The Practice of Taxation in Three Late Ptolemaic Papyri[1]

The texts

The first text is P.Tebt. I 103, of which only the first two out of three columns were published. Recently, among the photographs of the unpublished fragments of our batch of papyri, I was able to identify two frames with fragments belonging to this text: UC 1855 and UC 1856. Thus, a nearly complete text, more than a meter wide, has been retrieved, although it is not entirely legible. The papyrus contains a list of taxpayers in Theogonis, dated Thoth year 21, which is probably 61 BC.[3] The name list, complete and laid out in ten columns on the recto, is followed by a column with additions to this name list. Remains of seven more columns with name lists and drafts are preserved on the verso.

Of the second text, seven out of nine columns of the recto were published as P.Tebt. I 121, which is mainly an account of expenses starting with ἔτους κα Θωύθ, "Thoth of year 21." Photographs of this second text are not yet available.

The third text, P.Tebt. I 189 was only described in P.Tebt. I. It is a more or less complete text of about the same width as 103. It starts on the recto with a list of names of people of Theogonis, almost ten columns long and dated in Thoth of year 21. A calculation of the assessed tax income for the months of Thoth and Phaophi follows, based on the foregoing name list. Eleven columns of accounts of expenses for the end of Phaophi until Choiak are preserved on the verso.

The fact that the texts 103, 121 and 189 are closely related in terms of date, location and contents, was already noticed by the editors of P.Tebt. I. However, they failed to notice, first, that the name lists of 189 and 103 are two different versions of the same list of taxpayers, and, second, that the accounts of expenses on the verso of 189, starting from the end of Phaophi, are the continuation of the accounts on the verso of 121.

Drawing from all the information the three texts may provide, I shall now restrict myself to aspects of the tax paid, the list of taxpayers, the tax assessment, the expenses and the officials mentioned therein.

The tax

In 103, the people listed, all of them adult males, are said to be paying a tax called σύνταξις. The heading reads as follows (ll. 1–3):

In 189, the people listed have paid a tax called σύνταξις εἰς τὸ ἐπιστατικόν ("contribution for the ἐπιστατικόν -tax"). The heading reads as follows (ll. 1–5):

The three texts are often cited for their rare mention of the word λαογραφία in the Ptolemaic period. Although the word itself is used here in its original meaning of "writing down the people," the tax recorded in these texts, seemingly a capitation tax paid by all male adults of the village, has often been connected to the Roman poll-tax called λαογραφία.[5] The term σύνταξις of texts 103 and 189 was even compared with the Roman tax συντάξιμον which was sometimes used as a kind of equivalent of λαογραφία.[6] However, my new reading of 189 line 5, σύνταξ[ιν εἰ]ς τὸ{ν} ἐπιστατικ(όν) instead of σύντα[ξιν κ]αὶ τὸ{ν} ἐπιστατικ(όν), establishes that the σύνταξις was, in that text, followed by the specification εἰς τὸ ἐπιστατικόν, thus suggesting that the word σύνταξις was not used here in the specific sense of "poll tax." Σύνταξις is a general term for a tax payment, either in full or in an instalment, of either a single tax or of a number of different taxes grouped together under this name.[7]

The tax actually paid in 189 (and therefore also in 103) is the ἐπιστατικόν-tax. A tax of that name is best known in connection with priests, who had to pay for the maintenance of an ἐπιστάτης, a government appointed overseer of the temple precinct. This cannot be the case here, since of all the adult males paying this tax, only a few are described as priests. Ἐπιστατικόν is also known as a tax levied to pay for the cost of the office of ἐπιστάτης τῆς κώμης, or that of ἐπιστάτης τῶν φυλακιτῶν; one of these taxes is rather meant here.[8] We may assume that it is the same tax which, in the lists of expenses, is referred to as ἐπιστατεία καὶ ἀρχιφυ(λακιτεία) in 121, l. 2, and as ἐπιστατεία in 189, l. 520. Since in 121 the large amounts of 260 silver drachmas (for a year) and of more than a talent come close to the assessed amounts of money to be collected for the ἐπιστατικόν-tax, ἐπιστατικόν and ἐπιστατεία probably refer to the same ἐπιστατικόν-tax.

