One of Rome's Cruelest Exploitations: Tax Collectors in Asia Minor

The Province of Asia was a crucial region that Rome had acquired and exploited. The famous Roman reformer Gaius Gracchus introduced a revolutionary tax collection system in this province to achieve his political goals. He entrusted the task of tax collection in Asia Minor to the publicani, contractors who served as intermediaries between the state and the private sector. In theory, the publicani could not act freely because they were subordinate to provincial governors. But Gracchus gave the equestrian class, who largely constituted publicani, a potent tool against governors: Jury duty in courts, which means the authority to judge provincial governors in Rome after their terms ended. These two “reforms” led to one of the most horrific exploitations ever witnessed.

This article will examine the role of the publicani in the Province of Asia within the Roman Empire, the functioning of their tax systems, and the impacts of these systems on the provincial population. Firstly, the general tax system of Rome and its historical evolution will be discussed. Then, the process of incorporating the Province of Asia into the Roman Empire and the activities of the publicani in this province will be detailed. Finally, the economic and social effects of the publicani on the provincial population will be assessed.

1. Taxation in Rome

Empires require taxation systems to manage their vast territories, meet military expenditures, and finance other state needs. Rome’s tax policy evolved significantly over time to address both political and economic demands. During the Roman Republic, there were initially two types of taxes: tributum and vectigalia.

Tributum was a direct tax paid to the treasury by Roman citizens and tax-paying allied cities. It can be divided into two: Land tax (tributum soli) levied on the crop and a head tax (tributum capitis). For Roman citizens, this taxes was not regular. It was collected when deemed necessary, such as in times of war or famine. According to T. Livius,[1] this tax was collected for the first time during the long war with the Veii in 406 BC.[2] The amount was decided by the senate and collected from each citizen according to his wealth. Although this tax was supposedly extraordinary, given Rome’s constant state of war, years without its collection were rare. On the other hand, in 347-345, the tributum was indeed not collected, and in some cases, it was even seen that the collected tax was repaid.[3] After 167, the collection of this tax was halted in Rome. [4] After this date, tributum came to refer to the tax collected from the provinces.

Vectigalia is levied mainly on public lands and mines. Over time, the term was also used for indirect taxes such as port fees and emancipation tax.

The relationship of Roman citizens with tributum and vectigalia evolved over time. As Rome conquered new lands, the question of how to utilize these territories emerged. Newly acquired lands were considered public property and were called public land, or ager publicus. These lands were leased to citizens known as possessores for farming.

A major development that changed tax systems was undoubtedly the expansion of Roman power beyond Italy. The conquest of new provinces, notably fertile Sicily in 241 and mineral-rich Near and Far Spain in 197, made it unnecessary to collect the tributum from Romans in Italy, which had never been an official, permanent tax. In 167 the Romans living in Italy were finally freed from this tax. The vectigalia thus became the most important revenue collected in Italy. However, with the lex agraria of 111, most of the leased public lands in Italy were given to tenants and this revenue dropped significantly too. After this date, new public lands in Italy, especially those taken from revolted allied cities, were distributed as gifts by commanders to former soldiers rather than being rented out. While public lands in Italy were rapidly shrinking, in the provinces they increased, and the taxes levied on them grew in importance.

Rome treated each of the provinces under its control differently. The borders, laws, legal system and taxation of each conquered province were decided separately. Each province therefore had its own unique administration. As for taxation, the local systems of the regions were generally maintained. Instead of the king or local tax collectors, the people continued to pay their taxes to the quaestors appointed annually by Rome. However, in 123, a different practice was introduced in the province of Asia, and the collection of taxes was assigned to private “businessmen” called publicani.

2. Provincia Asia

By the second century BC, Pergamon had become one of the richest and most powerful cities in Asia Minor. The city’s rise began when Lysimachus, one of Alexander’s successors, transported a large treasure of 9,000 talents to a small but well-protected fortress. Philetaerus, the first ruler of the city, used this treasure to gradually develop Pergamon. After Philetaerus’s death, his nephew Eumenes took over the city, marking the slow establishment of a monarchy. Eumenes carefully conquered new territories and expanded his sphere of influence without provoking the other great kings.

