ADMINISTRATIONTaxes were usually assessed as a total sum for each town, village, or
rural district and might be divided up by the inhabitants among them-
selves, paid by a local notable who stood as surety, or collected directly
by officers of the state. The best description of collective responsibility
comes from Talmudic references to the poll tax (kraga) levied on the
Jewish population of lower central Iraq before the sixth century. Here
the kragii was based on the estimated population of the towns and
villages by a district official (A. resh nehara) who assessed each town
or village as a unit. The total levied on the main towns included the
assessment of the smaller towns in their districts, which in turn owed
their tax to the main town. Local notables and community leaders
then divided the total according to personal wealth among the pop-
ulation, which shared the expense of any exemptions they made. The
collection was made by officers appointed by the government, and
even Jewish tax collectors could require the inhabitants of a town to
pay the share of those who had hidden to escape payment. 57 This
method was also applied to Christian church administration in the
fifth century when a contribution was levied on each village in the
territory of a chorepiscopos for his support.^58 The employment of a
local figure should likewise be noticed at Edessa. When that city was
under Persian rule in the early seventh century, Khusraw Parviz ap-
pointed a native of the city who happened to be related to his own
Monophysite physician to collect the kharaj until popular complaints
brought about his remova1.^59
Collective responsibility appears to be derived ultimately from trib-
ute arrangements and was intended to ensure the payment of the entire
amount assessed on a town or a district. During the collection, tax-
payers who had paid their taxes were identified by having lead or clay
seals hung around their necks in order to distinguish them from those
who had not yet paid. Among Talmudic Jews, slaves wore their mas-
ter's seal around their necks as a sign of servitude. The sealing of
taxpayers thus was a form of degradation symbolizing the mortgage
of their freedom to the state until the entire amount levied had been
paid.^60 The use of seals to identify the lower classes was also evident
57 Goodblatt, "Poll Tax," p. 261; Newman, Agricultural Life, pp. 169-71, 177;
Rodkinson, Talmud, XIII, "Baba Bathra," 133.
58 A. Voobus, Syriac and Arabic Documents Regarding Legislation Relative to Syrian
Asceticism (Stockholm, 1962), p. 121.
59 Agapius of Manbij, Kitab al-Unwan, PO 8 (1912), 459.
60 Newman, Agricultural Life, p. 72.