Nearly 4,000 years ago in the mid 18th century BC, the King of Babylon passed away, leaving the throne to his 18-year old son Hammurabi.

Hammurabi was smart enough to know that his kingship would be incredibly short if he didn't do something quickly to assert his power.

So as his first order of business, Hammurabi made a bold proclamation that won him incredible support from his people: he forgave ALL citizens' debt that was owed to the government… including high-ranking government officials.

This proved to be enormously popular. Ancient Babylon had a highly advanced system of credit, and the average Babylonian was heavily indebted.

Interest rates were regulated by the government at between 20% to 33%, though these limits were often circumvented by clever lenders who knew how to bend the rules.

Babylonian laws were written in favor of the lender; no one was allowed to borrow a single shekel unless he agreed to be held personally and completely responsible to repay the loan.

Babylonian lenders could even seize a member of the debtor's family, holding them for up to three years, to enforce repayment.

So you can just imagine what a relief Hammurabi's proclamation was to the average guy.

It's quite remarkable what a prominent role debt has played in the history of our species.

Going back another 2,000 years before Hammurabi to ancient Sumeria, a man was legally entitled to sell his wife into slavery, or hand her over to his creditors, in order to repay his debts.

The Book of Leviticus tells us that the Hebrews mandated debt forgiveness every 50 years, what was known as the Year of Jubilee.

Under the laws of debt in medieval Hindu culture, children and grandchildren were forced to assume the debts of their ancestors (which typically carried 20% interest), leading many people to vehemently attempt to disprove their blood relationship to a recently-departed parent.

Ancient Greece was also a heavily indebted culture, to the point that unsustainable debt burdens seemed to constantly put Athens at risk of popular revolution.

And Ancient Rome, even by modern standards, had a comprehensive, cutting-edge bankruptcy code, which included an orderly sale of a borrower's property in order to satisfy his unpaid debts, while keeping his person and family in-tact.

We see this theme over and over again throughout our history; yet despite thousands of years of human progress, we have not lost our proclivity for debt.