II.

Babylonian Civilization

A. Location, Area and Old Map

Babylon is an ancient cultural region

occupying southeastern Mesopotamia

between the two great rivers, Tigris and

Euphrates (Saggs, n.d.). It was one of the

most famous cities of antiquity. The town of

Ancient Babylon was located along the

Euphrates River in the present-day Iraq,

about 50 miles south of the present-day

Baghdad (Augustyn, n.d.). The Babylonians Figure 1. Old Map of Mesopotamia where Babylon belongs.

were Semitic people who invaded Mesopotamia and defeating the Sumerians and by about 1900

BC establishing their capital at Babylon (ibid.). Today, little is known of the city’s actual origins

and the scope of its empire.

The city of Babylon rose to prominence in the 18 th century B.C. when, through a

combination of political alliances and military

campaigns, their leader Hammurabi was able to

unite a large state under his rule (Saggs, n.d) .

After Hammurabi conquered neighboring city-

states, he brought much southern and central

Mesopotamia under unified Babylonian rule,

creating an empire Babylonia. Hammurabi turned

Figure 2. Map showing the city of Babylon
Babylon into a powerful and influential city. He created one of the world’s most complete and

earliest written legal code known as the Code of Hammurabi which helped Babylon surpassed

other nearby city states in the region (Saggs, n.d).

Babylonia, however, was short-lived. The empire fell apart after Hammurabi’s death and

reverted back to a small kingdom for several centuries. Despite of the short-lived glory of the

Babylonian civilization, it has nevertheless made substantial contributions in the various fields of

history, engineering, writing, arts, trade and crafts and most importantly in the field of

mathematics which is the

focus of this paper. It is

important to delve into the

history of the Babylonian

civilization that led to the

formulation and of their

writing and counting

Figure 3. Present-day Babylon (Baghdad, Iraq)
system that helped mold

our present-day Mathematics.

The information we have regarding Babylonian

mathematics comes from clay tablets. Although

approximately half a million of these tablets have been

discovered since the beginning of the 1800s, fewer than five

hundred are mathematical in nature (Teresi, 2002). The

majority of these five hundred tablets are dated between the

years 1800 and 1600 B.C. It was not until the end of the 19th

Figure 4. Stone Tablet

century, however, that numerous Sumerian and Babylonian measurement texts were translated

(Teresi,2002). The script that was used on the clay tablets is called cuneiform script and the texts

were written in the Babylonian language, which is a dialect from the Akkadian that is Semitic in

nature and is closely related to the classical Arabic and Hebrew languages. The secret for the

great preservation of these Babylonian tablets lies in the manner in which the information was

written. The scripts were written on moist clay tablets using a stylus, which is a blunt reed. The

clay was then baked, either by the sun or in an actual oven. The impressions that remained were

wedge-shaped, which is the reason for the name of these scripts—“cuneiform,” which literally

translates “wedge shaped.” Among the various Mesopotamian civilizations, the Sumerians were

the first to establish a system of writing using this cuneiform method, primarily for bureaucratic

purposes. Despite the benefit of the great preservation of these scripts due to this method of

inscription, many tablets contain several errors since the scribes had to write on the moist clay

very quickly before the clay dried (Teresi, 2002).

It is from these well-preserved tablets that we gain our understanding of the number system the

Babylonians had in place, their dealings

with “Pythagorean” mathematics and

equations, possible ways they determined

the value of the square root of 2, and

some other mathematical topics (Zara,

2008 ). To begin our brief review on some Figure 5. Stone tablets

of the Babylonian mathematics, we are going to look at the Babylonian number system.

B. Numeration System
 Currently, we are most familiar with the decimal place value system adopted from Hindu-

Arabic influence with numeral 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 9 being used. The positions of these numbers

usually affect its value. For example, the figures 9, 90 and 900---- the number 9 is situated in

three different places. With the first number, 9 is located in the units place with the smallest

value 9 x 100 . The second number is with 9 located in the tens place with the value of 9 x 10 1.

The third number with 9 in the hundreds place with the biggest value 9 x 102.

