🤯 Did You Know (click to read)
Some of the earliest surviving loan contracts come from temple archives in Mesopotamia.
In cities like Ur and Babylon, temples functioned as economic powerhouses. Priests didn’t just pray; they lent money, stored goods, and tracked debts. These temple complexes controlled agricultural output and managed redistribution. Access to temple records meant access to private financial information. Literacy was rare, so scribes within the temple elite formed an information monopoly. Financial details about land ownership and loans were closely guarded. The temple’s inner circle therefore held enormous social leverage. In effect, they were a secretive class of banker-priests in the cradle of civilization.
💥 Impact (click to read)
This arrangement made temples the beating heart of urban life. If you owed grain or silver, the temple knew. That knowledge shaped alliances and rivalries. Control of records meant control of narratives. Economic secrecy became a tool of stability and dominance. It was surveillance before surveillance states.
The priestly class blurred lines between religion and finance. By combining spiritual authority with economic intelligence, they created a durable power structure. Later financial systems would separate church and bank, but here they were one. The secrecy of records strengthened hierarchy. Ancient Mesopotamia teaches us that information has always been currency.
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