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116 SUMERJAN GRAMMAR
larging the sign for 'one' '. In the cuneiform scri pt the original posi­
tion was maintained, hence r represents the first unit of the sexagesimal
system from the period of Dungi onward. The next higher order is
obtained by multiplying the units 'ten' and 'sixty'=600, represented by
placing the circle = 10 within the large elongated semicircle = 60, as in
AO. 4238 obv.1I 1,01' partly within as in REC. 488, cuneiform t. This
unity multiplied by the sexagesimal unit 'six', gave the next higher
order 3,600, written with the sign for 'ten', enlarged • which became
O and finally a· 3,600 multiplied by 10 = 36,000, is represented
by the large circle (3,600) with the smaller circle (10) placed within,
IiEC. 490, cuneiform t:1>' This in turn multiplied by six gave the
highest number yet found in classical Sumerian, Le., 216,000, appar­
ently represented by gunifying the sign for 36,0003• It will be noted
that the system is really a combination of the sexagesimal and decimal
systems, the various ascending orders being obtained by the alternating
multipliers6and 10. The progression isI. 10.60.3,600.36,000.216,000'.
§ 171. A secondary system of writing the digits 1-8 arose by retain­
ing the sign for 'one' in the original upright position 01' by carrying
out the process of inclining the sign only partialIy. In the earliest
cuneiform script 'one' appears arrested as \ which soon regained its
original position r. The scribes employed both t and \ , r for' one',
DD and ~, n, for 'two' etc., side by side in the classical period, employing
the secondary system for special purposes, especially to denote
lower orders of a system of measures. Thus in TSA. no.1, an inscrip'
tion of the period of Lugalanda, we find D before ~n~(duk), a measure
of wine = 20 ¿ea, but \ before ~ (/nír), a small measure containing
1. The sign for 'sixtJ' has not been founcl in the earliest inscriptions, but the
upright position of the unit 'one' was reservecl for 60 [m or 1/5 of a [Ju!' in al! periods
ancl oceurs on the Blau Monuments, eL REC. 497.
2. HJLPRECHT, BE. XX, pl. 17 obv. col. IV 3.
3, REC. 491.
4. For higher orders attainecl by the Babylonian mathematicians, v. HILPRECHT,
l. C., 26.
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