work equivalent' (?)]: 4. The observation that the exercise RTC 1903
n413:c304 is a brick text (bricks of type 1) [the scribbled numbers
on the reverse: 6 21 40(!j, 3 10 50 indicate the course of the compu-
tations and shows that the incorrect result is due to mistaking sexa-
gesimal multiples of one ra.ft x Xu.-.t>..t. for multiples of one volume-ra~);
5. A discussion of the four important problem texts (in Sumerian!)
UET 5 n121, 858, 859, and 864 (See Figulla and Martin 1953); 6. An
ingenious new interpretation of the combined trapezoid partition pro-
blems VAT 7531 pr.I-4: V. shows that in all four cases the trapezoids
are built up of a rectangle and one or two Pythagorean triangles in
a way which is reminiscent of a method for constructi0n of "Heronie
triangles", and of the way in which quadrilaterals are built up of Pytha-
gorean triangles in early Hindu mathematical tex~s (ef Pottage 1973).
The Pythagorean tr iples used by the author of VAT 7531 are 3,4,5;

I
 88

7,24,25; and 19,180,181. [It is worth noticing that the pairs 24,25
2
and 180,181 can be written as ,(n ±1) with n = 7 and 19, respectively.
Hence two of the three triples have non-regular generating parameters.]
7. A metrological list on a lenticular tablet (Erm 15063, with capacity
measures from 113 ~ila to 2{ba~lga) 5(bdn); 8. A table of cube roots,
from 1//1 to 7 30//30.
Bruin~, Evert M., and ~utten, Marguerite .. MOP 34 (TMS = Textes mathe-
matiques de Suse). Paris 1961.

The final publication of the 26 mathematical texts from Susa (the

end of the OB period), excavated in 1933 and first announced in Bruins
1950, 1951. Only 12 of the texts are offered with photos, otherwise
the edition is complete. The texts discussed are: n1, a tablet with a
drawing of an isosceles triangle with base b::: 1 (00) and height h = 40
together with its circumscribed circle of radius R= 31 15: since it can
2
be shown that R:: ; (h+b /h), and that R,h-R,b/2 is a Pythagorean triple
if band h are integers, the text may have been related to a method of
constructing Pythagorean triples (cf Price 1964): n2 obv., a drawing of
a regular hexagon made up of six equilateral triangles, with indication
of the side 5 = R ::: 30 and the area A=:6 33 45 of one such triangle, im-
plying the use of the approximation Il ~ 1.45 (= 7/4); n2 rev., a simi-
lar drawing of a heptagon made up of seven isosceles triangles with the
sides 35 and 30 (?);: the legend ~ .. - m'!. t ~ - rttl 1 55 ( ?) I .te. ( ? 1- ma. ! •.• - in
-6-i-Ita-t-L 1 ;ta-=-~!E~:-a·,~..:..:~~-_~t~~E:. ! a.-~a f .... multiply 7 into 7 55, you sub-
tract the excess(?), and (you have) the area' suggests that the height
and the area of the isosceles triangles were computed as 10 x 110 ~ 31 .40
and 15 x 31.40 :::: 7 55, with the use of the approximation l'ftj~ 3.10 (=
19/6)]; n3 (1) is a list of constants with 70 entries and the heading
(von Soden 1964) .'(.g-<.-gu,b Xa ~.i.-:~~..:..~a ka:.l'{.-~'y': I constants for what all
you have'i of particular interest are, for instance, constants for the
pentagon, the hexagon, and the heptagon (3 4 1 -£9..i. - 9 u b r~ .6 ag - 1), and
the capaci·ty/volume ratios 6 E.~_-a.X-pa-a/~ Xa.-~:.e-ru.-d'(-,im (von Soden
Xa
~a _
1964, ef Postgate 1978), 6 40 _ na.-a
_..6-oa.-ki-im
._.-..L.._._ _ _ (see Vafman 1976), 1 12
'fa YLa.-·ar-pa..:.a.f~ 9J~!!.u7 (ef n14 (U», and the cryptic 10 Xa 1 2 il 1 [indi-
cating, possibly I that an excavated volume equal to 1 flUX x 2 ka.6 x 1
n,i..n.dan. would correspond to the usu.al work norm of 10 g.:fn J; n4 (K), a
multiplication table for 25; nS (Aa), a complex catalogue of linear and
quadratic equations or systems (ef Goetze 1951 1A-1B, Friberg 1981); as
coefficients in the equations appear a sophisticated set of integers and
fractions with a novel type of abbreviated notations (examples: 2 11 -,
for 2 x 1/11 x 1/7, and 2 3" 7.' 3' 11 -, for 2 x 2/3 x 1/2 x 1/3 x 1/11 x 1/17
 89

(where 3 u , 2', 3' stand for the usual special notations for 2/3, 1/2,
1/3). Interesting types of equations are: a-ia 2 ul Q a-ta GAR-ma 1 15
2
for {2x)2+x2=1 15; 2 lagab mull. a-ta 45 diltig for 2x=x ;45, immediate-
2
ly followed by i /2 .e.agab ki-ma."'a.-ta for ;x = x ; and, finally, a short
series of equations in which~ 2
difference x _y2 is interpreted geomet-
rically as the area between two squares, called a-ta dat-ba-n~; n6 (Bb)
is of similar type; n7 (A, B) offers two problems dealing with systems
of linear equations in two unknowns, with two different methods of
solution presented in both cases; n8 (V) contains two simple quadratic
equation problems; n9 (H) shows how quadratic systems can be reduced
to normal form by a change of variables; in one case two different me-
thods are used, t,he less attractive method being commented by the
phrase k-i.-a-arn Ak-fla··du~~ 'thus the Akkadian (method)'; nl0 (G) and
n11 (P) contain further quadratic systems, in text G formulated as a
silver sharing problem ("two brothers"); n12 (M) is a quite sophisti-
cated problem, cleverly interpreted by B., in which the solution of a
quadratic system provides the data for first a second, and then a third,
quadratic system; n13 (L) is essentially a parallel to the "buy and
sell" problem YB~ 4698 pr .. p, but with Akkadian instead of Sumerian
words, and with a more explicit solution; n14 (U) is concerned with the
dimensions of a grain magazine (gu~u1): n 15 (E) is a problem in which
figures a gate and its dimensions [actually a "double gate" (min.k4) (?) ~

in the calculations is used a method for the construction of Pythago-

rean triples, possibly a parallel to pr.10 of Book 9 in the early Chi-
nese mathematical work ~hiu Char~~sua_Vhu (t.hf:~ end of the first mill--
enni um B. C.; translated by K. Voge.l. 1968)]; n 16 (F) [here two indeter''''
minate linear equations (1) are solved through a method of trial and
verification, whereby 01 is used as technical term for substitution of
the tentative value into the equation]; n17 (0) is a simple quadratic
system; n18 (S) is a cleverly formulated problem for a bisected triangle
? ? '
[leading to the quadratic system r(s+r) = 14 24, r~+s~ = 20 24, which
may have been solved by choosing (r+s) 2 and 2r 2 as new unknowns]; n19
(C) is a geometric problem, solved by application of the Pythagorean
theorem and the method of false posi.tion; n19 (D) is a strange geometric-
3
algebraic problem leading to the system of equations ab = 20, b c =
14 48 53 20, a,b,c a Pythagorean triple [the system seem!? to have been
reduced to a quadratic system of standard type: uv = 3 39 28 43 27 24
. 2 2 2 2
26 40 I u-v -- 6 40, by choosl.ng as new unknowns u = b e , V = b b ); n20
(Z) contains the equation "area+length+diagonal at an abu~amiku" =
2
1 '16 40, or Au +u+du = 1 16 40, where A and cl are the area and diagonal
of the a~u.6 amil2.u wi th "length" u = 1 i n21 (R) is another text dealing
 90

with the dimensions of the abu~am~kui n22 (Q) is a text where a debt of
1 31 58 48(gu~?) at an interest rate of 3/7 of the current capital C
(written as !(C-C/7» is amortized by 4 annual payments of 1(gu~?) each;
n23 (T) is a unique text displaying two different methods of solving
a very sophisticated "iterated trapezoid partition problem"~ a probable
impli.cation of the text is that OB mathematicians knew that if a ,b,e
is a Pythagorean triple and x,y,z a Babylonian triple, then bx-ay,
ax+by, cz is a second BabyJonian triple, and that there is a geometric
interpretation of this relation between two Babylonian triples!; n24
(W) deals with an excavat.:.ion, ~,q.-_?a.~a.fl-kui it is remarkable that this
text contains the earliest documented cases of the use of a separation
sign (here GAM: ) for medial zeros, as in 1 10 GAM 18 45 for 1 10 18
45, 74 GAM 3 45 for 14 03 45, and 20 GAM 3 73 21 33 45 for 20 03 13 21
33 45; n25 (U} is an irrigation problem (?), involving t.he constant of a
small canal: 48 igi-gub pa , and a problem about a wooden log (1); n26
5
(Y) contains various (damaged) trapezoid part.ition problems (cf the
many improved readings in the critical review of TMS in von Soden 1964.)

.Beckex:, Oskar. Die Bedeutung d~~s Wertes 3 1/8 fur 1T in der babylo-

nischen Mathematik PrM 3 1961, 58-62.

Suggests, following an idea due to K. Vogel, that the OB approxi-
mations 3 and 3 1/8 to the circle constant ~ may have been deduced
from the dimensions of the regular hexa9'on and the regular dekagon,
respectively. [A much simpler suggestion is that the approximation
4 48 (= 2/25) for 1/4n was chosen because it is the two-place regular
sexagesimal number which is closest to t.he best value that could be ob-
2
tained through careful meaSUremf?nt of the ra1:io area: circumference • ]
von Soden, Wolfram. Di.e Zahlen 20-90 im Semit.ischen und der Status

absolutus WZKM 57 '196'1, 24·-28.

van der. Waerden, Bartel Leenc1ert: ~ Scie!!.2 e awakeni,ng 1, Leiden (1954 1 )

1961
2
<,Erwachend~_Wis~~Ea£t Basel/Stuttgart 1956).; 2, Leyden/New

York 1974 (Anfange _~~.!... As.!-ronomi~ Groningen 1966).

In pa.rt 1, Ch.2 (Number syst~ems, digits and the art of, computing)
one finds, in particular, photos of the table of squares VAT 15293 (SF
82, Deimel 1923), and of the exercise tablet YBC 7289 with its famous
approximation of 12 (MeT 1945). Ch.3, on Babylonian mathematics, con-
tains, in particular, a renewed discussion of the first, "abstract"
problem on AD 6_?2,Q, here called a 11 lesson-text It (cf Thureau-Dangin RA
33 1936, 75ff; Bruins RA 62 1968). Part 2 conta.ins, in particular,

b
•
 91

Ch.2: Old-Babylonian astronomy: 3: The Assyrian period; 4: The neo-

Babylonian and Pers~an period; 6: Theory of the moon; 7: Babylonian
planetary theory; 8: The spread of Babylonian astronomy. Note, for
instance I ,
the star map (F'1.9". 7) aeplctl.ng
.. .. t h e conste 1 at~on
1' mu.i -{.rd.i..,
. /,. -
"the dwelling"-place of Ea tI (:: the "rectangle of Pegasus It) •

Bruins I Evert ~1. Interpretc~tion of cllnelform mc.tthematics Physis 4

1962, 277--341.

A survey of recent resul ts. p3Cl4: a photo of ~_.J.i>055 (Bruins 1951).

~aqir, Taha .. Tell Dhiba I i: New mathernatical texts Sumer 18 1962, 11-

14, 3 pI.

Presents the OB text'~~2=]46, with a simple quadratic system for

the sides of a Pythagorean triangle, illustrated by a drawing of a
rectangle divided by its diagonal into two subtriangles.

Seidenbers, A" rrhe sixty-system of Sumer AHE§. 2 1962-1966, 436-440.

val:rnan, A.A. Vavilonskaya geometriya rac.i.onal ' nyh otrezkov 'The Baby-
Ionian geometry of rational se<j'1'Oents' y~tM~ 1963, 83-89 .
Points out that it is characteristic of Babylonian geometry to
deal only with problems such that data and solutions alike are repre-
sented by rational numbers. Examples: In !~Ali.....l,§_QQ..~ (Bruins 1951), a
right triangle is divided into three strips such that the first and
the third have equal areas; the problem to divide a right triangle
into two strips of equal area does not have any (rational) solution. In
TMS 23 (T) are q-iven t:wo me"thods of dividi:ng a trapezoid into four
strips in such a way that the first and the fourth have equal areas,
and also the second and the third; the problem to divide a trapezoid
into three or more strips of equal area does not have any (rational)
solution. V. concludes by making the remark that !M~ 23 (T) actually
may be concerned with a "false trapezoid", that is, with a solution
of a "two way trapezoid partition problemuw
Varman, lLA. Istolkovanie geometriceskih postoyannyh iz sU2skogo

klinopisnogo spiska I (Suzy) (Interpretation of the geometric constants

in the cuneiform tablet I from Susa) VDji96Y, 75-86.

According to V., the list of constants on TMS 3 (T) includes con-
stants for area (ig~-gub), diameter (VAL), and transversal (pl-i~-ku)

of, in lines 2-4: circles (f~ giJ.Jt}; 7-9: "crescents" (la.: u.6-qa-.'tl) (ef
the interpretation suggested by Bruins in 1'118: half-"c::ircles) i 10-12:
"b ows n ( ~.~
-.1'"_ G
1
A'" N E~!~.=.J1~_:~_t~_:::.£:.~)
' t _. (Bruins: one-third-circles ) i 13 -1:
5 Ifb oa'ts U
 92

(-6d GAN GlS.MA) (Bruins: GlS.RU "bows"); 16-18: "grains" (ta a-tit re)
(Bruins: quarter-cirles?); 19-20: ttox eyes" (Xa -i.gi-gud); 22-24:
[tambourines(?)] (t~ a-b~-ba-am-mi-ki) explained by V. to be "con-
I

cave squares" [cf C. Engel, Music of the most ancient nations London
1929, Figs.64, 66]; 25: "triangular tambourines(?)" (.td a-bU-.6a.-am-ml-
ki ta 3); 30: squares obliquely inscribed in bigger squares (Xa .tall)
(Bruins: "perfect circles"). Unexplained remain: 5-6: "circles with
2 (or 3) grains inscribed" (~d gult ta 2 (3) re ~. :!1a ,~a94 gUlL GAR).

Gundlach, Karl-Bernhard, and van Soden, Wolfram. Einige altbabylonische

Texte zur Losung "quadratischer Gleichungen" AMSH 26 1963, 248-263.
Contains improved transliterations and translations, and a renewed
analysis, of the Tell Harmal text rH 52301 (Baqir 1950) and the Sus a
text THS 13 (L) (Bruins and Rutten 1961).
Gultel, Genevi~ve. Signification mathematique d'une tablette sum~ri-

enne RA 57 1963, 145-150.

G. is here the first one to point out the mathematical significa~ce

of the School text TS~ 1937 nSO (see Powell HM 3 1976).

Pinches, Teophilus Goldridge. eT 44 (Miscellaneous texts). London 1963.
n38: a multiplication table for 44 26 40; n39: BM 80209, a catalogue
of quadratic equations (see Friberg ~CS
(1982]); n40: a metrological
table for length measures (1 XU-6i//l0 to 10 nindan//10; basic unit 1
nlndan) n41,42: combined multiplication tables (= MKT 1, 49 n105, 59
n137; see also MKT 1, 23 concerning the algorithm text at the end of
the table) •
Neugebauer, Otto. The survival of Babylonian methods in the exact
sciences of antiquity and middle ages PAPS 107 1963, 528-535.
Says, in particular, about Babylonian mathematics: "Since we have
mathematical cuneiform texts from the Seleucid period and since Greek
and Demotic papyri from the Greeo-Roman period in Egypt show knowledge
of essentially the same basic material, one can no longer doubt that
the discoveries of the Old Babylonian period had long since become
conunon mathematical knowledge all o'ver the ancient Near' East. It
Hulin, Peter. A table of reciprocals with Sumerian spellings ~ 17
1963, 72-76.

Here is presented the Sultantepe tablet ST 312 (S.U. 52/5), a table

of reciprocals differing from the "standard tables" by spelling out
many of the numbers and fracti.ons in Sumerian (ef in this respect the
L
 93

less elaborate phonetic spellings in 1st S 485, MKT 1, 26; both texts
are discussed extensively in Powell SNM 1971, 58-69). The text seems
to be corrupt in several places; H. conjectures that it is a copy of
a damaged tablet, and that the scribe was working from dictation. In
particular, there is a frequent coalescing of the first sibilants of
fraction names with the last of the preceding number words. A typical
example is ..(.g.<. ~,£- p;<' gii£'- bi d-U- na.- bi. for • the reciprocal of (36] is
one-and-two-thirds'. This example, by the way, should be compared with,
for instance, -tg1. me-nu. .6U-U I ig,[ e-Xa gal-bi .tu-Xii-an 'the reciprocal
of two is one-half, the reCiprocal of three is one-third'. [The three
examples together show that a table of reciprocals is not a division
table for either 1 or 60, but rather a table of complementary numbers
whose product is equal to "1".] Interesting, finally, is also H.'s
remark that the omission of gai-bi in the entries for the reciprocals
of 2 and 9 is closely paralleled by similar omissions in the same two
entries in 1st S 485.

Hallo, William W. Review of Le travail du metal au pays de Surner,

Limet 1960 BiOr 20 1963, 136ff.

p138: H. suggests here that the silver na~ in Ur III texts may have
denoted armbands or bracelets desig-ned so that pieces of desired weight
could be broken off, and therefore precursors of coined money (cf Pow-
ell 1978); p139: here are offered improvements of the interpretations
in Limet 1960 of the metal texts RTC 23 and MD~ 14 35; in particular,
H. points out that the latter text gives a confirmation of the value
60 Xe (1/3 g;(.n) for the mtt-na-tuJt, whlch was suggested, on somewhat
loose grounds, in Thureau-Dangin 1909. On the other hand, the documen-
tation existing for the value 3 re
for the gln-tu~ seems to be inad~­
quate, and it is asked if i t not possible that the gin-tu~ was instead
the predecessor of the le (1/180 shekel).

Brinkman, John A. New evidence on Old Assyrian vhamuXtum

_ _ __ OrNS 32 1963,
387-394; Note on Old Assyrian tJ~XtJlm JNE~~ 24 1965, 118-120.

The first of these two papers is a survey of older and younger theo-
v
ries about the contested meaning of the word ~amu~tum in Old Assyrian
texts from Cappadocia. It gives also B.'s own view on the subject, ess-
entially based on a comparison of the inscriptions on the loan tablet
BM 120508 and its envelope (CCT 5 20b, Smith and Wiseman 1956), where

I
I
 94

1/2 mina a-na 20 ~a-am-~a-tim carries an interest described on the tab-

---- .
let itself as 1 1/2 g~n-ta ~~-~p-tam I a-no. 1 mo.-na~m I ~-na iti-kam,
i e '1 1/2 shekel interest per mina and month', but on the envelope as
5 gZn ka.babba~ ~:-~p-tam. Since at the given rate of interest (2.'5%
per month!) an interest of 5 shekel would accumulate after 6 2/3 = 20/3
months, B. cone 1 udes that thebamuXtu.:= 10 days. [Hovever, .in the second
paper, the rea.ding 5 g:tn. is corrected, after collation., to t·2? J 1/2 g!n,
which invalidates the argument. above. ef the example in CAD q-p 1956,
74, sub lJ.a.muXtu, c) :ta 5 ma.-na E~"!:~F£m. ta 8 tJa-a.m-ta-.t..i.m Q. :6a.-ea.-t.i.m
2/3 gZn 15 Xe. ~-Lb.tarn a.lq~ (Kiiltepe 651), where the interest rate of

2/3 shekel 15 le corresponds exactly to the interest for a five-day

period which, compounded over a whole year, gives the accumulated rate
of 12 shekel per mina and year, i e the rate of interest known from,
for instance, the ma.thematical problem texts VAT 8521, 8528 (~1 1935).
Hirsch, Hans. Die Inschriften der Konige von Agade AfO 20 1963, 1-82.
H. gives here new transliterations and translations of the "in-
scriptions of the kings of Agade" (see Legrain 1926), in the sections
named t Sargon b l' and' RImus b 1'.

Bruin~, Evert M. CC1?.Y (= Codex Constanti.nopolitanus Palatii Veteris)

1/3. Leiden 1964.
pl.2: a photo of the exercise tablet IM 43996 (see Bruins 1953,
255-259), with the master's original drawing and the student's poor
copy.
Price, Derek J. de Solla. The Babylonian Ilpythagorean triangle" tablet

Centaurus 10 1964, 219-231.

Notes that the tables on the tablet Plimpton 322 (MeT 1945) may
have been constructed very simply by use of a generating formula for
Pythagorean triples a,b,c involving a parameter pair p,q of regular
sexagesimal number~ subjected only to the very natural restrictions
that 1 < q < 1 00 I p/q < 1+/2 (ensuring that a < b, 1 < p/q). This assumes
that the tablet was meant to be inscribed not only with the 15 lines
on the obverse, but also with an additional 23 lines on the edge and
reverse. P. a.dds the interesting remark, due to A. Aaboe, regarding
the Susa text TMS 1, with its drawing of an isosceles triangle in-
scribed in a circle, etc. (ef Bruins and Rutten 1961), that this text
is possibly an illustration to a method for the construction of Pytha-

iI

~
 95

gore an triples or triangles.

Draffkorn Kilmer r Anne. The use of Akkadian dkt in Old Babylonian
geometry texts StOpp 1964,140-146.
Suggests the meaning l1indent" for the mathemat.ical technical term
dak~~u, and supports this view by an extensive discussion of occuren-
ces of the verb and its derivatives in texts of various genres, in par-
ticular in the mathematical texts UET 5 864 (ef VaYman 1961, Friberg
JCS (1983]), Bohl 1821 (Leemans and Bruins 1951), and BM 85194 (MKT
1 1935, 144). Cf also von Soden 1964.
~, Hildegard. The assload, the sack, and other measures of capa-
city RSO 39 1964, 181-197.

van Soden.1 Wolfram. Re'view of TMS 1961 BiOr 21 1964, 44-50.

Contains many corrections and improved readings of single words
and phrases in T~S (Bruins and Rutten 1961). Particularly interesting
is the new reading E~'-~~-Xu in TMS 15 (E) and the following general
discussion (including some remarks about certain of the diagrams in
the text considered in Saggs 1960).

Aaboe, Asger. Epi,sodes from the early history of mathematics. Wash-

ington 1964, 5-33.

A brief but readable presentation of some basic features in Baby-

Ionian ma'thematics. (Note Fig.1. 4: Ancient Mesopo't.amian schoolrooms.)

Lenze~1 Heinrich J. UVB 20 (Winter 1961/62) 1964: 21 (Winter 1962/63)

1965.
UVB 20 pl.26-27: hand copy and photograph of W 20S7q" a numerical
tablet of the t:ransition 'type (from Uruk), wi th seal impressions, the
number 2x60 (plus some smaller units) of the proto-sexagesimal system,
and the single logogram .SU ( ? ); UVB 21 pl.1 9: clay tokens from the spher-
ical envelopes (~~098,27).

Lambert, Maurice. La vie economique a Umma a l'epoque d'Agad~ RA 59

1965, 61-126.
A review of the texts in BIN 8 (Hackman 1958).
Falkenstein, Adam. Fluch Uber Akkade ZA 23 1965.
The poem con'tains a few lines with the following description of
economic misery in the country ct. 178-182): u. 4 - ba Z 1 g.tn-X e. 7 /2 .6ita-
am I te 1 gZn-Xe 1/2 ,b'{'£.a,-ltrn \ .6.<.g 1 g-tn-Xe. 1/2 ma-t'tCl-a.m I kil 1 g1.n-te
, "
g'{'.6 ba -a.n-e :<'b-.6,i.1 malba . . . . . • KA.ljl-gim ae-e.b-hCll0-6a10 'in those days
 96

the rate of oil for 1 gIn (silver) was 1/2 61la, of barley 1/2 4ild,
of wool 1/2 mina, of fish 1
giX ba-an, they were sold at the rate of
... '. For a comparison of these absurdly low rates (1 e high prices)
with the normal rates, sce the co~~entary on p108-109.

Cocquerillat, Denise. Les calculs pratiques sur les fractions a

l'epoque seleucide BiOr 22 1965, 239-242.

A well documented review of the use of various notations for small

fractions (notably of a day) in a group of contracts (1 e non-mathe-
matical texts) from the Seleucid period3 Examples (in VS 15 10-11,
t ... v ,;-: -

Schroeder 1916): 30 u __- u Q .fai.:.:fQ .ina 60·6 U.-U. -I). ta ~4-mu t 1/30 and one
third of 1/60 of a dayt, vha-art-za. ,{,i1a 2 ta SU 2 'one fifth of two thirds'
- _... _ . - _._--

Aaboe, Asger. Some Seleucid mathematical tables (extended reciproeals

and squares of regular numbers) JCS 19 1965, 79-86.

