Taxes in Ancient Persia

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“Taxes in Ancient Persia” is a chapter from the upcoming book “Taxes: History and Modern Times.” The period covered extends from roughly 560 BCE to 560 CE.

BASIC CONCEPTS

Tribute, local taxes, tax farming, poll tax, progressive taxation, kharaj.

FORMATION OF A KINGDOM

The historic center of the Persian state was the region of Persis (now Fars) in the southwest of the Iranian plateau, where Persian tribes, descendants of the ancient Aryans, lived. At the end of the 8th century BCE, they created a tribal union there, led by King Achaemenes (hence the name of the Achaemenid state). These lands belonged to Assyria and in the 7th century BCE passed to Media.

Having ascended the throne, Cyrus II (about 593–530 BCE), a descendant of the Achaemenid dynasty, rebelled against the Median king and captured Media in three years. Then he and his successors Cambyses II (559–522 BCE) and Darius I (550–486 BCE) subdued all the other major powers of that time in the Middle East—Lydia, Babylon, Cyprus, and Egypt, as well as several Greek cities, Armenia, the western part of India (to the Indus), and many other territories. In the next two centuries, Persia was a leading world empire.

The conquest of Babylonia and Egypt was facilitated in some ways by the local merchant elites who, on the one hand, were dissatisfied with the policy of their kings and, on the other hand, were interested in the wider market of the new empire.

STATE STRUCTURE

Cyrus and Cambyses paid a lot of attention to financial issues, but during their reign, there were no unified systems of governance and taxation. At this time, some dependent people brought gifts to the treasury, while others paid taxes.

After the death of Cambyses in 522 BCE, Guamata seized power in Persia. According to the next king, Darius I, he was an impostor, although he could be the younger son of Cyrus. When Guamata came to power, he exempted all the dependent peoples from taxes and military conscription for three years. It looks like this decision aimed to deal with discontent caused by the heavy tax burden and mass recruitment into the army. The goal was to keep conquered peoples within the state. Tax benefits were further applied by other kings at the beginning of their reign. Notably, they did not collect tax arrears for previous years.

The creation of a unified taxation system is attributed to Darius I, who overthrew Guamata. Darius had to literally reconquer the country, which rebelled against him.

A single code of laws was introduced for the entire empire, but each conquered people retained its own language, religion, and often, national rulers. With minor exceptions, temples paid taxes and had to provide slaves for construction work.

Darius divided the empire into districts called satrapies. The Greek historian Herodotus mentions 20 satrapies, but since the governors of parts of large districts were also called satraps, some sources cite higher figures.

A satrapy was headed by a Persian official or a local noble who was subordinate to the imperial administration and was responsible for judicial proceedings, the economy, and tax collection. A military commander was appointed to protect the satrapies. The satrap and the military commander had to monitor the performance of each other’s duties. And special servants tracked their loyalty to the king.

“If a military commander does not sufficiently protect the country, the head of (civil) residents and land cultivation reports that it is impossible to work due to the lack of protection. If the military commander ensures peace, and the land is sparsely populated, not cultivated, then the military commander reports on the latter.”

Xenophon, Greek historianf^[3]

The treasury and the receipt of tribute from the satrapies were supervised by the imperial chancellery located in the administrative capital of Susa and some major cities. The head of the chancellery controlled the entire state apparatus and led the king’s personal guard. The chancelleries in the satrapies were modeled after the capital’s chancellery and consisted of many officials and scribes maintained through taxes.

High-quality roads were laid to support reliable connectivity with the provinces. One of them, the Royal Road, was about 2,400 km long and connected the capitals of Susa and Persepolis with Sardis and Ephesus on the coast in Asia Minor. The good roads not only helped to transfer troops quickly to protect against external invasions and suppress uprisings but were also used for postal services and transportation of tribute from the satrapies to the royal treasury.

In addition to the roads, there were waterways that connected India with the Western satrapies. Darius I completed the construction of a canal linking the Nile with the Red Sea, which had been initiated more than a hundred years ago by the Egyptian pharaoh Necho II.

