Civic finance in the byzantine period: The laws and Egypt

Byzantinische Zeitschrift

Volumn 89, Issue 2, 1996, Pages 389-407

  Liebeschuetz, J H W G ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 66649124978     PISSN: 00077704     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1515/byzs.1996.89.2.389     Document Type: Article

References (81)

1. Cities had revenues in spite of the undoubted confiscation of cities' lands to the Res Privata. For discussions of effect of confiscation see W. Liebeschuetz, "The finances of Antioch in the fourth century", BZ 52 (1959) 314-356,
2. e siècle (Rome 1989) 276-282 (vectigalia), 641-658 (landed property).
3. On the exagogion see A.C. Johnson, L.C. West, Byzantine Egypt (Amsterdam 1967) 101-105, 301,
4. also Karayannopulos, Das Finanzwesen des frühbyzantinischen Staates (Munich 1958) 152-153.
5. More generally on the Edict XIII see A. Müller, Getreide für Konstantinopel. Überlegungen zu Justinians Edikt XIII als Grundlage für Aussagen zur Einwohnerzahl Konstantinopels im 6. Jhd., JÖB 43 (1993) 1 ff.
6. Perhaps originally the tax of two denarii imposed on Jews by Hadrian, see Johnson & West, Byzantine Egypt 306. That tax seems to have faded out after 115-117, following the destruction of most of the Jewish community.
7. B. Palme, Das Amt des apaitetes in Ägypten, MPER ns.20 (Vienna 1989).
8. Assignment of taxation revenue: P. Cair. 67057, summarised Johnson & West Byzantine Egypt 275-280, shows to what expenses taxes of Antaeopolis were assigned. IGLS XIII.9046 (Edict of Anastasius edited by M. Sartre): part of the customs revenue was assigned to the salary of the dux of Palestine.
9. B. Lifschitz, Une inscription byzantine du Caesarée en Israel, REG 70 (1957) 118-133: 5629 solidi from customs and other (confiscated?) revenues of Caesarea in Palestine returned to "horse rearers" of the city.
10. Generally: II. Antoniadis-Bibicou, Recherches sur les douanes à Byzance (Paris 1963).
11. L. Wenger, Canon in den römischen Rechtsquellen und in den Papyri (Vienna 1942).
12. e siècle, (Paris 1989) 279-313.
13. R. S. Bagnall, Agricultural productivity and taxation in later Roman Egypt, TAPA 115 (1985) 289-308.
14. A. H. M. Jones, Later Roman Empire (Oxford 1964) 417-419;
15. e siècle (Rome 1989) 659-668.
16. e siècles (Paris 1977) 181-196.
17. e siècle (Brussels 1972) 36-37, 61-65, 78-85.
18. H. Geremek, Les politeuomenoi égyptiens sont-ils identiques aux bouleutai?, Anagennesis 1 (1981) 231-247;
19. esiècles, JJP 20 (1990) 47-54.
20. e siècle (Paris 1989) 279-313.
21. e sièclc, CE 80 (1965) 401-430.
22. of Aphrodito: Johnson & West, op cit n. 2 above, 281-282.
23. I cannot accept J. Durliat's: L'état qui confiait à la cité la levée de l'impôt, lui accordait, pour son budget propre, la disposition du tiers de tout ce qui était perçu". (Les finances publiques de Dioelétien aux Carolingiens (281-889 (Sigmaringen 1990) 43-11.
24. A. K. Bowman, The Town Councils of Roman Egypt, (Toronto 1071) 91-94.
25. J. D. Thomas, The office of the exactor in Egypt, CE 31 (1959) 124-140.
26. R. S. Bagnall, Egypt in Late Antiquity (Princeton 1993) 60-62.
27. See J. Gascou, Les institutions de l'hippodrome en Egypte byzantine, BIFAO 76 (1976) 185-212.
28. e siècle : note sur l'institution du vindex, in E. Frézouls (ed.), Sociétés urbaines, sociétés rurales dans l'Asie Mineure et la Syrie hellénistique et romaine (Strasbourg 1987) 271-281.
29. J. Gascou, Les grands domaines, 48: Il semble donc que les propriétaires des cités égypto-byzantines formaient une sorte de collège se partageant les responsabilités fiscales et liturgiques, et représentant auprès des autorités municipales l'ensemble des contribuables du ressort. Ainsi, les hommes et produits versés par la patrice Sophie et les Apions, au titre de leurs parts, comprenaient non seulement leurs contributions propres, mais aussi, et nécessairement, celles d'autres redevables dont ils étaient, à mon avis, tenus pour responsables.
