Rome, the Greek World, and the East, Vol. 2 - Government, Society, and Culture in the Roman Empire

chaptertwo

Trajan: Government by Correspondence

*

Introduction

OnewayinwhichitmightbeusefultothinkabouttheRomanEmpireisto
usetheanalogyofalivingorganism.Tosurvive,theorganismmustdotwo
things:firstly,itmusttakeinenoughfood,water,andoxygen;and,secondly,
itmustreceive,absorb,andrespondtoinformation.Thischapterwillnotbe
concernedwiththefirsttask,thatistosay,inthecaseoftheRomanEmpire,
howitextractedenoughresourceseitherfromitsownsubjectpopulation,
orfromforeignenemies,tomaintainitsgovernmentalstructureanditsmili-
taryforces,ortoindulgeinconspicuousexpenditureatthecentre.Thereign
ofTrajanisofsomeinterestinthisconnection,fortheconquestofDaciais
thelastinthehistoryofRomeofwhichoursourcesclaimthatvastmove-
ablespoils(manubiae)wereremovedfromtheconqueredzoneandbrought
toRome;andweknowthatinscriptionsonTrajan’smagnificentnewForum
proclaimedthatithadbeenbuiltex manubiis.^1 Majorconquestsaside,inspite
of all the excellent scholarly work devoted to taxation in cash or kind, in
myviewwehavestillnotgraspedtheproblemswhichareinvolvedifwetry
toenvisage,inpracticalandconcreteterms,bywhatmeansvastquantities
ofcoinwerecollected,andtheneithertransportedtoRome,re-distributed
withinthesameprovince,ortransferredtootherprovinces.^2 Themintingof

*FirstpublishedinJ.Gonzalez,ed.,Trajano Emperador de Roma(Madrid,2000),363–88.

1. ForalatereportofvastspoilsremovedfromDacia,Lyd.,Mag.2.28;seeA.C.Bandy,
   Ioannes Lydus on Powers(Philadelphia, 1982), 126, and notes on pp. 299–300. For the in-
   scriptionsontheForumTraianum,seeGell.13,25,1.SeenowthemajorworkbyJamesE.
   Packer,The Forum of Trajan in RomeI–III(Berkeley,1997).


2. For some brief observations, F. Millar, ‘‘Les congiaires à Rome et la monnaie,’’ in
   A. Giovannini, ed.,Nourrir la plèbe: hommage à D. van Berchem(Basel, 1991), 143–59 (fora
   translationintoEnglish,seechapter5inthisvolume).Forthewiderissueofthediffusion

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