Roman Taxation

[Robert_Brenchley]

It's hard to find specific evidence of how Roman taxes were collected, but Tacitus has an interesting comment, describing the causes of a Frisian revolt in 29 AD.

Bearing their poverty in mind, Nero Drusus had assessed [the Frisians'] taxation leniently; ox-hides were requested, for military purposes. No-one had stipulated their dimensions or quality until Olennius, a senior staff officer (I'm using Michael Grant's translation, and find his modernising of military ranks confusing) who was in charge of them, interprested the requirements as buffalo-hides. This demand, severe enough in any community, was particularly oppressive in Germany where, though the forests abound in huge beasts, domestic animals are small. So first the Frisians lost their cattle, next their lands, and finally their wives and children went into slavery.

So tax could routinely be collected in kind, and could become oppressive as a result of the actions of local officials. Tacitus makes several comments about high taxation under Tiberius, and the Frisian uprising was essentially a tax revolt, like the beginning of the Jewish War. Evidently, economic problems, and the associated punitive taxation, didn't begin under Nero.

[mauseus]

Hi,

“….economic problems didn’t begin under Nero…...”

The centrepoint of Cosmo Rodewald’s thesis (published as Money in the Age of Tiberius, 1976) is the financial crisis of 33 AD under Tiberius and the measures that were put in place in order to try and rectify it, brought about by loans and land ownership. Tacitus and Suetonius are cited frequently on these issues.

Another useful essay (but one which has attracted perhaps rightful criticism) on the need for taxes is “Taxes and Trade in the Roman Empire” by Keith Hopkins (from the Journal of Roman Studies around 1980 if my memory serves me correctly), postulating the requirement to evolve from a subsistence economy to a cash crop/goods/service economy to meet the heterogeneous governmental need for expenditure across a geographical area.

And finally Money and Government in the Roman Empire by Jones is well worth a read to understand Roman money and the need for its production (as opposed to the expression of money, the coins themselves).

I wish I could find another reference to the rural estates of the third century and beyond, the latifundia, in relation to taxes and urban decline; I’m sure it was in a BAR volume but can’t place it.

Regards,

Mauseus

[Robert_Brenchley]

Thanks; have you any idea where I might find any of these? Among other things, I'm trying to find a response to the all-too-common claim that the Jews had to pay Roman taxes in Roman silver. I just don't think the local economy was that monetised at the time; my suspicion is that the tax collectors took whatever they could get, and at some point in the process it was probably sold, and the tax handed over in coin, unless the Romans stipulated payment in something else. I don't think there's any specific evidence for Judea, apart from an interesting comment by Josephus, to the effect that tax was remitted in the Sabbath Year. No harvest was, of course, brought in in that year, so the Jews suffered hardship, and the Romans clearly recognised that.

[mauseus]

Hi,

Money in the Age of Tiberius was widely remaindered probably about 20 years ago, if not more. Galata (Paul Withers) do have a copy at about £25 I think. The Jones book is widely available.

Regards

Mauseus

[mauseus]

Hi,

Just come across another reference for the period, D. Magie, "A Reform in the Exaction of Grain at Cibyra under Claudius" in Studies in Roman Economic and Social History in Honor of Allan Chester Johnson (sic), 1951.

The paper discusses the removal from office of Tiberius Nicephorus by Quintus Veranius Philagrus for exacting an undue amount of money from the citizens of Cibyra in Phrygia c.42 AD. Apparently he was accepting bribes for requisitioning less grain than he was supposed to for the treasury and commuting this shortfall into excessive monetary "fines" on the landowners.

Regards,

Mauseus

[Robert_Brenchley]

Thanks.