ANCIENT PERSIA: ECONOMIC LAWS, RELIGION

The Persia of the 5th and 6th century was an advanced civilization, even as it had been conquered by various forces of the Middle East. It derived its language, which was also advanced for its time, from the ancient Babylonians. In fact, "they adopted the Babylonian cuneiform for their inscriptions and the Aramaic alphabet script for their documents" (Durant 1954 357) It is interesting that, other than laws and government documents, writing was considered "effeminate", and since most Persian peasants were totally illiterate, enforcement of laws became a subjective thing- feudal barons controlling agriculture and most commerce.

While laws were passed down from Babylon, and Hammurabian laws were considered the laws of the land, "industry was poorly developed in Persia; she was content to let the nations of the Near East practice the handicrafts while she bought their products with their imperial tribute" (Durant, 1954, p. 358). Actually, the Persians despised trade, and, as Durant (1954) points out, saw the market place as a breeding ground for lies. The wealthy Persians supplied most of their needs from their own fields and shops. They therefore did not "contaminate" their fingers with buying and selling.

Payments and loans and interest were at first in the form of goods, especially cattle and grain; coinage came later from Lydia (Durant, 1954, p. 358). Persians also had their own form of gold and silver coins, called "