47 pages • 1 hour read
George Samuel ClasonThe Richest Man in Babylon
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1926A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Foreword-Chapter 1Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Foreword Summary
Clason calls his book “a cure for lean purses” (xx) that is designed to help the reader understand more about how to become financially successful. Clason argues that people can only act wisely if they think wisely, and that wise thinking is always based on true understanding, which he hopes to give to the reader. Clason argues that ancient Babylon was the genesis of the “basic principles of finance” (xxvi), which endure today. Ancient Babylon was the “wealthiest city of the ancient world” (xxxiii) because its citizens had ample personal wealth, and he will instruct the reader on how to follow the same financial rules as these prosperous people.
Chapter 1 Summary: “An Historical Sketch of Babylon”
Clason explains that ancient Babylon was established along the Euphrates River in a “flat, arid valley” that had no forests and few useful natural resources, such as stone (1), needed for building a city. Nevertheless, Babylon grew to be extremely prosperous due to the people’s dedication and ingenuity. Clason commends Babylonian kings for successfully fending off rival neighbors who wanted to claim the city’s wealth and treasures. This once-great city no longer exists, but thanks to archaeological research, people now know about Babylonian society, which began about 8000 years ago when the Sumerites (Sumerians) began to develop systems of written language, finance, engineering, astronomy, math and more. Other sources, such as the writings of the ancient Greek historian Herodotus, detail Babylonian success in growing wheat and barley. One of the great archaeological finds of Babylon is their clay tablets, which they used to record laws, business exchanges, and more. Babylon was protected by an impressive wall about 160 feet high, which helped the city defend itself against the large armies of their enemies. Clason lauds the Babylonians for their ingenuity in inventing the first currency and as well as “promissory notes and written titles to property” (4). Clason laments that the city declined rapidly after being conquered by Cyrus and was then abandoned. The author maintains that “money today is governed by the same laws” as in ancient Babylon and should be “plentiful” for people who understand how to earn and save it (5).
Foreword-Chapter 1 Analysis
In his Foreword and first chapter, Clason makes some dramatic claims about Babylonian society and the value its ancient principles still hold for modern people. Clason uses vivid language to describe the city and its inhabitants, calling the city “glamorous” and “fabulous,” and encouraging the reader to envision “the glory of Babylon” with its “treasures of gold and jewels” (1, 3). He makes sweeping generalizations about the inhabitants of this city, calling them an “educated and enlightened people” (2). He builds on the idea of Babylonians as cunning, wise, and disciplined by emphasizing the difficult conditions in which their civilization thrived. By pointing out that there was little rainfall, no major forests or stone, and no trade routes, Clason suggests to the reader that Babylonians must have been unusually intelligent to thrive in such a harsh environment for so long. Clason employs boot-strap ideology in this passage, claiming that Babylon is an “example of man’s ability to achieve great objectives using whatever means are at his disposal” and that Babylon’s resources and riches are all “man-made” (1). He later concedes that Babylon did enjoy fertile soil and ample river water, indicating that the Babylonian affluence was supported by external forces.
Clason ends his first chapter by returning to his main topic of acquiring and increasing wealth. He impresses the importance of his topic on the reader because “Money is the medium by which earthly success is measured” (5). By offering a romanticized and vivid description of Babylon and its people, Clason primes readers to view Babylon’s principles as a source of wisdom. Rather than offering exact statistics or studies as evidence, Clason uses a storyteller’s descriptive language to hook the reader, writing, “The eons of time have crumbled to dust the proud walls of its temples, but the wisdom of Babylon endures” (5). All the characters, situations, and institutions in the parables that follow are fictional and bear the same romanticized characterization as the city of Babylon. By using parable, Clason makes an emotional appeal to the reader, claiming authority by presenting the stories as related to stereotypical notions of ancient wisdom and sensationalized treasures of the past.
