| Letter Of Nanse |
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The letter of Nanše is one of the first international attempts to agree on common standards of measure "to weigh silver with standard weights" and to "standardize the size of reed baskets." Over a period of several millennia international trade and commerce spread the idea of standards of measure based on definitions of land and Property throughout the ancient near east. Michael Roaf 's "Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia" gives a good time line for these development's and Ken Kitchen has discussed dating by the form of the contract being used in the BAR. In Mesopotamia the problem was that there were several different standards so in the Time of Gudea an agreement was circulated between the various city states much like that which is presently being negotiated in Europe. International trade required the expansion of the arrangement throughout the Ancient Near East as a common standard much like our Metric System. The basis of the standard was a Sexagesimal definition of a Geographic degree divided into 600 parts know as stadia which were further divided into 600 feet. A hymn to Nanše (Nanše A) : 232-240. At the house which has been granted powers from the Abzu , : in Sirara , the gods of Lagash (Lagaš) gather around her. : To weigh silver with standard weights, : to standardise the size of reed baskets, : they establish an agreed ban measure throughout the countries. : The shepherd, the expert of the Land, the wise one (?) of the countries, : Ištaran , who decides lawsuits justly, who lives in the Land …… Ningshishzida ……. : 2 lines unclear : 241-250. To weigh silver with standard weights : to standardise the size of reed baskets, : they establish an agreed ban measure throughout the countries. …… : of (?) all the great rites. : 1 line unclear : After …… in (?) the established storerooms, : the lady of the storerooms …… her lofty …… : with (?) vessels with ever-flowing water and : with (?) …… of (?) reed containers which never become empty, : she ordered her herald, lord Ḫendursaĝa to make them profitable (?). : 232. e2 abzu-ta me nam-ta-ba : 233. siraraki-ce3 dijir lagacki-a gu2 mu-un-na-si-si : 234. na4 gen6-na kug la2-e-de3 gi-gur gen6-na gub-bu-de3 : 235. jicba-an inim gen6-na kur-kur-ra {Link without Title} ba-an-ja2-ja2-ne : 236. sipad mas-su kalam-ma X jal2 kur-kur-ra : 237. dictaran /di\ si sa2-a /kalam\-a til3-la-am3 : 238. KA X X dnin-jic-zid-da-ke4 [... /mi\-ni-in-dab5 : 239. {Link without Title} X si im-sa2-e-de3 : 240. {Link without Title} X ib2-ta-ba-ba-e : 241. gen6-na kug /la2\-e-de3 gi-gur gen6-na gub-bu-de3 : 242. inim gen6-na kur-kur-ra cu ba-ja2-ja2-ne : 243. mah-a mar-za gal-[gal-la -/kam\ : 244. {Link without Title} X A cu? CUL jic X GA : 245. {Link without Title} -ra erim3 jar-jar-ra : 246. {Link without Title} dug a nu-silig-ge-dam : 247. {Link without Title} gipisaj-a / muc3\ nu-tum2-mu-da : 248. {Link without Title} nin erim3-ma-ke4 : 249. {Link without Title} mah-a-ni um-mi-in-jar /ku\-dun-bi tuku-tuku-da : 250. en dhendur-saj-ja2 [a2 -bi mu-da-an-aj2 : 251. me-zu me mah-am3 [me-a /dirig\-ga-am3 : 252. dnance me-zu me na-me nu-un-ga-an-da-sa2 : 253. {Link without Title} lugal-e igi hul2-la-ni mu-un-ci-bar-bar-re : 254. den-lil2-da barag nam tar-re-da mu-un-da-an-tuc-a : 255. a-a den-ki-ke4 nam i-ri-in-tar : 256. dnance dumu eridugki-ga tud-da za3-mi2- {Link without Title} dug3-ga-am3 The First Standards were Established by Traders Standards are essentially a way of giving exchange rates or value to definitions of property so land can be exchanged for silver or grain or olive oil without a lot of bickering over price. The Greek root of ''stadios'' means to stand or have standing, to establish a standard. The ability of a quay, Agora or souk to act as a market and do business depends on the security of its standards from corruption, counterfeit and fraud. The Greek word "Mesopotamia" covers a period from c 4500 BC up to the present day. International trade between Mesopotamia and points as far south as India began during the period known as the Jemdat Nasr. In Egypt its the Old Kingdom, In Greece the Mycenean period, In Europe its slightly after the Iceman and well before the Celts The extent of the influence of Indo-European and Afro-Asiatic weights and measures should be considered comparable to the extent of the language groups. In a period when literacy was almost entirely reserved to scribes, and the scribes were multicultural, its not so much the individual political groups we want to look at here as the commercial consensus of the international courts of scribes on a common standard. The European system derives from the Roman, derives from the Greek. The Greek system derives from the Hittite, derives from the Hurrian. The Old Persian derives from the Elamite, and all of those derive from The Akkadian system which adopts the Sumerian which goes back at least to the Jemdat Nasr. The Egyptian system is an independent Nubian invention modified in the Naquada II period to agree with the trading standards in use in Byblos, Sideon, Tyre and Crete. In Caanan an international standard was developed at URU URU salaam KI this elysian field of peace and sweet smells was an emporia where all the foreign spice merchants met to take the Egyptians gold. In return for the Egyptian's nub or nubian gold, the People of Kadesh, Caanan and Petra traded bitumen, balsaam, juniper oil, petrochemicals, purple dyes, silks and leather, papyrus paper, frankincense and myhr from the Erythrian sea. Caanan and Lebanon were primary soures for the materials the Egyptians needed to mummify their dead, and for the cedar they used to build their boats and provide scaffolds, cribbing and lifting booms for their pyramids. All this trade across the Red Sea and throughout the Mediterranean traces back well before the domineance of Mari in the time of Shamsi Adad and Naram Sin Questions of who decides whats a fair market value and whose cities standards to use are still being negotiated today. |
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