Eumenes’ successor, Attalus, earned the nickname “Savior” (σωτήρ) after his victory over the invading Celts in Anatolia, greatly enhancing Pergamon’s prestige. Although Seleucus III took action against Pergamon, which was now clearly an independent kingdom, Attalus successfully defended his gains and rose to a dominant position in the north of Asia Minor.

Pergamon’s relationship with the Romans began with the First Macedonian War. Attalus, who fought alongside the Romans, increased his influence in the Aegean Sea. After Attalus’s death, his successor, Eumenes II, continued to cooperate with the Romans. With their help, he conducted successful campaigns against the Seleucids, bringing Pergamon’s power to its peak and becoming the ruler of Mysia, Lydia, Phrygia, Pisidia, Pamphylia, and Lycaonia. However, Rome, disturbed by this power, changed its policy and began to support Pergamon’s enemies. Attalus II, who succeeded his brother Eumenes II, aware of Rome’s power, did nothing to oppose them politically and focused on developing his country economically and culturally. His son, Attalus III, followed his father’s path and, before his death in 133, declared in his will that he was leaving his kingdom to Rome. In 129, Asia Minor officially became Rome’s seventh province.

Upon gaining control of Asia Minor, the Romans immediately began debating how to utilize the region’s wealth. The Senate was responsible for managing Rome’s finances and foreign affairs. However, one of the prominent politicians of the time, Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, recognized that the wealth of Asia Minor could be used to achieve his political goals. The most significant reform Tib. Gracchus aimed to implement was the redistribution of public lands.

Tiberius’s goal was to distribute public lands to poor Romans, allowing the city’s impoverished to sustain themselves through farming in Italy. However, this was far more difficult than it appeared: Significant portion of these lands had been in the hands of wealthy Roman senators and equestrians for years. The belief in the individual ownership of these leased lands was so strong that some had been sold and changed hands, with some ending up with local small farmers in the region. Reclaiming these lands to redistribute them to Romans not only faced fierce resistance from the upper classes but also strained relations between the Romans and their Italian allies.

Tiberius’s solution to this problem was to seize the treasury of the King of Pergamon, using this money to buy the mentioned lands and distribute them to the people. Tiberius succeeded in bringing the king’s treasury to Rome and passed the land reform law while bypassing the Senate. However, this ultimately led to his own slaughter by angry senators.

Tiberius’s reform movement was continued by his brother, Gaius Sempronius Gracchus, who was elected People’s Tribune in 123. Gaius enacted a law allowing the establishment of overseas colonies, including in Carthage, in addition to the lands in Italy. However, he understood that to purchase and distribute public lands and establish new colonies, he needed both substantial public support and money. To achieve this, he initiated a major reform movement.

To gain the support of the plebeians, Gaius proposed two laws. The first, known as the lex frumentaria, mandated the distribution of subsidized grain to the public at low prices. The second law concerned the benefits provided to those serving in the military and public works. Recognizing that he could not fight against the senators with the support of the plebeians alone, Gaius also sought to align with Rome’s equestrian class.

To this end, he first passed a law regarding the prosecution of senators accused of corruption during their provincial duties, known as repetundae, and then assigned the role of jurors in these trials to the equestrian class. Another significant law, the lex Sempronia de Provincia Asia, concerned the method of tax collection in the Province of Asia. According to this law, unlike the usual practice, quaestors would be bypassed, and the five-year tax revenue of the Province of Asia would be auctioned off by the censor to civilian publicani from the equestrian class. Thus, with the law passed in 123, Asia came into contact with Roman publicani.

