Sidney Homer, in his 1963 seminal
history of interest rates, argues that a history of often dramatic interest rate fluctuations
provides an excellent summary of the success of some communities and the failures of others to develop effective commercial ethics and laws and suitable monetary and fiscal techniques and policies. While "
credit" is considered a modern device (or vice), a brief survey of financial
history in this paper demonstrates that credit was in general use in ancient and in medieval times, antedating industry, banking and even coinage. This paper examines selected issues related to the history of simple and compound interest rates, specifically loans and considers periods when high rates were commonplace in their historical context.