Early Civilizations - Mesopotamia: Cruelty and Redemption

I. EARLY CIVILIZATIONS - MESOPOTAMIA: CRUELTY AND REDEMPTION

a. An account ....

b. Bondage or bonded servitude (Schuldknechtschaft)....

c. Clean plate edicts

d. Coins (Münzen) ....

e. Coinage (Münzprägung)....

f. A commodity (Ware)....

g. Credit (Kredit, Darlehen)....

h. A Creditor (Geldgeber, Gläubiger)....

i. The Law of Jubilee...

j. Interest on a loan (Kreditzinsen)....

k. Mortgage (Hypothek)....

l. Patriarchy (Patriarchat)....

m.A pawn (Pfand)....

n. Redemption (Erlösung) ...

o. Usury (Wucher)....

Auf dieser Stele ist der mesopotamische Lugal (König) Hammurabi abgebildet.

1.... stipulated that all debts would be automatically cancelled in the Sabbath year (that is, after seven years had passed), and that all who languished in bondage owing to such debts would be released.

2.... is the release from one's burden of sin and guilt: The end of history would be that moment when all slates are wiped clean and all debts finally lifted (= final Jubilee).

3.... are small pieces of valuable metal, shaped into standardized units, with some emblem or mark inscribed to authenticate them. They are used as money.

4..... was first introduced in Northern China and in Ancient Greece around 600 B.C.

5..... is a record of all the money (or commodities, goods) that a person or business receives and spends.

6..... is something that is (usually produced in order to be) sold for money. In times of slavery even human beings are sold for money at markets..

7 .... means "he or she believes" in Latin. This refers to the belief or the trust that a person who lends money or goods to you has that you will pay back the money or goods that you owe him.

8.... is a person (or a bank) that lends money or goods to you. The debtor owes the money or the

Early Civilizations - Mesopotamia: Cruelty and Redemption

goods to this person or bank.

9 ..... is a sum of money that you have to pay as a percentage of a larger sum of money or an amount of goods which you have borrowed.

10 ..... is using your land or your house as a guarantee to a creditor in order to borrow money or goods from him. If you fail to pay back your debt, the creditor has the right to take possession of your land or your house.

11 ..... is something you give as a security to someone who becomes your creditor. If you do not pay back your debt, the creditor has the right to sell it.

12..... is the practice of lending money at interest rates that are higher than they should be.

13..... were issued by Mesopotamian rulers since the 3rd millennium B.C. All debts, even those based on failure to pay fees to the temple, were forgiven and cancelled. Maximum interest rates were set. The king oversaw the ritual of "breaking the tablets", that is, the debt records, by raising a torch, symbolizing the sun-god of justice. Persons held in bondage were released to rejoin their families, other debtors were restored to their lands.

14. .... is the condition of being under the total control of someone else working for them as their slave or their serf.

15..... means “the rule of fathers” For a poor man, one's creditworthiness was precisely one's command over one's family. For the poor, this meant that family members could be rented if they needed to take a loan. There are recorded cases of men sending their sons as "pawns" for loans that were clearly just advance payment for employment in the lender's farm or cloth workshop.

an account - accountancyAn account is a record of all the money

(or commodities, goods) that a person or business receives and spends

bondage - bonded servitudeBondage or bonded servitude is the

condition of being under the total control of someone else working for them as their slave or their serf.

bullionBullion is gold or silver in form of lumps

or bars (-> ingots). From around 600 A.D. bullion was turned into coins.

a coin - coinageA coin is a small piece of valuable metal,

shaped into a standardized unit, with some emblem or mark inscribed to authenticate it. Coins are used as money. Coinage was

first introduced in Northern China and in Ancient Greece around 600 B.C.

a clean plate edictSince the 3rd millennium B.C. clean plate edicts were issued by Mesopotamian rulers. All debts and mortgages, even those based on failure to pay fees to the temple, were forgiven and cancelled. Maximum interest rates were set. The king oversaw the ritual of "breaking the tablets", that is, the debt records, by raising a torch, symbolizing the sun-god of justice. Persons held in bondage were released to rejoin their families, other debtors were restored to their lands.

a commodity - commoditizationA commodity is something that is (usually produced in order to be) sold for money. In times of slavery even human beings become commodities and are sold for money at markets.

a creditCredit derives from the Latin word "credit" which means "he or she believes" - in this sense credit refers to the belief or the trust that a person who lends money or goods to you (-> creditor) has that you will pay back the money or the goods that you owe him

a creditorYour creditor is a person that lends money or goods to you. You owe the money or the goods to the creditor.

a debtIn all Indo-European languages, words for "debt" are synonymous with those for "guilt". Debt derives from the Latin word "debere" which means "you must do something" or "to be obliged to do something". The Latin word "debitus" means "guilty". Debt is also closely related to money. For example, there is a connection between the German word "Geld" with Old English "Geild" (= the sacrifice you owe to a God) and, of course, guilt. "Vergeltung" (= retaliation) in this sense also means to pay back someone.

a debtorA debtor is a person who owes money or goods to a creditor.

freedom The term "amaragi" translated as "freedom" first occured in the 3rd

millenium B.C. in clean plate edicts. "Amaragi" was related to "resoring the child to its mother, and the mother to her child" as people who languished in bondage were released to rejoin their family

Early Civilizations - Mesopotamia: Cruelty and Redemption

interest on a loanA sum of money that you have to pay as a

percentage of a larger sum of money or an amount of goods which you have borrowed (-> loan). You pay interest on a loan (-> goods or money that you have borrowed).

The origins of interest are difficult to reconstruct. In ancient languages the word for interest is often derived from some word for "offspring". This might indicate that interest originated in loans of livestock (cattle, sheep, etc.). More likely, the first interest bearing loans were commercial: Mesopotamian palace officials would forward goods to merchants, who would then trade them on trading expeditions. Mesopotamian officials seem not to have trusted merchants returning from far-off land to be entirely honest about the profits they made. Instead, an interest rate as a return for the loan was fixed in advance.

the law of jubileeA law that stipulated that all debts

would be automatically cancelled in the Sabbath year, and that all who languished in bondage owing to such debts would be released and debtors were restored cultivation rights to their lands.

moneyMoney was probably first created by

Mesopotamian officials in order to keep

accounts and to calculate debts (loans, fees, rents)

to mortgage - a mortgageIf you mortgage your land or your house

you use it as a guarantee to a creditor in order to borrow money or goods from him. If you fail to pay back your debt, the creditor has the right to take possession of your land or your house.

patriarchy

means “the rule of fathers” For a poor man, one's creditworthiness was precisely one's command over one's family. For the poor, this meant that family members could be rented if they needed to take a loan. There are recorded cases of men sending their sons as "pawns" for loans that were clearly just advance payment for employment in the lender's farm or cloth workshop.

a pawnA pawn is something you give as a security to a pawn-broker who becomes your creditor. The pawn-broker as your creditor has the right to sell the pawn if you do not pay back your debt

usuryUsury is the parctice of lending money by

money lenders who charge interest rates that arr higher than they should be

.