Looking at Gaius’s reforms as a whole, it is evident that he implemented laws that placed a heavy burden on the treasury to secure the support of the plebeians. He aimed to fund these expenditures by selling the tax revenue of the Province of Asia in advance. By granting the right to participate in this auction and the authority to prosecute governors in the province who might cause them trouble, he secured the support of the equestrian class. However, the impact of these reforms, intended to ease the burdens on the Roman populace, ultimately fell on the residents of the Province of Asia.

3. Publicani

As Rome expanded through conquests, the state increasingly felt the need to delegate certain tasks to private contractors. These contractors were called publicani, derived from the Latin word publicus, meaning belonging to the state. In the 3rd century BC, publicani emerged with four main responsibilities: (i) providing supplies for the legions, (ii) carrying out public construction and renovation projects, (iii) managing public lands and mines, and (iv) collecting indirect taxes in the assigned regions. Additionally, with Gaius’s law, they also began collecting direct taxes, undoubtedly one of their most important and lucrative duties.

Especially when assigned to oversee an entire province, the scale of operations of the publicani becomes more apparent. As mentioned earlier, the expected revenues from a province were calculated by censors and auctioned off for a period of four or five years. However, the capital required to participate in such an auction couldn’t be borne by a single individual. For instance, in 62, it was reported that the income from the Province of Asia alone was forty million sestertia. Marcus Licinius Crassus, considered Rome’s wealthiest individual, possessed properties totaling 150 million sestertia.

To participate in these high-stakes auctions, publicani formed “companies” among themselves known as societas publicorum, pooling their resources to increase capital and mitigate risks simultaneously.

4. Publicani in Asia

It can be assumed that there was no significant change in the economic situation of the people of Asia between 129 , when Asia officially became a Roman province, and 123, when the law of Gracchus was passed. This is because the taxes that were previously paid to the king were now being given to the quaestor sent annually by Rome. According to Magie, the biggest difference between the old and new regimes was that the king, being of the same lineage, knew the conditions of the cities and could act accordingly with moderation, whereas such leniency could not be expected from Roman officials. [5] Additionally, apart from regular taxes, the province had to cover all the expenses of the quaestor and the entourage of the governor (whether a propraetor or proconsul). On top of all this, the governor, who had absolute authority, could plunder the province for his own benefit.

In addition, the burden that truly broke the backs of the people of Asia Minor was the obligation to cover the expenses of the legions and local auxiliary units in times of war. In fact the people of Asia felt the weight of this burden even before the region officially became a province. In 133, when Aristonicus, claiming to be the son of Eumenes, started a revolt against Rome—since Tiberius Gracchus had already confiscated the royal treasury and spent it on land reform—the expenses of the legions were placed on the shoulders of the provincial inhabitants. Those who couldn’t pay the additional taxes had to resort to borrowing at high interest rates. By the end of the three-year war, the people were so deeply in debt that a man from Pergamon named Diodorus Pasparus went to Rome and succeeded in obtaining some lenient concessions regarding these debts, for which his fellow citizens honored him by erecting many statues.[6] All these hardships pushed the people to side with Aristonicus against the Romans, and as more people joined the revolt, the region’s economic collapse accelerated.

Seven years after the suppression of the revolt, as the people of Western Anatolia were trying to heal the economic wounds caused by the war, they faced a new disaster. A law introduced by Gaius Gracchus transferred the responsibility of tax collection in the province to the publicani. The system operated as follows: there were three main sources of revenue—taxes on agricultural produce (decumae), pasture taxes (scripturae), and customs duties (portorio). Representatives of the publicani, wishing to bid for the task of collecting these taxes, would calculate the total expected taxes for the province over four years. They would then present their offer to the censor in Rome and agree on a price. Any taxes collected above this agreed amount would remain with the publicani.

