Editing Cubit (section)

==Ancient Mesopotamian units of measurement==
[[File:Nippur cubit.JPG|thumb|upright=1.5|The Nippur cubit-rod in the [[Istanbul Archaeology Museums|Archeological Museum]] of [[Istanbul]], Turkey]]
[[Ancient Mesopotamian units of measurement]] originated in the loosely organized city-states of [[Early Dynastic Period of Sumer#Early Dynastic period|Early Dynastic]] [[Sumer]].  Each [[city]], [[Monarchy|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 of Akkad|Naram-Sin]], but fell into disuse after the Akkadian Empire dissolved.  The standard of Naram-Sin was readopted in the [[Third Dynasty of Ur|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.

The Classical Mesopotamian system formed the basis for [[Elam]]ite, Hebrew, [[Urartu|Urartian]], Hurrian, Hittite, [[Ugarit]]ic, [[Phoenicia]]n, Babylonian, Assyrian, Persian, Arabic, and Islamic metrologies.<ref>Conder 1908, p. 87.</ref>{{full citation needed|date=July 2018}} The Classical Mesopotamian System also has a proportional relationship, by virtue of standardized commerce, to [[Bronze Age]] Harappan and Egyptian metrologies.

In 1916, during the last years of the [[Ottoman Empire]] and in the middle of [[World War I]], the German [[Assyriology|assyriologist]] [[Eckhard Unger]] found a copper-alloy bar while excavating at Nippur. The bar dates from {{circa|2650&nbsp;BCE}} and Unger claimed it was used as a measurement standard. This irregularly formed and irregularly marked graduated rule supposedly defined the Sumerian cubit as about {{convert|518.6|mm|in|frac=32|abbr=on}}.<ref name=acta/>

There is some evidence that cubits were used to measure angular separation.  The Babylonian Astronomical Diary for 568–567 BCE refers to Jupiter being one cubit behind the elbow of Sagittarius.  One cubit measures about 2 degrees.<ref>Steele, John M., ''A Brief Introduction to Astronomy in the Middle East'' (SAQI, 2008), pp. 41–42.  Steele does not elaborate on the relationship between the cubit as a unit of length and a unit of angular separation.</ref>