Si.427: Difference between revisions
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== Provenance and Dating == |
== Provenance and Dating == |
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Si.427 was unearthed during the French expedition at Tell Abu Habba in 1894, and deposited at the Musée impérial de Constantinople, now the [[Istanbul Archaeology Museums|İstanbul Arkeoloji Müzeleri]]. |
Si.427 was unearthed during the French expedition by [[Jean-Vincent Scheil|Jean-Vincent Scheil]] at Tell Abu Habba in 1894, and deposited at the Musée impérial de Constantinople, now the [[Istanbul Archaeology Museums|İstanbul Arkeoloji Müzeleri]]. |
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The tablet is believed to have been written during the [[First Babylonian Dynasty]] because it contains standard contractual phrases that were commonly used at this time. It further references Sîn-bēl-apli, a personage that is well attested to in contemporary Sippar.<ref name="Mansfield92" /> |
The tablet is believed to have been written during the [[First Babylonian Dynasty]] because it contains standard contractual phrases that were commonly used at this time. It further references Sîn-bēl-apli, a personage that is well attested to in contemporary Sippar.<ref name="Mansfield92" /> |
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== Early Work == |
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Scheil's archeological dig records refer to item "427. Tablette cadastrale". <ref>{{cite book |last1=Scheil |first1=Vincent |title=Une saison de fouilles à Sippar. Mémoires publiès par les membres de l’Institut français d’archéologie orientale du Caire 1. |date=1902 |publisher=Imprimerie de l’Institut français d’archéologie orientale.}}</ref> and reference a sketch of the object that was published in 1895 <ref>{{cite journal |last1=Scheil |first1=Vincent |title=Notes d’épigraphe et d’archèologie Assyriennes. |journal=Recueil de travaux |date=1895 |volume=17 |issue=33 |page=33}}</ref>. The sketch omits several important details that are apparent from more modern photographs. |
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Based on Scheil's sketch, Veenhof published a footnote which suggested that Si.427 was a "mathematical problem text, detailing with the surface area of a field divided into 11 pieces", admitting that "a full understanding of its contents would require a new photograph" which was not available at the time.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Veenhof |first1=K. |title=An Old Babylonian Purchase of Land in the de Liagre Böhl Collection. Pp. 359–79 in Symbolae biblicae et Mesopotamicae Francisco Mario Theodoro de Liagre Böhl dedicatae |date=1973 |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden}}</ref> |
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== Contents == |
== Contents == |
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Revision as of 10:46, 8 August 2021
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Si.427 is a Babylonian clay tablet from Sippar in Northern Mesopotamia dating from 1900 to 1600 BCE, notable for containing accurate perpendicular lines and Pythagorean rectangles. The tablet is currently on display at the Museum of the Ancient Orient, part of the İstanbul Arkeoloji Müzeleri. The tablet dates from the Old Babylonian (OB) period and was discovered in the late 19th century in what is now central Iraq. According to Daniel Mansfield from the University of New South Wales, “Si.427 is about a piece of land that’s being sold”. The text contains three Pythagorean triples: 8, 15, 17; and 5, 12, 13 (twice) and predates the Greek mathematician Pythagoras by more than 1,000 years.[1] It is the only known example of a cadastral document from the OB period and among the oldest known mathematical artifacts.[2]
Provenance and Dating
Si.427 was unearthed during the French expedition by Jean-Vincent Scheil at Tell Abu Habba in 1894, and deposited at the Musée impérial de Constantinople, now the İstanbul Arkeoloji Müzeleri.
The tablet is believed to have been written during the First Babylonian Dynasty because it contains standard contractual phrases that were commonly used at this time. It further references Sîn-bēl-apli, a personage that is well attested to in contemporary Sippar.[3]
Early Work
Scheil's archeological dig records refer to item "427. Tablette cadastrale". [4] and reference a sketch of the object that was published in 1895 [5]. The sketch omits several important details that are apparent from more modern photographs.
Based on Scheil's sketch, Veenhof published a footnote which suggested that Si.427 was a "mathematical problem text, detailing with the surface area of a field divided into 11 pieces", admitting that "a full understanding of its contents would require a new photograph" which was not available at the time.[6]
Contents
The text is a cadastral survey concerning a field belonging to Sîn-bēl-apli. The field measures 1 bur 1 eŝe 4 iku 33 sar (approx. 25 acres) at first, and is reduced by the purchase of 7 eŝe (approx. 6 acres). The extent of the marshy region, or "water meadows", is particularly important and the text prominently states that 1 bur GANA 45 sar (approx. 16 acres) is water meadows. The actual locations of the water meadows and purchased area are not specified, but can be deduced by correlating their areas to the sketch.
There is a table of numbers on the reverse of the tablet which contains the results of area calculations. Remarkably, this table shows that the original field was surveyed twice: once with shapes that have a horizontal alignment, and a second time with shapes that have a vertical alignment.
| 18,53;20 | 6,3;55 |
| 5,24;50 | 28;44 |
| 1,7;30 | 8,30;45 |
| 4,33 | 1,7;30 |
| 46;10 | 51;35,30 |
| broken | 1,5;37,30 |
The text ends with the number 24,29 written in large numerals. The meaning of this number is unknown.[7][3][8]
See also
References
- ^ Lu, Donna (4 Aug 2021). "Australian mathematician discovers applied geometry engraved on 3,700-year-old tablet". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 Aug 2021.
- ^ Mansfield, Daniel F. (2021-08-03). "Plimpton 322: A Study of Rectangles". Foundations of Science. doi:10.1007/s10699-021-09806-0. ISSN 1572-8471.
- ^ a b Mansfield, Daniel F. (January 2020). "Perpendicular Lines and Diagonal Triples in Old Babylonian Surveying". Journal of Cuneiform Studies. 72: 92. doi:10.1086/709309.
- ^ Scheil, Vincent (1902). Une saison de fouilles à Sippar. Mémoires publiès par les membres de l’Institut français d’archéologie orientale du Caire 1. Imprimerie de l’Institut français d’archéologie orientale.
- ^ Scheil, Vincent (1895). "Notes d'épigraphe et d'archèologie Assyriennes". Recueil de travaux. 17 (33): 33.
- ^ Veenhof, K. (1973). An Old Babylonian Purchase of Land in the de Liagre Böhl Collection. Pp. 359–79 in Symbolae biblicae et Mesopotamicae Francisco Mario Theodoro de Liagre Böhl dedicatae. Leiden: Brill.
- ^ Mansfield, Daniel F. (January 2020). "Perpendicular Lines and Diagonal Triples in Old Babylonian Surveying". Journal of Cuneiform Studies. 72: 87–99. doi:10.1086/709309.
- ^ Scheil, Vincent; Woestenburg, E. (1998). "Index Personal Names Old Babylonian "Sippar"". unpublished manuscript: 264–5.
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