Banker (ancient)

The banker of ancient times was employed within financial activities, during the ancient Mesopotamian, ancient Greek and ancient Roman periods.

Mesopotamia

While certain families of Mesopotamia might be thought of as banking families, according to one source, these families' economic activities were not banking proper. This is because the families charged the same for loans as they gave in interest on deposits, so accordingly, their situation with foreign enterprises was one in which they did not participate in arbitrage, in addition to the absence of an economic situation where-by credit provision might increase the quantity of specie (i.e. coins) present with individuals. The House of Egibi were such a family, living during the Neo-Babylonian and Persian periods, and the House of Murashu were another, living at a time during the 5th century BCE. In addition to these two, the Borsippa based family, Ea-iluta-bani, were also active during the Neo-Babylonia time-period and later. All three families are classified as merchant bankers by Nemet-Nejat.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Following the unification of the city-states in Assyria and Sumer by Sargon of Akkad into a single empire ruled from his home city circa 2334 BC, common Mesopotamian standards for length, area, volume, weight, and time used by artisan guilds in each city was promulgated by Naram-Sin of Akkad (c. 2254–2218 BC), Sargon's grandson, including for shekels.^[4] In December 1901 and January 1902, at the direction of archaeologist Jacques de Morgan, Father Jean-Vincent Scheil, OP found a 2.25 meter (or 88.5 inch) tall basalt or diorite stele in three pieces inscribed with 4,130 lines of cuneiform law dictated by Hammurabi (c. 1792–1750 BC) of the First Babylonian Empire in the city of Shush, Iran.^[5]^[6]^[7]

Code of Hammurabi Law 100 stipulated repayment of a loan by a debtor to a creditor on a schedule with a maturity date specified in written contractual terms. Laws 101 and 102 stipulated that a shipping agent, factor, or ship charterer was only required to repay the principal of a loan to their creditor in the event of a net income loss or a total loss due to an Act of God. Law 103 stipulated that an agent, factor, or charterer was by force majeure relieved of their liability for an entire loan in the event that the agent, factor, or charterer was the victim of theft during the term of their charterparty upon provision of an affidavit of the theft to their creditor.^[8]^[9]^[10]

Law 122 stipulated that a depositor of gold, silver, or other chattel/movable property for safekeeping must present all articles and a signed contract of bailment to a notary before depositing the articles with a banker, and Law 123 stipulated that a banker was discharged of any liability from a contract of bailment if the notary denied the existence of the contract. Law 124 stipulated that a depositor with a notarized contract of bailment was entitled to redeem the entire value of their deposit, and Law 125 stipulated that a banker was liable for replacement of deposits stolen while in their possession.^[11]^[12]^[10]

Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek bankers were known as τραπεζίται (trapezitai), singular trapezites, a term which arose from their use of τράπεζαι (trapezai), a type of table. They were initially active during the 5th century BCE. The trapezitai provided a variety of services, primarily, money-changing, providing interest payments on deposited monies, pawnbrokering, acting as notaries and the safe-guarding of valuables.^[13]^[14]^[15]^[16]^[17]

At the earliest recorded time, trapezitai are known to have participated as private enterprise, who in the first instance were greatly reliant on business generated by money-changing activity, but also accepted deposits and made and took payments from individuals.^[15]

Ancient Grecian bankers were in the first case moneychangers (kollybistes^[18]) and pawnbrokers, who were present in the marketplace or festival sites, changing the coinage of foreign merchants into local currency.^[19]

Many early bankers in Greek city-states belonged to the metics. Money lending was very often an activity for foreigners living as so-called outsiders within society. Business and commercial activities were deemed wholly unsuited to the status and situation of the noble elite of society because these activities were a source of corruption, and instead funds, and accordingly wealth, was obtained primarily by way of militancy, not commerce.^[1]^[20]^[21]

The task of keeping the deposited wealth provided to the temple of Asklepios were allotted often to the neokoros or zakoros; or at Kos the hierophylakes, who were also the record keepers of such exchanges.^[22]^[23]

It was an established pattern of behaviour for a banker in Athens, Aigina and elsewhere, in the interests of the security of the assets entrusted to him, to have his wife wed to his slave after his death, being that his slave had inherited his previous owners bank upon his death.^[24]