A presentation and discussion of three new fragments of Seleucid

six-place tables of reciprocals (B~ 41101) and reciprocals (BM 33567,
32178) of regular sexagesimal numbers. The new table fragments are
compared with five similar fragments of tables of squares published in
Sachs ~BA'!: 1955 (ef Valman 1961; Fri.berg 1981). Untypically, the frag-
ment BM 41101 lists regular n.umbers not in the range between 1 and 3:
Gingerich, OWen. Eleven-digit regular sexagesimals and their recipro-
cals TAPS 55 1965, 3-38.

A table of 3,338 eleven-place regular sexagesimal numbers and their

reciprocals, computed on an IBM 7094 computer in order to serve as
an aid in the study of and reconstruction of fragments of many-place
tables of reciprocals or squares, etc. [Although very useful, this
table is much too big~ As a matter of fact, in the
by Va~man and Aaboe, the tables of pairs of reciprocals n//n' are al-
ways such that eitber n or n' is a six-place regular number, and it
would have been better, therefore, to use the computer to construct
a complete table of reciprocals for. Hix-plaoe regular numbers plus
the corresponding table of squares (often more than twelve-place)!]

Sal~, Armas. Die Hausgerate der alten Hesopotamier nach sumerisch-

i
akkadischen Quellen 1. Helsinki 1965.
I
I
p273-295 (Part 11, Measuring devices and measures) starts with
a discussion of terms for mathem.atical devices mentioned in MSL 5
I
(U!LS-·Jr.a. = bubulf.~): g-iX-,Xitim-ma = .~~!::.. m-tYluti 'counting stick', etc.

l
(cf Lieberman 1980); continues with an. extensi.ve listing of Sumerian
 97

and Akkadian terms for measuring devices (ainiHda.Y!.akk.~, .•. ), length

measures, scales (giXni~nu, ... ) and weights, capacity measures, water
clocks, and weather vanes.

Bruins, Evert M. Fermat problems in Babylonian mathematics Janus 53

1966, 194-,211 ..

Mainly devoted to a sharply worded criticism of the views proposed

in Gundlach and van Soden 1963. Since B.'S arguments are not very con-
vincing, none of them will be quoted here.
Amiet, Pierre. Elam. Paris 1966; 11 y a 5000 ans les Elamites inven-

taient l'~criture Archeologi! 12 1966~

'Elam p70-71: clear photographs of the bulla (spherical envelope)

Sb 1927 from "prato-urban" Susa (= MDP 43 1972 n539) and of its con-
tents, seven clay tokens (three disks and three small and one big
cone) exactly corresponding to seven impressions on the surface of
the envelope. A. suggests that the clay tokens and the envelope, which
is covered by seal imprints, constituted an- ancient a.ccounting sys-
tem, and notes that the tokens of various forms and sizes may have
denoted "at the same time the nature and the quantity of the commo-
dities in questiontt" Similar objects are, according to A., known from
Uruk and Ninive. ef Schmandt-Besserat '19'77, 1980.

~, Cyril I..Tohn. Omens express~ad i.n numbers ,~CS 2'1 1967, 52-63.

Discusses a grQup of orig-inally five related tablets with omen

texts in which the presag-es are expressed in terms of systematically
varied number combinati.ons. Example <PT 7l:., := BM 926~~): each line be-
gins with one of the number combinations 12 5 1 (or Z, 3, ... )
1130 (or 1,4, 3, cyclically repeated) 437.

Vygodskir, M.Ya. l\rifme,tik_c:l., i alg~~bra v drevnem mire 'Arithmetics

and algebra in the ancient world', second edition. Moscow 1967.

Ch.2 (p76-233) contains a survey of Babylonian mathematics.
Raik, A .. E. O(Serki po is·torii matematiki v drevnosti t Essays on the

history of mathematics in antiquity'. Saransk 1967.

Ch.2 (p42-143) is about Babylonian mathematics.
Brui~, Evert M. Reciprocals and Pythagorean triangles Physls 9 1967,

373-392.
Proposes two different new answers to the question of how the OB
 98

mathematicians constructed their extensive six-place tables of reci-

procals, exemplified by Aa 6456. The algorithms considered, however,
are both quite sophisticated, and it is difficult to believe that any
of them were used by the OB mathematicians. Nevertheless, B.'s dis-
cussion of Neugebauer's "index triangle" for the indices of six-place
regular sexagesimal numbers is interesting and useful.
?ullan, J.M. The history of the abacus * London 1968.
p3: a photo of the tablet from Senkereh BM 92680 (Rawlinson 1855);
p7-8: P. observes that "evidence suggesting the use of counters in
early civilizations, possibly before the introduction of written nota-
tions, comes from the finding of small flat discs, usually of stone,
at various levels during excavations in Palestine and Mesopotamia".
He then mentions specifically groups of pebbles found at Gezer, Jeri-
cho and Kish, quoting books by R.A~S. Macalister, K. Kenyan, and E.
Mackay.

~ruins, Evert M. Le premier probl~me de AO 6770 RA,62 1968, 80-82.

Criticizing the translation in van der Waerden 1961, 73-74 of what
van der Waerden fittingly calls ·the n lesson-text" AD ~.J70 (MKT 2 1935,
39; TMB 1938# 145), B. gives here his own version, hardly more con-
vincing than the one he criticizes .. Cf, however, the remark made by
P.J. Huber in his review of B .. 15 paper (in r"'lR 38 1969, 4258): "The
inconsistency (in van der Waerden 1 s translation and interpretation of
the text in question) can also be remo\red if one translates altu, by
• fact.or· instead of {product f ....

Nou9ayrol., Jean.. trextes sumero-'accadiens des archives et bibliotheques

privees d f Ugari·t U9:2l:Fi.tica 5 1968.

n143-'152 (p251-257, 426-431): N .. is able to reconstruct here, from

several fragments, most of the text. of two metrological lists from
RasShamra (Ugarit.).: RS 20~; an intact list of capacitymeasures, in
four columns (from 1/2 X e. /(.i1- bo.bball to 1 ,6 it - rS",{ 9 a- un kiI- bab ba.ft) , and
RS 21. 1 0 with 1. capaci ty measures I from [ 1 (ban) '-'i..ea re.), over 1 gUlL

re, to Z ( .s ii ) (= 20' g u..~), 1 (S I G7) (::: 60 gUll), and 1

v.
r U < -,6-<.
,
SI G? > ( ::
I

60 x 60 gu.lr.)] i 2. weight measures, [from ~ .6<2. k.il-babbatt to [10 gu,-un kil-

v' v v", v"
b abbatt]i 3. area measures, from 3' ~alL a-~a, over 2{SU)! a-~a (= 3
_v v ....
e.r~ e.), to 1 {S I G ]} 6 (S I G r ) ], i.n six co 1 umns. [The use in
( :: 1 0 S U), and
the second text of the sign SIG
1 for 6 §O = 60 gUk in the case of
capacity measures, and for 10 Sa :
15 (or 3D?) eKe in the case of

•
I
 99

area measures, ought to be compared with the use in EI-Amarna and

9unu
Boghaz-K6i (cf Labat MEl-\. 351) of ·the same sign (possibly: lim )
for 10 000.]
Aaboe, Asger. 'l'wo a.typical mUl.tiplication tables from Uruk JCS 22

1968-69, 88-91.
A. stud.ies here two remarkable mul t.i.plica.tion tables: U 91 (Istanbul),
with the head numbers .... , ..• ,32,2848,1845,1115,92230,645,
4 20, 3 30, 2 15, 2 13 20, ". _I of which two are irregular (3 30 = 7/2
and 4 20 = 13/3), and only one (2 15) present in the standard list of
head numbers; and I~ 64893, wit.h the similarly non-st,andard head num-
bers 2 13 20 (= 1/27) . and 2 24 (= 1/25). The new table of squares IM
64783 and the new multiplication table IM 2899 are also mentioned.
Goetsch, H. Die Algebra der Babylonier ARES 5 1968-1969, 79-160.
A survey based on the mathematical t:exts in MKT 1-3 1935-1937, MeT
1945, and TMS 1961. Ch.1: number notations; 2: arithmetical opera-
tions; 3: progressions, ratios, proportions; 4: linear equations; 5:
quadratic equations; 6: equations of higher degree than second: ex-
ponential equations.
Civil, Miguel. MSL 12 {The se~ries 111 :::~a. and related texts}. Rome 1969.

p171: the OB Ill-series, rec.A 464-468: la. ~umu.¥l-g'<'4 ::; Xa. ~u.-ma-k.i..-'(',
etc., quoted in Liebermann 1980 as possible names of officials trus-
ted wi th the use of var ious coun"ting - instruments.

Edzard, Dietz Otto .. Eine altsumerische Rechent~afel (OIP 14,70) Fest-

schr.vSoden (li~~n mitburti) ~ Kevelaer!Neukirchen-Vluyn (1968)1969.

Interprets the text A 681 (gIP. 14 70; Luckenbill 1930) as a pre-

Sargonic table (slightly older than from the period of Eanatum of
Laga~) of small square areas (ef the not much older table of big square
areas SF 82; Deimel 1923). The table, which uses a very complicated
system of notations for fractional area measures (some of which appear
in no older texts than this) I goes from 1 kaX ~iB//l-SAl0-ma-na 15 gln
(i e 1 square cubit =') /144 square ~'l,i.Y!dalt ::; 1.15 x 1/3 x' 1/60 taIL) to
1 1 k u. r ~i.. 8 / /1 Cl a It. L A 109 :i n 1 -SA 1 0 1 5 (i e (1 1 cubits) 2 = 12 1/ 14 4 t a. It
= (1 - 1/6 + 1/144) Xa4 = 1 ra~ - 10 gIn + 1.15 SA ,0 ). Note that the
trivial line "- 9 -t " . . /1 v
,~..( g I ,r 1 ,S a·~. i s ornmi tted i.n the text.

van den BroID, Lourens. Woher st.ammt das 60-System? ~anus 56 1969, 210-

214.
 100

Contains the attractive hypothesis (ef Kewitsch 1914) that the

Sumerian sexagesimal system may have had its origin in a certain method
of finger arithmetic, with numbers up to five recorded on the fingers
of one hand I and multiples of 6 on the fingers of the other hand, with
a change of hands after 30 (= 5 times 6). [The idea is attractive in
view of the fact that the 9roto-Sumerian capacity number system is
now known ttJ have been based on a counting in sixes and tens of sixes.]

'1970-1980

Bruins, Evert M. La construction de la grande table de valeurs reci-

proques AO 6456.~ 17 (1969)1970, 99-1150

Contains, in particular, the interesting idea that the tables of
2
powers 1st 0 3816, 3862, 4583
2'----·
(po\vers of 3 45
2
= 15 ) and 151: 0 3286
-
(powers of 9 =3 , and of 1 40 ::: 10 ) (cf HKT 1 1935, 77-78) ~lere
possibly used for the construction of large six-place tables such as
AO 6456 .. (ef Bruins 1971.,~ \'){. \/V'" ~)"L'~Ff}I.,\t., /. ,')1}\
----- I<\.~ol\ (
,
Ellis, f.1aria de J. l~ note on the "chariot ~ s creSCE~nt iI JAOS 90 1970,

266-269.

As noted by E. (ef POv](~11 HM 3 1976)! the Ur: III t.ext ?£~C 41.12. discussed
here, a balanced account of grain for preparation of beer, containg
two early exa.mples of scribbled. nU.mbers used as aids for the memory
and written in the pcsitional sexagesin~l system: 5{guk) 1 30 for
5(guJt) li .cZla., and 1(gu/t} 14630 for "{fjuJt) I{Pl} 4{ban) 61 ,~'{'la..

Reine:t;, Erica. ana na.iL-an ~i!~ 23 1970, 89-90 ..

A discussion with several referen.ces to certai.n lno.thematical tech-

nical terms with contested interpreta.t.ions: !~~:..~an~~, g.i..t. il • u.b .t =

!ta..tba.ntu. 'brick mold, truncated py:r-amid,." "r i cf !4C!, 1945, 133, and
Draffkorn Kilmer OrNS 29 1960 ..

Edzard, Dietz otto. Altbabylonische Rechts- und Wirtschaftsurkunden

aus Tell ed-D.er: im Iraq Museum, Baghdad .. Mtinchen 1970.

n236 (IM ~. 941): a brief l.ist of constants (16 entries, mostly

concerned with bricks). The list is of a new type in that it gives
specifications of the constants both in Sumerian and in Akkadian. Ex-
'X
amples: £ .. 3: 2 13 '20/ /J...g,i-gub// 9 '<- dU-6u./ IKu...:.~_f:!:::..~_!.:.:..im (ef von Soden
I 1 97 7); i . 9: 6 / /i 9 .1.. - g u. b I ! (~ UR . 1~ A / /..n a ~ at.::p a ~. Il_~:~:~ (c f Po stgate 1 9 7 8) •
I
I

i
 101

Gelb, Ignace Jay .. MAD 5 (Sargon.ic texts in the Ashmolean Museum,

Oxford). Chicago 1970.
n112: a small Sarg-onic tablet, which seems to contain a standard
computation of a rectangular area, although of inunense dimensions.
The reverse of the tablet contains this text: 1(SAR.LIL) 4(SAR'U.GAL)
1(SAR) 1 (bu.Jt'u.) 1(buJt) 2(ete) 13 1jZ{iku) 10 -6aJt 116 g1n 2/3-'SA I ba-
2 3
pad. Presumably, 1 (SAR. L 1 L1 = 60 SAR = 60 bu..'!., but it has so far been
impossible to give any satisfactory interpretation of this curious
text.

Lambert, Maurice. Deux textes de ltepoque d'A9ade RA 65 1971, 167-168.

Text A: a small text from the Agade period, in which several small
payments of silver are added: 9 times 1/6 <g~n>, 5 times 1/4 <gln>,
once 1/3 <g:tn>, and once 1/2 <g.tn>. (Since the sum is given as 3 g1n
.igl-6-g!l, it is likely that 1/2 g:tn stands here for 1/2 x 1/6 gln,
and that the sum was obtained as (9 x 1 + 5x 11/2 + 1 x 2 + 1 x 1/2) x
1/6 gtn = 19 x 1/6 g;[n =3 1/6 g1n . ]

Bruins, Evert M. Computa.tion in the Old Babylonian period Janus 58

1971, 222-267.

Here are published for the first time photographs of the badly con-
served tablets 1st 0 3816 (Ki 9) and 1st 0 328~ (Ri 10). Cf Bruins
1969(r,1 oi))

Meriggi, Piero. La scrittura proto-elamica 1. Rome 1971.

p159-172 (§420-452): A chapter entirely devoted to a systematic

account of the occurrence of number signs, in various combinations
and in various contexts, in prcto-Elami.te inscriptions on clay tablets
from the time of the Jemdet Nasr period. Unfortunately, it is diffi-
cult to make proper use of this survey because of the non-suggestive
system of transliteration of number signs employed here, and beca.use
M. still adheres to an incorrect evaluation of the units of the capa-
city system of the Jemdet Nasr period in Elam and Sumer. (Cf Friberg
1978.)

ven Soden, Wolfram. Etemenanki vor Asarhaddon nach de;- Erzahlung

vom Turmbau zu Babel und dem Erra-Mythos QE.: 3 1971, 253-263.

Contains some suggestions about the impossibility of number-theore-
tical speculations behind the measures of the Etemenanki, in which
the number 3 45 and its powers (cf Bruins 1969) are proposed to have
played a prominent role. In the paper is also documented the author's
 102

search in the literature for texts mentioning the ziqqurrat in Baby-

Ion before the time when the Esagila tablet was composed.
B1ggs, Robert D. An aJ:'chaic Sumerian v:3r:sion of the Kesh Temple Hymn

from Tell Abu ~alablkh ZA G1 '1971, 73- 88.

Fig.2 and p204 u.19: the presence in this archa1c version of the
Kesh temple 1.n:ymn o.f 1
t.he p"lras;~~t\l~ ~:
d 'I. 'I r' x '0' -,J :;-9(.4
. 'W\.ere
h
severa 1 OB cop~es
.
cl
a~-~lR, allows B. to confirm the iden-
r ':<'
of the same hymn have only
tity of the two expressions. (ef Edzard 1959.)
po~L]:, Marvin A ~ I Jr: .. §.~~ (:::S.ulTteri.an numeration and m.etrology). Diss-
ertation, University of Minnesota. Minneapolis 1971 (University Micro-
films 72-14 445, Ann Arbor 1973).
Part I .. Nurnerat:ion: 'V'rhole numbers .. A systematic and exhaustive
'account, of Sumerj.an numerals I based on lexical sources such as, in
particular t the s(:;cond tablet of the series e - (4 :::; A ::: ~~~ (ef Zimo-
long 1922; ~523). Of special in·terest is -the estab.lish.111ent of
/ d-it I and /9 e. (V) / as t.he only documeI" t:ed Sumerian readings of lone'
(ef, however I Steinkeller 1979; /0 P,r-t/::::' 60 t ) i an.d the improved t.rans·
literation and analysis _ of the" i"Y·~o .~.... qu~~~1.·
• <,::... ,:, "'-I,J,\
·. . . honct ll"y wr~'tte
le ,:~l.'c a.... r ec~-
l .... n .. .
::::I 1
procCt t ab 1~ 1. S_!:__~
.,,5 ~ c 4.. 8
_?.
1:.-
!;...:~..:_ '1 '1i f'li..7:'3 ~),. . I :i;'
( MV T . ",'1 and ,§.:~._ 3 ~_~ (Hu 1 i.n 1963) ..
Part II .. Numer;ltion: Fracticn:.d. nurc:.bt':;:rs ~ Sta:cts w:i ch an extremely
interesting ·penetxa.tior~ of t.he problem cOJnplex cE:nt.e:red around the
etymology of the Akkadi.an word ~~'~!:.:t:r~~ "one-sixt.h I, with its alleged
connection with the .Akkadiar~w"ord for • sixty I .. rrhus it 1s shown that
X t'{ ~I
~:~ .•
. th.
'\vl.
't-
tIlE' root
. !it 1(' ../ Y . b "l
I:~~~., CCl.nnoc pOSS1. "Y De related 'Ni th ~"~
'I.'. . • v y •

'sixty', that Sumerian XuXana lone-third (mane) t is probably derived

1\ 1 k d' r t r- ..
·1, E" ::j , "'"1 ".,:: r t r: Vb'
f"rom an J.'"!.Ka. l011. ::...!L::.~: ..~~. a~3 L- .... ("... cL... ·,J.t. ?...!~.:~,~~, \11t1.J.e ;:,>umer~an .~a.I1a. -L
1 .") C' •

-two-thirds (if/avla) i may bt? deri'tJed from an origina1 Akkadian form

* ta. Ha.!! cl t two hoJ.es f (ef Rundgr(!n i 9~~ 5) ~ Next" P. looks for tIle origin
y ,/
of Sumerian ,6U.-.it--a 'one-half', .SU.13AV 'one--third of a cubit· I and
v'
6u-du-a 'one-third of a cubit' in various hand gestures. It is con-
. .
v~nCl.ng l'y d emonstratetcl.:::I t h at. t,he Spt;:>ci.a1, s1.qn
. .::L~!!::telrl«.~J,~"_~k.t~
f vV Tr ) for
(Ao....J

'one-third' is ceriv(:!d from :Tt o,ciginal .6,i,'(I+/ra·-na (ma-na.), while

t
the special signs for 8two-tllirds· and 'five-sixths are later develop-
ments, the original. notation for t"wo-t.hirds of Cl mana being OrJ +Xa-na~
bi/pi. For ~in-gu-~il-Cc is suggested the etymology gln 'shekel' +
*gu-'&'<'l + a, meaning not kno'w'n .. Part IT1: Heiqht measures. Begins witn
two chapters on thE! methodolo\::'y of weight metrology and on the exis-
tence of different weight standards. Then follows a chapter discussing
the origin and de'velopment of the Hesopot.aln1an weiqht !3ystem, .in which
 103

p. distinguishes between a first, Sumero-Akkadian phase, and a second,

first-millennium phase, wher(;! the second phase is characterized mainly
by the appearance of new divisions of t.he mina and shekel, reflecting
the dec.imal structure of Semitic numerati.on (cf t.he NB metrological tables
published by Sachs in 1947). The exposition is concluded with Appendix
I: Equipment and t.erminology employ€·d in weighing; II: Tables of nota-
tionj Ill: Weight.s with Mt:~sopotamian conn~"::.c~tions (a list of weight
specimens): an extensive bibliog~aphy; an~ a useful index of Sumerian
and Akkadian terms discussed in the dissertation.

!C£.well, Marvin 1'.... , Jr. ThE' ortg in of t:he sexa.gesimal system: The

interaction of language and \'lritinq ~_!:: 6 1972 I 5-18 .

Distancing himself from the theories concerning the evolution of

the sexagesirnal system proposed by, among others, Thureau-Dangin
(Osiris 1939) and Neu~ebauer (1927), P. stresses that 1. the origin
6£ counting with sixty as a base is a linguistic and anthropological
problem which must be studied throuqh the ancient lexica, and 2. sexa-
gesimal place notation arose from an interaction between the numera-
tional framework of the S~m~rlan language and the symbols used to write
those numbers, but the sudden appearance of olace notation about 2050
B.C. indicates that the final step toward the creation of place nota-
tion was an act of conscious invention.

Pow~ll, Marvin A. f \Jr. Sumerian area rnea.su.res a.nd the alleged decimal

substratum ZA 62 1972, 165-221.

P. emphasizes here that Sumerian metrological notation was based

on the same graf)hic procedurE~ as '~r"ras used to make numerical notation,
and that it was governed by' t.\,vo prtnciples! t}v;:: structure of the sys-
tem of numeration on one hand and the need for visual linguistic con-
trast on the other. He warns that one must be extraordinarily cautious
in drawing conclusions about numeration from notation alone, and he
refutes the current theories about the evolution of the Sumerian system
of area measures, in particular the hypothesis that this system con-
tained a decimal substratum. Unfortunately, however, the new theory
proposed by P. himse 1 f f in \\lhich t:,he a.ll eqed existence in some Sume-
v'
rian texts of an area unit NIG (=60 Aa~) is a corner-stone, is not
sufficiently well supported to be accepted as the last word on this
matter. Interesting, however, is the chapter devoted to lexical and
other philological evidence pertaining to Sumerian surface measures.
Worth noticing is the new reading / H--lnda.n/ for t.he length uni.t. NI G,
 104

based on 1. the various \...,ritings of the word .£L~_YLi:1da.~ab.rH~. I 2. phrases

such as ab-bXn-bi 1 NiG-na 12-ta (~! 1 1896 pl.12f), 3. the interpre-
tation of the VU in the pre-Ur IIT graph NIG.VU as a semantic indica-
tor appropriate for a length measure. New is also the reading SAR =
,Xa4/ for the area measure nindan2, and the interpretation of the
v
ik~-measure as the area of a square with side 1 ESE " Fundamental for
2
the understanding of Sumerian seed grain texts is the interpretation
given of a passage in the IIFarmer '/=) Almanac u : 1 NIG-ta-dm ab.6in. ab-.5;[n ..
3
8 - am 9 Lt b - b a - ab. I 2 Xu - ~ i - t et -. et m G a Xn a Vi he- e 11 - tu b ! 1 Nf G- fa - it m Ke 1
«.

g;[n ba-4a-an-gan as saying that if barley is dropped in the furrows

with regular intervals of two fingers, and if there are eight parallel
furrows for every ninda~l (measured across the furrows), then 1 gZn of
barley will be dropped in a furrow of length 1 nindan, and consequent-
ly 8 ~11..a., for instance, in a field of area 100 Xafl .• (Cf UET 6/2 n172
col.2 i.S, 12-13, Gadd and Kramer 1966; Maekawa 1981.) The paper ends
with a suggested system for the transcription of numbers written in
the Sumero-Akkadian area notat.ion (Girsu- t .~I~ 8- I or Ur III-type),
and with tables of various kinds, all very useful.
Wiseman, D.J. A Babylonian architect? AnSt 22 1972, 141-147.
Discusses, in particular, a late Babylonian tablet with a drawing
that ~shows in elevation a six, originally seven, stepped ziggurat
with the principal dimensions given". (ef Gurney 1973, n116-117.)
Note the interesting discussion (p47) of terms for surveyors and their
t<?Sls <'~.9.E.:.t~-_1!.. 'father of the li.ne· ,g_~~_~:...¥!:_.~~~:.r.}. 0J~J<.y-:
1-rl1nda~l-reed' , f

9-<,,6 pa.-f.u-Lt!.! 'measuring rod?') and the suggestion that Cl surveyor's

rod and rope may be the "ring and staffU carried by some gods.

