Gudea of Lagash's graduated rule
Regla graduada de Gudea de Lagash
- Date
- c. 2130 BCE · confidence medium
- Place
- Girsu (Tello), Dhi Qar, Iraq
- Credited to
- Gudea, ruler of Lagash
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
What it is
The statue of the ruler Gudea as an architect, with the plan of a temple on a tablet across his knees, bears an engraved ruler with a scale of about 26.4 cm divided into 16 digits. It depicts a Sumerian unit of length, the foot, and the use of a scale to draw plans.
The length of the Sumerian foot (c. 26.4-27.5 cm) is deduced from the statue's scale and from measured buildings; the rule itself appears on the tablet of the statues kept in the Louvre.
What it led to
- scaled planning of Mesopotamian temples and cities
- the cubit-foot-digit length system of the Near East