TRIBUTE

Darius set a fixed annual tribute for all the satrapies. It was collected mainly in silver, except for with respect to India, which paid in gold. Ancient Egypt and Libya paid 700 talents of silver, Babylonia, and Assyria—1,000 talents of silver, and India—360 talents of gold (some historians question such a huge amount). The central province of the Persian Empire and certain peoples were exempted from taxes. It is estimated that Persia received more than 230 tons of silver per year. Together with the gold converted to units of silver, the intake was more than 400 tons.

Some satrapies also delivered horses, grain, and other goods to supply locally stationed soldiers. For example, in addition to 400 talents of silver, Armenia provided 20,000 foals annually to celebrate the feast of the god Mithra.

The amount of a satrapy’s tribute depended on the accurately measured area of cultivated land, its fertility, its range of crops, and the number of residents. It remained unchanged from the moment of its establishment by Darius I until the fall of the Persian Empire.

The tax from one land allotment usually amounted to one mina of silver. It had to be paid by all landowners, except for Persian nobles and those whom the king personally exempted from payment.

Cattle breeders, artisans, and other persons receiving income were also required to pay taxes.

The Persian word “bazi,” the Iranian word “basis,” and the Akkadian word “mandattu” were used to denote taxes, while a tax collector was called bazikara. In Babylonia, during Persian rule, the word “ilku” denoted a tax. In Hebrew, the words “midda” and “belo” were used for a monetary tax and an in-kind tax, respectively.

Taxes were paid in the equivalent amount of uncoined silver. Their amounts were carefully checked using scales and accounting for the purity of the silver. After weighing and evaluating the quality of the silver, the taxes were recalculated, and any necessary surcharge was applied.

Since silver, as a rule, was of inadequate quality, it was transferred to temple and state workshops where it was cleaned and melted into standard ingots. After that, most of it went to the royal treasury, but a small portion remained for the satraps’ needs, such as the maintenance of the palace and the military garrison.

GIFTS

In addition to the annual tribute, conquered peoples were obliged to present New Year’s gifts to confirm their loyalty to the king. The size of the gift as well as the gifting procedure were set, so in reality, this was another tax paid in kind.

According to Herodotus, gifts were to be brought by tribes exempt from monetary taxes. However, the tribes paying taxes were not exempt from in-kind gifts, at least for certain events. For example, all people apparently brought gifts to the king for the New Year’s feast.

“Whenever the Great King visits any of his subjects, twenty and sometimes thirty talents are expended on his dinner; others even spend much more. For the dinner, like the tribute, has from ancient times been imposed upon all cities in proportion to their population.”^[6]

All products of nature and handicrafts available in the Persian state are delivered to the king as gifts: carpets, clothing, tents, artisan furniture, gold and silver vessels, countless weapons, as well as pack animals and livestock for slaughter; also spices, silk, paper fabrics, and in general everything that can find any application.”^[7]

Theopompus, Greek historian

Certain tribes and peoples were exempted from taxes, e.g., the Ariaspae tribe, which was dubbed “royal benefactors” for providing food to Cyrus II during a military campaign, and the Arabs, who were awarded the title of allies of the Persian king for helping the army of Cambyses in crossing the Sinai Desert. The Arabs were not subjects of the Persians but had to deliver 1,000 talents of frankincense to the Persian king annually as a gift.

INDIRECT TAXES

In addition to direct taxes, there were other duties and taxes in money or in kind, such as port duties, fees for the use of berths, for the passage of a ship through a canal, or for the use of some bridges.

The royal treasury got additional income from the use of irrigation systems in arid regions: the public had to pay to water fields.

There were also other fees. For example, the royal treasury received income from fishing in Egypt’s Lake Moeris: one talent per day for six months at high tide and 20 minas on other days.

INFLATION

According to researchers, despite the significant tribute paid by the satrapies, the amount was not very burdensome due to the large population. However, the need to pay tribute in gold and silver negatively affected taxpayers, who were forced to borrow money against property and even family members.

Over time, the situation in the satrapies worsened as almost all precious metals collected were melted down into ingots and withdrawn from circulation. A small part of the gold and silver were minted into coins used to buy foreign soldiers. A shortage of metal money led to an increase in inflation and the rates set by usurers, most of whom were officials. Loan rates grew from 20% to 40%, bringing ruin to many landowners. Due to their inability to pay taxes, their lands were transferred to the government. These lands were leased to moneylending officials who were exempt from paying taxes.

