Video narration
Banking didn't start with coins. It started with storage. In Mesopotamia, temples and palaces kept grain and silver safe, and lent it out. Hammurabi's laws set rules for deposits and loans. In Egypt, harvests went into state granaries. Under the Ptolemies, people could pay someone by moving grain from one account to another, without moving a single sack. In Athens, bankers worked at tables in the marketplace. In Greek, the word for bank, trapeza, still means table. In Rome, the argentarii took deposits, changed coins and lent to traders. In India, the Arthashastra priced loans by risk: about fifteen percent a year for ordinary loans, far more for sea voyages. And merchant guilds took deposits and paid interest on them. Different empires. The same four jobs: keep value safe, lend it, record it, move it. Free lesson: Basics of Banking, Topic 6, at Malla Banking Academy.