594 A SKETCH OF BABYLONIAN SOCIETY. 



measures that had been evolved similar to the German joch, morgen, 

 etc. — that is, according to the gur, 1 or the real unit of capacity, which 

 about corresponds to the German wispel (24 Berlin bushels). Accord- 

 ing to this, a piece of land was designated by the amount which could 

 be sowed upon it. Naturally, the ancient method must have been per- 

 fected under advanced conditions into a fixed measure of extent; it 

 appears that generally a subdivision of the gur — namely, one- tenth of a 

 qa (that is, one eighteen-hundredth of the gur), with the ideographic 

 denotation sha. hi. a, of which I do not know the pronunciation — was 

 fixed as a certain extent of land, which then passed as a unit of measure. 

 It is not yet possible to say anything quite definite as to the size of this 

 unit of measure; Oppert's calculation rests upon false premises. The 

 celebrated assyriologist begins with the unit of linear measure, the ell, 

 and is naturally compelled to construct besides the usual ell a much 

 longer one for land measurement. I believe that I am able to come 

 nearer the truth by a conjecture. If the ground area of a house is 

 measured, it is done by the construction from the linear measure 

 gi=qanu, (reed, i. e. rod) =7 u (u=aumiatu=an ell) of a unit of surface 

 measure, namely, gi. u, that is, a surface of which one side was 7 ells, 

 the other, 1 ell long. This construction was carried to such extent 

 that, if there were subdivisions, these were computed according to the 

 surface unit gi. shu. si, qanu, uban (bohen) (mehri haben) = inch; the 

 unit of measure was accordingly divided into parts, of which one side, 

 equal to 7 ells, remained invariable, while the other side was one or 

 more inches in length. It seems to me now, that the procedure was 

 of like nature in the construction of the surface unit for agricultural 

 land. Since u ( = ammatu) is to be taken as a fundamental unit, 

 according to the accounts of several documents, this ell of land will 

 denote a piece of land, of which the short side was equal to 1 ell, while 

 the long side, however, extended as far as was necessary in order that 

 one sha. hi. a might be sowed upon it. 



W© do not learn very much about the real activity of the peasants. 

 The ground was broken, watered after the sowing, guarded against 

 injury from birds or herds, and the fences around the tracts kept in 

 order. The duty of watching and putting the ditches in order is many 

 times emphasized in the documents of lease. About the harvests and 

 the manner of gathering them there is almost nothing to be gained 

 from the inscriptions. 



In the Babylon of Nebuchadnezzar II, the main harvest of grain was 

 in Airu (the Hebrew Iyyar); for dates, in Arah-samna (the Hebrew 

 Marheshwan), It is many times stipulated in the contracts that the 

 grain or the dates to be delivered should be brought to the city by 

 boat, and then delivered either into storehouses or granaries on the 



1 1 gur originally equaled a camel ioad; imir, the Mih part of it, equaled an ass' 

 load. 



