CONSPIRACY CLAIM #03

First, a quick note on where this story comes from.

The idea started out in religious conspiracy circles, but it hasn’t stayed there. Even mainstream outlets such as the BBC have picked up a version of it. A catchy headline is quicker to write than a history of Mesopotamian accounting, and the result is that a shaky story gets repeated far and wide — this time with a trusted logo on it.

Here is the BBC story: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-38499883. In essence, it credits the Templars with inventing banking. They didn’t — and as you’ll see shortly, they missed that honour by a few thousand years.

Then there’s the YouTube version, below. Its author goes one step further: the ‘Illuminati’ (by way of the Templars) supposedly founded the modern banking system and now use it to control the world. To make that work, the video has to chain the Illuminati back to the Templars, and the Templars forward to Freemasonry. Every link in that chain is imaginary. The Templars are not the origin of Freemasonry, and they are not the origin of the Illuminati either.

So let’s look at the real history.

Where did our economic system really start, and who was responsible for it?
The best way to find out is to go to the sources.

Since the claim is about the Templars, we’ll use two kinds of source.
The first is historical. The second is biblical.

Both point the same way: the Templars did not devise or invent banking. Historically, banking goes back at least 4,000 years, to the temples and palaces of ancient Mesopotamia — roughly three thousand years before there was a single Templar. Biblically, lending, interest and debt are discussed again and again, especially in the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy (part of the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, also called the Pentateuch), and in the New Testament too. The verses are quoted below, from several English translations, including the King James Version.

And for anyone tempted to pass this claim along, the Bible itself has a few words on spreading false stories about your neighbours. They’re worth a read before the next share: 1 Peter 3:16, Exodus 20:16, Exodus 23:1, Isaiah 54:17, 1 Peter 2:1-12, Genesis 50:20, Leviticus 19:16, 1 Peter 2:1-25, Proverbs 3:30, Deuteronomy 19:16-19, Proverbs 11:9, Psalm 35:20, Titus 2:3, 1 Peter 3:9, 2 Timothy 3:3, Proverbs 25:8, 1 Thessalonians 5:15.

What history says

Banking began in ancient Mesopotamia, and it began early. Economic life there was run largely by the royal houses and the priesthood. Temples and royal palaces were the central stores: goods were deposited there, redistributed from there, and guarded there by a security force. Those goods were probably crops and everyday commodities, along with precious stones and metals. So it was in the temples and palaces of Mesopotamia that the world’s earliest banking developed — and with it, the idea of keeping other people’s deposits safe.

The first archaeological evidence of financial activity comes from Mesopotamia, home of the earliest cities in the Near East. Some 4,000 to 5,000 years ago, Uruk was a lush metropolis of temples, houses and gardens — a powerful city-state whose influence stretched the length of the Tigris and Euphrates valley. It has been argued that Uruk gave the world monumental architecture, written numbers, written language and the first literature. It may also have given us the earliest finance.

In 1929 the German archaeologist Julius Jordan dug a deep trench into the legendary temple complex of the goddess Inanna. Her home and storehouse were decorated with a multi-coloured colonnade, with the temple’s stone steps nearby. The grand architecture got the headlines; the humbler finds got very little attention. Among them were curious little clay tokens shaped like the things of daily life: jars, loaves and animals.

Later, the archaeologist Denise Schmandt-Besserat noticed that these tokens looked just like the picture-signs on Uruk’s clay tablets — tablets now recognised as the first steps towards written language. The sign for cloth, for instance, could be traced back to a round token. The sign for sweetness grew out of a token shaped like a honey jar, and the sign for food from a token shaped like a full dish. Most tokens stood for everyday goods: lambs, sheep, cows, dogs, loaves of bread, jars of oil, honey, beer, milk, clothing, crops, ropes, wool and rugs. These were the goods recorded by the financial instruments kept in Inanna’s holy storehouse in Uruk, in the age of Gilgamesh.

The tokens were the earliest accounting system we know of, used by the temple priests, perhaps the royal families, maybe even Gilgamesh himself. They seem to have been sealed inside hollow clay envelopes about the size of a softball, called bullae. There was one snag: to check the figures, the accountant had to break the envelope. Uruk’s accountants solved that neatly, by marking the outside of each bulla with the number and type of tokens inside. (Accountants, it turns out, have been clever for a very long time.)

Why does that matter? Because every financial instrument we use today is, at heart, a contract. A government bond is a contract between the government and the bondholder, guaranteeing a series of future payments. A share is a contract between the shareholder and the company, guaranteeing a slice of the profits and a vote on management. Contracts surely existed before writing, and before bullae, but these hollow clay balls and their tokens appear to be the earliest archaeological evidence of contracts. Each bulla found in the Inanna temple complex meant that someone had promised to deliver some goods. The marks on the outside let both parties check the amount owed during the contract, while the tokens inside were kept by the lender as solid, physical proof of the obligation. That may explain some of the bullae’s other curious features, too.