According to the Book of Nehemiah (part of the Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament, written in the 5th century BCE) and documents from Babylonia, parents were forced to surrender their children to slavery and complained that they could not redeem those children or the fields and vineyards that had been transferred to creditors.

LOCAL TAXES

Local taxes allowed authorities to maintain the satrapies’ administrations and military garrisons and conduct various projects such as the construction of roads, public buildings, and palaces for the satraps and the king.

The satraps had their own treasuries that received various local taxes. Surviving sources mention taxes for the satrap’s table and supplying the army. Merchants paid for moorage in harbors, the use of roads, entry into cities, the right to trade in markets, as well as tolls at borders. Surviving tablets from the Elam region on the northeastern coast of the Persian Gulf mention basis, an in-kind tax paid with cattle and agricultural products.

It is believed that the rates of taxes established by Darius would have been moderate, if not for the tyranny of local officials. The empire’s subjects were granted the right to petition the king regarding such abuses.

One of the most cynical inventors of new ways to profit from ordinary citizens was Mausolus, the satrap of Caria, a small region in the southwest of Asia Minor. He became known for imposing taxes on literally everything. For example, Mausolus contrived taxes on gifts. When his steward was given a sheep, pig, or calf, he wrote down the name of the donor and the date, returned the animal, and at their next meeting demanded a tax from the donor for the use of state property.

Another “invention” of Mausolus was a tax on the act of carrying away dead soldiers through the city gates (this also allowed him to monitor payments for mercenaries, since officers could not demand payment for deceased warriors).

To collect taxes, Mausolus gathered rich people together with his supporters who confirmed their own intention to contribute the necessary amounts. Following their lead, the rich also agreed to pay.

Mausolus’s subordinate, Condalus, produced a tax on hair, citing a non-existent decree of the king that demanded hair for fake bangs (which at the time were apparently fashionable or required by palace protocol). Anyone who did not want to cut their hair was given the option of paying a tax, supposedly to be used to buy hair from the Greeks.

Another significant burden was the obligation to maintain the army when it passed through certain areas. Citizens were informed of its arrival in advance and prepared food and gathered jewelry for the troops.

Exorbitant and ruinous taxation caused many uprisings against Persian domination in the satrapies.

TAXATION OF THE PERSIANS

The inhabitants of Persia enjoyed special status: they were the foundation of the state apparatus and privileged soldiers.

According to Herodotus, Persians were completely exempt from taxes and participation in compulsory construction work. Communities of Persian cattle breeders and farmers sent goods to the king as gifts in recognition of him as their leader. Other historians believe that the Persians, like other peoples, paid taxes both with money and in kind: with cattle, grain, wine, and other products.

Persian authorities did not collect taxes from estates and even entire regions that had been granted to nobles and distinguished subjects on conquered lands, nor from land plots received by retired warriors. There is a theory that these lands were not exempt from the obligation to supply a quota of soldiers during wars.

MAINTENANCE OF THE ARMY

The satrapies had to maintain military garrisons in their territories and supply the workforce for military campaigns. The army, as well as the local administration, was maintained mainly with food. Only Greek mercenaries received monetary payments.

To feed the soldiers, authorities granted them use of land allotments from body of state lands. For example, in Egypt, they received plots of about 3.3 hectares. Additionally, there was the hatru land use system: warriors and other colonists (artisans, shepherds, merchants, officials, etc.) got collective allotments for joint cultivation. Taxes on these allotments were paid both using goods and using money. Warriors paid taxes for periods when they did not participate in military campaigns. Some of them eventually settled preferring tax payments to military service. Special officials were appointed to manage the hatru plots and collect taxes from them.

Monetary taxation caused problems for everyone, including soldiers and other colonists, who were also forced to turn to usurers and became dependent on them. However, the law prohibited usurers from alienating military allotments. They were inherited through the male line and, in the absence of male heirs, returned to the government. Thus, the creditor had only two options: claim the harvest from these lands or adopt the owner and become the actual owner of the lands.

TAX COLLECTION

Tax collection was the responsibility of satraps, nomarchs, city governors, village elders, and tribal leaders in the border provinces. In Armenia, there were fortified villages ruled by comarchs, who were also responsible for taxes.

