Poll Tax Rates in Roman Egypt

Abstract

Abstract Discussion of the various poll tax rates in Roman Egypt, which can be reduced to a simple scheme drawn up by the Romans upon their conquest of Egypt. This scheme suggests that in 30 BC the distribution of the population in Egypt was roughly uniform except for the Fayyum (underpopulated) and the western oases (overpopulated), possibly also Thebes (overpopulated). It also suggests that in 30 BC the distribution of the Greek population was uneven, with virtually no Greeks in Upper Egypt, possibly also the oases, and fewer Greeks in Oxyrhynchus than in other metropoleis in Lower and Middle Egypt.