Individual bankers

The first person to have participated in ancient society to some degree as a banker was named Philostephanos (of Corinth).^[25]

A slave named Pasion, for a time owned by Archestratos and Antisthenes, who were partners of a banking firm in Peiraieus, was for a time Athens' most important banker, after his manumission to the metic class. Pasion operated as a banker from 394 BC to sometime during the 370's. His business was subsequently inherited by his own slave named Phormio.^[24]^[26]^[27]^[28]^[29]^[30]^[31]

Hermias was manumitted from Euboulos, and a eunuch, who is attested to have behaved subsequently toward the islands of Assos and Atarneus somehow tyrannically. His adopted daughter married Aristotle, the circumstances of this marriage arranged by Hermias himself.^[24]

Ancient Roman

Early bankers were known primarily as Mensarii, Mensularii and Numularii, or argentarii. Additionally to a lesser extent individuals involved in financial activities were known as coactores, coactores argenterii, collectarii, and stipulatores argenterii. Bankers operated from either appointment by the government and so were tasked with collecting taxes, or instead operated independently. Accordingly, Mensarii were distinguished from argenterii by the fact of the former operating under state assistance while the latter participating on the basis of private enterprise. Argenterii evolved to provide the function of credit provision on a short-term basis for individuals at auctions.^[13]^[32]^[33]^[34]

Persons employed in the professional capacities of money-changing and assaying were known as argyramoiboi.^[35]

According to Callistratus, females were barred from activity as bankers by Roman law.^[36]

