Notes on Mesopotamian metrology II. The Representation of Weighing Balances in the 3rd Millennium BC

Weighing instruments were attested in the cuneiform sources since the mid-3rd millennium BC showing the development of the balance in Mesopotamia and the presence of various types of hand-held and footed scales. Metal scale pans and weights have been found in several urban centres dated to the Early Bronze Age, matching the epigraphic information, while a few cylinder seals depict human and divine figures holding hand-held balances, allowing to investigate the symbolic meaning of the balance in the Mesopotamian world. The analysis of the figurative evidence is compared with the iconographic evidence from Egypt during the Old Kingdom, highlighting similarities and differences in the representation of balances.