Video narration
Spring. A farmer runs out of seed. His neighbour lends him a hundred measures. At harvest, he must return a hundred and thirty-three. Why more? Because the lender gave something up. He could have planted that seed himself. He has to wait months. And he risks never getting it back. That is credit: value today, for a promise of value tomorrow. The extra is called interest. Nearly four thousand years ago, Mesopotamian scribes pressed loans into clay tablets, with due dates and witnesses. Hammurabi's laws capped interest on grain at one third. Even the words agree. In Sumerian, interest meant a young goat. In Greek, offspring. A loan was something that grows. One seed becomes many. Good harvests paid the extra and covered the farms that failed. That logic still holds. Riskier borrowers pay more. Interest is the price of waiting, plus the price of doubt. Free lesson: Basics of Banking, Topic 5, at Malla Banking Academy. Next: Banking Across Ancient Civilisations.