Individual bankers

L. Aemilius Papius, M. Atilius Regulus and M. Scribonius Libo were made a three mensarii commission during 216.^[37]

References

^ ^a ^b M. Hudson (2012). "The Invention of Enterprise: Entrepreneurship from Ancient Mesopotamia to Modern Times". Entrepreneurs: From the Near Eastern Takeoff to the Roman Collapse. The Kauffman Foundation Series on Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Princeton University Press. pp. 18, 19. ISBN 978-1400833580. Retrieved 2015-09-08.
^ K Rhea Nemet-Nejat (1998). Daily Life in Ancient Mesopotamia. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 266. ISBN 9780313294976. Retrieved 2012-07-27. Egibi banking family.
^ < Specie > was sourced at The Free Dictionary, specifically Princeton University 2003-2008., Clipart.com, Farlex Inc [Retrieved 2015-09-08]
^ Powell, Marvin A. (1995). "Metrology and Mathematics in Ancient Mesopotamia". In Sasson, Jack M. (ed.). Civilizations of the Ancient Near East. Vol. III. New York, NY: Charles Scribner's Sons. p. 1955. ISBN 0-684-19279-9.
^ Louvre (n.d.). "Law Code of Hammurabi, king of Babylon". louvre.fr. Louvre, Department of Near Eastern Antiquities: Mesopotamia. Archived from the original on 5 December 2020. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
^ Scheil, Jean-Vincent (1902). Mémoires de la Délégation en Perse. Vol. 4: Textes élamites-sémitiques. Paris, France: Ernest Leroux. p. 12. ISBN 9780483463967.
^ Roth, Martha T. (1995). "Mesopotamian Legal Traditions and the Laws of Hammurabi". Chicago-Kent Law Review. 71 (1): 15–24.
^ Hammurabi (1903). "Code of Hammurabi, King of Babylon". Records of the Past. 2 (3). Translated by Sommer, Otto. Washington, DC: Records of the Past Exploration Society: 75–76. Retrieved June 20, 2021. 100. Anyone borrowing money shall ... a subsequent claim therefor.
^ Hammurabi (1904). "Code of Hammurabi, King of Babylon" (PDF). Liberty Fund. Translated by Harper, Robert Francis (2nd ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 35. Retrieved June 20, 2021. §100. ...he shall write down ... god and go free.
^ ^a ^b Hammurabi (1910). "Code of Hammurabi, King of Babylon". Avalon Project. Translated by King, Leonard William. New Haven, CT: Yale Law School. Retrieved June 20, 2021.
^ Hammurabi (1903). "Code of Hammurabi, King of Babylon". Records of the Past. 2 (3). Translated by Sommer, Otto. Washington, DC: Records of the Past Exploration Society: 77. Retrieved June 20, 2021. 122. If anyone entrusts to ... have committed an offence.
^ Hammurabi (1904). "Code of Hammurabi, King of Babylon" (PDF). Liberty Fund. Translated by Harper, Robert Francis (2nd ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 43. Retrieved June 20, 2021. §122. If a man give ... it from the thief.
^ ^a ^b Piotr Niczyporuk. Mensarii, bankers acting for public and private benefit. Central European Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities 2011. Retrieved 2015-08-30.(please see also the same source linked in full here)
^ Leonhard Schmitz (1875). A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (p.130‑132). London: John Murray. Retrieved 2015-08-31.
^ ^a ^b Benjamin Geva (2011-11-01). The Payment Order of Antiquity and the Middle Ages: A Legal History. Bloomsbury Publishing, Hart Monographs in Transnational and International Law. p. 784. ISBN 9781847318664. Retrieved 2015-08-30.
^ David Eugene Smith (June 1958). History of Mathematics, Volume 2. Courier Corporation. p. 736. ISBN 9780486204307. Retrieved 2015-09-02.
^ H. Bolkestein - Economic Life in Greece's Golden Age published by E.J.Brill 1958 [Retrieved 2015-08-31]
^ Walter Ameling. "Trapezites". Brill's New Pauly. Koninklijke Brill NV. Retrieved 2015-09-06.
^ L Adkins; R A Adkins (1998). Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195123326. Retrieved 2012-05-28.
^ D T Engen. The Economy of Ancient Greece. Economic History Association. Archived from the original on 2006-05-02. Retrieved 2012-05-28.
^ L De Blois, RJ Van Der Spek - An Introduction To the Ancient World Routledge, 26 Sep 1997 Retrieved 2012-07-15 ISBN 0415127742
^ B Burrell -Neokoroi: Greek Cities and Roman Emperors BRILL, 2004 ISBN 9004125787 Retrieved 2012-06-09
^ E M Craik The Dorian Aegean Routledge, 1980 ISBN 0710003781 Retrieved 2012-06-09
^ ^a ^b ^c Edward Cohen (1997-01-26). Athenian Economy and Society: A Banking Perspective. Princeton University Press. p. 312. ISBN 0691015929. Retrieved 2015-08-31.
^ SL Budin - The Ancient Greeks: New Perspectives ABC-CLIO, 2004 Retrieved 2012-07-17 ISBN 1576078140
^ David Matz (March 2012). Voices of Ancient Greece and Rome: Contemporary Accounts of Daily Life. ABC-CLIO, 1 Mar 2012. ISBN 9780313387388. Retrieved 2015-02-12.
^ W Smith; W Wayte; G E Marindin, eds. (1890). A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities. London: John Murray. Retrieved 2012-06-15 – via Perseus of Tufts University.
^ R Osborne - Greek History Psychology Press, 6 Jul 2004 Retrieved 2012-06-15
^ W Slatyer - Life/Death Rhythms of Ancient Empires - Climatic Cycles Influence Rule of Dynasties: A Predictable Pattern of Religion, War, Prosperity and Debt Trafford Publishing, 21 May 2012 Retrieved 2012-07-15 ISBN 1466926503
^ M I Finley - Studies in Land and Credit in Ancient Athens, 500-200 B.C.: The Horos Inscriptions Transaction Publishers, 1951 ISBN 0887380662 Retrieved 2012-06-15
^ T Amemiya - Economy and Economics of Ancient Greece Retrieved 2012-07-15
^ Leonhard Schmitz (1853). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities. C.C. Little and J. Brown. Retrieved 2015-08-30.(also shown here)
^ J W Gilbart (1834). The history and principles of banking: The laws of the currency, etc. G. Bell, 1866. p. 9. Retrieved 9 April 2012. Ancient banking.
^ D.B. Hollander (2007-02-26). Money in the Late Roman Republic. Columbia Studies in the Classical Tradition. BRILL. p. 55. ISBN 9789047419129. Retrieved 2015-09-09.
^ Jean Andreau - Banking and Business in the Roman World Cambridge University Press 14 Oct 1999 (reprint), 176 pages, ISBN 0521389321 [Retrieved 2015-09-03]
^ N. Benke (2012). "Gender and the Roman Law of Obligations". In Thomas AJ McGinn (ed.). Obligations in Roman Law: Past, Present, and Future. Volume 33 of Papers And Monographs Of The American Academy In Rome. University of Michigan Press. p. 226. ISBN 978-0472118434. Retrieved 2015-09-10.
^ Rachel Feig Vishnia (12 Nov 2012). State, Society and Popular Leaders in Mid-Republican Rome 241-167 B.C. Routledge. p. 280. ISBN 978-1135093716. Retrieved 2015-09-01.