On the other hand, the Babylonians used a numeric system that is sexagesimal in nature,

which means that instead of having the base of 10 as shown above, they used the base of 60

(Hodgkin, 2005). This numeric system of using the base of 60 still remains in some of our

modern day usage. For example, when we count the number of seconds in one minute (1min= 60

seconds), the number of minutes in an hour (1 hr = 60 mins) or even geographic coordinates 4 0

1’12’’ can be translated as 4 + (1/60) +(12/60 2) (Zara, 2008). However, the Babylonians did not

purely use 60-base system, since they did not use 60 as an individual digit rather they counted by

both 10s and 60s. Thus, in reality the Babylonian notation system is both decimal and

sexagesimal in nature (Teresi, 2002).

The Sumerians had largely influenced the sexagesimal notation of Babylonia. But when

the the Sumerians first used this system, it was incomplete such that they used positional

notational based on 60 as per shown in the illustration below. These symbols below were used by

the Sumerians prior to 2000 B.C. (Teresi , 2002).

Figure 6. Sumerian Notation System

 However, after 2000 B.C., the Babylonians devised a simpler number system based from

this Sumerian influence. The Babylonians only used two symbols: a pin shape that represented

the value of 1 and a wing shape that represented the value of 10 (Teresi, 2002). The following

table shows the symbols for numbers 1 until 59 as used by the Babylonians.

Table 1. Numbers 1 to 59 written in Cuneiform Script ( O’Connor & Robertson, 2000)

From about 2500 B.C. on, the Babylonians’ number system drastically improved when

they realized that the pin- and wing-shaped symbols could represent various values based on

their position in relation to each other. In this place-value system, the manner in which values

were represented was by placing the signs side by side. Also,

the Babylonian number system is read from left to right

(Teresi, 2002). In the example laid out by Teresi (2002), the

number 95 would be written as follows:

 This first pin shape represents a value of 60, the three wings are each

worth 10 (3 X 10 =

30), and the final five pins are each worth one (5 X 1 = 5), which results in a

total of 95 (Teresi, 2002). Even though this number system made use of the

positions of the symbols to change their values, it also admits certain

limitations. For example, instead of using a zero as a placeholder to

represent an “empty column” between two numbers, the Babylonians’

“placeholder” was simply leaving extra space between their number

symbols. Additionally, Teresi (2002) further explained that what adds to the

complexity of this number system is the size of the symbols used. The the

value of a symbol differed based on its size. So, a symbol written slightly

smaller than whatever was considered “standard” at the time would have a

different value than a larger variation. Consequently, a reader’s

misinterpretation of the writer’s size of symbols or spacing between symbols

could easily lead to mistakes regarding the symbols’ value and even whether

the symbol represented a fraction or a whole number (Zara, n.d).

In order to better understand the value of these symbols, editors usually transliterate the

value and add commas or semicolons to signify and distinguish between whole numbers and

decimals, respectively.

This practice began with the pioneer scholar Otto Neugebauer in the 1930s (Teresi,

2002). Hodgkin (2005) explained in transliteration which commas are used, the transliterated
value can be turned into a decimal value by multiplying the number on the far right by 600, the

number immediately to its left by 601, the number immediately to the left of the previous

number by 602, etc., and then taking the sum of these values. For example, the decimal value

equivalent of the transliteration ‘1, 15’ is 15 X 60 0 + 1 X 601 = 75. Another example is the case

of ‘40, 26, 40’ which can be transliterated with a value of 40 X 60 0 + 26 X 601 + 44 X 602= 40 +

1560 + 158,400 = 160,000.

The commas used signify that preceding numbers must be multiplied with the number

next to it. It should be read from left to right, wherein numbers occurring from left has to

be multiplied with 600 , the next number will be multiplied with 60 1 and so on to arrive at the

proper value of the symbols used (Zara, 2008).