30. Gascou, Les grand domaines, 49-51.
31. J. Durliat, Les finances publiques de Dioclétien aux Carolingiens (281-889) (Sigmaringen 1990) 65-69.
32. A. H. M. Jones, Later Roman Empire, 785-786, esp. n. 37. In individual cases it is often as difficult to disprove that fundus might mean a block of tax rights as it would be, in many contexts, to prove that "blue" does not mean "red". Nevertheless it is very difficult to believe that the Ravenna documents of gift or sale of fundi or fractions of fundi are anything other than transfers of full property rights.
33. The above argument has the negative function of disproving Gascou's theory of the role of συντελεστ αί in fiscal administration of 6th century Egypt. It has not attempted to explain the precise role of συντελ εσταί in each of the different contexts in which the term might be found. For instance in the organisation of the village of Aphrodito they do seem to constitute a superior group, below the village officers and above other possessores (Gascou, Les grands domaines 49-50, nn. 287-288).
34. Eg H. Maehler, BGU XII, Papyri aus Hermopolis (Berlin 1971) nos 21765-21766, 21769 and Maehler's commentary 64-68.
35. for payment of taxes of resident tenants and labourers by estate owners in third century see D. Ralhhone, Economic Rationalism and Rural Society in Third Century Egypt (Cambridge 1991) 117, 121-125, 404-406.
36. See J. Gascou. L. S. B. MacCoull. Le cadastre d'Anhrodito, T M 10 (1987) 104-158.
37. There certainly were large estates. But it is still quite uncertain whether estates on the scale of those of the Apions were exceptional or not, and it is even debatable whether there had been a significant concentration of landownership. A. K. Bowman, Landholding in the Hermopolite Nome in the 4th century AD, JRS 75 (1985) 131-163.
38. M. Lewuillon-Blume, Enquete sur les registres fonciers (P. Landlisten): la répartition de la propriété et les familles des propriétaires, Proc. XVIII Int. Congr. Pap. 1988, 279-286.
39. R.S.Bagnall, Landholding in Late Roman Egypt: the distribution of wealth, JRS 82 (1992) 128-140.
40. The Aphrodito register shows that it was common for a tax-payer also to pay taxes in the name of somebody else, but this practice was by no means was restricted to large landowners. It usually seems to have been a private arrangement between the individuals involved, not part of a general reform of taxation. See J. Gascou/L. S. B. MacCoull, "Le cadastre d'Aphrodito", TM 10 (1987) 128-140.
41. The taxation of Egypt as of other areas of the Empire was administered on the basis of city territo-ries. But responsibility for the administration of taxation within the single city might be divided into several parts. So a city might have two (or more?) directors of taxation (pagarchs): J. Gascou, La déten-tion collégiale de l'autorité pagarchique, Byz 43 (1972) 60-72, and as we sec and two, and probably more, offices to maintain the tax register.
42. J. D. Thomas, The office of exactor civitatis in Egypt, CE 34 (1959) 124-140;
43. list of exactores: P. J. Sijpesteijn, ZPE 90 (1992) 217-255.
44. Evidence (scanty) for pagarchs at Oxyrhynchus being linked to Apions see Gascou, La détention collégiale de l'autorité pagarchique, Byz 43 (1972) 70-71 n. 3.
45. See Gascou, les grands domaines, 55-57. The Apions are the only house known to have performed the duty.
46. J. Gascou, Table budgetaire, 296.
