Lands of Asia layouts (Eng) 26.11.21

part ii | states
In addition to monetary taxes, the satrapies of the Achaemenid kingdom,
including those in Central Asia, also had to pay taxes in kind. Thus, gold was
brought from Bactria, lapis lazuli and carnelian from Sogdiana and a blue
gemstone (turquoise?) from Khorezm to build the palace of Darius I in Susa. The
famous reliefs in the Persepolis palace depict representatives of various satrapies
paying tribute to the Achaemenid king. Specifically, Bactrians are depicted with
containers and two-humped camels; Sakas as leading horses and carrying objects
of some kind; the Sogdians have cups in their hands and are accompanied by two
two-humped camels; and the Khorezmians are shown with swords, bracelets
and horses. These objects and the kinds of animals depicted on the walls of the
Persepolis palace reflect the specific tributes paid by each province to the treasury
of the Achaemenid kingdom.
Tax collection was the responsibility of satraps, nomarchs, town governors, village
elders and tribal chiefs. Special royal tax collectors and tax inspectors also existed.
According to some scholars, in certain satrapies of the Achaemenid kingdom taxes
due from the population were not collected directly from the citizens, but with the
help of tax-farmers. A tax-farmer was an individual who would pay taxes to the royal
treasury in advance, thereby obtaining a monopoly from the state for tax collection.
He would then collect taxes from the local population, while increasing the amount
of tax collected. There is no clear information about the tax collection system in
Central Asia, but it is likely that it resembled one of the revenue collection systems
that was in use in other parts of the Achaemenid kingdom.
After the conquest of the southern provinces of Central Asia by Alexander the
Great and their subsequent incorporation into the Seleucid and Graeco-Bactrian
kingdoms, a revenue collection system typical of the Hellenistic world was established
there, but possibly adapted to local conditions. Until recently, however, we had no
information about the nature of the administration of taxes and the system of taxes
levied on the population of these territories. The discovery, in recent decades, of
ostraca with Greek inscriptions in Ai-Khanum (Northern Afghanistan) and at the
site of Kampyrtepa (Southern Uzbekistan) has shed some light on the issue. For
example, two ostraca with Greek graffiti were found at Kampyrtepa, 30 km west of
Termez on the banks of the Oxus River. One of them indicates a monetary unit or
measure of weight, 15 drachmas, and the other a measure of liquid, 7 hoi (hoi is an
ancient Greek liquid measure equivalent to 3.28 litres). These two small examples of
Greek graffiti are important in helping to understand aspects of the taxation system
in Northern Bactria during the Hellenistic period, as aside from these two graffiti no
other inscriptions indicating units of money and weights have been found here so far,
or indeed, anywhere else in Central Asia.
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