On one hand, semicolons are used in the transliteration of decimal fractions even though

it is unknown whether the Babylonians truly has a symbol for this. The use of semicolons were

adopted by scholars to better understand the clay tablets (Zara, 2008). The transliteration of a

number in which semicolons are used can be turned into a decimal value by dividing the first

number to the right of the semicolon by 60 1, the number immediately to the right of the

previous number by 602, the number immediately to the right of the previous number by

603 and so on, and then taking the sum of these values. For example, ‘1; 20’ is calculated as 1 +

(20/60) = 4/3; or 0; 30 would be equivalent to 0 + (30/60) = 0.5 = 1/2.

Essentially, the semi colon is used to signify division. It means that the number following

the semi colon must be divided with 600 if is located in the left most part, the following number

must be divided with 601 and so on. The transliterations of Babylonian symbols by editors have

helped readers to better understand the values of the symbols written in cuneiform script. The
table below provides examples of the transliterations and the decimal value equivalents for some

larger cuneiform numbers.

Table 2. Transliteration of some large Cuneiform numbers, (Hodgkin 2005)

Somewhere between the years of 700 and 300 B.C., the Babylonians made an

improvement in their number system by implementing a symbol that would mean “nothing in

this column” (Teresi, 2002). This development was a step toward the modern usage of zero as a

placeholder. However, in this particular model the Babylonians used a symbol of two little

triangles arranged in a column to represent the placeholder between two other symbols (Teresi,

2002). This new symbol helped eliminate some of the ambiguity that existed in their previous

form of the number system. For example, the number 7,240 could now be written as follows:

Consider this, without the placeholder symbol, such a number could be calculated as 160

—2 pin shapes, each of which have a value of 60 (2 X 60 = 120) plus 4 wing shapes, each of

which have a value of 10 (4 X 10 = 40) for a total of 160 (120 + 40 = 160).

According to Teresi (2002), since the placeholder symbol is in the 60s column, the pin

shapes becomes worth 602 each instead of just 601. The wings still have a value of 10 each,
which implies that the value is (2 X 60 2) + (4 X 10), which results in a sum of 7,240 (Teresi,

2002).

Since the placeholder symbol was never placed at the end of numbers, but rather was

used only in the middle of numbers, it appears that the placeholder symbol never evolved into an

actual symbol for zero. However, the Babylonians’ use of this placeholder symbol has still

proven to be helpful for editors in translating symbols (Teresi, 2002).

C. Contribution to Mathematics
The Babylonian civilization might be short-lived but its contributions form a lasting and

significant influence in our lives, as well as to the modern-day Mathematics. Among these

important contributions are as follows:

Firstly, the Babylonians adopted the base-60 system from the Sumerians. In Babylonian

astronomy, a year is 360 days, which is divided into 12 months of 30 days each. By 2000 B.C.

the base-60 system had largely disappeared from common use, but it survives in our today’s

measures of months, days, hours, minutes and seconds, so called because they are the second

division of 60 from the hour. Another vestige of

Babylonian mathematics endures in the 360-

degree circle. Secondly, the Babylonians

developed another revolutionary mathematical

concept which other civilizations like the

Egyptians, Greeks and Romans did not have.

They conceptualize the concept of a zero,

although its symbol was really still more of a

Figure 7. Babylonian Pictographs
placeholder than a number in its own right. Many scholars argued that the Babylonian

civilization did not use zero, however their stone tablets would show characters, more of a

placeholder that separates a number from the other. Such placeholder is essential in determining

the value of a symbols used. It has served as the precursor of the current-day zero.
Thirdly, Babylonian tablets dating from about 1800 to 1600 BCE were unearthed and

found to cover topics as varied as fractions, algebra, methods for solving linear, quadratic and

even some cubic equations, and the calculation of regular reciprocal pairs (pairs of number

which multiply together to give 60). One Babylonian tablet gives an approximation to √2

accurate to an astonishing five decimal places. Others list the squares of numbers up to 59, the

cubes of numbers up to 32 as well as tables of compound interest. Yet another gives an estimate

for π of 3 1⁄8 (3.125, a reasonable approximation of the real value of 3.1416).