SalonE~n, Armas. Di.e Z.le_geleien im alt.en ME-;sopotamien ( .."l\.ASF'B 171).

Helsinki 1972~

p88-99: discussing textual documentation of words for 'open brick

mould' (Akk. ~~lba.H!:.l:.' vla.:?_~_£~:Lt.~) IS. includes in this section exten-
sive quotations from Neugebauer and Sachs ~~! 1945; very informative
are the many illustrations at the end of the book such as, for in-
stance the photo of the pre-dynastic copper statuett~ of a naked man
carrying a !upX,i.kl?(~! «(u) Xub+ (.f )6.[g 4)' e'vidently contai.ning square
bricks (pl.9; text p202). ef van Soden 1977.
Arniet, Pierre. MDP 43 (GlypLique susienne des origines a Suse de

1913 a 1967) 1. T€'xtes; 2. Planches .. Par.is 1972.

In this volume are published or republished several numerical

tablets and spherical envelopes, for instance: n460 bis and 539: two
 105

spherical envelopes with clay tokens and impressions (ef Amiet 1966);
n488: a spherical envelope with clay tokens; n660; a spherical en-
velope with impressions (O 0 0 0 U; numbers?); n520, 666: numerical
tablets with (probably) decimal numbers; n545, 641: numerical tablets
with sexagesimal numbers (?) [2(60)+1 (10) and 4(60)+1 (10), respective-
ly; the number signs in the l.ati:er case a.re upside down. relative to
the seal impressions and "ta9ged"]; n642, 922: nwnerical tablets with
capacity numbers ('?) (~(60}+3{6)+1 and 3(180)+1 (60)+4(10), respective-
ly): n924 is a reproduction oj'; the famous "horse tablet n (Scheil 1923),
Some of the spherical envelopes and nUTnE::ri.cal tablets have recently
been published once more: in a:rticles by Schmandt-Besserat 1980-1981.

Waetzol~t, Hartmu·t. Untersuchunqen zur neusnmerischen Textilindustrie.

Rome 1972.
In ch. 2 (p17-2 3) the subj E~c;t is the "f leece ~~ei.ght n in Neo-Sumeriar..
texts, and in texts from other periods and other locations. In parti-
cular, W. pOints out (p22) that '"i.n some wool-cutting texts from
Lagas and Umma, the average fleece VvTeight i.s always exactly 2 minas".
Cf in this respect, t,he text ~r~,_l?06.§. from Larsa (Riftin 1937) ..

Castellino, Giorgio R" 'lwo Sulgi hv-:mns (BC) (SS 42) ~ Rome 1972.
_ _ _ _ c.,_, ......_ _ _ _, , _ _ (';,t ~. 1)v'<"i/,v \ et " 1 ~ fi i)
In these two Su.rnerian hymns of self~~glorification there are ~ in
particular, i:wo passages vlhere the Klng Sulgi E;mphasizes his extra-
ordinary mathematical abili ties. C" t s commentary wi t.h regard to these
passages is detailed and very interestingm See B:16-19 (p32-331
commentary p85-92), and c: 45-,47 (p252-253i commentary p277-280) .. In
an updated transli terati.on and t.ranslation by 4..1 .. Klein (personal com-
munication) the lines in question sound as fellows: nam-dub-~a~-~a
~ ... Y'd . . 'XIV -.d-e. za....
k(...{.. -vtam- /'<'U-ZU-Oi.1.
... t ) _. ,-
iu ,.(.m-mA:.·,,·,'te -- 1te/o II Z·.(,."Z,(-',{
' ". - ....
ga-qa
-
,~.{. YLt.-S . .-<..m-
6 ~

mi-til-tll 'at the place where one goes to study the scribal art, I
have completf.::d (my educa.t.ion in) s~btr:act.ing adding, counting and I

v 'd .' "" h . t.... t " ,.

accounting', etc., and.- ·6l. ;'F.
yt~,-.sIV [H_~'-,-,u.Jt-kalam-mct-rc:a l -tf]..(-ga.{. .6u.m-
1104 0 -'*

mu-bi a-bl-r~ in-ga-zu 'of counting and accounting, which regulate

the land, their given wisdom I perfectly learned as well'. Even this
updated version, thou.gh, is only tentative .. rl1h.is is true also for the
translation of the proverb Ji\.Q§. 77, 75 (Gordon 1957) quoted by c. <:p88):
ta.-Yl.Z-SIV-nu.-zu. Xa-i.gi.--ga£-:tub.u. "there are hearts that have no under-
standing for reckoning, there are hearts that possess wisdom. Cf Sj8-
berg 1975.
Sollberger, Edmond. eT 50 (Pre-Sargonic and Sargonic economic texts).

~. . . . . . .L.o.n.d.o.n. .1.9.7.2......................................................... ....

 106

See the review in Powell 1973.

Sjoberg, Ake. In praise of the scribal art JCS 24 1972, 126-131.

Note in this compositi0n t. 15: n!1. -lLl1.-a ab-.6(Vi. -

4
e-de I a-Ja- ga gXd-
e-de n1-ka 9 ~a·-dtLl1-ge-d~ ... 'to w.rite a stele, t:o draw a field, to
settle accounts, ... '. ef Sj6berg 1975.

Bruins, Evert M. 'l'ables of reciprocals wi th irregula.r entries Cen-

taurus 17 1972-1973, 177-188.

~!.luth, Donald E. Ancient Babylonian algorit:hms CACM 15 1972, 671-677;

19 1976, 108.

A discussion of Babylonian mathematics, emphasizing those aspects

which seem to be of greatest interest from the standpoint of computer
.science. One of the many interesting conclusions is that the Babylo-
nian-type algorithmic problem solutions made use of, in effect, a
"machine language" representation of formulas instead. of a symbolic
language. K. fu.rther commends the Babyl.onians for developing- a clever
way of defining algorithms by use of numericaJ. examples. Particular
attention is devot.ed to the extensive table of reciprocals ~O ~456 (ef
Friberg H~ 8 1981, 465); .ce.ferred t.o here as Uthe earliest known ex-
ample of a large file of data that has been sorted into order".
v
ya1ma~, A~A. 0 svyazi protoelamskol•.-' pis mennosti c protosumersko1'Il
11 •

• On links between the prot.o-"·Elamite c.Hld proto-Sumerian scripts' VD:;'

3 1972, 124-13.3~

V. pOints out the essential ident.i ty of the proto-glam.i te and proto-

Sumerian systems of capacity measures and gives a correct interpreta-
tion of the notations for fractional capacity units. He mentions also
the existence of both a decimal and cl sexagesimal system of numerat.ion
in the proto-Elamlte texts and suggests that the proto-Elamite sexa-
gesimal system was used for weight measures only, as an early pre-
cursor of the Sumero-Babylonian talent-mina-shekel system. (ef Friberg
1978.)

Gurney, Oliver R. UET 7 (Middle Bat~lonian legal documerits and other

texts) u London 1973.

n114: an OB table for length measures (from 1 Xu-~~/ll0 to 2 ka6kal-

g~d//l, basic unit nindan); n115: two similar tables (from [1 tU-hili
10] to [20 ka~kaR-gtd/II0], and from 1 tu-~i//2 to 20 ru-~iI12, basic
units nindan and k~t) ~ n116-117: OB cadastral plans (ef Donald 1962,
 107

Wiseman 1971, Woolley 1927) i n155 rev .. : "excerpts from a vocabulary,

spelling exercises, a fable (7), a multiplication table [actually a
table of squares, from 1 a-~d 1//1 to 12 a-Aa 12//224 ... ), and a
literary text. Quoted by number only are n182-189 (multiplication
tables for 4, 6, S, 36, 7 30, 12 30 , 16 40), n190-192 (tables of
squares), n193-194 (tables of square roots), n 195 (a table of cube
roots), and n196-198 C'other numericallists U ) .

Lambert, Maurice. Text~es et documents RA 67 1973, 96.

A hand c0:9Y of an Old Akkadian contract, A0--1754. ef Pomponio 1980.

Surenhagen, Dietrich, and T0.Ep'e.E!!~' Eva. Kleinfunde MDOG 105 1973,

20-33.

Contains, in particular, photos of a numerical tablet and a spheri-

cal envelope with clay tokens (from Habuba Kabira 1971-1972).

Anagnostakis, Chr1stopher, and Qo~gs't;ein, Bernard R. On an error in

the Babylonlan table of pyt.hagorean triangles CentauEus 18 1973, 64-66.

Suggests that the error in Pl11!}£t.on_233 col. I I 10 (MeT 1945) was

caused by the use of a table of squares such as ~M }4S92 (~ 1955)
and by a failure to observe the presence of a medial zero in the value
borrowed from the table.
Powell, Marvin A~, Jr. On the reading and meaning of GANA 2 JCS 25 1973,
178-184.
P. shows here clearly that the GANA
in Old Sumerian could be
SigIl
Z
read in. three di.fferent ¥;'ays: as lo't~1.G/, meaning t field', • area of
land-, as /gana/, meaning more generally lland', tground', fsoil', or
silently, as a semantic indicator in area notations.
Powell, Marvin A., Jr. A not(~ on the lIimerum ff measure a.t Mari RA 67

1973, 77-78.

Powell, Marvin A. , Jr. Review of C~ 50 ~~ 63 1975, 99-106.

Treats, in particular, questions of metrology in eT 50, "one of the
most. important contributions t.O the knowledge of the Pre-Ur III period
since the appearance of BIN 8 Area texts: n53 r 60, 67, with the stan-
11
"

dard Umma system of area notations <the same as in Bl.!! 8). (Note also
n40, from pre-Sargonic Laga~, with the same system of length measures
I as in DP 604-612 (Allott.e de la F'uy(~ 1915) (units: g-i, ba., = 1/2 eXe
I
2
:
or 5 nindan, U = 1 ete n or 10 nindan, A! = 6 eXe n or 60 nindan}.l
L t.
Weights: i.n n 72, spec ia 1. notation s are used for 1/3 9 .fI'1: +.J- (P. reads
I
L
 108

1/2 gln], and 1/2 mina: ~ . [The same text displays also a dug of 30
~lla, and a sell-rate for fine oil of 10 6ild per gln of silver. ef

YBC 4698 pr.a, ---

MKT 3 1937.] The small weiaht unit m4-na-tuh makes one
~

of its rare appearances in n79 (and, although damaged, this text con-
firms that 1 ma-n4-tuh" = 1/3 g~n]. Capacity measure: n137-138 use the
v v
following set of notations for fractions of a ~ild(l): 1/3.SA, 112.SA
v ~
(1), 5/6.SA(!), where the ~A has takon on a purely semantic character.
In n10, 11, appears a capacity unit lid-ga (<iit-qu: M. Civil) of 240
~ild, which seems to be identical with the gu~-~ag-gal of 240 4ila (1),

used, for instance, together with the gu~ a-kd-dl ki of 300 ~ila, in
the bread and beer texts nS5-59. In n149 appears a gun-mah in the role
o f the gUk a-~u- d'"e k ~ , ~. e in connection witn
1:;1; , f 1 our"f or b a k'1ng of- b rea d
[and also, atypically, in connection with beer, at the exchange rate
of 1 dug beer for 30 ~ild of flour]. Liquid measure: A nigln of 10
6111 is attested in n146-148, and the dug of 30 Alia in these and other
texts. Special notations for fractions of this dug appear in n55-59:
~ = 2/3, 0/ and ~ = 1/3 dug. The corresponding exchange
= 1/2,
rates of barley to beer in these three texts are, for three qualities
of beer: 7:3, 5:3 . and 3:3 (ban per n.{'g..i.»), ef Powell ~ 70 1976. Note
that in n167, a bread and beer text from Laga~ (Girsu), 39 10 ninda-
dUg (ef Blome 1928) are equated with 39 10 x 1/20 ban or 4(gu~) 3{ba-
klga) 3(bdn} 5 ~ila gu~ This implies, as P. points out, the use here
of a gu~ of 4x6x10 ~lla, identical with the gu~-~i-~d in the LagaM
text RTC 126 (Thureau-Dangin 1903)0 [In the same text (n157), 43 dug
of beer are equated with 5[gu~) 4[b4n, of barley_ This corresponds to
an exchange rate of barley to beer of 4 ban per dug, i e of 4:3 (bdn
per nlglnl (1).J Worth noticing is also P.'s observation (pl03 n.12)
that "the practice of transcribing 1/2/3/4 nigida is erroneous and
rests upon a misunderstanding".

Pottage, John. The mensuration of quadrilaterals and the generation

of Pythagorean triads: a mathematical, heuristical and historical
study with special reference to Brahmagupta's rules AHES 11-12 1973,
299-354 ..

Gives an exhaustive account of it/hat may be a late development on

Indian ground of originally Babylonian mathematical traditions (the
famous 84ahrna-Jphu~a:~iddha~t~ of Brahmagupta appeared e.A~D.628) •
P. states in his introduction that »the work on quadrilaterals was in-
timately connected with the generation of "PYTHAGOREAN H triangles out
 109

of hIja (="seed lt ) numbers by the same method as had probably been

used by the mathematici.ans of Old Babylonia u.. (ef Friberg BM 8 1981
and the references given there, in particular to works treating early
Chinese and late Egyptian mathematical texts.)

Hunger I Hermann. STD 1 (:::Sp~itbabylonischE':: Texte aus Uruk). Berlin 1973.

n101 = W 2260~: a fragment of a remarkable Late Babylonian mathe-

matical-metrological table text with 1. a metrological table for
weight measures [conversion of sexagesimal fractions of a gln into
decimal multiples of a le, from 101/~.f..::rLe Xe
50//1 me [50 'tell to
5/6 gin]] (ef CBS 11019, Sachs 1947); 2" a "reciprocal table" (with
conversion of sexagesimal fractions into reciprocals of decimal in-
tegers] from 10//Xi-i..'t 1:0 6//6 ~a [i e from .10 ~ 1/6 to .00 06 :::
1/600]; 3. a t1 mu ltiplication table for 100" [or rather a table of
sexagesimal multiples and sub-mult.iples of 100], from ... 42//1 10-Q.
to 21/12 .elm-a [1 e from... ..42:)( 100 = 7/10 x 100 = 70 to 2 00 x 100
= 120 x 100 ::: 12000] .. n'102 :;;: W 22309a+b: another fragmen.t, of an
equally remarkable Late Babylonian metrological text, with 1. a metro-
logical table for capacity measures, from l(bdn) 7 6ili//11 to
1 { 10 x 60} 3 (60) g(LIt/ll 05 [i e from . ~ ~ 1 ban 7 bJ..iii,,:!: 17 f.Ji..lii. to
13 00 gU!L :: 13 00 x 5 00 f.Jiiii = 1 05 00 00 )'),i..fa] ,; anachronistically,
this table uses the gu~ of 300 ~ila, and the non-positional sexage-
simal system (in the left hand column, i e before the gu~-sign) ~ 2.
a non-tabular description of the structure of the system of length
measures I divided int.o three. (or more) sect.ions: a. from [1 ~-u.I/
1/Z le] (with 9~.:a.=tft:hreadH(?)) to 6 rr...llfJ.-_ba-a!};,~
.. 30 !!:.-ba.~//
a,m-ma..t, ••• 21 l~2.. 6 m~. TA .0:J.~.,:!!!:!!:!:lll ka~ka£-g1.d1 10 TA[ ••• ] ••• 2(halt}l/
[20 ka-6ka.i-g:£.d 1; b. from 2 f~~_:~!~i::,du.J /~.:ftU,-~, 4 t!.!3:._-:-Jt.{-~~/ /rt,indcot,
('?)
20 pu.-ft..i.-du/ l~u-tp-=12..avl_, 40 E~-i~.i.:.E:.~:.llqJJ:!!::" 2 J111? 40 ~-Jt~-d!1//1-US
,...
Gl.VIS.NINVAN [which possibly stands for GO £L,L~1.Li~£~_~q.kft:~, i e for 60
n..tVldaYl-re.eds (?)] f .... , to -, ~i!!2. z ~!::. EE_::'.~.:~.:j~~/ /1 ll(t,~Qa.R.-g'{'d; c. from
2 qa -}'1 e. - e.//l n-i,ncia n J 1 0 !la -- ~~C?_- e./ /~ _~~~.:E<3:i!:; and upwards •
...
Limet, Henri. ~~~d~ de documents de la p~riode d'Agade appartenant ~

l'Universit~ de Li~ge. Paris 1973.

n36-39: Publication and preliminary discussion (impedimented by the

appearance in these texts of some new length units) of a group of
four Sargonic mathematical exercises,. PUL 27-29, 11 . See Powell HM 3
 110

1976 for a resolution of the metrological difficulties and a correct

interpretation of the mathematical c0ntent of the texts. As noted by
L., there seems to be a close affinity between this group of tablets
and the curious text t4AD 5 112 (Gelb 1970).

Pettinato, Giovanni, and Wact2,<?ldt, Hartmut. MVN 1 (CS = Collezione

Schollmeyer). Rome 19740

See Pettinato and Waetzoldt 1975.

Petschow, Herbert P.H . ASAW 64 (Mittelbabylonische Rechts- und Wirt-

schaftsurkunden der Hilprecht-SaIm111ung Jena). Berlin 1974.
n65 (HS 184): a fragment of a table text (a multiplication table
for 44 26 40, and a table of reciprocals).
Maekawa, Kazuya. Agricultural producti.on in ancient Sumer, chiefly
from Lagash materials Zin~~~ 13 1974, 1-60 ..
I. Productivity at the end of Early Dynastic Ill; 1I. The Akkad
period and the Lagash I1 period; IXl .. The Ur IIT period: 1 .. R'rc 407 f

the Ugeneral fiscal texts il and Turr 1; 2. The "round tablets n; 3. The
"round tablets" of AS 7 and 8; 4. The "yield texts" of IS times; IV.
Conclusions and supplement~

va..rm~,I.!' A. A. proto~wn.~~rskie sistemy mer i sC'eta. 1 The proto-Sumerian

systems of measures and numbers' .1]_~l~~l5-IN 1974, 6-11.

In this survey of eight different proto-Sumerian systems of number

symbols, V. points out, i.n particula.r, that: 1. The. IIdecirnal-sexal"
system of nu~?ration (i e the proto-sexagesimal system) appears in
a regular variant (with a special sign for 10 x 60) and a modified
vari.a.nt (wit:h special signs for 2 x 60 and 10 x 2 x 60); 2. The proto-
Sumerian capacity system appears in three variants (the regular vari-
ant, which is used for barley, and two variants used for wheat and
emmer, distinguished by various kinds of tags on the individual number
signs); 3~ There seems to be a special system of signs for use in
dates, indicating respectively the number of the day, of',the month,
and of the year .

Slavutin, E. I_ 0 mat.ematiceskih m(~todah drevnih (princip ob:ras~eniya)

'On the mathematical methods in antiquity; the principle of trans-

formation f IMEN 16 1974, 191-199.

 111

Demonstrates, with examples from ancient Babylonia, Greece, and

China, the fundamental importance of the "principle of transformation"
for the first stages in the development of a corpus of mathematical
problems and results. The essence of the principle is that new pro-
blems can be fabricated out of old ones simply by exchanging the roles
of data and unknowns in the equations. (ef Vogel 1936.)
Zaccag'nini, Carlo .. The yield of t.he fields at Nuzi ~!:. 14 1975, 181

-225.

The metrologically interesting parts of this paper deal with the

ratio of seed grain to area in texts from Nuzi~ The correctness of the
identification of the area measure im~~~ (anXe) with the capacity mea-
sure im~~~ 'ass(-load)' is clear from the fact that typical seed v
rates
are 1:1, 13:10, and 8: 'B . Example (HSS 15 233): 26 a.nXe ~e.me~ 1~
nttmun '£(1 20 a.nte a_titme.6.~ . • Interesting are also the references (p218)
to Old Akkadian texts from Nuzl. UISS 10 15-17, .... ~1eek 1935) with the
v
strangely large seed rate (~e.-n.umu.n.-.6u.) 6 bibl per i..ku._ ef Maekawa 1981.

Sjoberg, Ake W. The Old Babylonian eduba AS 20 (S\lmerological studies

in honor of Th.orkild Jacobsen) (1974)1975, '1.59-179; Examenstext A
ZA 64 1975, 137-146.
In AS 20, in ·the section uTht:1 curriculUlTl of instruction: Mathema-
tics and surveying" is. quotes t.he following line from "Examination
text A": a-ft4 igi igi-ba igi-gub-ba nI-ka q ~U~U1 lid-du 94-l4 4-da~d
dil-a.-b.i dli-a ba-la ~a-la-bi a··:ta .bA~-ge-de~ l.-ztl-il 'do you know multi-
plication I reciprocals 01 coeff i,ciE"Jnts, balancing of accounts, admini-
strative accounting, ho~t to make a.ll kinds of pay allotments, divide
property I and delimi t share~s of fields? ~.. Otller en1..unerations of mathe-
matical topics in th(~ curriculum of OB schools can be found in so
called tI eduba dialogues JI, such as Dialogue 11 Sl/rN 116 (Kramer 1934):
a-A4 b~-bl-lid za-bi-X~ nu-e-zu igi-di~i bl-dug ki-ab nu-mu-~d-ab-dab5
'you may recite the multiplication table, but you do not know it per-
fectly, you may solve inverted nu.~bers, but you cannot .... ', and a.-!t.ii
igi-di~i nZ-ka. .6a.~alI,-gafL-Jta. za-hi-re. l-zu 'you have learned perfectly
9
multiplication, inverted nmnbers, accounting and calculation of vol-
., '
ume'. Equally interesting is the quotation made by S. from Enkimansurn
and Girini-.isag, UET 6/2 150 (Gadd and Kramer 1966): garta ba.-e-de gen-
na. gana rttt-mu-da-ba-e.-e.I1! (t-,Xa ,!~).-ge-de ge.n-na et-gana g.l-VlS->'lin.da.
nu-mu-da-~a-za I ~.~ 'go to divide a field but you won't be able to
divide it, go to delimi.t. a field but YOll won't be able t.O hold the
tape and the measuring rod, •.. t . s~ finally quotes also the passages
L
 112

of mathematical interest that appear in some royal hymns (cf Castell-

ino 1972). See also Kramer, Schooldays JAOS 69 1949, 199-215 (in parti-
cular l.61-62 of the quoted te~t) and Falkenstein 1953 (p129). Of re-
lated content is the discussion of Daniel 5:25-28 in Gandz 1936.
Nemet-Nejat, Ka,ren R. A Late Babylonian field plan ANES 7 1975.
A field plan inscribed with Seleucid script (BM 46703, a represen-
tative of a whole group of similar field plans in the British Museum).
The lengths of the sides of a quadrilateral are here given in kU, and
SI, the area in gi, kat, and SI (fingers). (The area computation is
easy to verify. It builds on the area notation regularly used in the
NB period (ef Powell ZA 62 1972, 187 n46; Oppert ZA 4 1889).] In this
notation a given area is always equated with the area of a rectangle of
standard base equal to a reed (9~) of 7 cubits or 7x24 fingers, and
the area is therefore expressed by simply stating the length of the
side of the rectangle as so and so many reeds, cubits, and fingers.
Powell, Marvin A., Jr" Review of Limet Etude 1973 JCS 27 1975, 180-188.
Commenting on the mathematical exercise texts PUL 27-29, ll, P.
states that the computations in these texts involve some knowledge of
reciprocals and elementary algebraic reasoning, and he therefore won-
ders how much of OB mathematics is really a product of ,the third mill-
ennium. The review is complemented by a table giving a useful (partly
tentative) reconstruction of the Sargonic systems of area and length
notations, including the identification of the git. ba.d with the nor:~nal
cubit of 30 fingers, and of the kUt~numun with a double cubit.
Weisws, Harvey I and Youn9., T .. Cuyler ~ The mc'!rchants of Susa i Godin V

and plateau-lowland relations in the late fourth millennium B.C. Iran

13 1975, 1-17.
Contains a number of hand copies of a group of "numerical tablets"
from Godin. V, with close pa!"al1els in similar tablets from Susa Ca/b
and Susa Acropolis level 17 (et Le Brun 1971, Amiet 1972). [Parti.cu-
larly interesting is th(~ tablet in Fig.4:5 , which is inscribed with
what may be t.he earliest known documentation of the use of the "proto-
literate" system of capacity notations . 'rhus, the number, on the edge
of the tablet is 1 ( 0) 4 { D) 1 (DC }, or 1 4/5 1/10 capacity units.
Fig.5:1, with the number 9{ 0) may be another example of the same kind.]
Pettinato, Giovanni, and Waet~..oldt, H,u::tmut. Saatgut und Furchenab-

stand beim Getreideanbau StOr 46 1975, 259-290.

