Taxation in the Achaemenid Empire

Abstract

Abstract The present contribution treats taxation in the Achaemenid, or First Persian, Empire, which lasted from 538 to 330 b.c.e. Its focus lies on information derived from the cuneiform texts discovered in Babylonia and Iran. Until very recently, Greek authors, in particular Herodotus, were used almost exclusively as sources of information on taxation. However, the original sources from the empire itself show that the reality had little in common with the view perpetuated by Herodotus. The differences are discussed here, and an overview of tax bases is given for the satrapy Babylonia because most of the relevant source material comes from there.

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