Timothy J Byrne
Professor Hoffman
HIST103
4/1/2019
Global Finance – The Beginning
While many people know how our financial system works today, there are probably very
few that know how the financial systems of Mesopotamia and Rome functioned. As a finance
major, I am interested in not only the modern workings of our financial system, but also the
history and intricacies of the global financial system. My research is focused first on the very
beginning of the financial system as we know it, with the Mesopotamian society.
Mesopotamia & Rome
The sophistication of the Mesopotamians and the need for a good system of loans and
personal credits gave rise to one of the earliest financial systems ever created and was the basis
for systems that followed. The research/historical question I am looking to answer is how did one
of the earliest system of loans and personal credits function in the Mesopotamian society, and
how did this system evolve over time into the more complex system we see in the Roman
Empire years later? The reason I chose to connect these two civilizations is they share common
traits: they were both very powerful and centralized civilizations that were supported intricate
and complex financial systems. Also, there are a few differences in their economies, the most
valid is that Rome learned from other civilizations mistakes and realized the importance of
infrastructure and a strong financial system. The structure of my research paper provides a
chronology and comparison of the respective Mesopotamian and Roman financial systems and
societies.
Mesopotamia – The Basis of Future Financial Systems
The Mesopotamians were among the earliest people to understand that a sound financial
system was an important foundation to a growing and prosperous society. A key component of
their financial system started with detailed record keeping. The Mesopotamians could be
described as the world’s first great accountants. They recorded transactions on clay tablets and
stored them in the Temples. For example, when a trader sold ten head of cattle, he included a
clay tablet that had a symbol for the number ten and a pictograph symbol of cattle. Consumption
of various products within the Temple during the market were recorded as well.
The Sumerians evolved the tablet system into the world’s first written records of
economic transactions. The writing system is believed to have developed in response to an
increasingly complex society in which records needed to be kept for taxes, rations, agricultural
products and tributes to keep society running smoothly. The oldest examples of Sumerian writing
were bills of sales that recorded transactions between a buyer and seller.
The Mesopotamians also had a strong system of measurements. The measurement
systems they developed led to greater organization of money and a larger system of exchange
and trading. Among the Sumerians economic units of measure were the gur, a unit of volume
roughly equal to 26 bushels; kug or ku, silver or money; and gin or gig, a small axe head used as
money roughly equal to a shekel.
The systems of written financial recording and measurements supported and helped grow
a vast trading network. This trading network extended over thousands of miles all the way to
Egypt and Rome. A network of this scale was remarkable at the time and contributed greatly to
their power and sophistication as a society.
The Evolution of Money and Trade
Early Mesopotamians lived in the Fertile Crescent before the rise of the first cities
employed five clay tokens representing different values. They supported the three primary traded
goods: grain, human labor and livestock such as goats and sheep. Clay tokens found in Susa, Iran
have been dated to 3300 B.C. and have been described by some scholars as the world’s first
money. One token was equivalent to one sheep. The various other tokens represented a jar of oil,
a measure of metal, a measure of honey, and different garments.
Over time, this value system evolved into many sub categories of value for things like
honey, trussed duck, sheep’s milk, rope, garments, bread, textiles, furniture, mats, beds, perfume
and metals.
Moving from Barter to Standard Value