Some envelopes are covered all over in cylinder-seal impressions, the Mesopotamian equivalent of a signature. They were surely the personal mark of the borrower, confirming the promise. And when a bulla is completely covered in seals, it suggests a borrower who was worried that the lender might chip open a small corner and slip in a few extra tokens. Clearly, bullae were built for future payments: they bridged the time between the moment a debt was taken on and the moment it was paid off.

Here’s a lovely detail. In Sumerian, the word for interest, “mash”, was also the word for a young animal — a calf. Sumer, and Uruk in particular, was the perfect setting for lending with interest to develop. It was a herding society, where wealth was measured in livestock, and livestock “begot” wealth. It had a way to record contracts, and a number system that could specify exact quantities of goods. Uruk’s accounting made it easy to imagine owning and trading quantities of goods. Lend someone a herd of 30 cattle for a year, and you’d expect more than 30 back: the herd has multiplied, and its natural rate of increase is its rate of reproduction. Interest comes naturally to a herding society, less so to other kinds of economy. Perhaps finance began in Mesopotamia because, for the first time, units of wealth could be represented by symbols.

By the reign of the Babylonian king Hammurabi (c. 1792–1750 B.C.E.), that practical cuneiform script had grown into an extraordinary written culture. Financial texts make up a large share of the half a million or so Mesopotamian documents that survive, and they are full of banking: mortgages, land deeds, loan contracts, promissory notes and partnership agreements. A well-educated Babylonian of the early 2nd millennium B.C.E. learned enough algebra to work out how much grain was needed to sow a field, and enough mathematics to calculate compound interest.

Private deposits were already common enough by Hammurabi’s day for his famous law code to regulate them. A large number of deposit contracts have been found. They involved receipts, and they covered goods of every kind: grain, fruit, cattle, farm equipment, precious stones and more. Over time, a natural next step followed — deposits could be paid out on order, not only to the depositor but to a third party. Out of this grew a lending business that reached a high level of development in Mesopotamia.

Palaces and temples began lending, first from their own stores and then from part of the deposits entrusted to them. Early loans were things like seed grain, to be repaid after the harvest. A receipt was written out, and the rate of interest was fixed.

The third service the royal and temple treasuries offered in the Babylonian period was making and accepting payments for their clients, paying out of the deposits entrusted to them. Deposits, loans, payments: that’s a bank in all but name.

By the 7th to 5th centuries B.C.E., those three services hadn’t changed much in substance. Kings, priests and private individuals all played a part in banking, and private enterprise brought some interesting developments. Surviving documents show business methods being refined. Banking became more flexible, current accounts seem to have been quite common, and money kept getting more abstract: written documents took the place of physical goods, and a written acknowledgment of debt could itself be used to pay someone.

The same period saw partnerships formed to carry out financial business. The best-known examples are two family firms: the Egibi family of Babylon and the Murashu family of Nippur, important business houses whose archives record all kinds of financial dealings.

So, to sum up the history: the civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia understood banking and everything that goes with it. They needed a medium of exchange and a safe place for their wealth, and they built both. The shape of their society, and the degree of individual freedom it allowed, helped banking grow.

Other factors helped too: healthy economic conditions, busy local and central economies, centralised stores, and trade that was risky enough to make safe-keeping valuable. Together these drove the growth of banking in the Tigris and Euphrates valley. We can’t trace every step of its earliest development, but temples and royal palaces were clearly the region’s first strongrooms for private wealth. Banking was Mesopotamia’s remarkable gift to the world, and from there it spread to other countries and civilizations. The Templars, when they finally arrived, were joining a very old business.

What the Bible says

Let’s start with Proverbs 22:7 which states: “The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender”
Thus, [Quote] “The rich ruleth over the poor: Usurps a dominion over them, and exercises it in a rigorous, oppressive, and tyrannical manner; otherwise they are generally the rich that rule, and if they rule well, in a lawful, gentle, and righteous manner, it is commendable; and the borrower [is] servant to the lender; being under obligation to him, he is forced to be subject to him, and comply with his humours, and do and say as he would have him; it was a happiness promised to the Israelites, that they should lend to many nations, but not borrow, ( Deuteronomy 15:6 ); compare with this (Nehemiah 5:4 Nehemiah 5:5).” [/EndQuote]

where Deuteronomy 15:6 states “For the LORD [Yahweh] thy God [Elohim] blesseth thee, as he promised thee: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow, and thou shalt reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over thee.”

and we continue over to Deuteronomy 23:19-20 which states:
“Do not charge a fellow Israelite interest, whether on money or food or anything else that may earn interest. You may charge a foreigner interest, but not a fellow Israelite, so that the LORD [Yahweh] your God [Elohim] may bless you in everything you put your hand to in the land you are entering to possess.”