Next, is the idea of square numbers and quadratic equations (where the unknown quantity

is multiplied by itself, e.g. x2) naturally arose in the context of the measurement of land and

Babylonian mathematical tablets give us the first ever evidence of the solution of quadratic

equations. The Babylonian approach to solving them usually revolved around a kind of

geometric game of slicing up and rearranging shapes, although the use of algebra and quadratic

equations also appears. At least some of the examples we have appear to indicate problem-

solving for its own sake rather than in order to resolve a concrete practical problem. Lastly, the

famous and controversial Plimpton 322 clay tablet, believed to date from around 1800 BCE,

suggests that the Babylonians may well have known the secret of right-angled triangles (that the

square of the hypotenuse equals the sum of the square of the other two sides) many centuries

before the Greek Pythagoras. The tablet appears to list 15 perfect Pythagorean triangles with

whole number sides, although some claim that they were merely academic exercises, and not

deliberate manifestations of Pythagorean triples.

Figure 8. Numeration system in clay tablet

 D. Mathematicians

The advanced artifacts of unearthed only imply

strong mathematical skill among the civilizations formed in

Mesopotamia, but the first written evidence of advanced

arithmetic dates from Sumeria, where 4500-year old clay

tablets show multiplication and division problems; the first

abacus may be about this old. By 3600 years ago,

Mesopotamian tablets show tables of squares, cubes,

reciprocals, and even logarithms and trig functions, using a

primitive place-value system (in base 60, not 10). However, Babylonians were familiar with the

Pythagorean Theorem, solutions to quadratic equations, even cubic equations and eventually

even developed methods to estimate terms for compound interest. The Greeks borrowed from

Babylonian mathematics, which was the most advanced of any before the Greeks; but there is

no ancient Babylonian mathematician whose name is known.

Nabu-rimanni or Naburimannu, (flourished c. 491 bc, Babylonia), the earliest

Babylonian astronomer known by name, who devised the so-called System A, a group of

ephemerides, or tables, giving the positions of the Moon, Sun, and planets at any given moment

(“Nabu-rimanni”,n.d.). Based on centuries of observation, these tables were nonetheless

somewhat crude and were superseded about a century later by Kidinnu’s System B, a refined

mathematical method for finding celestial positions more accurately. Both systems were in use

simultaneously between 250 and 50 bc. Nabu-rimanni also calculated the length of the synodic

month (from New Moon to New Moon) to be 29.530614 days, as compared with the modern
value of 29.530596 days (“Nabu-rimanni”, n.d.). Unfortunately, there is no available photo of the

said astronomer.

Kidinnu, also spelled Kidin, (flourished 4th or early 3rd century BCE), Babylonian

astronomer who may have been responsible for what modern scholars call System B (Evans,

n.d.).. It is a Babylonian theory that described the speed of the Moon’s motion around the zodiac

as increasing gradually and then decreasing gradually in the course of a month, following a

regular sawtooth pattern. The Babylonian lunar theory included a scheme for the motion of the

Sun, since the Sun figures in the prediction of lunar phenomena such as phases and eclipses

(Evans, n.d.).

The name Kidinnu or Kidin was deciphered on Babylonian cuneiform clay tablets

carrying computations of lunar phenomena in System B. One such tablet bears the inscription

“tersitu of Kidinnu,” where tersitu can mean “apparatus” or “preparation” or perhaps in this case

simply “computed table”, (Evans, n.d.). In both systems, arithmetical rules were applied to the

variations in the speed of the Sun and the Moon around the zodiac that allowed Babylonian

scribes to work out predictions of lunar phenomena, including dates of new and full moons, as

well as those of eclipses. The theory was reasonably accurate and was far better than anything

that Greek astronomers were capable of before Hipparchus’s lunar theory (Evans, n.d.).

E. Important Events
 Hodgkin (2005) argues that our

evidences about early mathematics are

entirely archaeological—the artefacts and

records which they left, and which have been

excavated and studied by scholars.

Furthermore, he claimed that it is important

to look at key periods from which our Figure 9. Wedge shaped tablets

information on mathematics derives. Hodgkin (2005) claimed that through these important

events, we can see in a bigger context how Mathematics, as a field of knowledge started out. A

rough guide will show the periods from which our main information on mathematics derives:

2500 BCE - ‘Fara period’: The earliest (Sumerian) school texts, from Fara near Uruk;

beginning of phonetic writing.

