THE SELEUKH) ROYAL ECONOMY the Finances and Financial Administration of the Seleukid Empire
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THE SELEUKH) ROYAL ECONOMY The finances and financial administration of the Seleukid empire GERASSIMOS EFTHIMIOS GEORGE APERGHIS Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the University of London for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy November 1999 History Department, University College London 2 ABSTRACT The sources are first discussed, with emphasis on Near Eastern written material, archaeological data and numismatics. After a brief historical summary, the essential problem of the early Seleukid kings is presented: how to convert a commodity-based economy into a monetary one. The underlying economy of the empire is next described. An assessment by region points to a peak population of some 20 million, occupied mainly in agriculture and local trade, which the new city foundations and royal land-grants stimulated. Ps-Aristotle’s Oikonomika forms the basis of the main section. It is argued that the work belongs to the early 3rd century B.C. and describes the conditions of the Seleukid empire. Every form of satrapal revenue listed is analysed and rates of tribute, taxation and rent derived, where possible, and shown to be generally high. Coinage is found to have been increasingly used for payments by the administration, mostly for a large standing army. Similarly, taxation receipts were also required in coin and surplus commodity production on royal land was disposed of for silver, where possible. The tetradrachm served as the primary medium and fiduciary bronze tended to be used in place of small silver, but the Seleukids sought only to maintain appropriate currency levels in each region and their many mints essentially coined to replace what was lost through wear, apart from bursts of production for military needs. Foreign currencies circulated freely, including sometimes those on different standards. A quantitative model links population, production, royal revenue and expenses and coinage. Annual revenue may have reached 20,000 talents, but expenses were high and any surplus small. Finally, the financial administration of the empire owed much to Achaemenid prototypes. A picture emerges of regional and district officials, responsible both for satrapal finances and royal land and reporting directly to the king. TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE MAP INTRODUCTION PART I - PRELIMINARIES 1. SOURCES AND METHODS 1.1 Classical literature 1.2 Ps-Aristotle’s Oikonomika, Book II 1.3 Greek inscriptions, papyri, parchments and ostraka 1.4 Local language sources 1.5 Archaeology 1.6 Numismatics 2. HISTORICAL SUMMARY 3. THE POSING OF A PROBLEM PART II - THE UNDERLYING ECONOMY GEOGRAPHY AND POPULATION 4.1 Mesopotamia 4.2 The Upper Satrapies 4.3 Northern Syria and Kilikia 4.4 Asia Minor 4.5 Koile Syria 4.6 An alternative approach to population 4.7 Total population PRODUCTION AND EXCHANGE 5.1 Agriculture 5.2 Animal husbandry 5.3 Natural resources 5.4 Industry 5.5 Trade 5.6 Prices THE GRANTING OF LAND 6.1 The new cities 6.2 Land-grants to individuals 6.3 The treatment of temples PART III - THE ROYAL ECONOMY 7. PS-ARISTOTLE’S OIKONOMIKA, BOOK II p. 112 7.1 Text and translation (Book II, 1) 7.2 Intended audience 7.3 Date of the work 7.4 Conclusions on the Oikonomika, Book II 8. REVENUE p. 132 8.1 Revenue from land 8.2 Revenue from the king’s own property 8.3 Revenue from market centres 8.4 Revenue from travel and transport by land and taxes on sales 8.5 Revenue from animals 8.6 Revenue from head-taxes 8.7 Case study. Seleukid Judaea 8.8 Conclusions on regular revenue 8.9 Extraordinary revenue 9. THE HANDLING OF SURPLUSES p. 174 9.1 Evidence from the Persepolis Fortification Tablets 9.2 Evidence from Hellenistic texts 9.3 Conclusions on the handling of surpluses 10. EXPENDITURE p. 183 10.1 Military expenses 10.2 Cost of the provincial administration 10.3 Cost of the king and his court 10.4 Extraordinary expenditure 10.5 Conclusions on expenditure 11. COINAGE p.206 11.1 Mints 11.2 Coinage issues 11.3 Coin categories 11.4 Coinage circulation 11.5 ‘Peace-time’ and‘war-time’ coinage 11.6 The‘special’ issues 11.7 Conclusions on coinage 12. A MODEL OF THE SELEUKID ECONOMY p.240 12.1 Population 12.2 Revenue 12.3 Production 12.4 Expenditure and surplus 12.5 Coinage 12.6 Conclusions 13. FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATION p.253 13.1 Achaemenid practice 13.2 The change with Alexander 13.3 The period of the Successors 13.4 Seleukid financial administrators 13.5 The dioiketes, the oikonomos and the epi tonprosodon 13.6 The eklogistes and the logeutes 13.7 Other financial officials 13.8 Comparison with Achaemenid practice 13.9 A need to reinterpret some texts 13.10 Antiochos I as financial administrator 