Sexagesimal:
Sexagesimal is a numbering system whose base is sixty. It originated in the ancient Sumerians in the 3rd millennium BC and was passed down to the ancient Babylonians and other nations. It is still partially used for measuring time and angles. The numeral system we now usually use is the decimal (10-base) system and the number 123 is equivalent to 1×102+2×101+3×100, while 1 hour, 2 minutes and 3 seconds is equivalent to 1×602+2×601+3×600=3723 (seconds). [NagaiToshiya.com]
Noted in “How the secrets of ancient cuneiform texts are being revealed by AI,” Alison George, NewScientist (6 August 2022, paywall):
It took a long time for cuneiform to shift from record-keeping to a tool for linguistic expression. The first royal inscriptions appeared around 2700 BC, and the earliest literary texts a hundred or so years later. One of the first known authors was Enheduanna, a princess, priestess and poet who lived around 4300 years ago. She wrote many hymns and the myth of Inanna and Ebih, which recounts a conflict between a goddess and a mountain. The most famous text of all is the Epic of Gilgamesh, about a king’s quest for eternal life, and includes a section that appears to be a precursor to the biblical story of the flood.
The impact of Sumerian culture still ripples through our lives today, not only through our biblical stories, but in our clocks. Their sexagesimal counting system, with a base of 60, is the reason why we have 60 seconds in a minute and 360 degrees in a circle.
