New Theoretical Approaches in Economic Cultural Evolutionary Theory: a New Understanding of the Implementation and Mutation of Ptolemaic Fiscal Institutions
HOGAN, Andy
The First Millennium BC saw the development and spread of Greek fiscal institutions like tax farming, state monopolies, banking, coinage, and auctions. These practices gradually reached Egypt from the Near East and the Greek world, but Alexander the Great's campaigns and eventually Ptolemaic rule introduced them on a massive scale. These institutions merged with local practices, creating new forms (cf. Currie et al. 2016; Spolaore and Wacziarg 2013). Auctions of tax farming concessions and state monopolies guaranteed state revenue and fostered inter-elite competition, essential for a state at war and facing internal cultural tensions. The Ptolemaic fiscal program aimed to shift power from temple centers to the state, though unevenly applied. Two sets of case studies illustrate this transformation: the Greek and Demotic papers of Milon, a Ptolemaic auditor at Edfu Temple (3rd c. BC), reveal the fiscal condition of a primary priestly family and property distraint issues. Later Demotic documents from Soknopaiou Nesos (2nd c. BC) show temples adopting royal bidding practices for temple duties. These documents, the only semi-complete series of bids at auction from Greco-Roman Egypt, demonstrate the evolution of practices as cultures merged economically. This study uses these data sets to highlight new models from cultural evolutionary theory for institutional analysis, offering fresh directions beyond traditional NIE approaches to ancient economies.
Session 2. Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Study of Ancient Economies [info]