{"id":44726,"date":"2021-07-28T06:10:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-28T10:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=44726"},"modified":"2021-08-09T11:41:26","modified_gmt":"2021-08-09T15:41:26","slug":"alfred-h-shrewsbury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/alfred-h-shrewsbury\/","title":{"rendered":"Alfred H. Shrewsbury and the Babylonian Clay Tablets"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What is Alfred Shrewsbury known for? What was so special about the Babylonian clay tablets he received from his colleague Franklin Caldwell? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Alfred H. Shrewsbury, a professor of Archaeology at the University of Nottingham, deciphered the writings on the Babylonian clay tablets, which were discovered by his colleague Franklin Caldwell. The inscriptions, which contained the story of Babylonian slave Dabasir, resonated with Shrewsbury because they resembled his own financial circumstances. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here is what Shrewsbury wrote to his colleague Franklin Caldwell in response. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Fable of Dabasir<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Professor Alfred H. Shrewsbury of the Department of Archeology at Nottingham University in England received five clay tablets from the ruins of Babylon, excavated by his colleague, Professor Franklin Caldwell. Shrewsbury translated their inscriptions and was surprised to find that they spoke to his own financial circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The tablets contained the story of Dabasir\u2019s efforts to pay off his debts. The professor and his wife were deeply in debt, and Shrewsbury seized on the story as a lifeline. It was as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Having escaped slavery, Dabasir returned to Babylon determined to pay his debts and become a person of means. He recorded this plan, which was based on the advice of the money lender Mathon:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>To provide for his future prosperity, he would save for himself 10% of everything he earned.<\/li><li>To provide well for his wife and himself, he would budget 70% of his earnings for food, shelter, clothing, and enjoyment. He resolved to live on this amount and no more.<\/li><li>To pay his debts, he would budget 20% of his earnings.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Dabasir listed his creditors and how much he owed to each. He visited each one and explained that once a month he would split 20% of his earnings among his creditors, until his debts were paid in full. Although some berated him, all of his creditors accepted the payment plan. When the camel business was good, he was able to repay more; when it lagged, he repaid less, but he kept up the schedule. Meanwhile, he saved for himself and stuck to his expense budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In twelve months, he paid off his debts and gained new stature and respect in his community. Dabasir decided to continue saving and budgeting to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/building-wealth\/\">build wealth<\/a> for the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a letter to his archeologist colleague, Professor Shrewsbury reported successfully applying the same principles. Shrewsbury and his wife had become mired in debt and felt hopeless. He worried that his creditors might go public and he\u2019d be forced out of his position at the college. So, following Dabasir\u2019s process, he made a list of his creditors and what he owned each of them. He visited them and presented his repayment plan, to which they agreed. By paying himself 10%, he began accumulating money for the first time in years. He invested it wisely so it would grow, while <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/being-frugal\/\">living frugally<\/a> and paying down his debt. He and his wife vowed to never again spend more than 70% of their income. Thus, financial advice thousands of years old proved to be timeless.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is Alfred Shrewsbury known for? What was so special about the Babylonian clay tablets he received from his colleague Franklin Caldwell? Alfred H. Shrewsbury, a professor of Archaeology at the University of Nottingham, deciphered the writings on the Babylonian clay tablets, which were discovered by his colleague Franklin Caldwell. The inscriptions, which contained the story of Babylonian slave Dabasir, resonated with Shrewsbury because they resembled his own financial circumstances. Here is what Shrewsbury wrote to his colleague Franklin Caldwell in response.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":44763,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,31],"tags":[450],"class_list":["post-44726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","category-money","tag-the-richest-man-in-babylon","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Alfred H. Shrewsbury and the Babylonian Clay Tablets - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In 1934 Alfred H. Shrewsbury deciphered the Babylonian clay tablets excavated by Franklin Caldwell. 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They contained the fable of slave Dabasir.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/alfred-h-shrewsbury\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-07-28T10:10:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-08-09T15:41:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/archaeology-excavation-ruins.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/alfred-h-shrewsbury\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/alfred-h-shrewsbury\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Darya Sinusoid\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0421cce75bc249b11e2517b3a91f9c46\"},\"headline\":\"Alfred H. 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