Cambridge Ancient Hi.. - Index of

administration in operation 181
prefect of the east, 71 the archives of the city prefect, 72 tax registers 73 and
the texts of treaties with foreign states. 74 It is apparent that archives of
official documents were also maintained in provincial capitals, 75 and one of
Justinian’s reforms extended this further by requiring the defensor civitatis in
every city to establish a building for the deposit and consultation of documentation
associated with his duties, under the care of a designated guardian.
76 Some of the physical structures for the storage of official
documents have even been identified in the archaeological record, in both
metropolitan and provincial contexts. The archive rooms of the praetorian
prefect have been located under the Hippodrome in Constantinople, while
recent excavations in Caesarea Maritima (Palestine) have revealed a late
Roman building (18×15 metres) described in a mosaic inscription set into
its floor as an office (skrinion) staffed by chartularii and a numerarius, presumed
to be part of the provincial governor’s administrative apparatus;
comprising seven rooms facing on to a courtyard, it includes a further
inscription (appropriately, in duplicate), which quotes St Paul, to urge their
duty on tax-payers and officials. 77 Of course, one should not assume too
high a level of efficiency in the maintenance of such collections: the need
for the compilers of the Theodosian Code to resort to provincial archives
to locate copies of some imperial laws provides a salutary warning in this
respect. 78 On the other hand, this particular episode dates from early in our
period and in fact more likely serves to confirm the limited character of
central archives in the fourth century; as already noted, Constantinople had
not long been the settled capital of the eastern empire.
iii. administration in operation
Assessing the operational effectiveness of these administrative structures
is no easy task, and requires attention to a number of different issues. One
is the responsiveness of the administration to the problems and grievances
of the administered, another its impact on the financial well-being of the
empire – its cost-effectiveness. The first issue involves consideration of the
modes of communication between ruler and ruled. The emperor communicated
a variety of messages, both explicit and subliminal, to the inhabitants
of his empire through media ranging from official proclamations to
71 John Lydus, De Mag. iii.19, with discussion in Kelly (1994) 261.
72 Chron. Pasch.p.622 (destruction during Nika riot); Theophanes p. 297 (destruction during riot in
608). 73 Evagr. HE iii.39 (discussed below).
74 Menander fr. 6,1;Greg.Reg. ix.229, with discussion of further possibilities in Lee (1993) 33–40.
75 Jeffreys, Studies 203–9; Evagr.HE iii.39.
76 Nov. 15.5.2. How far this law was implemented by defensores is another matter, but it certainly demonstrates
an appreciation of the value of storage of records.
77 Kelly (1994) 161–3; SEG 32.1498 (the skrinion inscription); Holum (1988) 169–71; Stern (1993)
i.285. Further discussion in Holum (1995). 78 Matthews in Harries and Wood (1993) 19–45.
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