[David_S._Landes,_Joel_Mokyr,_William_J._Baumol-1] M. Hudson (2012). "The Invention of Enterprise: Entrepreneurship from Ancient Mesopotamia to Modern Times". Entrepreneurs: From the Near Eastern Takeoff to the Roman Collapse. The Kauffman Foundation Series on Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Princeton University Press. pp. 18, 19. ISBN 978-1400833580. Retrieved 2015-09-08.

[K_Rhea_Nemet-Nejat-2] K Rhea Nemet-Nejat (1998). Daily Life in Ancient Mesopotamia. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 266. ISBN 9780313294976. Retrieved 2012-07-27. Egibi banking family.

[3] < Specie > was sourced at The Free Dictionary, specifically Princeton University 2003-2008., Clipart.com, Farlex Inc [Retrieved 2015-09-08]

[Powell_1995,_p.1955-4] Powell, Marvin A. (1995). "Metrology and Mathematics in Ancient Mesopotamia". In Sasson, Jack M. (ed.). Civilizations of the Ancient Near East. Vol. III. New York, NY: Charles Scribner's Sons. p. 1955. ISBN 0-684-19279-9.

[Louvre-5] Louvre (n.d.). "Law Code of Hammurabi, king of Babylon". louvre.fr. Louvre, Department of Near Eastern Antiquities: Mesopotamia. Archived from the original on 5 December 2020. Retrieved 16 February 2021.

[Scheil_p._12-6] Scheil, Jean-Vincent (1902). Mémoires de la Délégation en Perse. Vol. 4: Textes élamites-sémitiques. Paris, France: Ernest Leroux. p. 12. ISBN 9780483463967.

[Roth_1995_pp._15–24-7] Roth, Martha T. (1995). "Mesopotamian Legal Traditions and the Laws of Hammurabi". Chicago-Kent Law Review. 71 (1): 15–24.

[Sommer_1903_pp._75–76-8] Hammurabi (1903). "Code of Hammurabi, King of Babylon". Records of the Past. 2 (3). Translated by Sommer, Otto. Washington, DC: Records of the Past Exploration Society: 75–76. Retrieved June 20, 2021. 100. Anyone borrowing money shall ... a subsequent claim therefor.

[Harper_1904_p._35-9] Hammurabi (1904). "Code of Hammurabi, King of Babylon" (PDF). Liberty Fund. Translated by Harper, Robert Francis (2nd ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 35. Retrieved June 20, 2021. §100. ...he shall write down ... god and go free.

[King_1910-10] Hammurabi (1910). "Code of Hammurabi, King of Babylon". Avalon Project. Translated by King, Leonard William. New Haven, CT: Yale Law School. Retrieved June 20, 2021.

[Sommer_1903_p._77-11] Hammurabi (1903). "Code of Hammurabi, King of Babylon". Records of the Past. 2 (3). Translated by Sommer, Otto. Washington, DC: Records of the Past Exploration Society: 77. Retrieved June 20, 2021. 122. If anyone entrusts to ... have committed an offence.

[Harper_1904_p._43-12] Hammurabi (1904). "Code of Hammurabi, King of Babylon" (PDF). Liberty Fund. Translated by Harper, Robert Francis (2nd ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 43. Retrieved June 20, 2021. §122. If a man give ... it from the thief.

[Piotr_Niczyporuk-13] Piotr Niczyporuk. Mensarii, bankers acting for public and private benefit. Central European Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities 2011. Retrieved 2015-08-30.(please see also the same source linked in full here)

[Leonhard_Schmitz-14] Leonhard Schmitz (1875). A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (p.130‑132). London: John Murray. Retrieved 2015-08-31.

[Benjamin_Geva-15] Benjamin Geva (2011-11-01). The Payment Order of Antiquity and the Middle Ages: A Legal History. Bloomsbury Publishing, Hart Monographs in Transnational and International Law. p. 784. ISBN 9781847318664. Retrieved 2015-08-30.