Since, on the one hand, the tax rate (see below) seems rather high for a tax just meant for the upkeep of the office of a local epistates and, since, on the other hand, this tax was calculated on the basis of a census (λαογραφία) and apparently levied on all adult males, not unlike a capitation tax, maybe even a poll tax, the ἐπιστατικόν / ἐπιστατεία may represent a more general tax. Just as the salt tax, and the so-called yoke-tax before it, functioned as poll tax in the preceding centuries, it is possible that the designation ἐπιστατικόν no longer reflected the original purpose of the tax and came to function as a poll tax.[9]

The list of taxpayers

The list of the taxpayers in text 189 was, as stated in its heading, copied after a list, which had in the preceding year been drawn up by the λογευτής, the tax-collector. The handwriting shows that 189 is a neat copy of the list, which has been in use for a longer period of time, as can be inferred from insertions in the main list itself and from the later additions following the list.

The list in text 103 is essentially the same as that in 189. Taking into account the many names that are lost, damaged or simply illegible in both texts, there are still over a hundred identical entries in roughly the same order. But 103, written in a more cursive hand, is also different from 189 in that most names have checkmarks in front of them. Often in the form of crosses, or crosses ending in a dot, the checkmarks sometimes are just dots or slanting strokes. Although the precise meaning of the various checkmarks remains unclear, it is possible, since the two texts probably stem from the same archive, that the marks in front of the names in 103 were added when these names were checked off against those in 189.[10]

The men listed bear mostly Egyptian names. They are identified by their fathers' names or their occupations, and are listed, as stated in the heading of 103, κατ᾽ ἄνδρα, man by man, in no alphabetical order, and family members are indeed often found together. The original total for year 20 was 272 men (189 X, l. 266):

The list of 189 was subsequently updated to 281 and 283 men for Thoth and Phaophi respectively. New people were added, or subtracted because they left or died. Assuming that all men of the village were listed here, it is possible to estimate the total number of inhabitants: about 817 people would have lived in Theogonis in the month of Thoth of year 21.[11]

Of interest is the entry in the expense account of text 121, which shows that representatives of the strategos came from the nome capital on the 27^th of Thoth to supervise or control this registration of the people at the beginning of the new year (ll. 60–61):

The assessments of the tax income

The list of taxpayers in text 189 is used for calculating the total amount of taxes per month to be paid, in the following columns XI and XII:

We see that in Thoth most individuals pay a fixed monthly rate of 900 drachmas, while 8 men pay at a lower rate of 750 drachmas, and 6 have their own special rates. The total tax income assessed for the month of Thoth is 41 talents, 2,850 drachmas. As is shown by the calculation of the tax income for Phaophi, for which month the normal rate is 650 drachmas, the monthly rates vary.

The reason for the difference between the basic rates for the two consecutive months cannot be found in the texts. A tax-farmer was seemingly free to vary the monthly dues, possibly taking into account the impact of external circumstances on the income of the taxpayers. Phaophi might be a month with fewer opportunities to gather cash money because it is sowing time for the cereal crops, while the harvest of dates and olives might not have yielded any cash yet.

The assessments show that certain individuals are granted a lower tax rate (see list below). The reason for this is also unclear. The reduction is not the same for everyone, and it is not extended to the same persons every month. Some of the people enjoying a lower tax rate, but not all, are described as professionals, like a cloak-maker, a flute-player and a bath manager. But only one out of two potters in the list pays a lower rate, and many other professionals pay full rates. Some priests pay the reduced rate, but other priests have to pay in full. In all, about 5 percent of the men listed pay a reduced tax rate for this epistatikon-tax in Thoth, and about 6.5 percent either pay a reduced tax or are tax exempt in Phaophi.

The accounts of expenses

Accounts of expenses are found in text 121 recto and verso, which are continued on the verso of text 189. The total accounts cover about four months: Thoth, Phaophi, Hathyr, and Choiak of year 21.

