Quadragesima galliarum.
L'organisation douanière des provinces alpestres, gauloises et germaniques de l'Empire romain : 1er siècle avant J.-C.-3er siècle après J.-C.
FRANCE, Jérôme
Ausonius-Institut de recherche sur l'Antiquité et le Moyen âge
LabEx Sciences archéologiques de Bordeaux [LASCARBX]
Ausonius-Institut de recherche sur l'Antiquité et le Moyen âge
LabEx Sciences archéologiques de Bordeaux [LASCARBX]
FRANCE, Jérôme
Ausonius-Institut de recherche sur l'Antiquité et le Moyen âge
LabEx Sciences archéologiques de Bordeaux [LASCARBX]
< Réduire
Ausonius-Institut de recherche sur l'Antiquité et le Moyen âge
LabEx Sciences archéologiques de Bordeaux [LASCARBX]
Langue
fr
Ouvrage
Ce document a été publié dans
2001, vol. 278
École française de Rome
Résumé en anglais
This book traces the history of the quadragesima Galliarum which was the tax of the fortieth part (2,5%), charged on trade in the Gaulish provinces of the Roman Empire. The choice of this subject was justified firstly by ...Lire la suite >
This book traces the history of the quadragesima Galliarum which was the tax of the fortieth part (2,5%), charged on trade in the Gaulish provinces of the Roman Empire. The choice of this subject was justified firstly by the qualitative and the quantitative richness of the documentary evidence which consisted mainly of epigraphic sources, and equally by the renewal of interest in the Roman portorium, which notably followed the discovery at Ephesus of customs regulations for the province of Asia. Over and above an enquiry into a regional tax department, the main thread of argument was to supply an element of reference for all the customs organisation in the Roman Empire and to test certain models that had been drawn up for the whole fiscal and financial system, both in the mid-20th century historiography (the works of S. J. De Laet and F. Vittinghoff) as well as in more recent publications (those by P. Brunt or E. Lo Cascio, for example). After going through a systematic and critical review of the documentation and establishing a catalogue of the inscriptions relative to the fortieth, the book begins by examining the customs system in the Gaulish provinces before the tax was put in place. This preliminary enquiry shows the existence of taxes on the main areas of trade and reveals that they belong to different customs traditions. The one to be found in Greek cities is also to be found in Marseilles as is the tax levied in the Veneti ports of the Armorican peninsula. The taxes levied on toll roads in the Alps and on a certain number of river routes also belong to the Celtic tradition. Also Rome applied taxes on the transport of wine in Transalpina which we know from Cicero's plea in the Pro Fonteio. On this heterogeneous basis, during the reign of Augustus, the new imperial administration, undertook the rationalisation and the unification of customs payments in the recently conquered provinces of Gaul and the Alpine sector. A single portorium, with a single rate of one fortieth, thus came to replace the old networks in Transalpina and Gaule Chevelue (Gallia comata). The creation of this tax showed the desire for order after the excesses that had marked the end of the Republic. It was also the result of the desire to regularise the sums raised by provincial taxes at a time when the Empire had to face the maintenance costs of a permanent army without putting an end to the traditional fiscal privileges of Roman citizens in Rome and Italy. During the exercise of its sovereignty over customs duties Rome nevertheless left a certain number of tolls and municipal octroi. The determination of the basis of this customs duty is the subject of a chapter which shows that it was based on a land and sea area, oriented from east to west that linked the frontier of Gaul with Hispania Tarraconensis as far as the borders of Raetia. Above all, the deeper analysis of the epigraphic file sheds light on the major stages in the evolution of the world of taxation. Like many Roman taxes, which we could exaggeratedly quality as indirect (uectigalia), the quadragesima of the Gauls was firstly farmed by associates (socii) then, more properly from the end of the 1st century and the beginning of the 2nd century, by a single title holder (conductor). Then it was placed under direct management, most certainly between 180 and 200. The reasons for this development are to be found in the constant preoccupation by the Roman state with controlling its income ever more tightly and which led it to set up a specialised administration, directed by the equestrians and constituted above all of slaves and imperial freed men.< Réduire
Mots clés
Fiscalité romaine
Douanes romaines
Portorium
Gaule romaine
Quarantième des Gaules
Origine
Importé de halUnités de recherche