Michaël Girardin, L’Offrande et le tribut. Histoire politique de la fiscalitéen Judée hellénistique et romaine (200 a.C. –135 p.C.), (Scripta Antiqua –152), Ausonius Éditions, Bordeaux 2022, pp. 541; ISBN 978-2-35613-435-6; ISSN 1298-1990

Abstract

Every member of a historical organised community became a taxpayer as soon as the community’s leader or its elites were able to impose and levy charges. Although all ancient societies practiced some form of taxation, researchers often encounter problems when attempting to study ancient fiscal policies, types/rates of taxes and administrative structures responsible for revenue collection. The sources on ancient Greece, Rome and other ancient states often describe taxation systems but only rarely supply much details. Furthermore, the fragmentariness and incompleteness of surviving documents hamper attempts at constructing the full picture of any system. The tax system of ancient Israel stands out among other states due to the greater amount of surviving data: the voluminous Jewish literature, from the Bible to the Talmud, frequently refers to taxes and tithes. The majority of scholars studying taxes in ancient Israel focus on a single historical period or form of taxation. M. Girardin, a young scholar associated with Université du Littoral Côte d’Opale, adopted a more comprehensive approach, researching the entirety of taxation systems in various periods of history of ancient Israel and their changes in time.1 Girardin’s most recent monograph describes and analyses fiscal systems in Hellenistic and Roman Judea. A thoroughly reedited and abbreviated version of Girard’s 2017 doctoral dissertation, the monograph focuses on an interval from 200 BCE to 135 CE. The investigated period begins with Judea’s incorporation into the Seleukid Empire, whereas it ends with the fall of the Bar Kokhba’s revolt and transformation of province Iudaea into Syria-Palaestina.2 The said period saw many a political upheaval, with Judea and neighbouring lands inhabited by the Jews governed by a number of actors: the Seleukids, the Hasmoneans, the Herodians and Rome. Every new governing polity brought new administrative policies and taxation systems. Accordingly, M. Girardin’s chief aim is to construct the comprehensive picture of Judea’s fiscal systems across its history. The monograph consists of three sections (I. L’Héritage, pp. 37–117; II. La Fracture (200 a.C. – 6 p.C.), pp. 123–289; III. La Crise (6–135 p.C.), pp. 295–470), dividing into ten chapters, an ‘Introduction générale’ (pp. 6–32), and concluding remarks (pp. 473–480).