The out-payments, which can be roughly divided into three groups, include:

1. some large payments of silver money, called διαγραφή, to the capital city, probably tax-money being transferred to the state.
2. various payments for office and administrative expenses, including blank papyrus rolls. Remarkable are the numerous payments for παραζυγή or transport service, probably for donkeys transporting people and sacks of copper money.
3. a large number of expenses made on behalf of visiting officials.

All these accounts must have been records of payments related to tax collection, as can be inferred from the fact that in text 189 the accounts on the verso are balanced with the assessed tax income on the recto. On the recto of 189, column X contains the assessed tax income for the month of Phaophi:

The verso of 189 contains the end of the account of expenses for Phaophi:

The total of the expenses for the month of Phaophi (32 talents, 300 drachmas) is recorded in line 331. Next, several lines (332–335) from the tax assessment of Phaophi are copied from the recto, the total of this assessment being 29 talents, 4.250 drachmas (336). In the next line on the verso (337) a balance of 2 talents, 2,100 drachmas is recorded, which corresponds to the difference between the total income and the total expense.[17] Note that this difference means a loss for the tax-farmer.

The payments made for officials

The payments made for officials show us which officials visited the countryside for the purpose of this tax. We have already seen above the payment to representatives of the στρατηγός, who "had come for the λαογραφία" (text 121, ll. 60–61). The money received by these and other officials will have been part salary, part travel allowance. In addition, money was spent on their reception, just as documented in the Menches archive dating half a century earlier.[18] The expenses include food, oil, drinks, entertainment and offerings in temples. P.Tebt. 189, lines 460–468 (Choiak, year 21) illustrate expenses incurred on behalf of a visiting oikonomos:

On the 15^th of the month Choiak the οἰκονόμος, the financial supervisor of the nome, was given bread with sauce and oil late at night, and the amounts for the bath manager, wine, wood and (hot) water show how he must have taken a nice warm bath before going to bed. The two following entries, for breakfast on the next day and 2,000 drachmas for transport were probably also connected with the visit of the oikonomos in Theogonis.

Several other officials turn up in our accounts. For example, soldiers (μάχιμοι) of the oikonomos and of a banker (τραπεζίτης) were involved with transporting a large amount of tax money, as is documented in P.Tebt. 121, lines 43–48 (Thoth, year 21):

Further payments to soldiers appear at different dates in the accounts; the function of those soldiers must have been to safeguard the transport of larger amounts of money. A group of unnamed λογευταί, tax-collectors, receive a payment on the 2^nd of Phaophi of 1 talent, 3,000 drachmas, which could be their salary. Further, mention is made of the βασιλικὸς γραμματεύς, and later we encounter the τοπάρχης, head of the sub-division of a nome, and his guards, who receive money and food during several days. All these officials are well known for their involvement with taxation in earlier times.

Conclusions

A comparison between the preliminary data from our three texts and what is generally known about taxation from the preceding centuries, suggests that most things still look the same. The registration of the people is done in the same way, using check marks identical to those encountered in earlier census documents.[20] The same officials are involved in taxation just as they were in the earlier period, and it is likely that the system of leasing out taxes, as set out in the Revenue Laws,[21] is still observed.

Looking at the officials mentioned in our texts, a latent omission is that of the tax farmer. His absence could be explained by the fact that the keeper of these papyri was the tax farmer himself. The task of a tax farmer included assessing the tax income and accounting for all expenses that were deductable from the tax income. This is exactly what our texts document.

As Brian Muhs argues in his contribution to these Proceedings, many texts in this group of papyri are believed to stem from a local grapheion archive. Could the papers of a tax farmer find their way into a grapheion archive? Although I do not know of any village grapheion holder taking up a lease as tax farmer, this may just be the case here. Alternatively, the papyri may have to be divided between several different archives or dossiers. Whatever the final outcome of our research, all the papyri from the first batch of crocodile mummies from Tebtynis enrich the body of evidence on 1^st century BC Egypt, which remains, "still an underrepresented period in the papyrological documentation."[22]