Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-02-08
BANKS OF BABYLON.
How They Were Conducted -Four
Thousand Years Ago.

From the Accountant.
Recent discoveries of the wonders of
Babylonian civilization, REINFORCED by
the fruits of earlier explorations, show
that business is business as a rule of
life is as old as history. AS far back as
1900 years before Christ the Babylonians
had made such progress In commercial
aptitude that special laws had to be
framed to deal with those gentlemen who
tried short cuts to wealth. The young
man with expectations realized in those
DAYS with less regard to the sacredness
of the person and the right to live. bor-
rowed, as his modern prototype not IN
frequently does today, from the profes-
sional money lender.
The Babylonian merchant banked reg
ularly and issued his brick Checks and
bills Of exchange, and the law stepped In,
even as 1t does today. to preserve invlo-
late the rights Of property. So keen were
the business instincts Of the people that
even the priests were not above deal
in offerings and In real estate. Indeed, a
great part of the commerce Of Babylon1a
was concentrated in the temples.
The vast quantities of metals, cereals
and other commodities which either as
gifts to the temples or offerings to the
gods poured In daily were sold by the
priests who did not neglect to get their
full margin Of profit Business ability.
qualification for admission to the priest
hood. Careful accounts of revenue and
expenditure were kept, and these show
that investments in loans and the pur-
chases of land and other profitable deal
ings were a regular part Of the fiscal
activities of the prieStly establishments.
Perhaps the most interesting of all the
buried records which have come to light
are the contract tables kept by, firm OF
bankers and money lenders known as
1.-The sons of Egibi." established at Baby
lon before the time of Sennacherib, prob
ably as early as 1000 B. c., and which ex-
listed for several centuries. These brick
books" as they have been called. consti-
Of life in ancient Babylon.
The firm of Egibi possessed enormous
wealth and influence and has been des-
ignated the "ROthschilds of the ancient
world" They carried on every sort of
financial transaction. They made loans
to the state as well as to private persons
and the finances Of the court were IN
trusted to them for several generations.
They collected the land taxes, tithes and
dues for the use Of the public roads and
paid them into the royal treasury.
They also undertook what we should
now describe as agencies" for private
| individuals. and In addition to their vast
money lending transactions must also
| have engaged in what we now term
| '.banker's'' business, for We know that
documents existed in those early days cor
responding to modern checks and bills Of
exchange The various transactions OF
the firm were noted down on clay tablets,
which were stored in great earthenware
| lars for safety, and there they remained
until they We're accidentally discovered
some few years ago.
All bear the names OF the contracting
parties and witnesses, and most of them
are dated. The Egibi firm was not the
| only great trading firm in ancient Baby
lonia, as during excavations at Miner
there were discovered the records OF
another firm, known as Murasu. which
rose to a position of great wealth and I'M
portance during the fifth century b. c.