13.11 Conclusions on financial administration GENERAL CONCLUSIONS p.287 SUPPORTING DATA COIN HOARD LISTS p.290 DOCUMENTS AND TRANSLATIONS p.295 BIBLIOGRAPHY p.325 8 PREFACE This Dissertation has what may be two novel features. Firstly, it is an attempt by a Greek to view the Seleukid empire from a distinctly non- Hellenocentric point of view. This is more difficult than it sounds, given the conditioning that I have been exposed to about the superiority of ancient Greek civilization over those of the ancient Near East. Since I am dealing with financial administration of an empire, it requires that close attention be paid to the methods used by other Near-Eastern empires, particularly the Achaemenid. It also means that I must centre myself more in the affairs of the Seleukid heartland: Mesopotamia, northern Syria and western Iran, and less in the peripheral Greek world of Asia Minor. Secondly, the Dissertation relies quite heavily on the analysis of numerical data in the sources. But this I have tried to present at all times as clearly and as simply as I can, recognizing the pitfalls of source reliability and cross-checking as much as possible. I am satisfied that the overall picture that emerges hangs together reasonably well. To a considerable extent, my approach has been influenced by my two supervisors, to whom I owe a great deal. Amelie Kuhrt’s books first interested me in the Seleukid empire. But it was, more importantly, her teaching of the history of the ancient Near East, and particularly that of the Persian empire, that decided me to embark upon this study of the Seleukid royal economy as a continuation, in many ways, of that of its Achaemenid predecessors. Amelie painstakingly read and corrected my work and continuously reinforced my knowledge of the ancient Near East as we progressed. Michael Crawford encouraged me to break away from the trodden path and develop theories of my own (of which this Dissertation is perhaps too frill). But he also controlled my excesses in the many areas of his expertise, whether an incorrect translation of a Greek text or a shaky interpretation of a source or a dubious calculation. To my surprise and pleasure I found that many of my so-called theories he had already thought of or immediately accepted. I concede many good points of my work to both my supervisors and take responsibility for all errors. Finally, this Dissertation would not have been possible without the consideration and support of my wife, Myrto. I dedicate it to her. The Hellenistic Near East INTRODUCTION The finances and financial administration of the Seleukid empire are usually discussed only in passing in general historical surveys of the Seleukids or the Hellenistic world1. Some effort has, however, been devoted to the subject as part of more specialized works dealing with Seleukid institutions, society and economy2. There is still a great deal that is unclear. For example, how did the Seleukid kings derive their revenue? What forms did taxation take and was the system generalized or was it adapted to the specific conditions of each region? On what sizes of population were tribute and taxes assessed? What was the resulting income for the kings? What other incomes accrued to them? How did the king exploit royal land? What role was played by the new city foundations and the temples? What expenses were incurred by the king directly and what at the level of his provincial administrations? What was the purpose of coinage in the economy and what considerations determined the denominations minted and levels of production at different mints? What was the organization that managed the finances of the empire and of the king personally? And finally, what was the bottom line? Was this a wealthy empire or did it live a hand-to-mouth existence, which developed into an acute financial crisis following the 15,000 talent indemnity imposed by the Romans after Magnesia (190)?3 This Dissertation is an attempt to put together a picture of the finances and the financial administration of the Seleukid empire. In time it deals with mainly that period when one can speak of an empire, i.e. up to the loss of Mesopotamia ca.129, but it also discusses briefly the situation down to the final extinction in 64. In geographic range it covers all the territories that at one time or another, if not concurrently, were ruled by the Seleukids, from the Aegean and the border with Egypt to Bactria/Sogdiane and the north-west frontier of India. In Part I the different sources used are presented briefly. The existing classical literary and epigraphic material has been extended by much valuable cuneiform documentation, 1 For example Tam(1927), Rostovtzeff(1941), Preaux(1978), Will( 1979; 1982), Walbank(1981), Grant(1982), Gruen(1984:Ch.l7), Musti in CAH VII/12 (1984), Green(1990) and Sherwin- White/Kuhrt(1993).