Ancient Persia is thought to be the first to create the tax farming system, which was subsequently used in many countries. In this system, rich citizens paid from their own funds a tax to the royal treasury for the entire region and then recouped their costs from residents. But far more goods and money were extracted from residents. However, there are no reliable sources confirming that a tax farming system existed in ancient Persia.

Some researchers cite cuneiform sources about Babylon’s Murashu family, who owned a trading house, as evidence of a tax farming system. They believe that the Murashu family farmed taxes throughout the entire region, bankrupting many residents of Southern and Central Babylonia. To avoid punishment after residents complained to the court, the Murashu house bribed royal officials.

But another account offers a different explanation. Like other houses, the Murashu house only provided tax collection services for those farmers who needed money to pay taxes and for those who kept money in its bank. Moreover, the Murashu family paid taxes for the owners of lands it received as collateral or under a lease. Moreover, the payment did not go directly to the treasury. Instead, it was given to the payer, who in turn brought it to the royal treasury.

TRADE

Countries that lacked reserves of precious metals had to find funds to pay tribute through trade with neighbors. High-quality roads connecting the major cities of the empire with each other also contributed to the development of trade. Local authorities ensured merchants’ safety on roads and the protection of their property.

There were customs duties for imported goods, and a fee was paid for the right to trade.

The satrapies supplied Persia with a variety of goods. Egypt delivered grain, Media horses and cattle, Armenia foals, and Ethiopia ivory and ebony.

Trade relations were significantly facilitated by the introduction of daric, the empire’s single gold coin circulating in all satrapies. Thanks to the high purity of its constituent gold, the daric remained the main gold coin in the world for several more centuries. The satrapy authorities also had the right to mint silver and copper coins.

FALL OF THE EMPIRE

The Achaemenid Empire’s power was based on an army that kept conquered peoples in the state by force. But the Greco-Persian wars significantly reduced its combat capability. Internal feuds among pretenders to the throne, separatism in the satrapies, and uprisings also weakened the central government.

The Greco-Athenian wars lasted from 500 to 449 BCE and ended with a peace treaty, according to which the Greek cities in Asia Minor formally remained under the Persian king’s supreme authority, but the right to collect taxes passed to Athens. What is more, the amount of those taxes had to be the same as it had been under the Persians.

Egypt separated from the Persian Empire in 404 BCE but was reconquered in 342 BCE. Egyptian sources confirm the heavy tax burden that caused farmers to flee to cities.

Huge funds were spent on the maintenance of the royal court, the army, and the sprawling administration, causing grain prices to rise by one and a half times.

Discontent with the Persian rule was so intense that when Alexander the Great conquered Egypt, he was greeted as a liberator. The Achaemenid Empire was finally subjugated in 330 BCE. The victor seized roughly 5,000 tons of gold and silver.

After Alexander’s death, the conquered territory broke up into many independent countries. Many of them became part of the Seleucid state. Neither Alexander the Great, who died young, nor the Seleucids, who later ruled for two and a half centuries, particularly succeeded in building a tax system. They mainly used the one created by the Achaemenids.

Later, the Parthian kingdom (250 BC–227 CE) appeared on a significant part of the Persian Empire, followed by the Sasanian state (or the Second Persian Empire, 226–651), which eventually became part of the Islamic Caliphate.

TAXES UNDER THE SASANIANS

The Parthian kingdom and then the Second Persian Empire partially retained the tax system that had operated in ancient Persia and in the Seleucid state, including taxes in the form of gifts to the king for the New Year and other feasts. But they also added new taxes, which later became widespread in the Islamic Caliphate.

The main tax was the kharaj, a land tax paid in kind in the amount of 1/6 to 1/3 of the harvest. The goods collected were sold on the market and to other countries, and silver received from these sales went to the treasury.

Crop failures and tax collectors’ abuses negatively impacted treasury revenues. Sometimes, when there were not enough funds to wage wars, extraordinary fees were introduced, sparking social discontent.

King Kavad I (449–531) conceived of a tax reform after a meeting with a woman who forbade her son to eat grapes from her own garden, since officials were supposed to take a share for the treasury first.

According to legend, the king saw that a mother would not allow her little son to eat grapes from her garden. He wanted to find out the reason for such stinginess. The mother said, “We cannot make use of these goods, because they include the royal portion, and the king’s representatives collect it under guard, we cannot touch them.”

