Roman Revenues from Greece after 146 B.C.

Abstract

T HE ancient evidence relating to the revenues which Rome drew from Greece after the Achaean War is both scanty and obscure, with the result that modern accounts of those revenues show wide divergences.' Recently, however, two authoritative works have appeared, which, in this matter, agree in general that, as one of them says, taxes were imposed on many and probably most of the communities that opposed the Romans [in the Achaean War].2 As there is, therefore, a distinct possibility that the version they give will be generally adopted, it may be worth while to point out that, though it is attractive, it is not definitive, since the evidence on which it is based is capable of being differently interpreted. The argument which follows is based on the following general assumptions about Roman provincial revenues. These revenues fall into two main types-tribute and rents. Tribute might be either a fixed amount, whether in cash or in kind (stipendium) or a pars quota in the form of tithes (decumae). Rents were drawn from property of various kinds-land, mines, forests, harbors,3 etc.-owned by the Roman state. Second, there was an im-