The publicani did not collect taxes directly from the entire province; instead, they made separate agreements with local individuals and even cities.[7] In their efforts to maximize profits, they unfairly taxed every piece of land they came across, even those belonging to private individuals or even temples.[8] They would lend money to those who couldn’t pay their taxes and then collect it back with interest.[9]

This new system was disastrous for the inhabitants of the province. The province of Asia, which had been under the control of corrupt Roman officials, was now handed over to the publicani merchants. While officials collecting taxes in a province could be prosecuted for corruption, these trials often ended in acquittal. Nonetheless, the officials’ reputations could be damaged, prompting them to act more cautiously. In contrast, the activities of the publicani in the provinces were tied to companies rather than individuals. Without the fear of prosecution that officials faced and driven by the prospect of profit from collecting as much tax as possible, the publicani subjected the province to years of exploitation.

As expected, this system led the province into a complete disaster. Farmers who might have requested tax relief from the king due to a poor harvest could not expect the same leniency from the publicani and were forced to incur debt. For farmers whose only income came from agriculture, losing a portion of their produce to taxes made it nearly impossible to repay their debts. Nevertheless, the publicani, in collaboration with the governors, forcibly collected these debts. Over the years, the province sank deeper into debt, and the inhabitants’ perception of the Romans deteriorated steadily.

There were indeed some Romans who were moved by the pitiable state of the Asian populace and sought to prevent their ruthless exploitation. For instance, in 94, the governor Q. Mucius Scaevola paid all the expenses of his entourage out of his own pocket and punished publicani who committed injustices; due to his actions, he was honored by the province’s inhabitants, who organized an annual festival in his name.[10] His administration style also pleased the Senate, which decreed that future governors should follow his example.[11] However, these developments greatly disturbed the publicani. They were displeased with Scaevola’s restraint on their activities and the precedent he set, leading them to harass him continually and attempt to ruin his career.[12] Nonetheless, Scaevola, highly respected and at the peak of his power, was soon to be elected pontifex maximus, and thus they could not touch him.

However, they could not touch Scaevola, who was highly respected and at the peak of his power, soon to be elected pontifex maximus. On the other hand, Scaevola’s deputy, P. Rutilius Rufus, who governed the province in Scaevola’s absence, could not escape the wrath of the publicani. He was absurdly accused of defrauding the province of Asia and put on trial. The jurors for this trial, due to the law enacted by Gaius Gracchus, were largely composed of members of the equestrian class, many of whom were most probably publicani themselves. As expected, Rufus was found guilty and sent into exile. He chose Asia itself as his place of exile, where he was warmly received, received gifts from many cities and even kings, and continued to live with great respect in the city of Smyrna.[13]

What happened to Rufus is a good example of how politically powerful the publicani became. They clearly demonstrated what could happen to those who did not act in their interests. A few years after this incident, just before Mithridates entered the province, it suggested that the courage of the publicani had greatly increased, and they began to exploit the province much more ruthlessly.

When King Mithridates of Pontus, who waged war against Rome, invaded the province in 88, the people of Asia Minor saw him as a savior, preferring to come under his control rather than Roman domination, and they accepted his army into the cities. At this time, there were many Roman citizens living in the Province of Asia. A significant number of them were publicani, bankers, merchants, and their families and employees who had come to the province for profit. The King ordered the killing of all Romans, and the people of the province, who had been exploited for 35 years, eagerly obeyed this order; they slaughtered up to 100,000 Romans, including women, children, and the elderly, and shared their goods with the king. After these plunders, Mithridates became so wealthy that he forgave all the cities’ debts and abolished taxes for five years.[14]

Rome, dealing with internal conflicts at that time, was able to send five legions under the command of Sulla, and later, two more legions under the command of L. Valerius Flaccus. These forces repeatedly defeated the king’s armies in Greece and Asia. When the king’s army weakened and he showed his true face by hardening his rule to hold on to Asia, cities began to revolt one by one in 86. Ephesus led the rebellion, followed by important cities such as Hypaepa, Metropolis, Colophon, Tralles, Smyrna, and Sardis, which expelled the king’s garrisons from their cities. The king, with his remaining forces, tried to recapture the rebellious cities and treated those he recaptured very harshly. Meanwhile, the cities that did not turn their backs on the king were being captured and plundered by Roman legions. When the king’s last army was also defeated, peace negotiations began, and as a result, the Province of Asia came under Roman control again in 85.