2340 BCE- ‘Akkadian dynasty’: Unification of

all Mesopotamia under Sargon (an Akkadian).

Cuneiform is adapted to write in Akkadian;

number system further developed.

2100 BCE- ‘Ur III’: Re-establishment of Ur, an

ancient Sumerian city, as capital. Population now

mixed, with Akkadians in the majority. High point

of bureaucracy under King Šulgi.

Figure 10. Depiction of Ancient Wars

1800 BCE- Old Babylonian’, or OB: Supremacy of the northern city of Babylon under

(Akkadian) Hammurapi and his dynasty. The most sophisticated mathematical texts.

Each dynasty lasted roughly a hundred

years and was overthrown by outsiders,

following a common pattern. However, there

was a basic continuity to life in southern

Mesopotamia (now Iraq) with agriculture and its

bureaucratic-priestly control probably continuing

without much change throughout the period.

It is advanced by the author that that

mathematics was born out of the need of the

ancient Oriental states of Egypt and Iraq to control their irrigation. These agrarian projects were

responsible for the whole of culture from the formation of the state to the invention of writing

(Hodgkin 2005). Another thesis was put forward which claims that the ancient states of Egypt

and Iraq had a broadly similar priestly bureaucratic structure, and evolved both writing and

mathematics very early to serve bureaucratic ends. Indeed, as far as our evidence goes,

‘mathematics’ precedes writing, in that the earliest documents are inventories of goods (Hodgkin

2005). The development of counting-symbols seems to take place at a time when the things

counted are described by pictures rather than any phonetic system of writing. He argued that the

bureaucracy needed accountancy, thus it paved way for the invention and development Early

Babylonian mathematics (ibid.).

Figure 11. Babylonia as Agricultural Community

 Another important

event that occurred to

better understand early

mathematics of Babylon

is the unearthing of

Plimpton 322 Clay Tablet.

The clay tablet with the

catalog number 322 in the

G. A. Plimpton Collection

at Columbia University

(Plimpton 322 Clay Figure 12. Plimpton 322 clay tablet

tablet) may be the most well-known mathematical tablet, certainly the most photographed one

(Chang, 2017). It was scribed in the Old Babylonian period at around 1800 BCE and shows the

most advanced mathematics before the development of Greek Mathematics. The Clay tablet was

first discovered in Iraq in the early 1900s by Edgar Banks and it was later bought by George

Arthur Plimpton in 1922 and has been called the Plimpton tablet ever since (Chang,2017). It was

said that the most important finding from the tablet is the evidence of Pythagorean triples,

indicating that Babylonians were seemingly aware of the Pythagorean theorem, long before

Pythagoras (ibid.).
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Augustyn, A. (no date). Babylonia. Encyclopedia Britannica.

Accessed July 2019 from https://www.britannica.com/place/Babylonia

Evans, J. (no date). Kidinu: Babylonian Astronomer and Mathematician.

Encyclopedia Britannica. Accessed July 2019 on
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Kidinnu

Hodgkin, L. H. (2005). A history of mathematics: From Mesopotamia to

modernity.
Oxford: Oxford University Pres.

Nabu-rimanni (no date). Encyclopedia Britannica.

Accessed on July 2019 from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nabu-rimanni

O’Connor, J.J., & Robertson, E.F. (2019). “Pythagoras’s theorem in Babylonian mathematics.
MacTutor History of Mathematics. Accessed from http://wwwhistory.mcs.st-
andrews.ac.uk/HistTopics/Babylonian_Pythagoras.html

Saggs, H.W.F (no date). Babylon: Quick Facts. Encyclopedia Britannica.

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Mespotamia-Asia

Teresi, D. (2002). Lost discoveries: The ancient roots of modern science—

from the
Babylonians to the Maya. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Zara, T. (2008). A Brief Study of Some Aspects of Babylonian Mathematics.

(Unpublished master’s thesis). Liberty University, Lynchburg, Virginia.