BIBLE HISTORY DAILY

Tax Administration in Roman Caesarea Philippi

What does a boundary stone say about Roman taxation?

Roman boundary stone from the area of Caesarea Philippi. Courtesy Ecker and Leibner. photo T. Rogovski.

During excavations at Abel Beth Maacah in northern Israel, archaeologists made an unexpected discovery: a large Roman boundary stone, reused as a cover for a late medieval burial. Although surprising in a medieval context, Roman boundary stones are nothing new for this area, which during the late Roman period was part of the hinterland of Paneas (biblical Caesarea Philippi). While the boundary stone joins more than 40 other such markers, it provides new insight into an intriguing phenomenon alluded to in rabbinic sources and unknown anywhere else in the Roman world.

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The Effects of Diocletian’s Tax Reforms

Measuring more than 3 feet tall, the Abel Beth Maacah stone is one of the largest Roman boundary stones ever discovered. According to scholars writing in Palestine Exploration Quarterly, the stone would have stood upright, embedded several inches into the ground, making it easily visible. The Abel Beth Maacah stone is especially interesting as it contains the names of two previously unknown towns, Tirthas and Golgol, as well as the name of an imperial surveyor, Baseileikos. Like other boundary stones, it begins with the names of the four Roman Tetrarchs of the late third century CE: Diocletian, Maximian, Constantius, and Maximian. The Tetrarchs were co-emperors, with Diocletian and Maximian being the highest ranking with the title Augustus, and Constantius and Maximian being lower-level emperors with the title Caesar.

It is thought that such stones were placed as part of the tax reforms of Diocletian and Maximian, which altered the way taxes were levied around the empire. The boundary stones would have demarcated where the lands of one village ended and another’s began. However, this was more important than simply showing who owned what. It served the Roman government in determining which villages and cities owed taxes on which lands.

Map of boundary stones discovered in the area of Caesarea Philippi/Paneas. Courtesy Ecker and Leibner. Map R. Sabar.

Strangely, despite several dozen such stones having been discovered, primarily in the hinterland of Caesarea Philippi, none have ever been found outside the Levant. However, since the tax reform of Diocletian and Maximian was an empire-wide reform, we might expect to find such stones all around the empire, not just in one particular region. Thus, the peculiar distribution of the stones has remained a problem for Roman and Levantine archaeologists.

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One possible explanation may be found in the specific function of these boundary stones. As suggested by some scholars, the stones indicated where the tax zone of one village ended and another began. With so many stones found around Caesarea Phillipi, many smaller settlements in the area may have been outside of the tax jurisdiction of the city. It is possible that the Herodian dynasty privatized the area, turning it into a patchwork of small tax zones rather than a single area under the authority of one city. This would explain the abundance of boundary stones in the region, as each of these small villages would have needed its own.

View of Lebanon from on top of Abel Beth Maacah. Courtesy Nathan Steinmeyer, BAS.

According to the scholars who published the Abel Beth Maacah stone, this practice may even be referenced in the Jerusalem Talmud. Compiled in the fourth century, not long after the reign of Diocletian, the Jerusalem Talmud says: “Diocletian oppressed the inhabitants of Paneas. They said to him: We are going (i.e., fleeing).” It appears that the region of Caesarea Philippi was hit particularly hard by Diocletian’s tax reforms, likely because of the abundance of small tax zones. Under the reforms, each zone had to pay taxes on every field under its control, whether in use or not. While this was not a problem for large cities that could distribute the added tax burden across hundreds of families, for small settlements, such a situation could quickly become untenable and result in more and more families leaving for areas with a lower tax burden. And, indeed, archaeology tells us that by the time of the Islamic conquest in the seventh century, the area of Caesarea Phillipi was largely abandoned.

Related reading in Bible History Daily

Digging Abel Beth Maacah

Ruins at Banias – King Herod’s Palace Identified at Caesarea Philippi

Roman Coin Hoard Discovered at Banias

A Day in the Life at Abel Beth Maacah

All-Access members, read more in the BAS Library

Proof Positive: How We Used Math to Find Herod’s Palace at Banias

The Wise Woman of Abel Beth Maacah

Shifting Borders? The Benyaw Inscription from Abel Beth Maacah

Archaeological Views: Looking for Arameans at Tel Abel Beth Maacah