[David_Eugene_Smith-16] David Eugene Smith (June 1958). History of Mathematics, Volume 2. Courier Corporation. p. 736. ISBN 9780486204307. Retrieved 2015-09-02.

[17] H. Bolkestein - Economic Life in Greece's Golden Age published by E.J.Brill 1958 [Retrieved 2015-08-31]

[Brill_Online_''Reference_Works''-18] Walter Ameling. "Trapezites". Brill's New Pauly. Koninklijke Brill NV. Retrieved 2015-09-06.

[Lesley_Adkins,_Roy_A._Adkins-19] L Adkins; R A Adkins (1998). Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195123326. Retrieved 2012-05-28.

[Darel_Tai_Engen-20] D T Engen. The Economy of Ancient Greece. Economic History Association. Archived from the original on 2006-05-02. Retrieved 2012-05-28.

[21] L De Blois, RJ Van Der Spek - An Introduction To the Ancient World Routledge, 26 Sep 1997 Retrieved 2012-07-15 ISBN 0415127742

[22] B Burrell -Neokoroi: Greek Cities and Roman Emperors BRILL, 2004 ISBN 9004125787 Retrieved 2012-06-09

[23] E M Craik The Dorian Aegean Routledge, 1980 ISBN 0710003781 Retrieved 2012-06-09

[Edward_Cohen-24] Edward Cohen (1997-01-26). Athenian Economy and Society: A Banking Perspective. Princeton University Press. p. 312. ISBN 0691015929. Retrieved 2015-08-31.

[25] SL Budin - The Ancient Greeks: New Perspectives ABC-CLIO, 2004 Retrieved 2012-07-17 ISBN 1576078140

[David_Matz-26] David Matz (March 2012). Voices of Ancient Greece and Rome: Contemporary Accounts of Daily Life. ABC-CLIO, 1 Mar 2012. ISBN 9780313387388. Retrieved 2015-02-12.

[William_Smith-27] W Smith; W Wayte; G E Marindin, eds. (1890). A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities. London: John Murray. Retrieved 2012-06-15 – via Perseus of Tufts University.

[28] R Osborne - Greek History Psychology Press, 6 Jul 2004 Retrieved 2012-06-15

[29] W Slatyer - Life/Death Rhythms of Ancient Empires - Climatic Cycles Influence Rule of Dynasties: A Predictable Pattern of Religion, War, Prosperity and Debt Trafford Publishing, 21 May 2012 Retrieved 2012-07-15 ISBN 1466926503

[30] M I Finley - Studies in Land and Credit in Ancient Athens, 500-200 B.C.: The Horos Inscriptions Transaction Publishers, 1951 ISBN 0887380662 Retrieved 2012-06-15

[31] T Amemiya - Economy and Economics of Ancient Greece Retrieved 2012-07-15

[Sir_William_Smith-32] Leonhard Schmitz (1853). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities. C.C. Little and J. Brown. Retrieved 2015-08-30.(also shown here)

[James_William_Gilbart-33] J W Gilbart (1834). The history and principles of banking: The laws of the currency, etc. G. Bell, 1866. p. 9. Retrieved 9 April 2012. Ancient banking.

[D.B._Hollander-34] D.B. Hollander (2007-02-26). Money in the Late Roman Republic. Columbia Studies in the Classical Tradition. BRILL. p. 55. ISBN 9789047419129. Retrieved 2015-09-09.

[35] Jean Andreau - Banking and Business in the Roman World Cambridge University Press 14 Oct 1999 (reprint), 176 pages, ISBN 0521389321 [Retrieved 2015-09-03]

[N._Benke-36] N. Benke (2012). "Gender and the Roman Law of Obligations". In Thomas AJ McGinn (ed.). Obligations in Roman Law: Past, Present, and Future. Volume 33 of Papers And Monographs Of The American Academy In Rome. University of Michigan Press. p. 226. ISBN 978-0472118434. Retrieved 2015-09-10.

[Rachel_Feig_Vishnia-37] Rachel Feig Vishnia (12 Nov 2012). State, Society and Popular Leaders in Mid-Republican Rome 241-167 B.C. Routledge. p. 280. ISBN 978-1135093716. Retrieved 2015-09-01.

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Banker (ancient)

Mesopotamia

Ancient Greek

Individual bankers

Ancient Roman

Individual bankers

See also

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