The origin of Consulting

Consulting is a profession that deals with advising people for money.

The word itself comes from the latin 'consultare', meaning to study or observe in detail, which fits well into how it's used today.

People consult lawyers when they have legal problems and consultants when they want something done professionally such as engineers designing construction plans or doctors diagnosing illnesses. A person usually hires a consultant because he doesn't know what to do himself but needs help making decisions that are important.

Consulting is a very old profession, dating back to the ancient Near East. In Babylonia, consulting was considered an honorable way of making money and many people did it. A lot of these consultants would study astrology or mathematics or astronomy in order to be more knowledgeable about the subject they were hired for.

The Egyptian, Chinese and Greek societies were others to develop consulting professions. The Egyptians had their 'men of business', who would advise the pharaoh on anything he needed help with. These men of business were also responsible for making sure that other government officials did what they should be doing.

In China, the state employed many people who would study different things and give their advice to the emperor. The Chinese government also had 'masters of records', who were in charge of keeping track of everything that happened for historical purposes, which is a very important job.

Ancient Greek society had 'wise men', who would advise people in the court of law, as well as other jobs such as astronomers and astrologers. These wise men were so popular that word eventually spread to the rest of Europe where consulting became a common practice.

The Romans also had their own version of consultants, such as doctors, architects and engineers. They used the word 'consulting' to describe when they asked for advice from these professionals.