Ancient Weight and Measures

Ancient Weight and Measures
Measurement, fundamental in science, had had its origin in trade and construction. The values of weights and measures in the Ancient East are known either from the actual instruments or from other sources, units of the same name differing considerably in value from place to place.

The oldest known stone weights are from a Sumerian temple at Lagash (about 3000 BC), each inscribed, “1 mana, Dudu High priests,” – in our scale about one ounce.

A later Assyria scale included the shekel, the mana = 60 shekels (about 1.1 lb.), and the talent = 60 mana.

The early Sumerian carpenters used a scale of digits equaling 0.65 inch.

The Babylonian cubit (form-arm) was 20.6 inches in our measure, and was divided into 30 digits.

The higher units were sexagesimal, ending in a parasang, or league, of about 3.5 English miles.

The Egyptian used decimal systems of weights and measures. The largest unit of weight, for measuring wheat, was about two pounds.

The cubit of the Pyramid Age, nearly the same length as the Babylonian cubit, was divided into hundredths.

But apparently for the convenience of workmen, the scale was usually marked also approximately into 7 palms, a palm being 4 digits.

The two systems were incommensurate, like our yard and meter.
Ancient Weight and Measures