Editing Treasury (section)

==History==
[[File:Treasury of Athens at Delphi.jpg|thumb|alt=A partially ruined marble building with a porch with 2 columns supporting a pediment and an open doorway beyond|The Treasury of [[Athens]] at [[Delphi]], built with the spoils of the [[Battle of Marathon]]]]

The earliest found artefacts made of silver and gold are from Lake Varna in Bulgaria dated 4250–4000 BC,<ref>S La Niece – [https://books.google.com/books?id=oAfITjcHiZ0C&q=Gold Gold] Harvard University Press, 15 Dec 2009 Retrieved 2012-04-10 {{ISBN|0674035909}}</ref><ref>T Mohide – [https://books.google.com/books?id=XZ6Vs_vpJCIC&pg=PA3 The International Silver Trade] Woodhead Publishing, 28 Jul 1992 Retrieved 2012-07-05 {{ISBN|1855730677}}</ref> the earliest of copper are dated 9000–7000 BC.<ref>I McNeil – [https://books.google.com/books?id=WW4Q-vMA6IMC&pg=PA70 An Encyclopaedia of the History of Technology] Taylor & Francis, 2 Feb 1990 Retrieved 2012-07-05 {{ISBN|0415013062}}</ref>

{{quote|...And there was also silver weighing many thousands of talents and all the royal treasure amounting to a very great sum...| [[Procopius of Caesarea]]<ref>L Fargo Brown, G Barr Carson – [https://books.google.com/books?id=YEEv-xBhcPsC&pg=PA67 Men and Centuries of European Civilization] Ayer Publishing, 1971 Retrieved 2012-04-10 {{ISBN|0836921003}}</ref>}}

The Greek term ''thêsauros'' (treasury) was first used in [[Classical antiquity|Classical]] times to describe the votive buildings erected to house [[Sacrifice|gifts to the gods]], such as the [[Siphnian Treasury]] in [[Delphi]] or many similar buildings erected in [[Olympia, Greece]] by competing city-states to impress others during the [[ancient Olympic Games]].  In [[Ancient Greece]] treasuries were almost always physically incorporated within religious buildings such as temples, thus making state funds sacrosanct and adding moral constraints to the penal ones to those who would have access to these funds.

The sovereigns' treasury within the palace in ancient Jerusalem is considered to be similar in nature to the temple treasury.<ref>M Haran – [https://books.google.com/books?id=iHsee69P6KgC&pg=PA284 Temples and Temple-service in Ancient Israel̈: An Inquiry Into Biblical Cult Phenomena and the Historical Setting of the Priestly School] Eisenbrauns, 1977 Retrieved 2012-07-03 {{ISBN|0931464188}}</ref> The temple treasury of the settlement had appointed officials and functioned akin to a bank.<ref>T Wardle – [https://books.google.com/books?id=iY5_yJsa8bsC&pg=PA26 The Jerusalem Temple and Early Christian Identity] Mohr Siebeck, 22 Nov 2010 Retrieved 2012-07-04 {{ISBN|3161505689}}</ref>

{{quote|... in fact, practically in every city there are banking places for the holy money ...|[[Philo]]<ref>M E Stevens – [https://books.google.com/books?id=YOzV8VMCAt0C&dq=Mesopotamian+temple+treasury&pg=PA109 Temples, Tithes, and Taxes: The Temple and the Economic Life of Ancient Israel] Baker Academic, 1 Nov 2006 Retrieved 2012-07-04 {{ISBN|0801047773}}</ref>}}

In excavations of [[Persepolis]], a text containing information pertaining to the activities of a [[Persepolis Administrative Archives|temple treasury]] were discovered dated to the fifth century BC. The texts written in the Elamite language name the treasurer as ''[[Wikt:ganzabara|ganzabara]]'' <ref>[[Hugh G. M. Williamson]] – [https://books.google.com/books?id=NJKkUxXKJj8C&pg=PA215 Studies In Persian Period History and Historiography] Mohr Siebeck, 2004 Retrieved 2012-07-04 {{ISBN|3161482611}}</ref><ref>J Boardman – [https://books.google.com/books?id=nNDpPqeDjo0C&pg=PA84 The Cambridge Ancient History: Persia, Greece and the Western Mediterranean c. 525 to 479 B.C.] Cambridge University Press, 24 Nov 1988 Retrieved 2012-07-04 {{ISBN|0521228042}}</ref><ref>D T Potts- [https://books.google.com/books?id=mc4cfzkRVj4C&pg=PA320 The Archaeology of Elam: Formation and Transformation of an Ancient Iranian State] Cambridge University Press, 29 Jul 1999 Retrieved 2012-07-04 ISBN
0521564964</ref>

The ancient Roman word ''[[aerarium]]'' signified the treasury of the Senate; ''[[fiscus]]'' indicated the imperial treasury used by the [[Roman emperor|emperor]].<ref>L Adkins, R A Adkins – [https://books.google.com/books?id=9JJdqJ8YGH8C&pg=PA45 Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome] Oxford University Press, 16 Jul 1998 Retrieved 2012-07-04 {{ISBN|0195123328}}</ref>
<ref>Sir William Smith – [https://books.google.com/books?id=QlQJAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA24 Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities] C.C. Little and J. Brown, 1853 Retrieved 2012-07-04</ref>