Ama-gi

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Ama-gi in Sumerian cuneiform

The old Sumerian word ama-gi 4 ( ?? ), ama-ar-gi 4 or amargi is now interpreted as " freedom " or "public debt relief ". Literally it can be translated as "return to mother". This refers to the freedom given to those affected by debt bondage through publicly proclaimed debt relief . Often members of indebted families were pledged to the creditor and his family, so to speak , and were able to return to their family or mother after debt relief. Similar institution is the third book of Moses handed Jubilee of the Israelites .

The first documented public debt relief was in 2400 BC. Proclaimed by the Sumerian ruler En-metena in the city-state of Lagaš after his victory over Umma . The ethnologist and anarchist David Graeber places the institution of amar-gi in his book Debt: The First 5000 Years in a context of social reform.

In contrast, the lettering Ama-gi is also used by some libertarians and anarcho-capitalists as a symbol of their conception of freedom. In this context, it is considered to be the first written representation of the concept of freedom in human history. The journal of the Hayek Society at the London School of Economics , the largest libertarian student group in England, is titled "Ama-Gi" and the lettering is the logo of the Instituto Político para la Libertad in Peru . A typographical version of the symbol ( AMAGI ) is registered as a trademark of the libertarian private educational institution Liberty Fund, Inc. to market its publications.

Web links

Wiktionary: ??? (amar-gi)  - explanations of meanings, word origins , synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary .
  2. ^ Samuel Noah Kramer: The Sumerians: Their History, Culture, and Character . 1971.
  3. ^ JN Postgate: Early Mesopotamia: Society and Economy at the Dawn of History . Routledge, 1994, ISBN 0-415-11032-7 , p. 195.
  4. ^ Michael Hudson: The Lost Tradition of the Biblical Debt Cancellations . (PDF; 962 kB) 1993, p. 15.
  5. ↑ Frank Schirrmacher : And forgive us our debts . In: FAZ , November 13, 2011.
  6. ↑ ama-gi . ( April 1, 2012 memento in the Internet Archive ) LSE Hayek Society Journal
  7. ↑ tess2.uspto.gov