Thomas K. Park is associate professor of anthropology at the University of Arizona. James B. Greenberg is professor of anthropology and senior research anthropologist at the University of Arizona.

Finance, debt, and repayment are a dynamic and creative—but also sometimes destructive—feature of societies, past and present. Besides the fascination of the ancient case studies in this book, the authors show that debt can be integrated into a well-regulated social whole rather than being allowed to run amok. The result is an important and perceptive work.

• IntroductionChapter 1: Mesopotamian Roots of the Modern Financial SystemChapter 2: Mesopotamian Financial InnovationsChapter 3: Financing Ancient Egypt’s Organizational EconomyChapter 4: Finance and Social Capital in Classical Greece and RomeChapter 5: Justice to Altruism: Early Judeo-Christian FinanceChapter 6: Islamic Finances and the Eastern MediterraneanConclusion: Hidden Interests and the Anthropology of CreditAppendix: Technologies of Power and the Metrology of Grain Storage in the Ancient Near East

Thomas K. Park is associate professor of anthropology at the University of Arizona. James B. Greenberg is professor of anthropology and senior research anthropologist at the University of Arizona.

Finance, debt, and repayment are a dynamic and creative—but also sometimes destructive—feature of societies, past and present. Besides the fascination of the ancient case studies in this book, the authors show that debt can be integrated into a well-regulated social whole rather than being allowed to run amok. The result is an important and perceptive work.

• IntroductionChapter 1: Mesopotamian Roots of the Modern Financial SystemChapter 2: Mesopotamian Financial InnovationsChapter 3: Financing Ancient Egypt’s Organizational EconomyChapter 4: Finance and Social Capital in Classical Greece and RomeChapter 5: Justice to Altruism: Early Judeo-Christian FinanceChapter 6: Islamic Finances and the Eastern MediterraneanConclusion: Hidden Interests and the Anthropology of CreditAppendix: Technologies of Power and the Metrology of Grain Storage in the Ancient Near East

Thomas K. Park is associate professor of anthropology at the University of Arizona. James B. Greenberg is professor of anthropology and senior research anthropologist at the University of Arizona.

Finance, debt, and repayment are a dynamic and creative—but also sometimes destructive—feature of societies, past and present. Besides the fascination of the ancient case studies in this book, the authors show that debt can be integrated into a well-regulated social whole rather than being allowed to run amok. The result is an important and perceptive work.

• IntroductionChapter 1: Mesopotamian Roots of the Modern Financial SystemChapter 2: Mesopotamian Financial InnovationsChapter 3: Financing Ancient Egypt’s Organizational EconomyChapter 4: Finance and Social Capital in Classical Greece and RomeChapter 5: Justice to Altruism: Early Judeo-Christian FinanceChapter 6: Islamic Finances and the Eastern MediterraneanConclusion: Hidden Interests and the Anthropology of CreditAppendix: Technologies of Power and the Metrology of Grain Storage in the Ancient Near East