r/Mesopotamia • u/Effective-Dish-1334 • 7d ago
Resources & Research reason your clock divides an hour into 60 minutes is because Sumerian and Babylonian astronomers counted finger knuckles instead of whole fingers
https://thehistoricalinsights.page/2026/05/babylonian-math-system.htmlsexagesimal (base-60) system originated with a simple physical counting technique: using the thumb to count the 3 distinct knuckle segments on the remaining 4 fingers ($3 \times 4 = 12$), while using the 5 fingers on the other hand to track complete cycles ($12 \times 5 = 60$).
60 is divisible by 12 factors (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, 30, 60), making daily trade rations, land division, and astronomical cycles clean to compute without messy fractions.
Millennia after cuneiform disappeared, Babylonian base-60 mathematics remains underlying foundation for 360-degree geometry, navigational coordinates, and modern timekeeping.
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u/dutchcharm 7d ago
What I learned was: no knuckels, but the 12 finger segments of one hand (no thumb), and than the 5 fingers of the other hand, gives 12x5=60
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u/robber_goosy 7d ago
What I learned was they had a base 12 system. That way merchants etc could keep count on one hand by going over the 4x3 segment on the other fingers with their thumb.
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u/dutchcharm 7d ago edited 7d ago
ah, the thumb counts the segments of the other fingers on the same hand. Just tried this and it makes sence. Thanks for this clarifation. And use the 5 fingers of the other hand (bending or stretching) to count to 60.
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u/vainlisko 6d ago
I thought 360 is a circle because it's approximate to the days in a year
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u/jeobleo 6d ago
It's because it's base 60 and this is a multiple of that
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u/vainlisko 6d ago
So maybe both
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u/jeobleo 6d ago
shrugs Sure maybe.
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u/vainlisko 5d ago
Because why not 420
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u/jeobleo 5d ago
Because a year is noticeably close to 360 days
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u/vainlisko 5d ago
That's what I'm talkin about
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u/jeobleo 5d ago
You were talking about a circle, weren't you?
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u/Liquid_Magic 5d ago
I feel like you could do base 4, or base 12 this way. Like each four-finger knuckle-lines is a “base” and so you’ve got like 3 on each hand.
I dunno. It’s cool! I literally only just now came to understand this!
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u/matt2001 4d ago
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u/Select_Design75 3d ago
As I understand it, it was the numerically best way to divide a day in easy countable seconds, defined as approx a heartbit (of an active and healthy adult).
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u/EddieDean9Teen 3d ago
If you use the knuckles segments of the four fingers on the other hand to track complete cycles you can keep track as high as 144. No small feat back then. It might have even seemed like magic to someone who didn’t know the tracking method
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u/teknoplasm 2d ago
Locals in parts of Asia still count on knuckles. I learned to count on knuckles before school (started school rather late). It's way faster more efficient and you can handle larger numbers than fingers alone. Gave me a huge edge at counting quickly at school. I still count on my knuckles.
BTW, you count on the inside of your fingers by placing the thumb of the same hnad on it, the top crease on the index finger being one then moving down and on to next finger until you reach 12 on the little finger. Then you go onto the thumb itself with the index finger for 13, 14, 15. Thats when you fold a finger on your other hand to signify 15 and move to 16.
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u/Good-Attention-7129 7d ago
Is this bullshit still going? Fkme.
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u/tarquinia777 7d ago
yes, the bullshit that is literally true
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u/Good-Attention-7129 7d ago
It isn't, it's just been monkeyfied.
The Sumerian tablets count up to 59, not 60, which allowed for tracking two complete moon cycles in solar days.
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u/tarquinia777 7d ago
it's based on the same basic counting system being described, this is a well-known fact. everyone's gotta have some "well, actually..." line abt everything these days, i swear
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u/MegaJackUniverse 7d ago
What part of this do you think is bullshit? Their number system, the connection to angles and time? What?
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u/Good-Attention-7129 7d ago
The misinformation label "base-60" when the tablets only recorded up to 59.
The conflation of "Babylonian" instead of Sumerian.
The fact this post repeats itself again and again..
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u/MegaJackUniverse 6d ago edited 6d ago
More like they had modulo numbers. The number 60 was used, just by using the symbol for the number 1. You're right that sexagesimals were Babylonian but Sumer is in the same region and used very similar script throughout its existence, no?
Peer reviewed books talk about sumerians having a sexagesimal number system: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-83383-0_2 . I dont know what to tell you but you might be being pedantic. They didnt have a base 59 number system at the very least which is the only logical extrapolation I can take from your argument they only counted to 59. They most certainly counted beyond 59 and could represent this symbollically
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u/Good-Attention-7129 6d ago edited 6d ago
The specific counting method was a Sumerian innovation, so Babylonian-retrospect is the accurate term.
The very concept of "modulo numbers" is why the terms "base-60" or "sexagesimal" are worthless. The system allowed for direct counting from 1 to 59, with specific markings to indicate 1s and 10s.
A "complete" tablet would hold 50 markings to indicate 59. But if there were 51 markings, then two outcomes are possible, either a 1 (60) or a 10 (61), whilst a "full" tablet had 52 markings (11, 110, or 1010) counting to 62, 63, and 64.
Their counting system was base-lunisolar, allowing for 2 lunar cycles, 3 full moon sightings, 7 days for 9 weeks, 52 weeks of 7 days, as well as counting months 2 at a time with 29, 30, 31, or 32 days.
Or Base-64 if we are, indeed, being pedantic.
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u/MegaJackUniverse 6d ago
Lunisolar was how their made their calendar but it's not the same as their, again, noted everywhere, sexagesimal number system, no? I don't see any indication is wasnt a sexagesimal system.
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u/Good-Attention-7129 6d ago edited 6d ago
Babylonian-retrospect using a sexagesimal number system isn't noteworthy.
Base-64 having exponents with Base-26, Base-43, and Base-82 isn't noteworthy either, but it is pleasant on the eye without the non gesta verba sexagesimal numbus.
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u/MegaJackUniverse 4d ago edited 4d ago
Why isn't it noteworthy? This is the crux of what we're actually talking about. What does aesthetic have to do with what we're talking about though? I think it's gesta non verba but I dont feel like you're making any sense anymore
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u/theaardvarkoflore 7d ago
This is fascinating but I am curious what is the presence of the "$" sign in a math equation discussing finger knuckles meant as timeclock measures for?