Untouchable or Unrepeatable? The Upper End of the Old Babylonian Metrological Systems for Capacity and Area

This article re-examines the cuneiform evidence for the upper end of the Old Babylonian metrological systems for capacity and area. We demonstrate that the reading 1(sar 2 ) gal su nu-tag "one large sar 2 that the hand cannot touch" is not supported by that evidence, and show instead that the phrase's final sign is not tag but gi 4 "return" or "repeat". We then consider several likely interpretations of this reading, arguing that the size of the largest units in both systems is probably sixty times smaller than previously assumed, but nevertheless more than adequate for practical needs. Editions of two important metrological cuneiform texts are appended.