{"id":44906,"date":"2021-08-02T08:16:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-02T12:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=44906"},"modified":"2021-08-09T11:41:17","modified_gmt":"2021-08-09T15:41:17","slug":"arkad-the-richest-man-in-babylon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/arkad-the-richest-man-in-babylon\/","title":{"rendered":"Arkad: The Story of the Richest Man in Babylon"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Who is Arkad from The Richest Man in Babylon<\/a><\/em>? What is his role in the story? How did Arkad go from a poor scribe to a wealthy merchant? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arkad is a fictional character from George S. Clason’s 1926 compilation of pamphlets titled The Richest Man in Babylon<\/em>. He is the medium through which Clason imparts his advice on acquiring wealth. In the book, Arkad, who started his wealth journey as a poor scribe and ended up becoming a successful merchant, teaches the secrets of wealth to locals who come to him to learn how to stop struggling financially and become rich.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here goes the story of Arkad, the richest man in Babylon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Setting for Arkad’s Story<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The story of Arkad, the richest man in Babylon, takes place in Babylon, one of ancient history\u2019s greatest and wealthiest cities. It was built not on natural assets but by work and ingenuity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was founded in 2300 BC in Mesopotamia, beside the Euphrates River in a dry valley about 60 miles south of Baghdad in present-day Iraq. The area had little rainfall and lacked building materials such as stone and forests for wood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The city exemplified humans\u2019 ability to make the most of what was at hand\u2014the only available resources were good soil and water from the river, and Babylonians took advantage of them. Engineers channeled water from the river to grow crops by creating irrigation canals and huge dams. Besides creating the irrigation system, they drained swampland at the mouths of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers for additional cultivation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The city was built of brick made locally and was surrounded by walls and a moat, with a royal palace and a magnificent gate. It may have contained the fabled hanging gardens of Hammurabi and an immense tower to the gods. Besides having some of the earliest engineers, Babylon had mathematicians, astronomers, artists, and financiers\u2014the latter reportedly invented money by using gold as a means of exchange. The city is described in admiring terms by Greek historian Herodotus and others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Babylon was captured multiple times and ruled by a succession of kings, including the biblical king Nebuchadnezzar. The city fell to Persian ruler Cyrus the Great in 539 BCE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: Babylon\u2019s ruins were discovered and excavated by a German archeological team in 1899-1917. Clay tablets with cuneiform inscriptions were found describing life at the time, including property titles, sales records, and promissory notes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 1980s, Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein built a $5 million replica of Babylon\u2019s royal palace on top of the historic ruins, to the dismay of archeologists. On some of the bricks, he inscribed: \u201cBuilt by Saddam, son of Nebuchadnezzar, to glorify Iraq.\u201d The ruins suffered further damage in the U.S.-Iraq war.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the ancient city is gone, the financial wisdom that took root there remains useful:<\/p>\n\n\n\n