‘ROYAL’ECONOMIES—RAISING AND MAKING
MONEY FOR A KING
Towards the end of Book 2 (2.97–98) in hisHistory of the Peloponnesian
War,the historian Thucydides describes the great invasion of Chalkidike
conducted by the Thracian king, Sitalkes, which was to have been an
invasion of Macedonia. He includes, by way of introduction, a number of
remarks that define, in his view, the substance of the Odrysian kingdom.
In addition to its geographical limits (a coastal border between the
mouth of the Danube and Abdera, inland from Byzantion to the River
Strymon), the historian refers to the tribute (phoros) raised by Sitalkes,
from native districts and from Greek cities alike, as amounting to 400
Talents (T) of gold and silver, with at least as much, in the same metals,
contributed as‘gifts’to the king, to various leaders (paradynasteuontai)
and nobles (gennaioi) of the Odrysians. In addition to precious metals,
these‘gifts’consisted of woven textiles, both‘plain and embroidered’
(2.97.3). Three sentences thus provide the modern reader with a wealth
of exceptional detail, not just about the kingdom and how it was
organized, but also about the mechanisms used by its rulers to raise
cash and capital. This brief but immensely informative historical
resource is one that deserves to be explored from a variety of angles.
At this point I want to focus on the public dimension of Odrysian royal
taxation.
Taxes are an emotive subject in any society. The history of taxation in
Western societies demonstrates the depth of popular resentment against
taxes of any and every sort. Income tax has been among the most sorely
resented measures introduced by governments; but the same resentment
has applied equally to excise and other duties. In the United Kingdom
peacetime income tax has formally been a temporary mechanism, since it
was introduced by Sir Robert Peel in 1842.^80 Historically, universal
public taxes have been closely connected with war chests, not with
expenditure on public welfare and amenities. The proportion of govern-
ment revenues devoted to military expenditure hasfluctuated dramatic-
ally from place to place and from period to period. In classical antiquity,
and in the early modern period, military expenditure formed a signifi-
cant component of state expenditure, declining during the nineteenth
century in the most industrially developed countries, and dwarfed by
Tsigarida 2011b; Misaïlidou-Despotidou 2009; Ionic temple, Therme: Schmidt-Dounas 2004;
cult investment is explored further below, Ch. 8.
(^80) Ferguson 2001, 71; Ch. 2,‘Hateful Taxes’,54–80.
74 Herdsmen with golden leaves—narratives and spaces