The Bible also treats people as property, which is the ugly side of the same ledger.

continuing on, Exodus 21:20-21 which states:
“And if a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand; he shall be surely punished. Notwithstanding, if he continues a day or two, he shall not be punished: for he is his money.”

as well as Leviticus 25:44-46 which states:
“As for your male and female slaves whom you may have: you may buy male and female slaves from among the nations that are around you. You may also buy from among the strangers who sojourn with you and their clans that are with you, who have been born in your land, and they may be your property. You may bequeath them to your sons after you to inherit as a possession forever. You may make slaves of them, but over your brothers the people of Israel you shall not rule, one over another ruthlessly.”

and Titus 2:9-10 which states:
“Slaves are to be submissive to their own masters in everything; they are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.”

then we can look at 1 Peter 2:18 which states:
“Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust.”

and Colossians 3:22 which states “Slaves, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord.”

and Luke 12:47-48 which states:
“And that servant who knew his master’s will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating. But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him, much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.”

Additionally, we then see the following, referring to taxation (obligatory offering) in a tithe of the percentage of X number stated in Leviticus 3 as:
[Quote] “‘If your offering is a fellowship offering, and you offer an animal from the herd, whether male or female, you are to present before the LORD [Yahweh] an animal without defect. You are to lay your hand on the head of your offering and slaughter it at the entrance to the tent of meeting. Then Aaron’s sons the priests shall splash the blood against the sides of the altar. From the fellowship offering you are to bring a food offering to the LORD [Yahweh]: the internal organs and all the fat that is connected to them, both kidneys with the fat on them near the loins, and the long lobe of the liver, which you will remove with the kidneys. Then Aaron’s sons are to burn it on the altar on top of the burnt offering that is lying on the burning wood; it is a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the LORD [Yahweh]. “ ‘If you offer an animal from the flock as a fellowship offering to the LORD [Yahweh], you are to offer a male or female without defect. If you offer a lamb, you are to present it before the LORD [Yahweh], lay your hand on its head, and slaughter it in front of the tent of meeting. Then Aaron’s sons shall splash its blood against the sides of the altar. From the fellowship offering you are to bring a food offering to the LORD [Yahweh]: its fat, the entire fat tail cut off close to the backbone, the internal organs and all the fat that is connected to them, both kidneys with the fat on them near the loins, and the long lobe of the liver, which you will remove with the kidneys. The priest shall burn them on the altar as a food offering presented to the LORD [Yahweh]. “ ‘If your offering is a goat, you are to present it before the LORD [Yahweh], lay your hand on its head and slaughter it in front of the tent of meeting. Then Aaron’s sons shall splash its blood against the sides of the altar. From what you offer you are to present this food offering to the LORD [Yahweh]: the internal organs and all the fat that is connected to them, both kidneys with the fat on them near the loins, and the long lobe of the liver, which you will remove with the kidneys. The priest shall burn them on the altar as a food offering, a pleasing aroma. All the fat is the LORD’s [Yahweh’s]. “ ‘This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live: You must not eat any fat or any blood.’ ” [/EndQuote]

To be fair, the fellowship offering in Leviticus 3 was a voluntary one. The Bible’s closer equivalent of a tax is the tithe: a tenth of the harvest and the flocks, given to the Levites (Leviticus 27:30–32). Either way, the point stands. Between them, the Old and New Testaments cover lending, interest, debt, slavery — physical and financial — and giving to the Temple. All of it was written down long before the Templars did any banking, and long before there were any Templars at all.

For the record, the Templars were founded in 1119 AD. They lasted nearly two centuries, until the death of their last Grand Master, Jacques DeMolay. Mesopotamian bankers had been at it for roughly three thousand years by then.

So the claim falls apart, whether it comes from a YouTube channel or from the BBC. Banking began in ancient Mesopotamia. The Bible then recorded the same ideas: lending with interest, debt, and payments owed to the Temple (or to Yahweh/YHWH, in the Bible’s own terms) — in short, a whole system of financial obligation. In the Bible those payments went by religious names, as tithes and offerings to Yahweh [LORD] the Elohim [God], and they reached into many parts of daily life.

So if you’re unhappy with the financial system — and plenty of us are — the Templars are the wrong people to blame. The basics of that system were in place in Mesopotamia, and they’re described in the pages of the Bible, centuries before the first knight took his vows.

As the wise old saying goes: “Don’t throw stones in Glass Houses”.

Claim debunked. The Templars had many talents, but inventing banking wasn’t one of them.