Ah, thanks guys, I'm touched by your encouraging words. But be warned, I've driven people crazy with my views.
Firstly gidday Just-a-guy, and in answer to your question, I study ancient history - from a personal view, not university educated -, and have done so for about fourt ..., actually don't like to say how long really but I did start young. Religions interest me, so from that perspective I have learnt much of what the popular view is in regards to the origin of modern civilization.
What I call the popular view - the view held by most western scholars, historians, archaeologists; who have no patriotic or religious ties to the country they believe is the first nation. Eg: an Egyptian might be biased towards Egypt's history, Indians to India - we all like to think we're the first.
Popular view: The first civilization, as you're probably aware, was called Sumer. We now know it as Southern Iraq and it was a nation of city states. (Also known as Mesopotamia, the Fertile Cresent, etc.) According to the Sumerians, the first city was called Eridu: according to modern archaeologists, the first city was called Uruk (Biblical Erech). Sumerian texts, easily accessible online, speak of Eridu in a religious sense - it's where the gods descended. Sumer had the first pantheon of gods, they're called the Annunaki, their escapeds occupy many tales and legends, hymns, prayers and poems written in Sumerian texts. The world's first monumental building, according to Sumerians, was a ziggurat made of brick - like a stepped pyramid - and it was destroyed by some catastrophic event. It was from out of this environment that Sumer was born.
With Eridu gone the people spread out into different family groups and began building cities. Some turned to more pressing needs - the need for water for a growing population - and subsequently some of the most impressive waterways and canal systems ever constructed were formed. Farming began, which included crops and cattle. The oldest cuneiform texts found to date are not of the written word but they are like deed notes of a transaction, eg, 1 cow epualls a good portion of barley. The numerical system - based on the number 6 - evolved from this and so did the first forms of mathematics. In fact, there is not an academic discipline that does not have its origin in Sumer - our calendar is still based on one the Sumerians invented (an amazing astronomical achievement all on its own). The young nation's monetary system became more sophisticated and thus, according to the popular view, the first coin was made. (Many believe the oldest coin ever made was found in Uruk.)
The origin of the banking system
Temples were built in the new cities and one always held a central postion - the cities were built around the temples. There was like a caste system, for want of a better word; there were the farmers, working class, an administrative class - which handled land titles, laws etc. - and then their were the elite, which included the high priests who lived in the temples. These high priests were not like today's Catholic priest or Protestant pastor, they were holders of the sacred knowledge - they were learned in the disciplines of astronomy, maths and geometry, alchemy(science), writing, etc.; and they answered only to the god who resided over the temple. They introduced a Temple Tax and soon these priests were rolling in cash. However, they served what they called beneficient gods and they arranged loans for the people.
In the beginning, as far as I'm aware, a loan would typically be for a farmer or trader. In the case of the farmer he would borrow to buy animals or seed and his annual interest rate was 30%. The Sumerian word for interest is mas - which refers to an interest bearing loan. (Note here that this is the first known example of a debt based society.) The holder of the loan, on the maturity of his crops or cattle and their subsequent sale, would repay his loan - plus 30% - to the temple and thus the first banking system was born. If for any reason the farmer could not repay his loan - often for reasons beyond his control like drought - he was given an extension of a year to make good - or his land was confiscated by the state and he was sold into slavery. Banking was getting serious.
Also rising from the sands of Sumer was the burgeoning city of Babylon, which would go on to become arguably the greatest trading hub in the world's history.
Babylon was eventually destroyed by Cyrus the Persian. It fell not because of financial ruin but because the rulers of Babylon became complacent, however, many nations went on to adopt a similar monetary system and that's a very basic model of the history of our modern banking system. Sure, we may have many more sophisticated products in today's banks, like derivitives etc., but fundamentally we still have the same old debt-based banking system that originated in ancient Iraq.
Banking cycles and the rise and fall of nations will have to wait for another time, it's getting late. Hope I managed to shed a little light on what is a very complex subject.
Good luck all and may tomorrow bring a great announcement
Cheers
Rhama
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