Article

La notation des fractions dans la documentation de l'époque des derniers šakkanakkū de Mari

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Abstract

New administrative documents from the end of the sakkanakkus' period (19th century BC) allowed us to better understand the use of MA'S (1/2) and IGI.4(dis) (1/4), and to identify new graphemes AS and AS.AS to express the fractions 1/3 and 2/3. Like MA'S and IGI.4(dis), the graphemes AS and AS.AS are numeric logograms that always precede the item they quantify. These graphemes for the fraction 1/3 and 2/3 do not have any parallel in contemporary Mesopotamian traditions. Are these graphemes an innovation or a legacy from an older tradition? As the graphic tradition of the end of the sakkanakkus' period has many archaic features, our purpose was to examine the graphemes for these fractions in the earlier traditions of the third millennium (Early Dynastic and Old Akkadian Periods) in northern and southern Mesopotamia. A relationship to graphemes SA(10)xAS and SA(10)xAS.AS expressing 1/3 GIN(2) and 2/3 GIN(2) in the southern Mesopotamian texts dated to EDIII seems possible.

How to Cite:

Colonna D'istria, L., (2015) “La notation des fractions dans la documentation de l'époque des derniers šakkanakkū de Mari”, Akkadica 136(2), 103–125. doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/akkadica.96776

Rights:

 © The author