Sulla, notorious for his ruthlessness, exacted a heavy price from the people of Asia for killing Roman citizens. The cities that obeyed Mithridates’ bloody order were fined 20,000 talents. Moreover, the people were forced to host each legionary in their homes throughout the winter, provide them with two outfits, and give them four tetradrachms daily, as well as host any guests they brought. The cities that resisted Mithridates were rewarded, gained the title of friends of Rome, and were exempt from taxes. In 84, Sulla returned to Rome, leaving the province under the charge of his quaestor, Lucius Licinius Lucullus.

Although one of Lucullus’ duties was to collect the fines and taxes imposed by Sulla, he treated the people of Asia quite humanely and succeeded in winning their affection.[15] Nevertheless, the province, already bankrupt, sank into even greater debt. To make the payments, they had to borrow money. Magie has noted that after this period, no city except Ephesus had the means to mint silver coins, festivals could not be held because there was no one to finance them, and some official positions that required a certain wealth could not be filled.[16]

After returning to Rome, Sulla took the jury duty away from the equestrian class, and thus from the publicani, and gave it back to the senatorial class. This move broke the political power that the publicani had over governors.[17] Despite this, times when the province was not exploited were exceptional, as many governors who cooperated with the publicani saw this region as a means to enrich themselves. So much so that Verres, the legate of the governor of Cilicia, who had no authority in Asia, even seized art works such as statues he liked in some cities he visited on his way back to Rome. When these cities reported the situation to the governor of Asia, they were dismissed with the response that they should go to Rome and file a lawsuit there.[18]

When Lucullus returned to Asia as governor (proconsul) in 71, he encountered a much worse situation than he had left: people were selling their sons and daughters, and cities were selling their art and sacred works to pay off their debts to the publicani and moneylenders.[19] Those who couldn’t pay their debts were eventually taken as slaves after losing everything they had and enduring various tortures. Sulla’s war indemnity of 20,000 talents had been so ruthlessly subjected to interest that despite the payments, the debt had increased to 120,000 talents. Lucullus managed to relieve the province with four laws: (i) he fixed the monthly interest rate at 1%, (ii) he canceled interest that exceeded the principal, (iii) he prohibited moneylenders from taking more than a quarter of the debtor’s income, (iv) he abolished compound interest. Thanks to this intervention, within four years, the entire debt of the province was paid off by making a payment of 40,000 talents.

While Lucullus was being honored by the people of Asia,[20] he also drew the great ire of the publicani. When the consuls of the year 70, Pompeius and Crassus, partially restored jury duty to the equestrian class, a potentially dangerous process began for Lucullus.[21] First, his command duty, despite successfully campaigning against King Tigranes of Armenia, was taken away, and when he returned to Rome, a full triumphal celebration was prevented. Subsequently, perhaps due to these pressures, Lucullus retired from politics at a relatively young age around 52. The publicani, who had immense political and economic power, may have had a significant role in all these developments.

The influence of the publicani in the province of Asia diminished during the civil war between Caesar and Pompey. In 48, after defeating Pompey, Caesar followed him to Asia. The inhabitants of Asia, who had supported Pompey, expected punishments from the victorious commander but were shown mercy instead. Caesar forgave a third of the taxes and, moreover, changed part of the old tax system by abolishing the system where the publicani collected direct taxes; instead, the cities would collect the determined amount themselves and pay it to the quaestors. This system was extended to all provinces, significantly reducing the power of the publicani. Although they continued to collect indirect taxes for a while, during the Imperial period, this duty was first given to state officials called procurators, and by the time of Nero, the activities of the publicani had ended.