47. R. Rémondon, Le monastère Alexandrin de la metanoia était-il bénificaire du fisc ou à son service?, Studi in onore di Eduardo Volterra, (Milan 1971) vol. V. 771-781.
48. J. Gascou, L'institution des Bucellaires, BIFAO LXXII (1976) 143-156;
49. R. Rémondon, Soldats de Byzance d'après un papyrus trouvé à Edfou, Recherches de Papyrologie 1 (1961) 41-93;
50. W. Liebe-schuetz, Barbarians and Bishops (Oxford 1992) 43-46.
51. C. Rouechó, Performers and Partisans at Aphrodisias (London 1993) 124-126.
52. R. Rémondon, PGoth 9, CE 41 (1966) 173-178;
53. e siècle, CE 80 (1965) 401-430;
54. idem, Papyrus Grecs d'Apolônus Anô (Cairo 1953) 163-165, no 75 (c. 700 AD);
55. A. J. Iloogendijk & P. van Minnen (eds), Papyrologica Lugduno-Ba-tava 25 (1991), 225-229 (mainly 4th century).
56. G. Rouillard, L'administration civile de l'Égypte byzantin, (Paris 1928) 167 thought that these were private estate officials, but a rota combining different estates for a common obligation is surely more likely to have been drawn up for a public purpose.
57. R. Rémondon, Ann. Un. Sar. 8 (1959) 91ff.
58. G. Rouillard, L'administration civile de l'Égypt byzantin (Paris 1928) 163-161, 167 n 2.
59. A. K. Bowman, The Town Councils of Roman Egypt (Toronto 1971) 59-60.
60. B. R. Rees, The curator civitatis in Egypt, JJP 7-8, (1953-1954) 83-105.
61. C. Roucché, A new inscription from Aphrodisias and the title πατὴρ τη̃ς πό λεως, GRBS 20 (1979) 173-185;
62. eadem, Aphrodisias in Late Antiquity (London 1989) 78, 321-322;
63. G. Dagron & D. Feissel, Inscriptions de Cilicie (Paris 1987) no 24 and Appendix I.215-220.
64. 158: P. J. Sijpesteijn ZPE 62 (1986) 133-137; 553;
65. P. J. Sijpesteijn, "Five papyri from the Michigan collection", ZPE 62 (198G) 133-137.
66. Perhaps a senior administrator of the estate of the titular office holder, in the way Menas pagarch of Antaeopolis was the delgate of the gloriosissima Patricia (PLond. V. 1660, cf J. Gascou, Byz 42 (1972) 70),
67. SB VI.9152, cf Rémondon, CE 40 (1965) 17.
68. Fullest account in D. Claude, Die byzantinische Stadt im 6. Jahrhundert (Munich 1969) 107-145.
69. For a list of references to bishops, usually in other contexts than that of municipal administration: R. L. B. Morris, Bishops in the papyri, Proceedings 20 Int. Congr. Papyr. Copenhagen 1992. ed. A. Bülow-Jacobsen (Copenhagen 1994) 582-587;
70. K. A. Worp A check list of bishops in Byzantine Egypt, ZPE 100 (1991) 283-318.
71. A. Steinwenter, Die Stellung der Bischöfe in der byzantinischen Verwaltung Ägyptens, Studi in onore di Pietro de Francisci I, Milan 1956, 75-99.
72. Under the Muslims a pagarch demanded sureties from taxpayers in presence of defensor and bishop: R. Rémondon, Papyrus Grecs d'Appolônus Anô, n. 81 above 114-117, no 46.
73. A. K. Bowman, The Town Councils of Roman Egypt (Toronto 1971) 49-50, 124-126.
74. Liebeschuetz, The origin of the office of the pagarch, BZ 66 (1973) 34-46.
75. Les revenus en espèces de la maison des Apions, CE 93 (1992) 243-248.
76. Gascou, Grands domaines, 63 n. 356;
77. It was possible to make money by efficient farming: D. Rathbone, Economic Rationalism and Rral Society in Third Century AD Egypt: the Heroninos Archive and the Appianus Estate, (Cambridge 1991).
78. On the economic and social rise of the Taurini, a much smaller family of landowners, aided by commissioned service in the army and in the officium of the duke of Thebaid sec H. Maehler BGU XII, xxi-xxvi.
79. O. Hornickel, Ehren und Rankprädikate in den Papyrusurkunden (Giessen, 1930).
80. T. S. Brown, Gentlemen and Officers. Imperial Administration and Aristocratic Power in Byzantine Italy, AD 554-800 (Rome 1981) 131-133.
81. M. Gelzer, Altes und Neues aus der byzantinisch-ägyptischen Verwaltungsmisere, Archiv für Papyrusforschung 5 (1913) 346-377.