Kavad was surprised at such a situation in his state and told his entourage, “I don’t like that people don’t dare to use their own goods. They plant trees that bear fruit, but for my sake, they don’t dare to touch them. Find the amount that they have to pay me, so that they can make use of their goods as they will.”

Thought to be a story by the medieval historian Abu Ali Bal’ami.^[11]

The tax reform conceived by Kavad I was completed by his son, King Khosrow I (512–579). It was intended, on the one hand, to meet the needs of the state and, on the other hand, to improve the lives of taxpayers. He replaced in-kind taxes with monetary taxes, decreased the number of taxes, and set fixed lower tax rates.

After the land was measured, fixed land tax rates were set, accounting for the crop produced: 8 dirhams were taken from one jerib (approx. 1,600 sq. m) of vineyards, 1 dirham from one jerib of land put under wheat or barley, 7 dirhams from alfalfa, 5/6 of dirham from rice, 1 dirham from 4 Iranian palms, 6 Aramaic palms, or 6 olive trees. Other agricultural products were not taxed. This clarity proved to be important for taxpayers, since they were no longer dependent calculations made by tax collectors.

A poll tax (gezit) was also introduced for all men aged 20 to 50 years, except for some privileged people, such as priests, nobles, warriors, officials, and other persons in public service. Poll taxpayers were divided into classes depending on their wealth, which is, in fact, progressive taxation. The tax amounted to 4–12 drachmas and was paid quarterly.

In addition to the taxation system, a tax payment auditing system was created.

The taxation system proposed by Khosrow turned out to be beneficial primarily for the main taxpayers, farmers, and subsequently became the basis for building the Islamic Caliphate’s tax system: kharaj retained its name, while gezit became “jizya.”

[1] Image by Arya.Go (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cyrus_the_Great_II.jpg), „Cyrus the Great II,” marked as public domain, more details on Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Template:PD-self

[2] Image by Derfash Kaviani (درفش کاویانی) (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Darius_In_Parse.JPG), „Darius In Parse,” https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode

[3] Cited in “World History: In Ten Volumes.” Team of authors. M. Political Literature, 1956. 928 pages. p. 30. URL: https://books.google.com/books?id=ppfbDQAAQBAJ. Accessed: July 19, 2023.

[4] Image by Mr Pany Goff (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Xenophon_statue_-_Vienna.jpg), „Xenophon statue – Vienna,” https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode

[5] Image by A. Davey from Portland, Oregon, EE UU (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ionian_Tribute_Bearers_on_the_Apadana_Staircase_(Best_Viewed_Size_%22Large%22)_(4688057305).jpg), „Ionian Tribute Bearers on the Apadana Staircase (Best Viewed Size ““Large”“) (4688057305),” https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode

[6] Cited in Athenaeus, Deipnosophists, Book IV, §4.25. Translated by Charles Burton Gulick (1868-1962), from the Loeb Classical Library edition of 1927-41. URL: https://topostext.org/work/218. Accessed: July 19, 2023.

[7] Cited in M. A. Dandamaev, V. Glukonin. Culture and economy of ancient Iran. “Science” Publishing House. Main Editorial Office of Oriental Literature. Moscow 1980, pp. 189.

[8] Image by Bernard Gagnon (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Persepolis_-_Tachara_01.jpg), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode

[9] Image by Nevit Dilmen (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_maussolleion_model_dsc02711-miniaturk_nevit.jpg), „The maussolleion model dsc02711-miniaturk nevit,” https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode

[10] Image by Classical Numismatic Group, Inc. http://www.cngcoins.com (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Daric_coin_of_the_Achaemenid_Empire_(Darius_III).jpg), „Daric coin of the Achaemenid Empire (Darius III),” https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/legalcode

[11] Cited in “Kavad I.” Wikipedia. URL: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9A%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%B4_I. Accessed: July 19, 2023.

[12] Image by Classical Numismatic Group, Inc. http://www.cngcoins.com (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Khosrow_I_Anushirvan,_Gundeshapur_mint.jpg), „Khosrow I Anushirvan, Gundeshapur mint,” https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode

[13] Image by Carole Raddato (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:General_view_of_Persepolis,_Iran_(2)_(cropped).jpg), „General view of Persepolis, Iran (2) (cropped)”, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/legalcode