A survey of texts of various categories in which the furrow: n,.{.ndatt
 113

ratio is mentioned. The two most interesting examples discussed are

BE 3/1 92 (Myhrman, transliteration in Powell ZA 62 1972) and CS 86
(Pettinato and Waetzoldt 1974). [Note that in these two texts the ratio
of mu~-gu4 'fodder for the oxen' to seed grain seems to have been a
number fixed beforehand: in the Nippur text BE 3/1 92 it is exactly
1:2, in the Urruna text CS 86 exactly 5:6 (ef my review of Maekawa 1981).]

Hallo, William W. Review of Pettinato and Waetzoldt CS 1974 BiOr 33

1976, 38-40.
Observes, in particular, that the ratio of fodder to seed grain
in CS 86 is "better than 9:11!t. (Actually, 9/11 ~5/6, the exact value.]

Varman, A.A. Uber die protosumerische Schrift, in J. Harmatta and G.

KomorOczy, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft im alten Vorderasien (AASH 22)

(1974)1976, 15-27.

Essentially a repetition of the results in Varman 1974.

Vatman, A. A. Issledovanie po sumero-vavilonskol metrologii (On

Sumero-Babylonian metrology) DV 2 1976, 37-66.

As shown by Thureau-Dangin in RA 34 1937, 80-86, the relation 1
:t,,[la = (6 XU-.6.t.) 3 ~ .97 1i ters can be deduced unambiguously from the
"boat text" BM 85194 pr.3D (ef MeT 1945,96). On the other hand, from
YBC 4669 pr.1-9 can be deduced either once more the same relation
(assuming that the text is concerned with vessels of certain standard
cyl
capacittes, with square bottom pieces), or the new relation 1 .6ila =
1r/4 x (6 .6U-.6-L) 3 ~ .762 liters (assuming cylindrical vesr-.,els with circular bottom
pieces; cf MKT 3 1937, 28). V. now shows that the difficult text
VAT 8522 pr.2 (ef MKT 3 1937, 61) can be understood by assuming that
the answer 1.S given in .6..i..R.a cy1 : the volume of the whole log [ka.-lu.-.6u!]
is then 45 00 ~'[lacyl, and the volume of the piece to be cut off i~
ten times less, i e 4 30 ~ilacyl. It is important to note that the
use of the ~ifacyl seems to be coupled to the use of the constant
6 40 ig.t.-gub na-ar-p'a-k~~zm (sic!; cf ~MS 1961, 27). [In fact, a cylin-
der of circumference c nindan, height h n...i..ndan, has the volume V =
.. 05 c 2 h nindan 3 :: c h volume-Xalt (assuming that 'IT ~ 3). Hence, if the
2

diameter of the cylinder is d vr.inda.rt, c:: 1f d, it follows that V =

'fr2d 2 h XQ.Jt vo1 , or V RI 9d 2 h ta.1t vol (with 1T still R:1 3). But if, as above,
1 .6ila cy1 = 3/4 x (6 .6u.-.6.t.) 3 :::: .45 x (.01 tl..<..ndan) 3, then it follows that
= 9 Xa!(.vol, 1 ta.ltvcl = 6 40 .6,[!llcyl (in the Babylonian nota-
1 .6.t.la cy1
2 cy1 3
tion without zeros) .. Hence the nice formula V = d h J..,i£a (X60 ).] Note
also the use of the verb kabdhu 'to be thick' to express the size,
 114

in ~.(.ea.cyl, 1. of "cubic pieces at either end [2 ba-6.t(!)! 2 da..t, 4 ba-~.<.l 4 dal]

ll

and 2. of the whole log~ This should be compared with the situation
in YBC 8600, another log text, in which the "thickness" of the log
seems to be expressed as the size, in "ordinary" biia, of a slab of
the log of unit length (so in MeT 1945, 57-59). According to V., how-
ever, this text proves the existence of an ftarea-~ita" :: (6 Xu.-.6i) 2.
Other sections of the paper deal with, in a not quite convincing way:
the two pi-~a-nu-um problems BM 85 194 pr.34-35, in which the constant
6 40 appears again, and the water clock problems BM 85 194 pr.6-8
and BM 85 210 rev.II pr.4. Assuming (quite arbitrarily) that the
water clocks are cylindrical, and that the ~~tacyl is used, V. gives
a reconstruction of the dimensions of the water clocks and comes to
the conclusion that the "standard" OB water clock could hold precisely
40 ~iiacyl of water, with a weight of precisely 1 talent (gun). In
other words, the conclusion is that the OB units of weight and capa-
city were deliberately chosen so that 1 gun = the weight of 40 ~~lacyl
of water ~ 30" 30 kg. ['rhis hypothesis ought to be compared with the
hypothesis that 1 gGn = the weight of a "standard brick" of the dimen-
sions 1 cubit 2 x 6 fingers . Cf Lewy i 949, Scheil 1915. J See also
the discussion of water clocks in Thureau-Dangin RA 29 1932, 30 1933.
Powell, Marvin A., Jr. The antecedents of Old Babylonian place notation
and the early history of Babylonian mathematics BM 3 1976, 417-439.

A remarkable pioneering pa.per in which P. manages to show, by a mul ti tude

of examples, that the Babylonian sexagesimal system with its place
value notation must have been invented well before the end of the
Ur III period, and that the origins of Babylonian mathematics can now
be traced back to the middle of the third millennium B.C. P. first
mentions the dated Ur III text YBC 1793 (Keiser 1919) which clearly
demonstrates how computation with "money" (i e silver) was made easy
by going back and forth between the metrological notation for weight
measures and the positional sexagesimal system. Example: The sum, which
can be computed to be 1 33 27 40, is immediately converted back into
the weight system and given as 1! rna-na. 3; girt ia. 7 re.
ku.g-a. [Inci-
dentally, this example shows that not only positionally written sexa-
gesimal integers, but actually even sexagesimal fractions were used
in everyday situations in the last century of the third millennium.]
Of extraordinary interest are a number of mathematical exercises
from the Sargonic period, discussed in detail in this paper: PUL 29
(Limet 1973 n38), a geometric exercise in which the &'ivision problem
ut = 2 40 (nindan), ut x c,ag = 1 (..iku.) has a solution given as .6ag =
 115

3 kuX-nurnun 1 GlS.BAV 1 SU.BAV. Since 1{~ku)/2 40 nindan = .37 30

n~ndan, P. draws from this the conclusion that 1 n~ndan = 6 kaX-numun
~ v v
= 12 Gl~.BAV = 24 SU.BAV (z~pah), hence that the GIS.BAD is a cubit
v
and the ka~-numun a do~ble cubit. Note the unrealistic ratio between
the lengths of the sides of the rectangle!; PUL 31 (Limet n39) is a
similar problem, only this time with ut ~ 4 03 (n~ndan). The solution
is not given, instead the text says hag-bi pa-de-dam 'the front is to
be found'. The importance of this example is that it shows that the
idea of reciprocals and regula.r numbers was known already in the Sar-
gonic period!! [In fact, 4 03 = 243 = 3 5 is a regular sexagesimal
number, which ensures that the given division problem has an exact
solution that may have been found by the Ur III mathematics student
in the following way (or by some similar method): Start by observing
that 1 iku == 1 40 n..indaVl. 2 :: 10 00 k.iLX-rtumun x 1 nindan = 10 ta.'t tu-.&i..
v . v
x 1 yt~nda.vt = 1 ~a.,'t-ga.£. ,t,e. x 1 V'L..tndan. Next, find the reciprocal of 4 03
5
::: 3 by use of the following algor 1 thm: 1 ra.ft -gat = 60 3 ::: 3 x 20 00 00
= 9 x 6 40 00 ::: 27 x 2 1 3 20 == 1 21 x 44 26. 40 =4 03 x 1 4 48. 53 20. Com-
bining the results you get that 1 -<-flu. ~ 4 03 ycindan x Xe.. There-
14 49
fore, the solution of the given problem is that .6 ag = 14 49 r ~ (-1/9 Xe.)
::: 2 kaX-numun 1 SU.BAV 13 XU-6i... 1 re.
(-1/9 le).]; PUL 27 (Limet n36)
is a seemingly "simple" computation of the area of a square of side
11 NIO.VU 1 kilr-numul1 1 GlS.BAV 1 SU.BAV. The problem has most likely
been solved by conversion 'to sexa.gesimal notation: Writing a::: 11.17 30
nindan, one finds that a 2 = 2 07.30 06 15 ra~. The given answer is
a 2 = 1 (iku) 1/4(iku)aXag 2, ra~ 6 gin 15 gln-tu~, which is not quite
correct, since its sexagesimal equivalent is 2 07.36 15 ran (a typical
error in a notation without zeros!). [The "playfulness" of the author
of this text is apparent from the choice of a special type of number
for the length of the side of the squarE~: a = 1 (10) 1 nindan 1 kat-
numu.n 1 GIS. BAV 1 .sU. BAV. Nu.mbers of the same special type can be found
in the following three, in this and other ways unusually interesting
texts: UET 5 121 (Figulla and Martin 1953), Ist S 428 (cf Friberg 1981),
and 1st Ni 2739 (~ 1 1935, 79), a square root table with the entries
1 - ell 1 0 2 0 1 - e. 1 0 1 I 1 0 2 0 3 0 2 0 1 - e 1 0 1 0 1 I .... (c f ~K T 3, 5 2) ] ;
HS 815 (Pohl 1935), a parallel to PUL 31 above, but this time with
the given side = 1 07! nlnda~, where 1 07! is another re~ular number ~
1 3
(= 2- 3 5). The exact answer is gi.ven as 1 NfG.vU 5 kat 2 tu-du-a.
3 rU.-~~ 1/:3 J'U-.6..t (1 Xu.-dil-a := 1/3 I~ilt); MAD 5 112 (Gelb 1970), another
seemingly simple area computation, unfortunately containing some seri-
ous error (?) that makes it impossible to find 'a proper interpretation
of this tantalizing text. The last paragraph of the paper discusses

$
 116

what evidence there is for mathematical activities in the Fara period.

P. first quotes the well known metrological-mathematical table of
square areas VAT 12593 (=~ 82, Deimel 1923), and the school tablet
TS~ 77 (Jestin 1937) which contains a geometrical drawing that looks
like an early precursor of the drawings on BM 15285 (Saggs 1960): four
circles inscribed in a square. Then follows a comparison of the two
closely related mathematical texts TSS 50 (cf Guitel 1963) and TSS671.
---.
In both texts, the problem is to divide the barley in a gu~u1 (a store
---
house) into x portions of 7 ~ita ea.ch. The correct answer is given by
v
!§§ 50: x = 45 42 51 (written in the non-positional notation of the
v
period), with a remainder of 3 ~ita, while TSS 671 gives the incorrect
answer x = 45 36 00. According to Pet the gu~u1 of the Fara period con-
tained 40 00 gU4 of 8x6x10 ~~ta [no references are given], and the com-
putations were based on the use of approximate reciprocals of the irre-
gular number 7 (in TSS 50: .08 34 17 08, in TSS 671: .08 33). [The pos-
tulated equation 1 gUJtu 1 = 40 00 x 8 00 6ill! = 5 20 00 00 l>.i.lii. (during
the Fara period) should be compared with the standard relation 1 gu~u1
:: 1 00 00 guJt = 1 00 00 x 5 x 6 x 10 ~-i.ta = 5 00 00 00 .&ila (in the Ur III
period; cf my review of Scheil 1900). A gU4 of 8 baJtiga is not used in
all Fara texts (ef the text TS~ 81, in which figures a gUll of 4 ba~iga).
Note also that the interpretation suggested by P., with its reference
to a four-place reciprocal of 7, can be replaced by a simplified vari-
ant: Suppose that only a two-place reciprocal of 7 was known, for in-
stance in terms of a relation such as 1 Xalt :: 1 00 00 :: 8 34 x 7 + 2.
Then it would follow that 1 gUJtu. :: 5 20 baIL .&il.a. = 5 20)( (8 34 x 7 + 2)
1
J).i.ta :: 45 41 20 x 7 ~J..la. + 10 40 -s ,f.,ta. r while the remainder could be
taken care of in a second stag-e of .the computation: 10 40 .6ita = 1 31
x 7 c,.i.la + 3 .&ila. Wit.h this interpretation,. the "wrong" result in TSS
671 would be a result of 'I . . the use of the reciprocal 8 33 instead of
8 34, and 2. the fact that all space on the tablet was used up so that
the second stage of the computation would have to be carried out on an-
other tablet, or be ommitted. A remarkable confirmation of the inter-
pretation of TSS 50, 671 suggested here comes from "the area computation
in TS~ 188. There the square of 5(10x60) (nindan) is claimed to be equal
to 1(1AR-·GAL) 2{SAR'U} l{SAR) 3{bu.Jt'u.). The computation seems to have
taken place in severa.l steps: t'irst the relation (1 ox60 yt,..[ndan) 2 =
3(SAR) 2(bu~tu) is quoted from a table of squares such as VAT 12593
(see above), but incorrectly, with the value of the square given as
3(SAR) 3(bult'u). Then this value is multiplied with a factor 10, giving
10 x 3 (.SAR) 3 (buJt' u.) = 3 (SAR' U) 5 (SAR). Finally, a multiplication by 2
1/2 (written in the lower right corner of the tablet) gives the wan-
ted value: (5 x 10 x 60)2 taft.. :; 25 x (10 x 60)2 ta.lt = 2 1/2 x 3 (.SAR'U) 5 (SAR)

t
 117

= ... , i e the result in the text. (Cf Pomponio 1981, H~yrup 19821)]
Powell, Marvin A., Jr. Two notes on metrological mathematics in the
Sargonic period ItA 70 1976, 97-102.
1. Sargonic bread and beer text,s: considering the Umma texts eT 50
55-59 (Sollberger 1972), P. concludes that these texts use a gU~-4ag­
gai of 4x6x10 ~~la for dry capacitYt and a dug of 30 ~{la for liquid
capacity, with special notations for 2/3, 1/2, and 1/3 dug (cf Powell
1975). A dug divided into thirds was used also in the pre-Sargonic
"messenger tablets" BIN 8 67-68 (Hackman 1958), but there the nota-
tions tJ, tJ V were used for 1/3 and 2/3 du.g. P.' s claim that a dug of
20 ~{la was used in pre-Sargonic Girsu lacks explicit references, and
the suggestion that the switch to the dug of 20 4114 is "evidence for
manipulation of the metrological system to accomodate sexagesimal cal-
qulations" does not seem to be well founded. [Actually, the "minor
miscalculations by the ancient scribe", which are so puzzling to P.,
can be explained if one assumes that the ban rather than the ~ila is
the basic unit in the calculations, and that the following approxima-
tions were used: 1/6, 1/3, 2/3, and 5/6 ban ~ 1 1/2, 3, 6, and 8 4ill,
respectively. (Example: in eT 50,55,1 dug of 7(ba.n)/dug, 7 du.g - 1
4it! of 5(bdn)/dug, and 2 2/3 dug of 3(ban)/dug are equated with
7 + (35 - 1/6) + 8 = 50 - 1/6 bin or 2(gu~} 2(b4n] - 1 1/2 6il! (!).)
Other bread and beer texts of the same type as eT 50 55-59 (recogniz-
able through their metrology and through the dating by the mu-~ti-u4
'year-month-day' formula) are eST 4-6 (Fish 1932), and DV 5/2 26-36,
44-45 (Nikoltski! 1915) (where the only dug-fraction is the half-dug,
and the only beer strengths are 1 (ba4lgaJ/dug and 3(b4n)/dug; note in
n31 the unusually explicit formula for bread size ninda-z:td-1(bdn)-10
dUg 'breads of wh1.ch 10 can be made out of 1 bin of flour'; a similar
explicit formula for beer strength in n26-32 is kaX-~e-l(ba~~9a)-g~~8-
gU~8); in eST 14 and in DV 5/2 83 appear again the beer strengths
7, 5, 3(b4n)/dug, but in the DV text the only fractions of the dug
are 3/4 and 1/4 dug, and use is made of the approximation 3/4 ban ~
8 4ila; note in eST 14 the phrases ~a-dug4 1 u 4 ' 1 i~~.] 2. Work assign-
ment ratios for excavations: P. tries here to trace the work norm • 10 gln
per man and day' which is known from OB (mathematical) excavation
texts, to its presumed thi,rd millennium origins. His point of departure
is the Sargonic mu-~~~-u4 text DV 5/2 64 (Nikol'ski! 1915). [After re-
newed inspection of the text by P. himself (personal communication) it
is now possible to improve the interpretation of this important text:
it appears that three teams of dlggers have excavated sections of a

t
 118

canal of lengths 1 -i9 i - 4 - 9 a.t, 1 /2 ( et e 2) 4 ( k.lL.t) , and 1 ( et e 2 ) 2 ( 9 -i) 5 kilt,

respectively; note the use here of the sequence of length measures
1/2{ete. Z )' g..t, Rilt, the same as in the pre-Sargonic area texts from
Lagas DP 604-612 (Allotte de la Fuye 1915, 1920) and eT 50 40 (ef
Powell 1975), as well as in the ain-du-a texts from the same period
DV 5/2 8 (Nikol'skif 1915) and VAT 4851 (Fo 187; FBrtsch 1916). The
total volume of the three excavated sections, which can be computed
to be 14 1/2 (= 29/2) Xa~vol, is indicated in the text as 5 - 1/6 (=
29/6) SU.KUR.RU, and then evaluated as kin-AKA iti-3 LA 3 u 4 ' i e as
'3 months - 3 days (= 3 x 29) days of excavation work'. Consequently,
the work norm here is exactly 1/6 la~vol = 10 g1n, and the SU.KUR.RU
(or SU+3+RU(?) = 3 Xa~vol = the work norm for 18 diggers. The only
other text of a similar kind is DV 5/2 65, unfortunately damaged and
difficult to interpret. Interesting is that in this text appears in
the place of the SU+3+RU a simple SU.RU and its fractions 1/2 SU.RU
and 109 ZVl. ]

~bat, Ren~. Manuel d'~pigraphie Akkadienne (signes, syllabaire, id~o­

grammes). Paris (1 st ed! tion 194-8) 5th edition 1976.

A very useful inventory of nearly 600 cuneiform signs, their most
common graphical variants, and their phonetic or semantic values. The
presence of indexes of various kinds makes it possible for the non-
specialist to use the book as a ru.dimentary Sumero-Akkadian dictionary.
Of special interest are the many references to the use of cuneiform
numbers as cryptogramsi see, for instance, n470ff and n578: 15 :: immi.tu
'right', 2 30 = tl.tme_tu 'left' ; both 20 and 2 30 == fa.!!.Jtu. 'king'i .ea.-li.b
21 50 u 40 'he who honours Anu, Enlil, and Ea'; 30 u 20 'moon and sun',
etc. (ef the discussion in Oelitzsch 1878, 64). Another example of the
cryptoqraphic use of numbers in a cuneiform text is offered by, for in-
stance, the Seleucid religious text Aa 6458 liThe exaltation of Istar"
(Thureau-Dangin RA 11 1914, 14'i-158) .. The last line of this text reads
as follows: 'tablet of I21 35 35 26 44, son of 121 11 20 42'.
Matthiae, Paolo. Ebla, un impero ritrovato. Turin 1977; Ebla~ an
empire rediscovered. London 1977.
Pl.25: A photograph of the economic Ebla text TM.75.G.1527, which
I
! clearly shows that the ifsemitic" hybrid system of numeration with
I Sumerian sexagesimal notation up to 99, but with phonetically written
I
number words for 100, ••• (ef Biggs and Postgate 1978) was used at
I Ebla at the middle of the third mi.llennium B.e.
I

h
 119

von Soden, Wolfram. Mathematische Konstantenlisten als Zeugnisse fur

Arbeitsnormen in Babylonien .~.Q . D.Or.Tag 1977, 107-109.
A great deal of information about life in ancient Mesopotamia may
be hidden in the OB and MB lists of constants. To illustrate this
point of view, vS considers the constant 2 13 20 = 60 n /27 known from
two such lists, the line 2 73 20 il r 15 ta gildub-:tR.. in YBC 5022 rev.,
44 (MeT 1945, 135), and the line quoted in my review of Edzard 1970
(IM 49.949, 9). Referring to the existence of a late early-dynastic
statuette of a naked man carryi.ng on his head a tupt..tkkum containing,
probably, a square brick (ef Salonen 1972), vS conjectures that the
constant 2 13 20 indicated the work norm of carrying 72 bricks of the
standard format 2/3 x 2/3 x 1/6 cubic cubits in a day_ (Note, however,
that the volumes of single square bricks of the two formats 2/3 x 2/3
x 1/5 (!) and 1/2 x 1 /2 ~ 1/5 cubic cubits are, respectively, 60- 1 /27 =
-1 ~
.00 02 13 20 and 60 /48 = .00 01 15 volume-~a4.
ef Scheil 1915, Lewy
1949, and the systematic discussion of brick formats in Powell [1982].)

Michalowski, Piotr. Ur III topographical names OrAnt 16 1977, 287-296.

AS~~12080: the first line of this text gives the following descrip-
tion of a boat, presumably for hire: 1 ma. 20 gU.fL da.-na 1 gulc. 1 .6itii-
ta fa boat of 20 gu~, at 1 ~~la per dana and gu~·. Cf. the boat in the
mathematical problem text ,BM, 85194 prm 10, ,v
with a computed capacity
of 8(gu~' 1 40; ef also the boats called g~~md-n-gu~, with n between
60 and 5, in the lexical text 50 tablet 4 (.MS~: 5 t Landsberger 1957 i
Deimel 1885).

Pettinat2, Giovanni. TS~ 242, Fondazione della citt! UNKEN ki OrAnt

16 1977, 173-176.
It is suggested here that the numbers listed i.n TS~ 242 (Jestin
1937) are three area numbers, expressed as sexagesimal multiples of
simple or double area units (e g .;J2/i-units (?) ), but that if this is
true, then there must be a OOIrputational error in the text. (In fact I if
the suggestion is correct, then tr.e sum of the area numbers in the
first column of the tablet is: (40 00 - 40) + ;(52 00 - 10) double
area units. Now, assume that round-off was used, so that numbers less
than 10 units were disregarded. Then the sum would become equal to:
(40 00 - 40) + (26 00 - 5) ~ 1 06 00 - 40 = 1 05 20 double units. The
sum indicated in the text is 1 06 20 double units. Thus P. was right;
the text contains a small computational error, 6 instead of 5 sixties.]

Schmandt-Besserat, Denise. ru1. archai.c recording system and the origin

 120

of writing SMS 1 1977, 31-70; The earliest precursor of vlriting SeAm

283:6 1978, 50-59; An archaic recording system in the Uruk-Jemdet Nasr

period AJA 83 1979, '1 g-48, 'I pl ~

In this extremely interesting series of papers, the author carries

a good bit further the identificat:.ion hladt:~ in P.r1iet 1966 of clay en-
velopes from Susa, containing various types of clay tokens, as an ar-
chaic accounting method. It is convi.ncingly demonstrated that the in-
vent ion of writing may have come as the last step in the evolution of
a sophisticated system of recording that was indigenous to the whole
region of the Middle East since the ninth millennium B.C. This system
was based on clay tokens of various g80metric and odd shapes, most
commonly tokens in the form of spheres, disks, rods! cones, or tetra-
'hedrons. According to ~his hypothesi.s, the invention of clay envelopes
for the tokens {around thE: middl ~~ of the fourth millennium B. c. }, and
of the method to llse imprints on the su}:f~ce of the (~nvelopes as an
indication of the contents, very soon led to the invention of writi~~
(ef agaln Arniet 1966). Against, t:hi.s bai..",;kground it becomes easy to ex-
plain the instant standardization of writing in a widespread area, as
well as the abstract shapes of all the numerical signs and of the
signs (in the Sumerian script) for a score of c0!n.."nodlties of daily use
(most notably the sheep sign ATU 761 and the many signs related to it) ~

Kienast I Burkhart. ABUI< 1 9 (AI tbabylcnlscl1"~ Urkunde und Briefe au.s

Kisurra). Wie~baden 1978.

n179: a square root table, from 1//1 Xb-~i8 to 38 24//48 Zb-~i8

[.~.) ..

Zaccaqnin~, C" A note on the t.;tl.enL:, at .Z\lalc:.h (AT ,101) Iraq 40 1978,

67-69.

The Alalah IV text E:~,_4Q"t is used here to show that the Syrian
(decimally adapted) t.alcnt (E:_a.-·J~E--=-_~Ld wa~} dl..\l.ided i.nto 3000 shekels.
Postgate, J$N. An inscribad jar frorJ Tell Al Himah Iraq 40 1978:0 71-75 ..

