Syria and Judaea

On the borders of these regions too an amount of 25% is documented, as on the Red Sea. It can be referred to as IIII merc, for quarta merc(aturae) or quarta merc(ium adventiciarum). Inspection in Zeugma, in eastern Turkey, is described by Philostratus in the Life of Apollonius of Tyana:

As they fared on into Mesopotamia, the tax-gatherer who presided over the Bridge (Zeugma) led them into the registry and asked them what they were taking out of the country with them. And Apollonius replied: "I am taking with me temperance, justice, virtue, continence, valor, discipline". And in this way he strung together a number of feminine nouns or names. The other, already scenting his own perquisites, said: "You must then write down in the register these female slaves". Apollonius answered: "Impossible, for they are not female slaves that I am taking out with me, but ladies of quality".

Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana I,20. Translation F.C. Conybeare.

Offices are documented inland, and on the Mediterranean coast in Seleucia Pieria (the port of Antiochia), Berytus (Beirut), Tyrus (Tyre), a Caesarea, and Joppa (Tel Aviv).

Caravan routes in Syria. From De Laet 1949.

Quite famous is the Palmyrene Tax Tariff. It is a bilingual Greek and Aramaic decree of the city council concerning municipal taxes on imported and exported goods, dated to 137 AD. It was shown to a Russian prince in 1882, and later donated by a sultan to Russia. Since 1904 it has been on display in the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg. The inscription is 5.45 meters wide. The height must have been 2.80. An English translation was published by J.F. Matthews in 1984.

The inscription after the discovery and in the Hermitage Museum. Photos: Gawlikowski 2014, figs. 2-3.