The district of the Publicum Portorii Illyrici Utriusque et Ripae Thraciae

The first reference to this district belongs to the reign of Claudius, but it was probably established by Augustus or Tiberius. Originally it consisted of Illyricum, a province to the east of the Adriatic Sea, later called Dalmatia and Pannonia. The district grew considerably over time, but would keep its original name. Eventually it consisted of the Danube provinces. Some 70 offices are documented in Raetia, Noricum, Dalmatia (Illyricum), Pannonia Superior and Inferior, Moesia Superior and Inferior, Dacia, Thracia, and Regio X (Venetia et Histria) of Italia. The latter inclusion is a bit surprising, because Italy was not a customs district.

The documented offices in Venetia et Histria are Altinum, Aquileia, Trieste and Pola. An inscription from Aquileia informs us that, for some reason, there were two offices in that city. The distribution of the offices in the eastern Alps is much different from that in the western and central Alps. In the latter area at most one or two have been located on a single route. In the eastern Alps they are sometimes very close to each other, and five or six can be found on one route. One might think that this is due to the accessibility of the eastern Alps. Many mountain passes had to be crossed here. However, the location of the offices does not coincide with the mountain ranges. The explanation must be sough elsewhere. The internal offices are not on the borders of provinces. Their location was apparently determined by several geographical features: mountain ranges, rivers, bridges, and road junctions.

Click on the image to enlarge. From De Laet 1949. The names of the stationes are underlined.

In half a dozen inscriptions we encounter the Ripa Thraciae, the Bank of Thrace, a province to the north of the Aegean Sea and to the west of the Black Sea. Sometimes only this area is mentioned, but usually it is combined with Publicum Portorii Illyrici and administered by the same conductores. Apparently it was an area along the lower Danube near Novae, modern Svishtov in Bulgaria. The district was therefore a merger of the Publicum Portorii Illyrici and of the Ripa Thraciae, which probably took place during the reign of Trajan or Hadrian.

The percentage that was collected is not immediately clear, because quadragesima or quinquagesima are not part of the name of the district. Percentages are mentioned in a few inscriptions, leading De Laet to the hypothesis that 2% was to be paid for merchandise that was imported from another part of the Empire, and 5% for goods that left the Empire or came from outside. Simple toll will have been lower. The central administration seems to have been in Poetovio, Ptuj in modern Slovenia.

In this district the cult of Mithras was especially popular amongst the personnel. The evidence was collected by Per Beskow in 1980.

	INVICT(o) MITHRAE ET TRANSITV(i) DEI THEODORVS P(ublici) P(ortorii) SCRVT(ator) STAT(ionis) POET(oviensis) EX VISV
	To the invincible Mithras and the transition of the god. Theodorus, of the public revenue of the portorium, investigator, of the office of Poetovio, as the result of a vision.
	A dedication from Mithraeum I in Poetovio. Photo: EDCS-30100719.

Mithraeum III in Poetovio. Photo: Wikimedia, Ljuba Brank.

In 2008 a wonderful discovery was made in Sopianae (Pécs, Hungary): a painting of a Genius with a crown on the head and holding a cornucopiae, accompanied by a painted text. Of the text, part of two lines has been preserved: GENIO and CV·TEL. The Genius may be the Genius Augusti or a Genius Loci, of the place. The text has been explained as Genio cu(stodiarum) tel(onei), "To the Genius of the guards of the custom-house". The room in which the painting was found may then have been the shrine of the customs office (other finds were a sculpture of an eagle with outstretched wings and two statue bases). The building has been dated to the Severan period and was abandoned around 260 AD.

The Genius from Sopianae and the accompanying text. Photos: Kirchhof 2018, figs. 2-3.

The Genius Publici Portorii Illyrici is documented through inscriptions from Novae (Bulgaria) and Porolissum (Romania).

Casts of inscriptions in Porolissum, mentioning the Genius P(ublici) P(ortorii) Vectigalis Illyrici.
EDCS-07000844 and EDCS-07000843. Photo: Wikimedia, Saturnian.