Accounting In Mesopotamia, circa 3500 B.C.
Five thousand years before the appearance of double entry, the Assyrian, Chaldaean-Babylonian and
Sumerian civilizations were flourishing in the Mesopotamian Valley, producing some of the oldest
known records of commerce. In this area between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, now mostly within
the borders of Iraq, periodic floodings made the valley an especially rich area for agriculture.
As farmers prospered, service businesses and small industries developed in the communities in and
around the Mesopotamian Valley. The cities of Babylon and Ninevah became the centers for regional
commerce, and Babylonian became the language of business and politics throughout the Near East.
There was more than one banking firm in Mesopotamia, employing standard measures of gold and
silver, and extending credit in some transactions.
During this era (which lasted until 500 B.C.), Sumeria was a theocracy whose rulers held most land and
animals in trust for their gods, giving impetus to their record-keeping efforts. Moreover, the legal codes
that evolved penalized the failure to memorialize transactions. The renowned Code of Hammurabi,
handed down during the first dynasty of Babylonia (2285 - 2242 B.C.), for example, required that an
agent selling goods for a merchant give the merchant a price quotation under seal or face invalidation of
a questioned agreement. Thus it is believed that most transactions were recorded and subscribed by the
parties during this period.
The Mesopotamian equivalent of today's accountant was the scribe. His duties were similar, but even
more extensive. In addition to writing up the transaction, he ensured that the agreements complied
with the detailed code requirements for commercial transactions. Temples, palaces and private firms
employed hundreds of scribes, and it was considered a prestigious profession.
In a typical transaction of the time, the parties might seek out the scribe at the gates to the city. They
would describe their agreement to the scribe, who would take from his supply a small quantity of
specially prepared clay on which to record the transaction. Clay was plentiful in this area, while papyrus
was scarce and expensive.
The moist clay was molded into a size and shape adequate to contain the terms of the agreement. Using
a wooden rod with a triangular end, the scribe recorded the names of the contracting parties, the goods
and money exchanged and any other promises made. The parties then "signed" their names to the
tablet by impressing their respective seals. In an age of mass illiteracy, men carried their signatures
around their necks in the form of stone amulets engraved with the wearer's mark, and were buried with
them at death. Often the seals included the owner's name and religious symbols, such as the picture and
name of the gods worshipped by the owner.
After these impressions from the amulets were made, the scribe would dry the tablet in the sun or in a
kiln for important transactions which needed a more permanent record. Sometimes a clay layer about
as thick as a pie crust was fashioned and wrapped around the tablet like an envelope. For extra security,
the whole transaction would be rewritten on this outer "crust," in effect making a carbon copy of the
original. Attempted alterations of the envelope could be detected by comparing it with its contents, and
the original could not be altered without cracking off and destroying the outer shell.