This is "the first published attempt to d~duce metric equivalences

for the OB capacit}" measures by comparison with an actucil containe::." ..
The container :'!..n question is '}:I( 5055 :::: 11:!..78_65~, a jar :measuring
about 121 li terz,
v
\'Ji th
~. ,.f
on t.he should~rthe inscription 1 a,r; t e. 5 (ban)
1/3 ~lla i-na GIS.BAN
---
u Utu , written vertically [cf Picchioni 19801]. .<
- 'v" 'l
Hence the OB ~, ir: the t .6utu of Samas t, must hC'"ve ~"~leasured between
.79 and .82 liters, allcwing a 2% margin of error. P. gives also a
 review of other publications concerned with attempts to determine the
absolute values of Old Bahylonian, Neo-BabyloIlian, and Neo-Assyrian
capacity measures. It is interesting to note that the value of the
OB ~ deduced in the present article is precisely 5/6 of the value
(6 tu.-.6i) 3 :: .. 97 liters that was det'ived from OB mathematical problems
by Neugebauer in MKT 3 1937 and by '!"hureau-'Dangin in RA 34 1937. There-
- v v
fore, the OB !la in the -& tLtn of Samas seems to be the ~ that is con-
nected with the constant " la l1a:.~~t-pLt-.lf2. :;It-a~=tu.-d..f-.,[m in the list
of constants TloiS 3 (I} (Bruins and Rutten 1961; cf Val.man 1976). See
also Thureau-Dangin RA 9 1912, where T. uses a reconstructed inscribed
stone jar to estimate the value of the Neo-Babylonian go.: p;j .81 liters .
Sollberger, Edmond. MVN 5 (The Pinches manascript). Rome 1978.
n61: a tablet wi.th two field plans, not very detailed.
Biggs, Robert D., and Post,g,a~t;., !-T.N. Inscriptions from P,..bu Salabikh,

" 97 5 Iraq 4 0 1 9 78 , 1 0 1 - 1 I 7, pI. 1 7 -1 9 ~

IM 81438 (IAS 519): one half of a tablet dealing- with large numbers
of sheep and goats, the earl.:i.(~st documentation of the use in Sumer of
the Semitic "pseudo-deci.mal u system of written number notations, known
from later periods, and now also from ~lari and Ebla (cf ABM,!: 19 n462;
Pettinato 1981) _ The preserved numbers ar0: 1(D} 4(1) 40 hila -nita
4
ml-at, and Xu-nigZn 1 3 {Dl !~~,::.,im m.i-:~! 1 12' u.du.-n-Lta, ... • Since
(} {tJ)
t.:he text is not int,act I' und. since the number si.gns are not "A'ritten
in linear order after each other, it is impossible to guarantee th2
correctness of the transcription. No~e however the use of alternatingly
hor izontal and vert i.cal. number siqns 1 w'hich may have been intended to
distinguish the thousands ~frOll, tlH;; hundreds ..

P<?wel~, Marvin A .. I Jr., l\. contribution to the history of money in MesQ-

potamia prior to the invention of coinage~ In Festschr. Lubor Matou~

(ed~ B~ Hru~ka and G. Komor6czy). Budapest 1978, 211-243.

:)
I n t h is paper, P. aemonstrates that the term liAR kQ-oab
t. b a~~ew~~
(v ..

ka..6pim) may have been used,not o!11y for silver rings, but also for
silver coils, of -the well }c.:no\.-/Il type that could serve as "moneyr~. In
particular, he conjectures that the MI5 word for t 1/3 s'hekel', namely
b-<'t~ (literally ttcutting") originally denoted a piece of standard
r

size cut off from such a silver coil. As evidence he uses the mat~p­
matical text Bt-1. 85196 pr .. 18 (Thureau-Danqin Rl~ 321935,1-28). As (l
matter of fact, in this text figure two silver coils, of weight, res-
I
pectively, 35 and 33 times 1/8 gin l frorn vJhich are cut off one-seventh
i
(i e 5 x 1/B g1n) and one'-eleventh (1 e 3 x 1/8 g.{.;t) in order to make
 122

each coil weigh as much as the other one (30 x i /8 gZtt).. [The strange
way in which this problem is solved in the text becomes easier to
understand if one observes the connection between this silver coil
problem and the series. of mahi~um problems in VAT 7530. That such a
-v---'~

connection exists is hinted at by the occurence in the silver coil

problem of the phrase iu-a 1 ~Zn -___ 1,.-
la
_ _•
ta-ah-~u-Xa
\1'---_. _
_ _ _
li-li _a li-~i-id-ma
UAR ku-ba..bba.Jt lJ..,-A._·._m_"-_:t_a._-_fl:fJ::!!-_~ 'may the one shekel you have cut off go
up or down so that~ the silver coils become equal f . A similar phrase
is characteristic of the mah~~(tm problems, and the first part of the
solution of the slIver coil problem (forgotten or ommitted in this
particular text) is likely to have been related to the method of solu-
tion of the problems in VA!-12}Qa Indeed, the given problem can be
reformulated in algebraic form a.s a. system of equations: x/7 + y /11 = 1 ,
and x - x/7 ::: y - y /11 ~ ~n order to solve the indetermin.ate linear equa-
.tion x/7 + y 111 ::; 1, one may start by looking for the solution in the
simplest case, i e when x and y both are equal to a common value q.
Then q/7 + q/11 :: 1, so that q::: 11 x7 I (11 +7) .. In the general case, the solu-
tion of the indeterminate equation. is x:::: q + 7z I y:::: q - 11 z (i the silver
goes up and The value of z is determined by insertion of
down~!)~

these values for x and y in. the ·second equation: since x - x/7 = q + 7z
-q/7 -z a.nd y-y/11 =q-11~~-qldi'l + z,.. the second equation then is
reduced to an equation for Z: q - q/7 + 6z = q ,- q/11 - 10z f or (10 + 6)z =
-q/7- q/11~": (11-7)/(11+7) :: 4/18:: .. 13 20. Consequently, z = .13 20/16 f

or z = 50 (in Babylonian sexagesi.mal notation) .. It then follows, pre-

cisely as in the text of the silver coil problem, that the weights of
the coils are given by the equations y:. 11 x (7/(11+7),- 50) = 11 x (23 20
- 50) ::: 11 x 22 30 == 4 07 30, x:::: 7:< (11/(1~!+7) + 50) =: '7)( 37 30:: 4 22 30.
To tell the truth, however, the text makes some puzzling shortcuts even
in this last, straight-forward part of the solution algorithm.]

Vogel, Kurt.. Das Fortleben bai:>ylonischer Mathematik bei den Volker'n

des Altertums und Mittelalters, in Beitr~qe zur Geschichte der Arith-

metik. Munchen 1978. (= ~r.250K~~ 1. Moscow (1960)1962, 249-256.)

A brief, but thoroughly researched and mnst informative survey of

the transmission of methods and tradit.ions of Babylonia.n mathematics
to many contemporary and succeeding civilizations_ Note on p30, n.16,
the observation that a scholion to Euclid's Elements 10, Def_4 (ed.
Heiberg 1888 vol.5 , 436) refers to a square with the ratio between
diagonal and side approximately equal to 7.04 15 50/5 (= 1~24 51 10).
This is the same approximation to /2 as in YBC 7289 (MeT 1945, 42)·.
(The Greek way of writ.ing 7.04 15 50 is ~ 0' lE" \)m,,)
 123

Vallat, Fran~ois'.. Le mat#lriel epigraphique des couches ~8 a 14 de

l'Acropole Palfiorient 4 1978, 193-195; Le Brun, A. , and Vallat, Fran-
t;ois. L!origine de Itecriture a Suse DAFI 8 1978, 11-59.
In these two papers of extraordinary importance, conclusions con-
cerning the origin of writing are drawn from material excavated since
1969 at the Susa Acropole~ It is shown that the transitions 1. from
spherical envelopes with seal impressions and a content of clay tokens
to similar spherical envelopes With, in addition, impressed number nota-
tions on the surface, and 2~ from such envelopes to tablets with seal
impressions and impressed number notations, took place within a very
brief span of time, in the period corresponding to the Sus a level
Acr.18. Further, a few examples are known from level Acr.17 of tablets
with number signs and ,an isolated non-numerical sign (denoting some
commodity?). The first tablets with writing appear in levels Acr.16-14
(proto-Elarnite script). An interesting observation is that the only
clay tokens that have been found in these excavations are tokens in
the shape of: sticks, spheres, disks, small cones, and bigger, pierced
cones. (ef Schmandt-Besserat 1977-1979. j 'Jihe authors conjecture that
these five kinds of tokens correspond to the units of a proto-Elamite
number system.
!riberg, J6rane The third millennium roots of Babylonian mathematics
1: A method for the decipherment, through mathematical and metrological
analysis, of proto-Surnerian and proto-Elamite serni-pictographic in-
scriptions DMG 1978:9, 1-56,
The starting point for this paper is the crucial observation that
the ration text BIN 8 5 (Hackman 1958) shows -that. in the proto-Sumerian
(Jemde:t Nasr) system of number notations for ca.pacity measures (he;re
v
called the "SE-system") a small circle stands for 6, rather than 10,
capacity units. Hence the sequence of relative values of the successive
units ("cup", "disk", Ubig disk u , "big cupn, ••. ) must be 1, 6, 60,
180, .•• , rather than 1, 10~ 100, 300 (ef van dar Meer 1936). Next,
it is shown that three different systems of number notations are made
use of in proto-Elamite texts (roughly contemporeaneous with the
proto-Sumerian texts of the Jerndet Nasr period): 1. a preto-sexage-
simal system, used to count people, loaves of bread, jars, .. ~ , with
the sequence of units 1, 10, 60, 120, 1200, •.• ; 2. a purely decimal
(non-positional) system, used to count animals(?} i 3. a capacity
system almost identical with the proto-Surnerian capacity system.
 124

Example: ~ 6 1905, n399 is a ration text in which 1412 "animals"

(counted decimally) each gets a ration of 1/5 capacity unit, hence
together 282 2/5 capacity units of one corrumodity, and ea1h 1/60 unit,
hence together 2317/30 (written as 3X6+5+2x1/S+1/16+2x 1/30)
capacity units of a second conunodity. Particular attention is given
to proto-Elamite and proto-Sumerian "bread and beer texts", and a
comparison is made with Egyptian flpefsu problems n such as Rhind Papy-
~ n75. A comparison is made also between systems of fractional
notations in proto-Elamite, proto-Surnerian or Sumerian, and Egyptian
texts.

Friber2, J5ran. The early roots of Babylonian mathematics 2: Metro-

logical relations in a group of serni-pictographic tablets of the
Jerndet Nasr type, prob.ably from Uruk-Warka DMG 1979:15, 1-80.
Contains a detailed analysis of the metrological relations in a
group of proto-Sumerian tablets from the Jemdet Nasr period, consisting
of three separate lots, originally published in Hackman 1958 (BIN 8
3-5, 9), Falkens·tein 1937 (ItAT] 1-6") 1 and van der M.eer 1936 ("DST
1-17 U). The homogeneity of this group is apparent. from the common use
in tablets of all three lots of the same set of U signatures'~ (some
of which appear also in the ucensus text H ~T~ .,.585 and the "professions
list" OECT 7 104) and from the similarity between the three lots with
regard to the text classes to which the individual tablets can be re-
ferred. Of particular interest are: 1. the correct interpretation of
the big bread and beer text (possibly a metrological exercise) IM
23426 (ef the discussion in Falkenstein 1937) from which follows that
the absolute size of the proto-Sumer.i.an capacity unit was of -the same
order of size a·s 1 ban i 2. the observat.ion that: proto-Sumerian (and
proto-Elami te) bread an.d beer ·texts as a rule display a grand total
which is an Ualmost-rounde:d num.ber" (example: in IM 23426 the grand
total is (2-1/100) x 180 capacity units; 3. the conjecture that the
proto-Sumerian and proto-Elamite capacity units were related to the
normal barley ration for a five day week. Examples: BM 116730 (~
7 1928; Langdon 1928) f and r--1D~ 6 221 (Scheil 1905; ef Friberg 1979,
17) •

Greengus, Samuel . Old Babyloni.an tablets from Ishchali and vicinity

(PIHANS 44). Istanbul 1979.

n292 (A 21948): a metrological table for area measures (basic unit

1 raIL) I from 1/3 ta l L//20 to 1 (SARx2) .GAL a,X({9//1 (i e 2 x 60 2 billL ==
4 v
60 .&aJr.).
 125

Arniet, Pierre. Alternance et dualit~ Akkadica 15 1979, 2-22, 2 pI.

A continuation of the discussion in Le Brun and Vallat 1978.
Alberti, Amedeo. SuI valore della misura "mun-du n OrAnt 18 1979, 217-
224. I
After a survey of the literature, A. is able to find only.two pre-
Sargonic texts from Lagas in which the flour measure or container
mun-du (a "sack"?) figures in such a way that its size can be deter-
mined: MAH 15998 (Genava 26, Sollberger 1948); DV 3/2 25 (Nikol'skiI
1908). The latter of these texts allows A. to confirm Sollberger's
hypothesis (op. cit.) that the mun-du contained 2 ban or 12 ~ila.

Steinkeller, Piotr. Alleged GUR. VA = ugula-gu-da. and the reading of the

sumerian numeral 60 ~ 69 1979, 176-187.

s.
starts with an illuminating discussion of the history of trans-
literation of the word ugula-geX-da 'officer of sixty (men) '. (The
complex PA.l-da can easily be misread as GUR-da.) As evidence for
the suggested reading is used a new transliteration and translation
of the text MVN 2 359, an Umma-text (?) describing a lend-lease
agreement, according to which the interest on a loan of barley (or its
silver equivalent) is equated with the fee for a rented field that
is divided among Sixty soldiers under the supervision of an ugula.-
glX-da.. [In the translation given,it is contended that the barley is
measured "with a 72 sila(-container)-It. What the text actually says, is
the following: 30(guJt)te.gu.ft+,~Z.ta._1 {ba/1....tga} 2 (ba.n) -J:a l.te. ma.t ~)..-gi4-de I
k.uJt e.ltin. ge't-da 4 {,i.l<.u)aXag_ta. ! !.J.fi.u 4 -da maX~·b.-i. ,ta.l-de I k.i Ult-~t.tg.tn­
6
gaJt-.ta 11n-da. ugu£a-ge:t-da-ke I tu-ba.-t-i '30 guJt of barley, at
4
1 baJtiga 2 b4n (per gUIt), in interest for the barley; prebend land
for sixty soldiers, 4 iku each, will be cultivated in exchange for
the rent; from Ur-nigingar; Inda, officer of sixty, received it'.
This means that the rate of interest was 8:24 (assuming a gu~ of
4 x 6 ba.n), i e the usual rate of 20: 60. Hence the interest carried by
the 30 gu~ was 10 gu~, corresponding to 10 gIn silver, in exchange
for the lease of 240 iku of land. In other words, the l~nd was leased
at the rate of 1 g~n for 1 1/3 ba~ of land. -- The introduction ad
hoe of a 72 sila-container is repeated on p.180 n.12, where s. postu-
lates the existence of a 62 siIa-container in an effort to explain
the following passage from an Ur II I text (TRU 374; Legrain 1912):
Ku.-n:tgln 240{gu~) re.
gu~ tJag ba.-lt-t-ga 2 ,6,tta-ta. .6e.-b"[ 8 (gu~} gu.1Lre
[u.-n:tgin-n:tgin 248(gu~} re gun. There are simpler ways to explain the
I
I
 126

addition of 2 ~lla per ba~iga, i e of a surplus of one-thirtieth, for

instance just measuring with "good measureil.J The second part of the
paper contains an interesting discussion culminating in the suggestion
that that the proposed reading /ge{dJI for 'one' in Sumerian {Powell
1971) is incorrect and ought to be replaced by the reading /~e~t/ for "
'sixty'. The most important implication is that the first line in
the reciprocal table Ist S 485 (MKT 1 1935, 27; ef Powe11 1971, 55)
can now be reconstructed as gi-[e.t-d(l] [rei] -[na-b]i-[b]i 40 [am} (1 e
/geXt-ak. .6a.rr.abi-b.{, 40) 'of sixty, its two-thirds is forty', with
parallels in other early reciprocal tables. [Actually, it was claimed
already in Scheil 1915 that the unique l,lst line igi-gat '-da-kam of
an early table' of reciprocals (HKT 1 1935, 10:4) must be translated
as tfractions of 60'!]

Powell, Marvin A., Jr. Notes on Akkadian weight metrology: methods,

problems and perspectives AOAT 203 1979, 71-109.

An updating of the corresponding section in Powell SNM 1971.

Powell, Marvin A., Jr. Notes on Akkadian nurr~ers and number syntax

JSS 24 1974, 13-18.

Zaccagnini, Carlo. The tallu measure of capacity at Nuzi Assur 2 1979,

29-34.

Demonstrates, using rISS 15 257 (Lacheman 1955) and other texts, that
at Nuzi oil was measured in the :fal.P."!:. of 8 ~. Cf HSS 14 123, which
demonstrates that at Nuzi r sometimes>, the .6utu::: 8 !lE:. (Zaccagnini 1975).

Pettinato, Giovanni .. ~b~~, un impero inciso nelltargilla. Milano 1979;

The archives of Ebla. New York 1981.

Ch.7:3, Units of measure, contains a survey of the metrological,
relations in texts from Ebla: 1. the units of the capacity system are
.£LUbafL, pa.ILI~u, /..)iia, ~nzam with the relative values 120,60,6,1; 2.
the units of weight are ma~na, g~n, -NI, with relative values 360,
6,1 (in addition there are special names for 2/3, 1/2, and 1/3 ma-na:
SA. PI :; sanapi? I KU 5' GUR g); 3. t:he basic area unit is the (iku),
and there are no higher uni ts (et TSS 242 in Pettinato ,OrAnt 16 1977;
4. for counting is used the Semitic hybrid system of numeration, with
the units 1,10,60,100 (1 mi-a.~), 1000 (1 ii-,{.m), 10,000 (~Jt.t-b~x)'
100,000 (1 ma-i-a.t or ma-'i-bEJ. For the discussion in Ch.a:3 ot the
mathematical text TM.75.G.1693, cf Archi SEb 3 1980. See also the com-
parison in pomponio 1980 of the pre-Sargonic text AO 7754 with the
Ebla texts wi th res~ct t,o metrology, etc ..
 127

1980
van der Waerden, B.L. On pre-Babylonian mathematics 1-2 ARES 23 1980,
1-46.

One in a long series of papers by vdW and other authors (ef, for in-
stance A. Seidenberg, The origin of mathematics AHES 18 1978), in which
a possible common origin of Babylonian, Egyptian, Indian, Chinese, and
Greek mathematics is discussed9 It is suggested here, without very much
factual evidence, that this co~non origin is to be sought in Neolithie
Europe.

Brandes, Mark A. Modelage et imprimerie aux debuts de l'ecriture en

Mesopotamie Akka~ica 18 1980, 1-30.

A valuable ~omplernent to the articles by Schmandt-Besserat 1977-

'1979, beginning with an extensive review of publications on bullae
(envelopes) and clay tokens. (It appears that the author already in
1969, at a conference at l'Institut des Hautes Etudes de Belgique,
proposed an identification of clay tokens in the form of cones, spheres,
etc., with number signs on proto-Sumerian clay tablets.) The paper
contains also an attempt to verify Schmandt-Besserat's identification
of 15 categories of 'miniatures' (clay tokens) with proto-Sumerian
logograms I through the establishnlent of a concordance between such
miniatures and numbers in the sig'n list of ATU 1936, etc.

Lieberman, Stephen J. Of clay pebbles, hollow clay balls, and writing:

A Sumerian view AJA 84 1980, 339-358.
A critical review of Scr.mandt-Bessera.t 1977-1979. In an effort to
lessen the time gap between the clay tokens and envelopes of the
late fourth millennium and the superficially similar Nuzi bulla de-
scribed in Oppenheim 1958, L. conjectures that the well known way·
in which curviform (round) and cuneiform numerals sometimes were
used together on the same tablet, as late as during the Ur Ill-period
(cf Pinches 1908, Lambert 1966), indicates that ·the curviform numerals
may have represented manipulated clay calduli, while the cuneiform
numerals stood for computed numbers (?). L. Discusses a Iso at length the
.
mean1ng ~
of. t h e succeSS1ve 9 1 osses ~U
().; ~umun-g~4'
v .
~U
9 e.X da b 4- d'"~m, 1. u
(J'" ...
na4na, .ea ..i.m_ na4 na in the "OB Lu-series", which he compares with a simi-
lar series of gl~sses get-SIV-ma :: i4.:Ai:. mi-nu.-t·.{v'\vooden co~nting
sticks', ••• , ge.~dab4-d:[m 'counting borad(?) r, ge.~~u.-me.-ge = .6u-me-ek.-
ku-u 'abacus(?)'. [The tentative translation of ge~NIG-SIV ~ ~5~~i­
~a-a-tu as 'heddle(?)/loom(?)' should perhaps be replaced by 'web, net-

work, cross-ruled board (?-!) I , as more fi tting in the context.] In parti-

 , \

L·,cr,,>K
"
I
~/Ir

l~sl
,_
,\'1
! r
I
'J

"-

' ........... "

'---.~
-----.-~.---
 128 .

cular, it then follows that im-na 'clay stone' may be the Sumerian word
for 'calculus, counting stone, clay token'.
Schmandt-Besserat, Denise. The envelopes that bear the first writing
TaC 21 1980, 357-385.
Contains, beside several interesting photographs, a chart listing
the contents of 11 envelopes with clay tokens from Susa (plus 1 from
Tepe Yahya). The somewhat disappointing conclusion is that most of
the envelopes contained only cylinders (rods) and small spheres (that
is., tokens corresponding to small numbers), with only a few instances
of envelopes containing also disks, cones, or tetrahedrons. Therefore
it is not yet possible to say anything definite about the nature of the
transactions documented by such envelopes.
Archi, Alfonso. Un testo matematico d'eta protosiriana ~ 3 1980,

63-64, fig.15a-b.

Presents photos:~ and a preliminary discussion of the mathematical

text TM.75.G.1693 from the great archive L.2769 in Ebla, palace G.
The text contains a list of "big units" in the Sumerian sexagesimal
system, and makes a reference to a "scribe of Ki~". [A comparison
with big number units appearing in roughly contemporaneous texts
from Suruppak (Jestin TSS 1937) makes it probable that the correct
transliteration of the list runs as follows: get'u-gai (10x60x60),
X44-gai (60 2x60 = 60 3 ), ra~'u-gal (10 X 60 2X 60), Xa4'u x -gal (a variant
form of the preceding number!), 6(Xa4'u x -gal) nu-da-rid (6 X 10 X 60 2x 60
4
= 60 , '1 could not count it'). ef Cros NFT 1910 (AO 4303).]

Picchioni, Sergio Angelo. La direzione della scrittura cuneiforme e

g1i archivi di Tell Mardikh Ebla OrNS 49 1980, 225-251, pl.7-11.
A thoroughly documented discussion of the perplexing questio~
concerning at what stage of the evolution of the cuneiform script
the texts started to be written horizontally rather than vertically.
The unorthodox answer given here is that the vertical mode of writing
was in use as late as at the beginning of the Old Babylonian period.
Of particular interest is the remark (due to 0.0. Edzard) that if this
is true, then it would be less difficult to explain th~ strange use
of an. ta and Ili . .ta. (. upper' and • lower') in grammatical texts to dc"-
note prefixes and suffixes, respectively, and in OB mathematical texts
to denote what has been interpreted as "left" and "right" in geometri-
cal figures. (ef Edzard, Grammatik, in RLA 3 1957-1971, and Vogel 1958.)
Edzard,Dietz Otto. Sumerisch 1 bis 10 in Ebla SEb 3 1980, 121-127,
pl.26.
 129

See Pettinato MEE 3 1981, 269-270, where the same text is discussed.
Pomponio, Francesco. AO 7754 ed il sistema ponderale di Ebla OrAnt
19 1980, 171-186.
Starts with a discussion of AD 7754, a pre-Sargonic text(?), in
Semitic language, and with several points of contact with documents
from Ebla, notably the nomenclature for weight measures. Of great
general interest are the author's discussions of 1. the relative
frequency of the use of the phrases an.te.gu (etc.) and tu.n~gin to
denote 'totals' and tsub-totals' in texts from Fara, Abu ~alabIkh,
Ur I, and Ebla; 2. the values of the Eblaite weight measures 2-NI,
3-NI, 4-NI, 5-NI, 6-NI (which are shown to be 2/3(1), 1/3,1/4, 1/5,
1/6 of a shekel, as is clear from texts like MEE 1 814 where 13 3-NI
of gold 1s equated with precisely five times as much silver, that is
-with 66 2-NI of silver); 3. a concordance of Eblaite with pre-Sar-
gonic and Sargonic notations for weight measures, with extensive
documentation; P. points out the conspicuous simplicity and linearity
of the Eblaite notations.
Del Monte, Giuseppe F. Metrologia hittita, 1: Le misure di capacit!

per aridi OrAnt 19 1980, 219-226.

