Submitted by megamindwriter t3_106ib3i in history
megamindwriter OP t1_j3igja5 wrote
Reply to comment by ricardo9505 in When did government departments and government budgets become invented? by megamindwriter
I know, they used tax farmers. The question is when did bureaucries become more advanced, like forming governmental departments and formulating budgets.
War_Hymn t1_j3ir661 wrote
There are archeological records of state revenue and expense going back to clay cuineform tablets of the early Sumerian city-states 4000-5000 years ago.
I feel you might have some misconception about how ancient governments work...it wasn't as simple as some king or duke sitting on his throne and handing out a handful of silver or gold whenever something needs to be paid for.
By the late bronze age, there were highly developed states like Egypt or Zhou China that had an extensive and sophisticated bureaucracies in place to manage state affairs and track money coming in and out. Middle/Late Kingdom Egypt alone had a population of 2-3 million people - trying to govern this much people without keeping records or delegating to departments would had been very difficult.
megamindwriter OP t1_j3j8hmn wrote
Yes, I did have misconceptions. Thanks for the answer.
basementthought t1_j3l6cdd wrote
One interesting related fact is that most early writing is not stories or personal letters but records. We initially used writing to keep track of finances trade and laws. It took some time for people to start writing literature down
Atoning_Unifex t1_j3lo70t wrote
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kushim_%28Uruk_period
One of the earliest known bits of writing was a receipt for some grain signed by "Kushim" who may well have been a government official.
YourOverlords t1_j3oyb9t wrote
I think the medieval period was the rebuilding of western civilization following the the fall of Rome in 476. With the typical idea of it being the so called "dark ages", it's a fair cop to think like that.
Thuis001 t1_j3le1ny wrote
Writing was invented for this exact purpose. The whole goal of writing originally was to keep track of shit like taxes, storage and expenditures.
YourOverlords t1_j3oxw04 wrote
Not to mention how many head of cattle you had to sell.
InspectorRound8920 t1_j3khnmk wrote
I'll bet they've always been around, but that's the stuff that isn't written about.
I guess it depends on the area in question though
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