Ancient Mesopotamian units of measurement

Ancient Mesopotamian units of measurement originated in the loosely organized city-states of Early Dynastic Sumer. Each city, kingdom and trade guild had its own standards until the formation of the Akkadian Empire when Sargon of Akkad issued a common standard. This standard was improved by Naram-Sin, but fell into disuse after the Akkadian Empire dissolved. The standard of Naram-Sin was readopted in the Ur III period by the Nanše Hymn which reduced a plethora of multiple standards to a few agreed upon common groupings. Successors to Sumerian civilization including the Babylonians, Assyrians, and Persians continued to use these groupings. Akkado-Sumerian metrology has been reconstructed by applying statistical methods to compare Sumerian architecture, architectural plans, and issued official standards such as Statue B of Gudea and the bronze cubit of Nippur. The systems that would later become the classical standard for Mesopotamia were developed in parallel with writing during Uruk Period Sumer (c. 4000 BCE). Studies of protocuneiform indicate twelve separate counting systems used in Uruk. Sexagesimal System S used to count slaves, animals, fish, wooden objects, stone objects, containers. Sexagesimal System S' used to count dead animals, certain types of beer Bi-Sexagesimal System B used to count cereal, bread, fish, milk products Bi-Sexagesimal System B* used to count rations GAN2 System G used to count field measurement ŠE system Š used to count barley by volume ŠE system Š' used to count malt by volume ŠE system Š" used to count wheat by volume ŠE System Š* used to count barley groats EN System E used to count weight U4 System U used to count calendrics DUGb System Db used to count milk by volume DUGc System Db used to count beer by volume In Early Dynastic Sumer (c. 2900–2300 BCE) metrology and mathematics were indistinguishable and treated as a single scribal discipline. The idea of an abstract number did not yet exist, thus all quantities were written as metrological symbols and never as numerals followed by a unit symbol.