The Province of Asia played a pivotal role in Roman expansion and governance, particularly under the reforms of Gaius Gracchus. Gracchus introduced significant changes to the tax collection system, entrusting the publicani, mostly composed of the equestrian class, with the task of collecting taxes in Asia Minor. This shift empowered the publicani to exploit the province ruthlessly, exacerbating economic hardships for its inhabitants. The activities of publicani, characterized by excessive taxation and debt enforcement, contributed to widespread discontent and ultimately played a role in destabilizing the region, leading to social unrest and even revolt. The legacy of the publicani in Asia Minor underscores the complexities and challenges of Roman provincial administration and taxation, highlighting the intersection of economic exploitation, political maneuvering, and social upheaval in the ancient world.

1. Liv. Epit. 4.59.11-60.8.

2. All dates are BC unless otherwise stated.

3. Liv. Epit. 39.7.4

4. Plin. HN 33.56. At 43 BC tributum came back despite disapproval of many Romans.

5. David Magie, Roman Rule in Asia Minor, vol. 1 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2016), 159.

6. IGRom 6.292.

7. Cic. Att. 5.13.1; 14.1; 6.1.16; QFr. 1.1.35.

8. Theodor Mommsen, The History of Rome, trans. William Purdie Dickson, vol. 3, Cambridge Library Collection – Classics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), 395. Magie, Roman Rule in Asia Minor, 1, 166. Cf. Christopher Wallace, “Ager Publicus in the Greek East: I. Priene 111 and Other Examples of Resistance to the Publicani,” Historia: Zeitschrift Für Alte Geschichte 63, no. 1 (2014).

9. Cic. Att. 6.1.16, 2.5.

10. Diod. Sic. 27.5,6; Cic. Verr. 2.2.51.

11. Val. Max. 8.15.6.

12. Cic. Planc. 33; Cic. Fam. 1.9.26.

13. Rufus’s exile has gained almost legendary notoriety as one of the most unjust verdicts handed down by Roman courts. Many ancient writers have provided information on this matter. For primary sources, see T. Robert S. Broughton, The Magistrates of the Roman Republic, vol. 2 (New York: The American Philological Association, 1952), 2,8.

14. Just. Epit. 38.3.9.

15. Plut. Luc. 4.

16. Magie, Roman Rule in Asia Minor, 1, 238-39.

17. It is debatable why Sulla did not increase the power of the Senate by taking the tax collection duties away from the publicans and giving them back to the quaestors. According to Brunt, the reason for this is that the publicans were a useful tool that both relieved the state’s burden and provided a predictable income. P. A. Brunt, “Sulla and the Asian Publicans,” Latomus 15, no. 1 (1956): 24,25.

18. Magie, Roman Rule in Asia Minor, 1, 246-47.

19. Plut. Luc. 20.

20. The greatest honor bestowed was the annual festivals organized to honor him, known as the Lucullea. Plut. Luc. 23.1.

21. Gaius Gracchus composed all the jury members from the equestrian class, while Sulla restored this duty to the senatorial class as in the old system. Crassus and Pompey, on the other hand, enacted a law that made one-third of the jury members come from the equestrian class.

Sources

Loeb editions of ancient texts have been used, following abbreviations from OCD4.

Brunt, P. A. “Sulla and the Asian Publicans.” Latomus 15, no. 1 (1956): 17-25.

Magie, David. Roman Rule in Asia Minor. Vol. 1, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2016.

Mommsen, Theodor. The History of Rome. Translated by William Purdie Dickson. Cambridge Library Collection – Classics. Vol. 3, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010. 1863.

S. Broughton, T. Robert. The Magistrates of the Roman Republic. Vol. 2, New York: The American Philological Association, 1952.

Wallace, Christopher. “Ager Publicus in the Greek East: I. Priene 111 and Other Examples of Resistance to the Publicani.” Historia: Zeitschrift Für Alte Geschichte 63, no. 1 (2014): 38-73.

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