Shows that the hittite dry capacity measures had the relative
values: 1 pa4~~u (PAl = 6 ~utu (ban) = 24 haz~l- = 144 (sometimes
72 or 120) upnu.

Bruins, Evert M. On the history of logarithms: appendix Janus 67

1980, 259-260.

Contains, in particular, a photo of the table of nexponentials and

logarithms" MLC 2078 (cf Neugebauer and Sachs MeT 1945, 35-36).

~, R. Creighton. Sherlock Holmes in Babylon AMM 87 1980, 335-345.

Demonstrates how cuneiform mathematical tables (combined multipli-
cation tables ••• ) can be looked upon as interesting mathematical
"puzzles tt , to be solved by a variety of clever methods. A drawing of
a mounted clay cylinder with a combined multiplication table shows the
cylinder with its axis horizontal. Regarding the meaning' of the table
on the famous tablet Plimpton 322 (MeT 1945, text A), B. quotes a
suggestion due to D.L. Voils that the table ma~ have been constructed
to be a pedagogical tool enabling teachers of mathematics in the schoOls of
 130

the OB period to make up a large number of ~ga-ig~ba exercises in

quadratic equations, with known solutions and with easily checked
intermediate solution steps.
Schmidt, Olaf. On Plimpton 322; Pythagorean numbers in Babylonian
mathematics Centaurus 24 1980, 4-13.
Suggests a simple routine for the construction of the tables on
Plimpton 322, under the assumption that the text, when intact, had
columns for x, i, ,(x-x), !(x+x), and (;(x+x})2, where x and x
were
taken from a three-place table of reciprocals (cf Bruins 1949).
Friberg, Joran. A historically motivated study of families of Pytha-
gorean or Babylonian triples and their generating semigroups of P-
or B-orthonormal matrices DMG 1980:3, 1-112.
A mathematically oriented paper, inspired by the fact that certain
types of OB geometry problems can be described in terms of indetermi-
nate quadratic equations. See, in particular, Ch.5: The triangle par~­
meter problem and the simple and iterated trapezoid partition pro-
blems in Old Babylonian geometry.

Schmandt-Besserat, Denise. From tokens to tablets: A re-evaluation

of the so-called "numerical tablets" VL 15 198<1, 321-344.

Contains a useful survey of publications of ttnuoorical tablets", i e .

clay tablets fran the late Unlk pericxl with impressed number signs, with
or without seal impreSSions., but with no other kind of inscription.
The new name If impressed tablets U is suggested for s'uch tablets. Seve-
ral nice photographs illustrate the article, in particular of Sb 6299
with an impressed number with more than 5 units, hence probably be-
longing to a declmal system of numeration (animals?), of Sb 213 and
Godin Tepe 73-291 with numbers clearly belonging to the "proto-Elamite lf
system of capacity notations (3(180)+1 (60)+4(6) and 5(1)+2(1/5)+1 (1/10),
respectively). [The tablet ~b 1975 bis has what looks like an early
example of a fltagged" number (upside down with respect to the seal
impression), possibly to be read as 4(60)+2(10). Simila~ tagged num-
bers are known from proto-Sumerian tablets of the Jemdet Nasr period.]

Ellison, Rosemary. Diet in Mesopotamia: The evidence of the barley

ration texts (c. 3000-1400 B.C.) Iraq 43 1981, 35-45.
 131

The calculations in this paper are based on the observation that

v
the most common barley rations in the Early Dynastic period at Lagas
were 72, 48, 36 and 24 ~ila a month, while those at Ris, etc., in
the Agade period, and at Laga~ itself in the Ur III period, were 90,
60 , 40 , 30 and 2 0 ~ .i.e.a.. Assuming that the ration system itself did not change,
the author draws the conclusion that at the transition from the ED
III period to the Agadeperiod the size of the ~~la increased by a
factor of 6/5, i. e from .83 liters (the lower of the values derived
in Thureau-Dangin 1921 from measurements of the inscribed vase of
Entemena) to almost 1 liter. [If this conclusion is correct, it im-
plies that the size of the ban was doubled at the transition to the
Agade period, which s~ems doubtful. Note, in fact, that the barley
.rations mentioned above can just as well be described as 12, 8, 6, 4,
and 9, 6, 4, 3, 2 bin, respectively, in the two time periods con-
sidered, since the ban in pre-Sargonic Laga~ contained only 6 ~~la.
Besides, it is difficult to see how this result fits in with the
fixing of the value of the OB ~~la in Postgate 1978.J
Steinkeller, Piotr. The renting of fields in early Mesopotamia and
the development of the concept of "interest H in Sumerian JESHO 24
1981, 113-145.
An interesting account of the development of and terms for the
concepts of 'field rent' and 'interest' in texts from the (OB,) Ur Ill,
Sargonic, and pre-Sargonic periods. It is claimed, in particular, that
the Ur III term maXImal a-tag 4 -ga 'fee for the irrigation of a 'field'
was derived from a pre-Sargonic term meaning 'goats of the field'. ef
a phrase such as 4(bu4} gana!maX-bi 6 kttg g~n/udu-b~ 4 udu-nita '4 bu~
of land, its mal-fee 6 shekels of silver, its sheep 4 rams' in a Sar-
gonic text (OIP 14 114 = A 790). In a similar way, it is noted that
the use of the word ma~ in the meaning of 'interest' cannot be docu-
mented before Ur III. Instead, it is suggested that the phrase kud-~a
... U~ ('to add a portion'?) in pre-Ur III texts should be interpreted
as 'to yield interest'. This construction is also attested in a diffi-
cult passage of a famous inscription (Sollberger Corpus 1956, Ent.28),
which ca~ now be read aste dvtan.re \ re.
dnin - g1.J£--&u-ka I 7 kUJtu 1 -am I
6
ill umma A..- k e. I u.Jt5-~e ,t-ku I kud-Jta. ba-u.~ ! 4 (~'a.Jt'u) IluJtu -gal I 'ba.-ku !
k
4 1 4
balt. te-b-i nu-da-J.di-~u-da-ka ! ..• Ile £.agaXk-t raJ( kU. l Lu -a.m ;[-~U ['the
1 6

\
 132

barley of Nan~e, the barley of Ningirsu, one store-house full, the man
of Umma consumed, as a loan; it accumulated interest, grew into 40X60 2
(gu~), a big store-house; because this barley was not being returned
2
•••••• he returned the barley of Laga~ (but only) 60 (gu~), a store-
house full'. In other words, the meaning of the text may be that the
"loan" was returned, but without full payment of the accumulated rent.]
See the discussion on p143-145, in particular p144, n.8S.

Maekawa, Kazuya. The agricultural texts of Ur III Lagash of the

British Museum (1) ASum 3 1981, 37--61.

n1 (BM 18060): this unique text is tea final account of barley (and
emmer?) harvests from the gan-gu fields under the ultimate control
4
of the governor during the ten years of Sul-gi--Amar-dsuen"; as such
it contains some
. very-big numbers: the text begins
v with 9(SAR).GAL
-4(SAR'U) 9(SAR} 2(bult'u) 5(bilJt} 2(ete ) 4{iku)4hag
3
I Xe-numun-mult-gu 4 -
bi 14 gUJtu , 38(60) 44 [1 (baltiga) 5 (bt1vt) ?] 1 2/3 .6ila guJtI Xe.-gu.-na-bi
4(60) 54 gUJtu, 42(60) 56 (guJt} 3 (ba.4iga) 2(ban)guJt. As the text shows,
the average amount of Xe.-numun. mu.Jt-gu 4 (seed-grain and fodder to
draught animals) in Ur III Laga~ over a ten year period was close to
1 (guJt) 2(ba~lg4) 3(b4n) or 1 1/1 gult per area unit (ba~), which is
the most conunon figure referred to in the so called giin-u!Lx-a texts.
The estimate of the average a~ount of yields (le-gu-na-bi) is pre-
cisely 30 gu~ per bait. In a most interesting review of ratios ~etween
amounts of fodder and seed in texts from various places and periods,.'
M. presents the following examples: in the Laga~ text .'!:'Q.! 5 (Reisner
1901), seed grain + fodder is equal to 1 1/2 or 1 4/5 gult per biVt for
,- barley an~ to -2" gu..\ per bflfr.. for emmer, while for wh~at seed grain
(in wheat) is counted at 1 1/5 gun per brUt, and fodder (in barley) at
precisely half this rate; in RTC 409 (Thureau-Dangin 1903), seed
grain + fodder is equal to 2 and 2 1/2 gu~ per bu~, respectively,
for barley and emmer, while the seed grain for wheat is put to 1
gu~ per bil4 and the corresponding fodder to just as much; in n4
(BM 12398), seed grain and fodder for wheat are counted at either
1 and 1/2, or 1 1/5 and 3/5, gu~ per ba~i in both cases the fodder
is computed at half the rate of the seed grain; in nS (~~ 19739), seed
grain + fodder is equal to 3 9 tOr. per bUlL or 2 gult 3 ba.n per billt. (in
the case of a gan giX-gab-tab); in the same text, lentils are used
as seed at the rate of 2 gu~ 3 ban per bun, or, in a more concise no-
tation, 2.0.3 gu~/buJt, while the fodder (in barleyl) is computed at
3/7 of this rate, 0.4.3 gu~/ba~ [note how carefully the rates have
 133

been chosen so as to alleviate the necessary computations; it is pro-

bable that the figures given in the texts as so and so many gu~/bu~
were converted into b4n/iku when fractional area units were present,
after the formula n gu~/b~h = nx30 ban/IS iku = nx5/3 bdn/iku; thus,
1,1.1 .. 0,1.2.3,1.4.0,2.0 .. 3, ••• gUJt/bilJt = 12/3,2,2 1/2, ~,
3 1/2, ..• ba~/iku]; in the pre-Sargonic Laga~ text DP 546 (Allotte
de la Fuye 1920), the fodder + seed grain for an area of 2 bait 3 el~
is given as Xe-numun Xe-gu -du-kil-bi 8(gu~)-~ag-gal (1 e 3 g-~-g/b~~)~
4
for another pre-Sargonic Laga~ text, ~8 18~ (F6rtsch 1916), Xe-gu 4 -
ki1- Ytumu.n- hi and t e.- numun- bi are computed"separately, at the common
rate of 1 1/2 g-.6-gl.billl.,. and· combined, at the rate of 3 g-.6-g/bilJt;
in the Sargonic texts BIN 8 122, 123 (Hackman 1958), the rates of
he-numun te-gu 4 -e-ku are, respectively, 2.2.0 and 2 gu~/ba4 (i e
4 and 3 1/3 ban/iku); in the two texts from Umma and Nippur CS 86
(Pettinato and Waetzoldt MV~ 1 1974) and BE 3/1 92 (Myhrman 1910),
the fodder is precisely 5/6 and 1/2, respectively, of the amount of
seed grain [this was observed already in Friberg 1979, 54, in connec-
tion with the discussion there of the Jemdet Nasr text BIN 8 4, which
is,possibl~ a seed grain text, and if so, with the ratio fodder:seed

grain equal to 10/11; another Jemdet Nasr text, which may be a seed
grain text, too, is Scheil RA 26 1929, n2: in this t,ext the "barley"
for an area of 1 bu~ru is equal to 2(60) 5(6) capacity units, whi~h
means a rate of 15 IN capacity units of barley per bu~, where the IN
capacity unit is known from ration texts and bread and beer texts to
be comparable in size to a Sumerian ban]; in another Utnma text, AnOr
7 339 (Schneider 1932), the concluding phrase is Xe-numun-bi 24.4.3.
4 1/2 .oilll 1 gZvr 9Ult I ZZz-YLl.tmul1-b,{. 3{gu.Jt}gu.~ I [mult-gu· -ud?1-b.i 21 !3.
4
4.8 .6.Lici] 9 g.<.n guJt I ~a-gat AMAR.AMAR »u-tuk [the most likely
[2/3
interpretation is that here again the ratio of fodder to seed grain
is 5/6 for the barley, while the ratio is only 1/3 for the emmerj
note in the phrase 'no fodder required for the calves?' the use of
the word ~a-ga.l for 'fodder', the word used in OB problem texts to
indicate the slope of the side of a canal; ef MeT 1945, 80-811: the
amount of seed grain per area unit is in the texts mentioned above
(CS 86, BE 3/1 92, AnOr 7 339) given not directly, but in terms of
the number of furrows per n~nda~ (ef Pettinato and Waetzoldt 1975,
Powell ZA 62 1972) [if, as adviced in the nfarmer's almanac" (UET

t
 134

6/2 1966 172 col .. 2, 12-13 ), 1 g~,Yl. of barley is dropped in a furrow

of length 1 nindan, and if N is the number of furrows, cross-wise,
per nindan, ·then the rate of seed grain expended per area unit is
N g~Yl./Xa~ = N/6 &an/iku = N/10 gu~/bu~i thus, for instance, the case
N = 10 corresponds to the rate 1 gu~/baA: documented values of N are
8, 8 1/2, 9, 9 1/2, 10, 11, 12]; M. suggests that in the "farmer's
almanac", UET 6/2 172 col. 1 , 29, the phrase 1 ( biVt) a£ag - ba 3 (gait?)
Xe 9ult -dm ba-an··gd-ga refers to a rate of seed grain + fodder equal
to 3 gu~/bu~
(?); finally, he mentions also a text from Ur (UET 3
1364, Legrain 1937), in which this rate is 2 gu~/baJt. (See also the
discussion in Zaeeagnini 1975, 217-219, in particular, the reference
there to several Old Akkadian texts in HSS 10 (Meek 1935) with the
high rate 6 ban/lku = 3 3/5 gu~/ba~!)

Pettinato. Giovanni. Lista di numeri sumerici: testo N. 54, in

MEE 3 1981, 212-213.

This paper,.and Edzard 1980, are two ind~pendent examinations of the
Ebla text TM.75~G.2198 = MEE 1 1636, a monolingual lexical text with
the first ten Swnerian cardinal nurnbers in syllabic notation (valu-
able because of its antiquity compared with previously known lexi-
cal texts containing related information) $ In transliterati.on (follow-
ing Pettinato) the list runs as follows: --_. me-nu,
d . Lt)., - - -x it -Xa-am t
0' • \I' -, .... v ~ o·
-l.A. - mu, .{.~9' a. -,~ (1, U - me. - nu, u. -.6 a. - am t .(. - .t.4.. - mu., ~:g':' wu - m.~
(d d h
E zar : ..i£:.
wu-mu.). Note the copula(?) -am after ,LX -la. and D..-Xa (perhaps to
-- .'- ·-x-··-'-
enhance the rythm of the sequence?l~

~2:nato, Giovanni. I1 problema dello scriba di Ris: n .. 73, in MEE

3 1981, 269-270.
A renewed discussion of the Ebla text rrM. 75 .. G .1693 (ef Archi 19'80).,
P. repeats here what he said already in Ebla 1979: "it is probably
a table for conversions between the sexagesimal system and the deci-
mal system".
Pomponio, Francesco. Tabella di concordanze di misure per aridi, in

MEE 3 1981, 270-271.

The Ebla text 'rM. 75 . G. 1392 '(~E~ 3 74) is interpreted here as
a concordance of two series of capacity measures. [Actually, the
text is a mathematical algori t~.m t.ext, offer ing a c lose parallel
to the famous text TSS 50 (Jestin 1937; cf H~yrup 1982). Although
not stated explicitly, the problem given seems to be to find out
 135

how much barley is needed for the rations of 260,000 persons if

1 gu-ba~ of barley is enough for 33 persons. The ingenious solution
algorithm proceeds in a series of simple steps; in modernized nota-
tion, the steps of the algorithm are the following: 1. 100/33R:S3 1/30;
2. 1000/33~30.3; 3. 10,OOO/33~303 1/30; 4. 100,OOO/33~3030.3; s.
200,OOO/33~6060.6 1/60 (corrected); 6. 60,OOO/33~1818.2; 7. 260,000/
33 ~
7879. In other words, the solution method appears to be to first,
in a number of steps of increasing accuracy, compute approximate
5
values for 10 N/33 (N= 2, 3, 4, 5), and after that, for 2 x 10 /33 and
6x 10 4 /33. The final result is obtained through addition of the last
values, and round-off. (No similar algorithm is known from any OB
text of any kind. Cf, however, the Para text TSS 50, H~yrup 1982.)]

~, I., and Viola, T. Testa n.73: un problema algebrica, in MEE 3

1981, 278-285.
Mistaking the sign GAL in the list of big sexagesimal numbers in
the Ebla text TM.75.G.1693 (ef my commentary to Archi 1980) for a
mathematical symbol indicating- an algebraic operation, the authors
of this note claim that the text is a list of mathematical equations.
Example: the line reading Xan-gal (meaning simply 60 2x 60) is trans-
lated here as "t44, i e 60 2 , is the GAL of what?", or something to
that effect.

Dahoo~, Mitchell. Ebla, Ugarit, and the Bible, in Pettinato Archives

1981, 271-321.
p228-289: D. claims to have .identified in the Hebrew Bible the num-
ber words Jt..ibb6 ·10,000' and me_c.o~.~yw '100,000', related to the Eblaite
It,t- b~x and ma--i-at . As evidence he quo'tes the following new translation:,
of two difficult passages in the Bible: Isa. 48:19 watje h1 ka~o.t zalLcelza
e 'e - J _ -c~ - • ec - -
~4_e._-9~~ me. eka. [kA.. m o;ta~] I your offspring would have been like the
sand, and the issue of your body like its hundred thousand grains';
and Ps. 4:8(7) ma'ot deganam I we.ti~atam nabbg 'a hundred thousand fold
be their wheat, and their wine ten thousand fold'.

Fr~'perg, Joran. Methods and traditions of Babylonian mathematics:

Plimpton 322, Pythagorean triples, and the Babylonian triangle para-

meter equations HM 8 1981, 277-318.

Starts with~a discussion of the nature of the break at the left
 136

margin, and the size of the missing part, oi the tablet Plimpton 322
(Neugebauer and Sachs'MeT 1945), caEed on new hand copies of the text .
A log-log-diagram of the distribution of the parameter pairs for the
solutions of the Pythagorean equation implied by the text makes more
precise the observation in Price 1964, that the set of solutions is
complete wi thin its given boundaries. It is 5ho\+ln that if the intact
c c 2
tablet contained columns for the variables b, r 2 (:1+5 ), hi C, n,
then the computation of the square of the up to five-place number c
may have been achieved by use of a "factorization method" in which
the computa-tion of the relatively prime numbers band c was an inter-
mediate step. As an independent illustration to the use of a related
factorization method is mentioned the text Ist.S 428 (cf Huber 1957),
in which the square root of 2 02 02 02 05 05 04 (the square of
1 25 34 08, the approximate square root of 2 02 02 02 02 02 02) is
computed by means of an algorithm based on factorization. Next follcws
a discussion of the errors of the text and of its purpose (a "teacher'~
aid" for setting up "solvable" problems concerning right triangles ,
or quadratic equations~. (The existence of an OB table of "fractional
squares which would give neV7 squares with ±1" was postulated in Gandz
1937 in connection with Gandz' study of the meaning of the quadratic
equation in !iM 1 3 99J.-.__E..r. 23.) A final section is devoted to some re-
flections on the origin of the "Pythagorean theorem", with departure
from the ucane-against-a-wall problems tt ,!3l\1 .. 34S68 E:c:.. .. 12. and BM 85196
E!..:1 and their many parallels in late Egyptian and early Hindu and
Chinese mathematical texts. It iD pointed out in this connection that
the "triangle parameter equations" (or generating equations for Pytha-
gorean triples lt
may have been known before the general form of the
)

Pythagorean theorem.. (The paper is concluded by simple algoritluns

for multiplication of sexagesimal numbers, by hand or by use of a
programmable pocket calculator.)

Friberg, JBran. On the Babylonian standard tables of reciprocals and

squares of "six-place" regular sexagesimal Eumbers HM 8 1981, 465.
A preliminary report, concerned with an Rttempt to explain the
composltion of the huge table of reciprocals AO 6456 (TCL 6 31,
Thureau-Dangin 1922; MKT 1, 14-22, Neugebauer 1935) by means of an
"index-star" representing ~he indices of pairs of reciprocals (n,n')
in that table (with ei ther n or n' being- 2,_ six-place regular sexage-
 137

simal number). The same idea can be used to analyze the many fragments
of six-place tables of reciprocals or squares that are published in,
for instance LBAT 1631-1646 (Sachs 1955; ef Vai'man 1961, Aaboe 1965).
It is possible to show that all these fragments, probably originating
from Babylon, have the appearance of be~ng copies of a single six-
place table of the same general type as, but clearly distinct from,
the single {intact} table AO_6456. (This latter tablet is shown by its
colophone to come from Seleucid Ur~k. ef H. Eunger, Babylonische und
assyrische Kolophone, Neukircllen-Vluyn 1968, 45.)

H~yrup, Jens. Videnskabens antropologi.--et essay om tlydre" og tlindre"

arsager 09' deres sammenhceng' rUI\.fVR 1 981 •

This essay on the "anthropology of science" contains a very inte-

resting section about "an inter-cultural investigation of the role
that the existence of·an institutionalized teaching of mathematics
~ay have played for the evolution and inner organization of mathe-
matical thinking". H. fo110<::ls, in fact, the gradual development of
mathematical ideas and principles, and the changing role of the pro-
fession of scribes and teachers of mathematics, from the proto-lite-
rate period in Mesopotamia (\,!hen there a.re clear signs of efforts to
establish coherence and uniformity in the numerational and metrologi-
cal notations), via the school of scri.bes in the Ur III period (when
there was no room in. the currlculum for "l$art pour I'art"), to the
proud and self-conscious OB mathematicians (in a time of far-reaching
individualization of the economic and social life), and finally to .the
time of the militaristic Kassites and their successors (when mathe-
matical tradi.tions we:r:'e kept allve only through the efforts of a few
'"'families of scribes").
Damerow, Peter. Die En'tstehung des ar j,.thmetischen Df~nkens, in Rechen-

stein, Experiment, Sprache (ed. P. Damerow and W. LefAvre). Stuttgart

1981.

§4: The sources for a reconstruction of the prehistory of the OB

arithmetics; §5: Structural pecularlt.1es in the OB a.rithmetics; §6.1:
Computational means lx~fore the invention of 'Ylri ting; §6 .. 2: Context
dependent number signs; §6. 3: ThfJ origin of the sexages1mal number
system ~ § 6 .4: OB ar i thmetica 1 methods; § 7: Resume: Com~pu ta tior,al meanr:
and arithmetical thinking. (Note, in particula:t', the observa t.ion (p9 7 ,
n.89) that tables of :.ength measures are the only type of metrological
tables that may be included on a Babylonian tablet with "combined mul-
tiplication tables" (together with standard tables of squares and of
reciprocals) ..
 138

Huot, Jean-Louis. Fouilles fran~aises au pays de Sumer HA March 1981,

62-71.
p66, 70-71: photographs of the jar and its contents (in particular
a great number of ellipsoi.dal weigh'cs l of the goldsrni th' 5 treasure,
dated to Samsu-iluna year 11, which was excavated at Larsa in 1976.
;Arnaud, Daniel. Les textes de Larsa !lA. Z~iarch 1981, 72-73.
p72: a photograph of a stele from ·the reign of Nazi-maruttash
(1323-1298). Note the unusual variant of the standard Kassite area
formula used in this text: VI t (~- numu. Yt r tu4
l.ku. (1) 3 ( bay!.) 1 flat ga.l •

H~yruE' Jens. Investigations of an early SU.merian division problem,

c. 2500 B.C. H~ 9 1982, 19-36.

A renewed discussion of thE:~ early Sumeri.an mathematical texts
-TS~50 and 671 (Jestin 1937; ef Powell HM 1976), wit.h photographs
and corrected hand copies. Of particular interest is the observation
that the incomplete problem solution in T§..[ 671 may have come about
in the following way: Assuming, with PO\'lell, that the gUJtu,-silo con~
tained 40 00 guJt of 8 00 ~ila, in a first step the 40 00 gU4 are
divided by 7, ""hich gives 1 glt/UJ., =: 5 42 x '7 gtUL, with a remainder of
6 gUlt, which is discarded. In a. second. step, the resul t is then conver-
ted to 1 gUJtu ::: 8 00 x 5 ii2 x 7 ,6il.a::'"~ 45 36 00 x 7 6ila (not counting a
t
remainder of 48 00 ~lla). [On the other hand the interpretation above
t

of !M.75.G.139l (Pomponio 1981) suggests the following alternative

possibility: Start, for instance; with the equat.ion 1 ttiJt == 8 34 x 7
(+2) (which means t~at 8 34 is an approximate Rexagesimal reciprocal
of the irregular number 7; ·th(~ incomplete solution .in .TS~ 671 would be
the result of using the less correct approxirndtive reciprocal 8 33).
Go on and find more accurate a~proximate
reciprocals by establishing
the equa t i on s 1 t a.A ' u = 1 25 42:f 7 (+ 6); 1 Xet It - 9 a.e ::: 8 34 1 7 x 7 ( +1 ) •
Finally, then,S .talL-ga.t +- 2 Xa.,f[.lu..;~ ·15 ';12 51 x 7 (+ 3)" which gives the
result in TSS 50 .. Note the USf? of th(? SAR.GAL in :!-,.§S 188, which con-
tradicts the claim of H. thiH: bi9' nUlnbers are not pr."esent in the TSS
texts. ]

Archi, Alfonso .. Wovon lebte man .in Ebla? ~RR!! (1981)[19S2).

