Just as in otherancientsocieties, the first banks in Rome began in the tabernaclesconsecrated to the ancientGods. Numeroustabernaclesheld in their basements the Romans’ plutocrat and treasure, and were involved in banking conditioningsimilar as lending. Because they were alwaysenthralled by devoutworkers and preachers and regularly patrolled by dogfaces, fat Romans felt they were safeplaces to depositplutocrat. Plutocratwasgenerallystored in colorfuldifferenttabernacles for both practical and securityreasons as a tabernacle could catchfire or beransacked. Preacherskepttrack of deposits and loans. Tabernaclesdidn’t payinterest on deposits but chargedinterest on loans and were involved in currency exchange and confirmation. There were literally thousands of tabernacles throughout the Roman homes that were alsodepositoriesnoting that during the Empire publicdepositsgradationallystarted to beheld in privatedepositories. The Temple of Saturn in Rome housed the Aerarium which was Rome’s publicstoreroom. Some tabernaclessimilar as the Juno Moneta tabernacle were also mints.
The development of commerce throughout the Mediterranean and the expansion of trade to newforeignrequests between the 3rd century BCE and the 3rd century CE, led to the growth of banking in the Roman world. Away from tabernacles, plutocratchangers located at shops and booths in the Forum alsodealt with banking conditioning and their partgainedlessersignificance with the development of commerce. Plutocrat– changers were anteceded by the trapezites (from the Greek word trapeza which means counter), who dealt with bank deals in countinghouses around the Forum. The Greek termwaslatterlyreplaced by the Latin terms argentarii and mensarii (from the word mensa or’bank’in Latin).
ARGENTARII PERFORMED MANY DealsINCLUDINGHOLDINGPlutocrat, LENDING Plutocrat, Sharing IN Deals, DETERMINING THE VALUE OF COINS (AND DETECTING FORGED COINS), & CIRCULATING RecentlyFormedPlutocrat.
THE ROMAN MONEY-CHANGERS: THE ARGENTARII
Three types of persons conducted banking conditioning in Rome the argentarii, the mensarii and the nummularii. The argentarii, alsocalled argenteae mensae exercitores, argenti distractores or negotiatores stipis argentariae, were private persons, freecitizens, independent from the State. They belonged to a council which acceptedonly a limitednumber of newmembers. The argentarii’s main functionwas to changeforeign currency for Roman currency (permutatio). They hadshops or booths around the Forum ( possessed by the state and erected by the censors) and their partexpanded over time to includenearly every plutocratsaleincludingholdingplutocrat, advancingplutocrat, sharing in deals, determining the value of coins (and detecting forged coins), and circulatingrecentlyformedplutocrat. Their jobgreatlyrecalled that of ultramodern– day banks. There were argentarii of all kinds. Some were largelyreputed and from the upper class, generally the bonescarrying out business on a large scale and for veritablyfat people while some were looked down upon, generally the bonescharginghighrates and doingbusiness on a small scale.
Roman bronze balance weights. Probably used by a goldsmith or chemist. Imperial period. (Archaeological Museum, Como, Italy)
Permutatio or currency exchangewasdone for a smallfigure (collybus). The argentarii alsocameinvolved in bills of exchange ( formerlycommon in Greece) they entered a sum of plutocrat, for illustration, to bepaid in Athens and they drew a bill outstanding in Athens by another banker in the Greek megacity. They had to know the exactvalue of a foreign coin in differentplaces and at differenttimes. The argentarii alsokeptplutocratdeposited by other persons (depositum), which could occasionally amount to veritablylargetotalities of plutocrat, and madepayments on behalf of other persons, just as ultramodern banks do. Payments were made when the proprietor of the plutocrattold the argentarius or when the proprietorused a cheque (perscriptio) to make apayment.However, the argentarius would record (scribere) in his bookscalled codices (or tabulae, rationes) the transfer of plutocrat from one account to the other, If two persons involved in a saleused the same argentarius. The codices were veritablyaccurate; they recordeddates and every sale. These records were looked upon as documents of highauthority and used in courts of justice as irrefutablesubstantiation. When the plutocratwassimplydeposited, the argentarius paid no interest and the plutocratwascalled vacua pecunia. When the plutocratwasdeposited for an interestpaid by the argentarius, the argentarius could use the plutocrat in othereconomicdeals (for illustration, lendingplutocrat to other persons).