FS25: The Emperor Profits: Fiscal Liability in Roman Egypt

The Imperial Treasury, as unpopular as the tax administration is to some people today, served, along with the People’s Treasury (aerarium), to finance the power machinery of the Roman Empire. At times, the people likely felt that the demands of the Treasury were endless. Especially, in periods of crisis, such as in the 3rd century CE, the population yearned for financial relief and, if it could not be obtained by legal means, looked for other ways out. Roman governors and emperors were aware of the burdens on the people and sought solutions – aiming to protect the people in order not to undermine the legitimacy of the Roman Empire.

Thousands of papyri from the deserts of Egypt offer us insights into the everyday world of the province and reveal strategies that individuals and the Treasury used to optimise their situation. A wealth of information on administrative matters has been preserved, and the nature of the sources also allows us to gain knowledge of processes that were not intended for the public domain. This gives us a detailed view of reality that allows us to break out of the ivory tower of the jurists and emperors in the Digest and the Codex and to scrutinise the practicality of the provisions handed down there and to supplement them with new insights.

The seminar will focus on issues of fiscal liability, execution and security. Among other things, we will examine how execution was carried out, what privileges the Treasury had over third parties, and how creditors creatively used the power of the Treasury to their advantage. The Treasury itself operated between public and private law, with implications for the legal structures of fiscal liability.

We will also analyse constellations closely linked to the administrative apparatus. We will examine how public tenants were treated and how liability was organised in the case of people who performed a compulsory service (liturgy) or held a public office. What were the legal peculiarities when a person was liable to the Treasury, and what were the legal peculiarities when the liability was to a city? Finally, we will investigate how the emperors and the governors dealt with those who stretched the law too far for their own benefit and thus damaged the Treasury through corruption or other fraudulent behaviour.

List of topics:

Topic 1: Between Public and Private Law: Legal Status of the Imperial Treasury

Topic 2: Pursued by the Treasury! Forms of Enforcement of Public Debts

Topic 3: Primus inter pares? The Executive Privilege of the Treasury

Topic 4: Public Legal Pluralism: The so-called ‘Protopraxia’ of the Treasury in the Edict of Tiberius Iulius Alexander

Topic 5: Never Trust your Debtors: Securing Fiscal Liability

Topic 6: Fiscal Liability of Private Debtors: Penalty Clauses in Favor of the Treasury

Topic 7: The Leasing Treasury: Liability of Public Leaseholders

Topic 8: Munera et Honores: Liability of Liturgists and Public Officials

Topic 9: Worm-eating in the Public Archives! P.Fam.Tebt. and the Search for the Liable Party 

Topic 10: Adult Children and Minors: Age, Subjection to Paternal Power and Liturgical Liability 

Topic 11: ‘‘I ... wish you all the best, my dearest’’: The Liturgists’ Surrender of Property

Topic 12: Deus ex machina: Governors and Emperors against Fiscal Abuse