Contains, in particular, the Ebla text .ft..I.- 75 .G.1 ZOO, in translite-

ra.tion. The phrase 10 m~f.~C!-t 5 ~l::~-b,~_~ 5 ,e,<. 5 m-i.. 30 te gu-ball. in
rev.l 1 of this text makes it probable that no sign for 1,000,000
(here written as 1 0 ~~:.t-_~_.t) existed in the Ehlait.e script. (ef Archi
1980) •
 139

Fales, Frederick Mario. TM.75.G.16593: how to get to ~AR.DIS.~AR

(60 5 ) SEb [1982J.
This renewed attempt to interpret t.he by now well known Ebla text
TM.75.G.16593 is based on the incorrect assumption (based on a mis-
understanding of the ra~ section in the lexical text eT 12 plq24,
Thompson 1901) that appending the sign GAL to a sexagesimal number
2
has the same effect as multiplying that nunlber by either 60 OIL 60 •
(ef Archi 1980

Friberg, Jtsran .. Methods and traditions of Babyloni.an mathematics 2:

An Old Babylonian catalogue text with equations for squares and
circles JCS [1982J.
The OB tablet BM ~0209, published as eT 44 39 (Pinches 1966), is
-here shown to be a "catalogue" of linear and quadratic equations
for squares and circles, similar in type to the bigger catalogue
text TMS 5 (Aa) (Bruins and Rutten 1961), and to sections 1A, 1B of
the "compendium" IM 52916 (Goetze 1951). Interesting is the equation
obv.4: Xum-ma 10 TA im-ta-h4~ di-ik-tum ml-nu-um, in which the badly
----v--
understood term dik6um appears, unfortunately in a connection that
does not make its meaning become less obscure. (ef Draffkorn Ki~er
1964). Considerable attention is given in this paper to how the author
of the catalogue text chose the data (coefficients and solutions) of
his series of equations, and an attempt is made to analyze the meaning
of the scribbled numbers that follow the main portion of the text.
Finally, a parallel is drawn between a group of equations in the
text: a-ra g[lJt dal gait u :~;[.:.b.~.::./,-)t-t~ ga,t UL~-ga/t-m4 A, ·circle area,
circle transversal, and circle perimeter added mak~ A' (i e in modern
terms 5u 2 +20u+u = A) with a couple of similar equations in the Alexand- ;
f"

rine mathematician Heron's Geome!:ri~~~ 'V/ri t.ten about 2000 years after
BM 80209.
Caveing , Maurice. La tablette babyloni(~nne AO 17264 du Musee du

Louvre et le probl~me des six fr~res HM [1982].

The "problem of six brothers" on the small tablet AD 17264 (Thu-
reau-Dangin 1934; Neugebauer MKT 1 1935} is at the same'time one of
the most sophisticated (although corrupt) and the most enigmatic of
all preserved Babylonian mathematical problem texts. Formally stated
as an "iterated trapezoid partition problem", in which a given tra-
pezoid is to be divided into three bisected sub-trapezoids, all with
rational sides, the problem is really number-theoretical in nature
 140

[and can be reduced to what in modern terminology would be called a

"discrete boundary value problem"]. c. suggests here that the ancient
scribe who wrote the tablet, and who knew the numerical solution (re-
member that in Babylonian mathematics often whole groups of problems
have the same data), simply "invented" a solution formula giving the
correct length of one of the transversal lines in the trapezoids.
(Finding this length was the most difficult part of the problem.) C.
emphasizes that the incorrect solution formula, far from showing the
primitivity of OB mathematics, shows instead the inventiveness and
audacity of OB mathematicians, who may have arrived at some of their
most celebrated mathematical discoveries precisely by constructing
solution formulas with departure from the known numerical data, with-
out any deeper theoretical insights.
H~yrup, Jens. Babylonlan algebra from the view-point of geometrical
,heuristics IUMVR 1982 ..
In this long paper, He tries, as others have done before him (ef,
for instance, Vagel 1936), to show that OB algebra was largely based
an geometric considerations, here called "cut-and-paste-procedures".
H. divides the evidence into three main categories: terminological
(the structure of the vocabulary in OB mathematical texts, and the
semantics of the terms), proceCiural, and psychological .. He also men-
tions as additional evidence that geometric derivations of solution
algorithms for algebraic problems are known from ancient Greek, Ara-
bic, Hindu, and Chinese mathematical texts. In spite of all this
collected evidence, including a great number of carefully analyzed
examples of OB mathematical problem texts, the proposed existence of
an OB method of Ugeornetrical heuristics" is still very far from being
established, at least in the opinion of the present reviewer. Never-
theless, the paper considers several interesting ideas and observa-
tions. In particular, H. pOints out that, in the problem texts he has
considered, two different terms for'addition (kama4um, wa4abum), five
different terms for multi,plicatlon (a-lLa" ~i~m . naXam, tutak.ulum,
n~g~n), etc., do not seem to have been used indiscriminately. Further

studies along these lines could probably turn up a lot of useful in-
formation about the OB way of mathematical thinking. Note that the
paper contains a couple of useful tables of Sumero-Akkadian mathema-
tical terms and proposed new, distinctive translations of alternative
terms for superficially identical algebraic operations. [I am not
going to explain in detail why I do not believe that OB mathematicians
ever made use of any "geometrical heuristics" in their treatment of

I
 141

predominantly algeb:r'aic problems. Observe, hOv.J8Ver, that the point

of departure for the discussion in this paper is the interpretation
in Bruins Sumer 9 1953 of the ~<ige inscription on IM 52301 as a
description of a geometric method for the €xt.raction of square roots.
As painted out in my review of Bruins' paper, this interpretation
of the difficult text is probably not correct. Also in his treatment
of the text TMS 13 (L) (Bruins and Rutten 19(1), H. builds on an in-
correct interpretation due to Bruins. Thus, fo~lowing some remarks in
the critical review of TMS in van Soden BiOr 21 1964, I suggest this
improved reading of l 9-12 in TMS 13: 4 a-na 1 11 dab 21 ta-ma~
mi..-na .tb-.6i(!) 9 :{b-.6.i.! 9 goba. <-/t<-> (= VUtl, not dctb> gaIt. 1/2 4 Xa
ta-ak-ti..-tu be-pe.. 7. ta-maIL I 2 tl-na 9 l-ham da{J 11 ta-malt. i.-yta. 9 2 -kam
zi. I r to. - malt '4 to 1 17 add.t 1 21 you see" \-}hat is the square root?,
9 is the square root, 9 a (second) copy set down, 1/2 of 4 that you
cut off (as overhead)break off, 2 you see, 2 to the first 9 add, 11,
from the second 9 subtract, 7 you see's As a matter of fact, H. him-
self quotes a si.milar. passage iJ1 YBC 6967 (MeT 1945,129), obv.,10-
rev. ,4: ib-J.,..t g 1 12 15 m-t-nu-ur1! 8 30 I 8 30 il. 8 30 ~~e ... e~-.tu. ,t-d'[-rr.~
13 30 ta-ki.-,i,t-tam I ~:no: jK-te,-e.n u~!:..t!..-.E.h r ~~ L6-te-en -};t-·'[b I !:.t-
te.-e.n. 12 .6a.-nu-u.m 5. This proves the equivalence gaba<-IL.i.> = -mehltu..] --v-

Powell, Marvin A. I Jr .. Merodach-Balada.n at. Dur-Jakin: A note on the

J. ' an
defence of Babvl<)nl. ~
"J. •
~~~~QC
\..:- ~~.J.,:.~,;. J~0
_~, ['98?~
, " -,' .... J •

In the accounts of the Assyria,n king Sargon' s campaign against

Merodach-Baladan in 709, there is an interesting metrological passage
relating to the defens:.ve mea~"arc~s t~lken Lyth(~ Chaldean king at
his city Dur-Jakin (ef Gadd 1954) ~ p~ pOints out here the striking
similarity between this passage and the difficult ring-wall problem
in the mathematical text BM 85194 nr.4 (MKT 1 1935, 144; Gandz 1948)
_ _ ,.,... _ _ ... _"' ........ .l; _._ e

The relevant lines of the annals are, :i.n P. ~ s transliteration and

translation: udann,tna. h'£lthe.,6u
--v--'--- ! 10.MINVt.(var.: !1,{,-:la} " TA.AM lapan
dulti.tu Jtab:t uneJ.,.6Zma. i Z ME ::!:!!~ 1 .t!~mm_~t~ /[UfHL,r b~.:'t'{.1i. ..ttku.nma I 1 1/2
NI NVA u.Xa.pp.ifma Itk.£ u.d~ Iil~ X!_~ bJ. ~ He strengthened its ring walls.
Along in front of its main wall he moved back a distance of 10 nindan
and made a moat 200 cubits broad and he went down 1 1/2, nindan until
he reached groundwater' ~ It seems that the ntIDlbers given in this text
must be greatly exaggerated (the length of the nillda~ is 6 meters,
that of the cubit 1/2 meter); P. estimates the earthworks involved
to have required more than 24,300 man-days of labor.
Powell, Marvin A., Jr .. t-!etrological notes on the Esagila tablet and
 142
/

related matters ZA [1982].

This is a renewed analysis o~ the m::iny bj ts ClDd pie..:oes of informa-

tion about Babylonian metrology contained in the text of the famous
Esagila tablet (ef Thureau-Dangi~ 1922). P. starts by mentioning that
the excavators of the ziqqurrat at Babylon found an inner core of un-
baked brick with a square ground plan of side length 61.15 m., indi-
cating a probable planned side length of 120 cubits, hence a planned
area of precisely one (Sumerian""OB) lku. .. The inner core vJas cloaked
with an outer wall of baked bricJ:, 91.55 tt. or 180 cublts on each side
(corresponding to the combined l€;ngt.h of :270 square bricks of standard
format, i e with a side of 2/3 cubit). Thus, the outer dimensions were
chosen so that the resulting extended ground plan had an area of one
lku. ina ammatum Jta.bltu.rr~ 'an iku in the big cubit J • In the Esagi la text
itself, the length of the side of the base of the Etemenanki are
given in three different wa~s: a) 3{1+tu) .in~ 1 kaX a64~lum '3(60) in
the tl.6iu cubit'; b) 10 l1irtdan in-a 1 kilX _~:.Jtd·-~ '10 rt . in.dan in the aJtu
cubit'; c) 15 nindan. (A fourth way of indicating the same length can
be found in Asarh. 24 Ep.34 (Borger 1956): at{u ,~uppa.rt 'a rope and a
half'.) On the other hand, the bricks in the outer wall of Etemenank~
have been ascribed to Nebuchadnezzar or his father Nabopolassar, dnd
in an inscription of Nebuchadnezzar recording a temple restoration
(VAB 4, 76; Langdon 1912) are mentioned 3 -5,[g 1-a . e.~il.'t.• Jta
--- 16 ,6U-,6,i-
~.
ra.
--
ta-am ~ mi-Xi-i~ 4i94-al.ak.na '3 square bricks of 16 fingers square,
and a half square brick'. From all this P. draws the conclusion that
the NB standard cubit of 24 fingers (':f B:§. 20/'1 30; Hilprecht 1906) ::
the a~lu cubit ~ 50 cm. (= the OB cubit), that the big cubit = the
a~a cubit = 1 1/2 standard cubit, that the ~ku in the big cubit =
(3/2)2 OB lku, etc. The last documented Occurrence of the iku in the
big cubit is on the k.UdUll.lLU of Meroda.c:h-Ba.ladc:n IT (ef Delitzsch
1894). In three out of four area calculations on the Esagila tablet,
the square ~lta n.{.ndan are transformel into seed grain-ar{'!a uni ts by
multiplying by 18. This is explainad by the Kassita-Early NB formula
(ef Langdon 1918), according to which "se~d grain" was computed at th~
rate of 3 ba.n./ ik.u :::: 18 g,1JL/XCttt (in th(~ big cubit). [Contra1:Y to what
is claimed by P., this may be rGgarded as a realistic rate of seed
grain per area unit. In f~ct, the rate is equivalent Wiel 4/3 bnn/lku
in the standard cubit, whl.ch \-1 i th 1'1/6 bii i'1/ ,{!2 Lt (c f my coumen::.:.ary to
Maekawa 1981) corrt~sponds t.o ·the COnlJt'lon nlli"nber (in Neo-Sumerian text.:::
of N = 8 furrows per nlndan.l In the standard NB seed grain-area sys-
tem (used after the middle of the seventh century B.C) one meets an-

t
 I
143

other area formula (ef the review of BE 20/1 n30 d, Hilprecht 1906).
The NB area formula is used tn the remaining area computatlon on the
Esagila tablet. (The area oE~.he base of the Eteml~nanki is computed
twice, in obv.,20-24 using the Kassit.e-Early NB formula, and in ob'!"t
1 6-1 9 us in9 the standard NB f 0rmu1a.• ) Irhus: 'we re;;;..d f in obv .. , 1 7 -1 9 :
. vI HI 3 ~
v}
3 ( 1+.6u., v" f v' \ •
U..6 3 \ 1+Jul oo.g i:_~E:.
1 .. v p - v.".V
IH/.& a...6 .:.:_:um .,t.~-Sl -~U. ~ D.v ta.-het-,.
4
3] \9; 9 a-Ita Z, 1~ k.~.:..-f ]~ nu-zu.-u. ;'(PI}Pl 6e.-nUmu.n .t-r~ 1 k.ilt tult.-
[ ••• ] I r<.-t-ga..(....\.-.{,
L.'
----~-
,'" . ()' ~. -I- .,
~;-~<e-me.-~2.n-an-:,,.,(
I"
.
.. buku.
. cl t.· •
r2.'("-.(.
--.-
b
'<~a. Y
U..o 1'."=
l~-l. .l>t:t9.] .
-
3 (6 0 ) th e'-.
side, 3 (60) the fron·t l in the £?4 ..t~ cubit; to make your computation:
3 times 3 is 9, 9 times 2 is 18, if you do not understand 18, it is
3 PI seed grain in the sm·all cubit; base of the Etemenanki; the
height is the same as the side and the front'_ Thus t in this passage,
9X60 2 square cubits are converted into 18 ~~tu = 3 PI seed grain-area
units through multiplication by the constant 2. In other words, this
means that 60 2 square cubits = 2 b~tu[bdn), or 100 square cubits =
? ---- -
1/3 gf!. Hence (100 cubit.s)'" = 33 '1/3 !L~ 5
.&utu. 3 E!!:. 3 1i3 akalu.
=:

as in BE 20/1 n30 d (since in the NB capacity system 1 ;~utu. == 6 ~ '"-

6x 10 a.ka.l.u. (n ..t.nda.) ). As shown by the compu·tation in the quoted passag".,;
this implies the strangely high seed grain to area ratio 3 PI/iku in
the big cubit, or 8 b4n/iku in the standard cubit. P. mentions also
the NB system of measuring areas »by reeds" (ef Nemet-Nejat 1975),
but wi thout going int.o any details" Ht':: nv:-:nt.ions als(j (in Appendix II~.

"Bricks as eVidence for metrology") Mesopotamian bricks of various

types as "the only survivl~g artifact for which textual evidence
attests that they incorporate r,orms oE length t area, volume" capaci t.y;.
and weight'~ [! and goes on to vCl-5.fy th.ts clal.m if:! some d.;~taiI .. Of par"'"
ticular interHst. is P .. ' s att.empt to dat.c t.he origin of the Sumero-
Akkadian brick counting system: At Girsu, for instance, the trans-
ition from the plano-(;onvex: bricks of t;he I. ate Early Dynastic III
period to flat bricks is associated with the time of Entemena. On the
other hand, the tablet !-<TC 137 (Thureau-Dangin '1 ~303) is dated by
Neugebauer and Sachs ,~ 194~, 94 n.241) B.S "pr€~-Old-i\kkadian". This
leads to the conclusion that the intricate brick counting system, as
well as other metrological ,innovdtions (PG\¥'el1 BM 3 1976) can be
dated to the beginning of the Akkad period ~ [In t:he t~xt .~~~ 137, t~~,l':::
only complete computation is in rev.I t 1-4: Xu~nJ..g:tn r (q.Xe. ) 3{~:.:.u}
3
aXag &1.g i 1(60) 331/2 GAR.Vl1g~d-b.( I dtlga..e-b..i.2I1.ilX! !'u.lwd~b£ 4 kil~,
4
which means tha·t 1 33 30 x .10 x 4 or 1 02., 20 Ko,1t vol bricks is equat,ed
with 1 eXe 3 3 iku or 900 Zan ~ig4~ This corresponds to a ~~lbanum of
14.24 brick-.6aJt/volume-XaA f or ,3, brlck volume of 1 12/14" 24 : : : 1/12

I
 2
cubit x 1/6 cubit. In other words~, i t seems likely that the bricks
in this text had the dimensions 1/3 cu.bi t x 1/4 cubit x 1/6 cubit.]
In Appendix I: "The so-called metrological table at the end of the
Esagila tablet", P. points out that the NB capacity system, which
seems to be used in the second formula of the metrological table, is
different from the Kassite capacity syst:em used in at least three of
the calculations of the main text. For this and other reasons, he
concludes that "the metrological practices were no longer intelligible
to a scribe in 229 BC" (the tablet is dated year 83 of the Seleucid
era,. but is a copy of an older.: tablet, as indicated by the phrase
I •
du.b gab-lt.,t Ba.Jt-~.ipR..l-; ef Neu.gebauer QS B 2 1932) .. [It. is possible,
however, that P.'s low estimate of the scribe·s competence is unfoun-
ded. The NB .&utu. of 6 ~ may have been used also in the first formula
of the table (ef my oorrunentary to Thureau·... Dangin. 1921}, and the super-
-ficially strange fact that the NB capacity system but the Kassite
seed grain-area formula are used in the table· may be explained by
assuming that the original tablet \tJ'as written du1.. . ing the period of
transition from the Kassite to the NB erC1e 'I'o this comes that the
standard transcription of the metrological table quoted by P .. does not
take into consideration the unconvent.ional way in which t,he formulas
of the table are wri t't.en ~ th(~ fo.cmulas have the character of mathe-
matical equati.ons.. (Vclguely s:tmllar at'€: the metrological tables dis-
cussed in Thurea.u-Dal1gin 1926 .and in §.!.tI '1 n 102 I Hunger 19; 3 .. ) There-
fore, it may be a good idea to try to give an alternative translit~­
ration of the table, in an effort to make clear how it is constructed;
18 mu-ia.,t / /1 GAI< {?} 1.1" ~" g !u~.ta~u' 2 o.~) GAR * GAR;
50 !!!!!..- t a. It. / / a- b u 1/1 .6 u..tu 3 ~. I
1 un e J('i}
. <mu."~ Xd/t> I / • . L J~ a
,.AI, 1 ( ..(r<.U.
! .{.~ h' ta.. •.9v (I ff:2J bun :
[ .;;.
\
}
--~.- ..----- ,.
6 <-ikv.. > I/! {et e.,3 J (.~.b-f~} aJ)a,g I1 j {[,'1 J PI I
3 <ete.,;> ;' Ibu~,~u.:." bu..lt¥ u.
.I /1 (gu.ft}gtUt 4 {PI) PT;
6 ( 10) b UJ[, ' U / I !!:t _.~£:s ,it~, :~,I al1..
I I. 1 me. 8 (9 u.Jt ) g U,.. ft
v' •

Note here, in particular, the confusing (not to say incorrect) way

in which the area measure .!>uJtu.: i billl.) .is Wl:'l.tten "phonetically" in the
text by use of the sign bu~tu (= 10 ba4)! The mysterious GAR.GAR (r)
in the first equation, very difficult to explain (P. is here, Iightly,
critical of the uexplanatiof}, H given in 'rhureau-Dangin ·~921), may just,
possibly be the ideogram for ~ add t \'1hich is common in OB mathemati,cal
texts. The 1 GAR (f), also in the first equ.a.t.ion, is, perhaps, t.he
name of the new area un! t 18 mu -laJt :: 1/·100 buJtu. ?]
• * * * *
 '145

I n d e x
Aaboe EEisodes 1964; JCS 19 1965, 22 1968-1969
Albe.rti OrAnt l8 '1-979
Allotte ,J A (1 0 ) 6 1 90 5; r~ 6 1 ~ 0 7; 3 P:, (1 0) 1 3 '1 9 0 9 i RA 7 '1 9 1 0 ,
de la Fuye 12 1915; DF FS'!920~ RA 25 1928,27 'i930, 29 1932
Amiaud ;}A (8)13 1889
Amiet Elam 1966; _
_._..... Archeoloqia
__ .. _ 12 "'.4A.O_~~_
1966~ MDP 43 1973; Akkadica
15 1979
Anagnostakis Centaurus 18 1973
Arch! SEb 3 1980; CRru~ (1981)[1982)
Archibald RM£ 2 1929; Is~~ 26 1936
Arnaud HA 1981
Baqir Sum~ .6 1 950, 7 1 95 1, 1 8 1 962
Barton HLC 1 1905, 2 1909
Beeker Pr-M 3 1961
Belaiew RA 26 1929
Berriman !fist.orical._~...2.!2.m:: 1953
Bertin TSBA 7 1882
Bezold Lit(~rat~ 1886;: £?t ~ 1 1889; ZA 17 1903
Biggs --
ZA 61 1971; -~~,.~
Iraa 40 1978
Birot 1.. RM.'l1 9 1 960
Blome Or 34-35 1928
Borger Bi.0x:: 1 4 1 9:) 7; HKL 1 1 967, 2! 3 1 975
Bortolotti PM 16 1936
Brandes Akkadica 18 1980
Brinkman OrNS 32 1963; gNE:S 24 1965
,
Bruins .In*dr~ 11 1949, 12 1950;' CPE 1951; ~Sume;: 7 1951; CRRA
2 1951; IndM 15 1953; RA 47 1953, Sum~! 9 1953, 10
1954; .CPJ\..~
. . _,. ,.. _ 3 (1952)1954; .Sumer
_~ _t,_' _ 11 1955;/MDP
./ . ,. ._. 34 = __.
TMS
1961; Phvsis 4 1962; CCPV 1/3 1964: Janus 53 1966:
___
10 ___. . _,__ _ _ __

gh:l.s.!.~ 9 '1967; ,R~ 62 1968;'.£.RRA 17 (1969)1970; .Janus

58 1971 r C~!n~a~~§. 17 1972-1973; ,Ja.!}US 67 1980
Buchanan JNES '15 1956
Buck AMM 87 1980
Burrows UET 2 1935
Cantor .ZMP 20 1 875: ZA 2 1 1 90 8
Caratini RA 511957
Castellino 1Yo_Sulgi .tt~~~ 1 972
Caveing H~ [1982J
Civil MS1.I 12 1969
Clay YOS 1 1 9 1 5 { B&'-'l 4 1 923
 146

Cocquerillat BiOr 22 1965

eras NFT 1910
Dahood Archives 1981
Damerow Rechens'tein 1981
David RA 25 1928
Deimel ZA 23 1909; Inschr .. Fara 1 ~-.: LA!< 1922, 2 = SF 1923
SG' 1923; Or 4 eda2 1924: ~G~939
Delaporte RA 8 1911; eeL 1 1920
3
Delitzsch ZXS 16 1878; AL 1885; BA 2 1894
Dieulafoy MAIB 39 1914
Dossin MDP 18 1927; TCL 18 1934
Draffk. Kilmer OrNS 29 1960; StOpp 1964
Drenckhahn Sumer 7 1951; ZA 50 1952
" Edzard Sumer ·15 1959; Festschr. vSoden 1968: Tell ed-Der 1970;
SEb 3 1"980
Ellis JAOS 90 1970
Ellison I_t:a-'l 43 1 981 .
Evans Script~ Minoa 1 1909, 2 1952

Fales SEb r'lY82]

Falkenstein ATU 1936;9LZ 40 1937; Sae~lum 4(2) 1953; ZA 23 1965
Figulla UET 5 1953
Fish eST 1932
Frank
Frankfort
---
StrKT '1928
OIe 20 '1936
Friberg DMG 1978=9, 1979:15, 1980:3; HM 8 1981; JCS [1982]
Fljrtsch VS 14 1916
Gadd RA: 19 1922~ "Ir~..s 16 1954; ~! 6/2 1966: JCS 211967
Gandz Al1M 33 1926;' .!si~ 12 1929, ;25 1936; Osiris 3 1937; Isi8
31 1940, 32 1947 1 ; QSiris 8 (1938)1948
Gelb MAD 5 1970
de Genouillac ITT 5 1921; PRAK 1 1924, 2 1925
Ger~man VDr 68 "1959
Gingerich TAPS 55 1965
Goetsch AHES 5 1968-1969
Goetze J'.-iC! 1945; JNES~ 5 1946; ,JeS 2 1948; Sumer 7 1951; JCS
11 1957
Goff JNES 15 1956
Goldste,in Centaurus 18 1973
Gordon
------
RA. 31 1934; Jl\OS 77 1957 (ref. in Castellino 1972)
Greellgus Ishchali 1979
 147.

Guitel RA 57 1963
Gundlach AMSH 26 1963
Gurney UET 7 1973
Hackman BIN 8 "958
Hallo BiOr 20 1963, 33 1976
Hallock ~.fSL 4 1956
Hanson MCS :2 1952
Haupt ASK'r 1882
Hilprecht Bel-T~!fi~l 1903 i B~ 20/'\ 1906
Hincks Lq 38 1854; 1B!~ 22 1854
Hirsch AfO 20 1963
Hoppe Archeion 8 1927
IUMVR 1981; KM 9 1982; IUMVR 1982
Ht)yrup
Huber
-
!!i~
--
46 1955; ~ 3 1957
Hulin JCS 17 ·1963
Hunger ~oloph~~~ 1968 (ref~ in Friberg 1981); STD 1 1973
Huot HA 1981
Hussey HSS 3 1912
'vi
Jestin TSS 1937
Jordan UVB 2 1931,3 1932
Keiser y~S 4 1919; BIN 2 1920

Kewitsch ZA 29 1915
Kienast ABUK 19 1978
King eT 1 1896 (ref~ in Thureau-Dangin 18961', 9 1900
Knuth CACM 15 1972, 19 1976
Kramer S~TN 1934 (ref~ in Sjoberg 1975); JAOS 69 19491

yE! 6/2 1966

Kugler Hl1p;-.:...Anniv. V91~>< '1 909; RA 11 1914
, 1 .~
Labat Ma~.. ('1948 )1976"
Lacheman HSS 14-16 1950-1958
Lambert, M §ume~: 9-10 1953-19.54; !~ 65 1971, 67 1973
Landsberger /' MS,!: 1 1937 f 4 1 956, ') 1 957 t !!ZK~ 56 1 960
Langdon , f)."lAD 1 911; \JSOR 1 1 9 '1 7;. RA 1 5 1 9" 8; OECT 1 1923, 2
,...,.,..~"'-- -~--

1923, 7 1928
Le Brun DAFI 8 1978
Leemans CRPA 2 1951
Leg r a in R.bs. 1 0 1 9 1 3,; MD P 1 4 1 9 1 3 i PB S 1 5 1 9 26; RA 3 2 1 9 3 5 ;
UET 3 1937+1947
Lehmann-Haupt ZA 1 1886; 8th £o~ress 2 1983: BA 2 1894; ZDMG 66 1912
Lenormant Essai 1868; Choix 1875
Lenzen UVB 20 1964, 21 1965
 148

Lepsius ZA~ 15 1877; A1H~~ 1877; LM.~~ 1884

Lewy, H RA 35 1 938; ,:!!~O~~ 64 1 944 I 67 1 947, 69 1 949; OrNS 1 8
1949, 2,0 195'1; E§..Q 39 1964
Lieberrnan AJA H4 1980
Limet ___
M~tal 1960; ~tude 1973 G._~_

Luckenbill Adab = 9IP 14 1930

Lutz AJSL 36 1920
Maekawa Z_i~bun 1 3 i 974 i P:;.Su.!"n 3 1 981
Martin UgT 5 1953
Matou~ LTBAl 1933
Matthiae Ebla 1977
de Mecquenem MDP 31 1949
Meek HSS 10 1935
v d Meer MD~ 27 1935; RA 33 1936; OECT 4 1938
Meissner z~ 7 1892; BAP 1893; OLZ 231920: AOTU 2/1 1920: SuA
2 1925
Mercer ~ 26 1928
Meriggi SC~!::9toe~. 1 197'1
Messerschmidt VS 1 1907
..
I'<ieyer Vier Jahrtausende' 1956
._---_. ----"".~-~

Michalowski OrAnt 16 1977

del Monte OrAnt 19 1980
Myhrrnan BE 3/10 1910
Nemet-Nejat ANES 7 1975
Neugebauer !~..G~lG 13 1927 ;~Gwq 1928; ,OS B '1 1929-1931; AfD 7 1931,
8 1932-1933; Q§ B 2 1932-1933; AfO 9 1933-1934; NGWG
43 1933; ~J2.Y.§.~ '13 1934~"1936 ~ .9~ B 3 1934-1936: Vor-
Si£~ecf!.~~~~h" 1934; ~E2E 12 1935; MKT 1,2 1935 (1973) ~
MT B 1937: MKT 3 1937(1973); JAOS 61 '941~
MeT 1945;
~~, 4 1945';-is±§. 371947; or;s 2
-;8 1949: ESA (1952)
1957; P~!?~107 '/963
.Nies BIN 2 ,t 920
Nikoltskii' DV 3/2 1908, 5 1915
Noldeke 2.YB 4. 1932, 5 1934
Norris 2 R 1866
Nougayrol ~;:i.~!~a 5 196H
Oppenheim OL z 4 1 '1 938; .~.!i~§' 6 1 947; CA£. B 1 956 ~ JNES 1 7 1 958
Oppert ,JA (6)20 1872, (7)4 1874;~} 11886; ZA 11886,4
1 889 ;RA 3 'J. 89 3 r 2~A 1 01 89 5; C RAI B 1 896; RA 5 1 898 ;
CRAIB 1902; ZA 17 1 ~t03
 149

Peet RMP 1923

Petschow ASAW 64 1974
Pettinato MVN 1 1974; StOr 46 1975; OrAnt 16 1977; Ebla 1979;
Archives 1981; MEE 3 1981
Picchioni OrNS 49 1980
?
Pinches ~ 1891: !\ffih~l':st 1 1908 i Hilpr .. Anni v. Vol.
C

S 1884, 4 R -'

1909; LBA~ 1955; ~T 44 1963

Poebel PBS 5 1914;. Grundzuge:, 1923
Pognon JA 1917
Pohl TMH 5 1935
Pomponio 9rAnt 19 1980; MEE 3 1981
Postgate k~ 40 1978
Pottage AHES 11- '1 2 1973
Powell SNM 1971; VL 6 1972; ~ 62 1972, 63 1973; ~ 67 1973;
JCS 25 1973 t 27 1975; H~ 3 1976; RA 70 1976; Festschr.
\/ .( Matou~ 1978; 1\OAT 203 '1979; JS~. 24 1979;JCS [1982];
ZA [1982]
Price Centaurus 10 1964
Pullan Abacus 1968
Raik UZPU 8 1953; Ocerki 1967
Rawlinson J~.S 1 5 1 85 5; 2 R 1 866, iL 2
1 875, 5 R 1 884 I 4 R 1 891
Reiner AfO 23 1970
Reisner SPAW 19 1896; ZA 11 1896; TUT 1901
Resina r.ie'trologi,~ 1960
Riftin SVYl\'f) 1937
Rundgren IJCS 9 1955
Rutten fRRA 3 (1952) 1954.; It-tDP 34 = TMS 1961
Sachs f A J BASOR 96 1 9 £14.; M9.! 1 945; JNES 5 1 946; JCS 1 i 947, 6
1~52; LBAT 1955
Safar Sumer: 7 1951
Saggs RA 54 1960
Sa1.onen Hausger:i.!-_~ 1965 i Ziegeleien 1972
Sarton 19i8 31 1939-1940
de Sarzec DC 2 1884-1912
Sayee ~a~ 1875; TSBA 4 1876i ZA 2 1887
Scheil ZA 9 1894; MDP 2 1900; SFS 1902; MOP 4 1902, 6 1905;
10 1908~ 14 1913; ~IB 39 1914; RA 12 1915, 13 1916,
15 1918; MD~ 17 1923; RA 23 1926, 26 1929, 31 1934;
MOP 26 1935; RA 35 1938

,I
 150

Schmandt-Bess. S~lS 1 1977; Sc~ 238 1978; AJA 83 1979; TaC 21 '1980;
VL 15 1981
Schmidt Centaurus 24 1980
Schneider
Schott
AnOr 1 1931; Keilschr.Zeichen 1935
QS B 2 1933
, --
Schuster QS B 1 1931
Schroeder KAV 1920
Schwenzner t·1VAG 1 9/3 1 91 5; 2!~~ 23 1 9:2 0
Segre ,JAOS 64 1964
Seidenberg AHES 2 1962-1966, 18 1978 (ref. in vdWaerden 1980)
Sj6berg JCS 24 1972; A~ 20 1975; ZA 64 1975
Slavutin IMEN 16 1974
Smith, G 1
ZXS 10 1872; ~ 1875; Athenaeum 1876
Smi.th, S CCT 5 '1956
Snell YNER S : .: Ledgers and Erices 1982 (ref. in Schwenzner
1915)
v Soden WaG 2 1936; ZDM~ 9'1 1937, 93 1939 j Sumer 8 1952: ~~~M
57 1961; St1AW 235 1960; AMSH, 26 1963:' BiOr 21 1964:
gF 3 '1971: 20 ~~-.9: 1977
Sollberger CorI2U:s 1956; fT 50 1972; MVN 5 1978: Genava 1948 (ref.
in Alberti 1979)
Speleers RIM 1925
Steele pM~ 16/2 1951
Steinkeller !~ 69 1979; :d}~~HQ 24 1981
Stephens J'CS 7 1953
Strassmeier LBl\.'I 1955
Struve Q~? B 1 192:1
Surenhagen t4DOG 1 05 1 97 3
Thompson eT 12 1901
Thureau-Dangin ~ 3 1 895; ~~; 11 1 896; g~~E! 5 '1 897; ,RA 4: 1 897 i BA 3
1898; Rite 1 1898; £.~ 17 '1903; .!3:'rc 1903; 2L~ 121909:
J A (1 0) 1 3 1 909; ~F! 1 9 "1 0 f RA 9 1 91 2; TCL 3 1 9 1 2; RA
101913, 11 1914 (ref. in Labat 1976) f 15 '1918, '18
1921; RAce 1921; RP. 19 1922; !S~ 6 1922; RA 22-35
1925-1938 (passim) f ~squi.~~~ 1932; ~r£hei.£!! 19 1937;
TM~ 1938; Osiri~ 7 1939; RA 37 1940; 9RA1B 1940
T6pperwein MDOG 105 1973
'rorczyner Altbabe Temp€.lr~~hn~ 1913 (ref. in Scheil R~ 15 1918)
tTnger FP 7 1931
Ungnad VS 11907; OLZ 1908 Beih.2, 191916; ZA 311917

i
L
 151

Valman E'Z 101955; IMI 10 1957;!f!.. 121958; VDI 1959; .:gg.13

1 960; 25~~hCongl~.E. 't 960 i TGErrn 5 1 96 i; SV~i 1961; Pr~
4 1962 i y'IFM 1963; yDr '1963 , 1972, 1974; 13th MKIN
1974; ~SH 22 (1974)1976; PY 2 1976
Vallat Pal~orient 4 1978; DAFI 8 1978
Va~c€nko-Z ..
Veselovskil TIIET 5 1955
Vetter .£?11f. (4 ) 5 1 4 1923
V.ino MEE 3 1981
Viola MBE 3 1981
Vogel AfO 8 1932-1933; pnt~ 391933; SBAvl '1934; BBIG 711935;
9.~il.:'~:~ 1 1936; ~~ 18 1958; Vorqri_~C~Math. 1-2 1958-
1959 i ~SB 7 1960; E1.~}.'tra~ 1978
Vygodskil. IMI 12 1959; Ari,frp.!!tika 1967
V d Brom _._--
Janus .. 56 1969
v d Waerden .?_,?i.~.!lce Awa&keni!!.S. 1 (1954) 1961, 2 (1966) 1974 i AHES 23
1980
Waetzoldt T t . l' . d u~t~r;~~
~~~~_1.1l,.. .'. 1 Jt1: '?i ....) ~ ~r
.... to 4'"b , 9 7 5"
Waschow AfO 8 1932-"'1933 r OS B 2 1932 . . . 1933 ~ UntM 39 1933; AfO
11 "t936, 12 1937
Weidner Babvl .. 6 1912; OLZ 19 19161' 20 1917
,,-,",~ .. . . . - . - _ _ N"""'-t.

