Almost 3, 700 years ago the ruler of Babylon, Hammurabi 1848 - 1805 BC who was descended from the Amorite dynasty, forbade through his legal acts [ containing 93 paragraphs ] the taking of interest on interest, which meant that the borrower had to give in addition to the assets he had borrowed the same amount of money. Anyone who broke the rule was severely punished, through very few abided by it. The 282 Statues of Hammurabi, written in Akkadian, were found in 1901 - 1902 at excavations at Susa in ancient Elam[now Iran].