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THE PALMYRAN TAX LAW (The Ancient City : Palmyra (The earlier history of…
THE PALMYRAN TAX LAW
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What was the Tariff ?
The Tariff was created to resolve disputes that had arisen between tax collectors, merchants and others from whom tax was due.
The Tariff was inscribed in both Greek and Aramaic and placed in a public place so it could be visible to all
Almost all previous English publications have incorrectly recorded the tax law of Palmyra, or are incomplete.
The inscriptions of Palmyra employ the Seleucid system of dating, but whether this means that the city was controlled by the Seleucids in the Hellenistic period remains unclear as they may have adopted the system from niegahbours
The Elder Pliny wrote of Palmyra as having a quasi-independent (meaning not controlled or influenced by others in matter of opinion ) status between the two great empires of Rome and Parthia.
Due to this and along with the remotes location and mercantile activities, Palmyra was given some degree of independence.
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Although, in this deficiency, Palmyra contrasts most sharply with its eastern neighbour on the Euphrates, Doura-Europos, one of the most productive of all ancient sites in revealing the ordinary lives of its inhabitants.
From another point of view also, the archaeological plan for palmyra is a skeleton suggesting the main facets of its economic life and social structure but leaving much to the other evidence, and to the imagination
connected with this is our lack of knowledge of the domestic and, still more, the humbler commercial architecture and religious life of the city.
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From these mercantile cities further connections were made by boat with what the inscriptions describe as as Scythia- a part of northern India.
These merchants then began to set up communities and trading companies in Parthian cities like Palmyra and extended their actions to an open political dimension.
Temples were dedicated to certain prominent figures in trade, which showed Parthian appreciation of the importance of their commercial links to the west.
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The Old Law
According to the decree of the Council, the New Law and Tariff were to be inscribed together with the existing law.
The New Law
Not only was the law of exchange, or tariff put in place, but regulations on water and other services were legislated.
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