Weiss Iran 13 "'1975

Weissbach .~.r~~Q 6 1 ,t 9 0 7 r 6 5 1 9 ~i 1; O;L Z 1 7 1 91 4; Z DMG 6 9 1 9 1 5
Wieleitner Pe;~jta
-.....-~~,.,.~.---.:~
It Sticker '1930
W.iseman CCT S 1956; ~:,~.~~. 22 1972
Woolley AtJ '1 1 927
Youn9 Iran "13 '1975
Zaccagnini Orlul!: 14 1 <17 S; 40 1978; Assur 2 1979
Zinunern OLL:' 19 1916
Zirnolong Ass .. .5;~3 1922
'It * * * *
 152

List of journals and other series of publications

AA Art and archaeology
AASH Acta antiqua Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae
AAWB Abh. der Kon~ Akad. der Wiss. zu Berlin, phil.hist. Kl.
AfO Archiv fUr. Orientforschung (Berlln/Graz/Horn) /(Berlin)
AGWG Abh. der Kon. Ges" der Wiss. zu Gottingen, hist.phil. KI.
AHES Archive for history of exact sciences (~
AHw von Soden, Akka.disches Handworterbuch
AJ The antiquaries journal (London)
AJA American jourl.1al of archa.eclogy (Bal timore)
AJSL American journal of Semitic languages and lit. (Chicago)
Akkadica publ. by Fondation Assyriol. G. Dossin (Brussels)
AMM AInerican mathematical monthly
AMSH Ahh. aus dem Math. Sem. der Univ. Hamburg (Hamburg)
ANES Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Soc. of columbia Univ.
AnOr Analecta ori.entalia (Rome) /New York
AnSt Anatolian studies (Idondon)
AOAT Alter Orient nnd altes Testament (Kevelaer/Neukirchen-V.)
AOTU Altorientalische Texte und Untersuchungen
Archeion
Archeologia
··ARMT Archives rbyales de Mari, Transkriptionen
AS Assyriological studies (Chicago)
ASAW Abh. der Sachs. Akad. der Wiss., phil.hist. RI.
ASS Archivio di storia della scienza
Assur
ASum Acta sumeiologica
Athenaeum The Athenc.:eum journal of the literature .•. (London)
BA Beitrage zur Assyriologie und semit, Sprachwiss~ (Leipzig)
Babyl. Babyloniaca, ~tudes de philol. assyro-babylonienne (Paris)
BASOR Bulletin of the American Scho(.)ls of Oriental Research (NH)
BBIG Bayerische Bl~tter far das Gymnasialschulwesen
BE The Babylonian Expedition of the Univ. of Pennsylvania
BIN Babylonian inscriptions in the ColI. of J.B. Nies (NH)
BiOr Bibliotheca orientalis (Leiden)
BRM Babylonian records in the Libr. of J. P1erpont Morgan (NH)
CACM Communi.cations of the Ass()c . for Computing Machinery
CAD The Assyrian dictionary of the Dniv. of Chicago (Chicago)
CCT Cuneiform texts from the Cappadocian tablets in the BM
Centaurus Intern. magazine of the history of scie~ce ... (Copenhagen)
8thCongr. Actes du huiti~me congr. intern. des orientalistes
25thCongr .. Trudy dvadcat' --pyatogo mezdun. kongr" vostokovedov
CPD ~es conf~rences du Palais de la DAcouverte (Paris)
CPMF Ca.sopLs pro PE~~tovan! matematiky a fysiky (Prague)
eRA-IB Comptes rendus.,.... Acad.. des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres
CRRA Compte rendu de la .... rencontre assyr. intern.
c ..
eT Cuneiform texts from Babylonlan tablets in the BM (LonaOr;)
DAF! Cahiers de la DA16gation Arch~ol. Fran~aise en Iran (Par1s)
DMG Department of mathematics eTH-GU (Goteborg)
20.D.Or.Tag xx. Deutscher Orientalistentag (Erlangen)
DV Drevnosti vostocnyya
EM Llenseignement math€matique
EV Epigrafika vostoka
FF Forschungen und Fortschritte
HA Histoire et arch~ologie
HKL Borger, Handbuch der Keilschriftliteratur
HM Historia mathematica (Toronto)
HSS Harvard Semitic series (Cambridge, Massv)
HUCA Hebrew Union College Annual (Cincinnati)
IMEN Istoriya i metodologiya estestvennyh nauk
I
i\
 153
IMI Istoriko-matemati~eskie issledovaniya
IndM Indagationes ffiathema"ticae (Ken. Nederl. Akad. van Wet.)
Iran Journal of the British Inst. of Persian Studies (London)
Iraq (London)
Isis
ITT Inventaire des tabletces de Tello (Paris)
IUMVR Inst. for udd'::innelsesforskning ..• (Roskilde)
JA tJournal e.siaticple (Paris)
Janus Revue intern. de l~histoire des sciences (Leiden)
JAOS Journal of t~e A~erjGa~ Ori8ntal Society (New York/New H.)
JCS aournaJ of cune'l E<:>rm. gt"udies (New Haven)
JESHO Journa]. of th.e ,~::(;ncmic and social. hist. of the Orient
JNES Journal of near castarn studies (Chicago) !(Leiden)
JRAS Journal of the Royal Asiatic Soc. of Gr. Br. and Ireland
JSOR Journal o~ the Soc. of Oriental Research (Chicago/Toronto)
JSS Journal of Semitic studies (Manchester)
KDVSM Det Kg] .. Dan.s.ke V.:i.densk" Selskab, mat.fys. medd. (Copenh.)
LG The literary gazette journal of science and art
l
I.lfrBA Die lexikalischen Tafelserien der Babylonier und Assyrer
MAD Materials for the Assyrian dictionary (Chicago)
MAlB M€moire~, Acad. des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres (Paris)
MCS Manchester cuneiform studies (Manchester)
MDOG Mitteilungen der deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft (Berlin)
MOP Memoires de la delesration/rnission archeol. en/de Perse/ •• ~
MEE Material! epigrafici di Ebla (Naples)
13thMKIN Trudy XIII mezdunarodn . kongr. po istorii nauk1
MN Mathemat~sche Nachrichten
MpSB Mathem .. -Physik. Semes'ter-Berichte
MSL Materialien zurr~ sumerischen I.l€xikon (Rome)
MVAG Mitteilungen der Vorderasiat. Gesellschaft (Berlin)
MT Matematisk tidsskrift (Copenhagen)
Nature
NGt1G Nachrichten der Gesellschaft der Wiss. zu G6ttingen
OECT Oxford editions of cuneiform texts (Oxford)
Ole Oriental Institute publications (Chicago)
Or Orientalin. (Rome)
OrAnt Or.lens ant5. y uus (Rorne}
OrNS Orientalia, i ~·Nova scn:ies (Rome)
Osiris
Paleori.ent
PAPS Proceedinrys of the runerican Philos~ Soc. (Philadelphia)
PBS Publi.c.3t1C;ns of thE-~ Babyloni.a.n Section , the Univ. Museum
Physis Rivista intern. di storia della scienza (Florence)
PM Periodico d1 matemati~a
PrM Praxis der Mathematik
RA Revue cl' assyriologie ~:t d larch€ologie orientale (Paris)
RSem Revue semitique cl t epigI:aph:i.e et d' histoire anciennes
Saeculum (v' f\.A.. ~ v. t).--..Ir-\
SBAW Sitzungsberichte deL Bayer~ Akad. der Wiss.~ phil.hist.Abt.
SeAm Scientifj.c American
SEh Stud.i eblaiti (RoYnG)
SMS Syro-Mesopotam:Lan stunies
SPAW Sitzungsberichte der Preuss. Akad. der Wiss., phil.h. Rl.
StOr Stud:i..a Orit'nt.alia (Helsinki) I (Berlin)
STU Sp§tbabylonische Texte aus Uruk (Wien)
Sumer (Baghdad)
stlAW Sitzunqsberichte der ~sterr. Akad. der Wiss., phil.h. Kl.
TaC Technoiogy and culture (Chicago) . /Wien
TAPS Transactions of the American Philos. Sac .. (Ph~ladelphia)
TCL Textes cun'iformes, Mus~e du Louvre (Paris)
TGErm Trudy Gosudarstv~ Ermita!a (Leningrad)
TIIET 'l'rudy insti.tut,~ istor:tl, estestvoz.n. i tehniki (Muscow)
 154

TMH Texte und Materialien der Frau Hilorecht ColI. (Jena)

TRIA Transactions of the Royal Irish Ac~d. (Dublin)
TSBA Transactions of the Soc. of Biblical Archaeology (London)
UET Ur excavations, texts (London)
UF Ugarit-Forschungen (Kevelaer/Neukirchen-Vluyn)
UMB The University Museum, Bulletin (Philadelphia)
UntM Unterrichtsblitter fUr Mathematik ~ ••
UVB Vorlaufiger Bericht Uber die .~. in Uruk/Warka .•• (Berlin)
UZPU U~enye zapiski Mordovskogo gosudarstv~ univ. (Permsk.univ.)
VDI Vestnik drevnel istorii (Moscow) VC0.-hi.., ~
-vs Vl Vorderasiat. Schriftdenkmaler der KonIgl.. Mu~~Berlin}
YNER Yale Near Eastern researches (New Haven)
~OS Yale oriental series (New Haven)
WaG Die Welt als Geschichte
WZKM Wiener Zeitschrift fUr die Kunde des Morgenlandes (Wien)
ZA Zeitschrift fUr Assyriologie (Bexlin/Leipzig)
Z}{S Zeitschrift fur }tgypt.ische Sprache una Altertumskunde{_n-)
ZDMG Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenl. Ges~ (Leipzig/Stuttg.)
Zinbun Memoi.rs of the research inst. for human. studies (Kyoto)
ZMP Zeitschrift. fUr Mathematlk und Physik
* .. .. * *
 155

Postscript
In my studies of Sumero-Akkadian mathematics and metrology, etc.,
which finally led me to the writing of the preceding survey and biblio-
graphy, I was~ at least to begin with, severely handicapped by the fact
that I lacked not only formal schooling in assyriology but also ready
recourse to an assyriological research library. If I have now, to some
extent, been able to overcome this double handicap, it is thanks to the
generous and unselfish help from many persons and institutions I have
come in contact with~ It is, therefore, a pleasure for me to acknowledge
in this way, first of all, my gratefulness to the following friends and
colleagues: A.Aaboe, C.Anagnostakis, B.Andr~-Leicknam, A.Archi, R.Borger,
E.M.Bruins, R.e.Buck, P .. Damerow, H.W.Dauben, V.Donbaz, D.O .. Edzard, M.
Elat~ B.Foster, O.Gurney, G.Haayer, W.W.Hallo, H.Hirsch, J.H~yrup, P.

Huber, P.Hulin, H.Hunger, B.Ismail, L.Jakob-Rost, J.Klein, C.C.Lamberg-

Karlovsky, S.J.Lieberman, W.L!ttman, K.A.Lohf, P.Matthiae, P.Michalowski-
H.J.Nissen, J.Oelsner, O.Neugebauer, E.R.Phl11ips, S.A.Picchioni, M.A.
Powell, F.ar-Rawi, M.D.Roaf, W"H.Ph.Romer, D.. Schmandt-Besserat, o.
Schmidt, A.Shaffer, A.W.Sjoberg, W.vSoden, P.Steinkeller, A.A.Varman,
K.Vogel, B.L.vdl'Jaerden, H.Waetzoldt, C.B.F.Walker, H.Weiss, A.Westenholz,
and D.J.Wiseman. I am, further, grateful for having been given access
to libraries and to collections of cuneiform texts in Berlin, Chicago,
Copenhagen, Heidelberg, London r Paris, New Haven, and elsewhere, as well
as for the manifold services rendered by the central libraries of th~
Chalmers Institute of Technology and the University of G8teborg. Last
but not least, I want to thank for the financial support from the De-
partment of mathematics at~ CTH-GU I G,oteborg, and from the following
research funds: Anna Ahrenbergs fond for vetenskapliga m.fl. ~ndamAl,
Association franco-su~doise pour: la Recherche, Rungl. och Hvitfeldtska
StipendieinrKttningen, Rungl. Vetenskaps- och Vltterhetss!llskapet i
G6teborg, and L~ngmanska Kulturfonden.
* * * .. *