The Customs Law of Asia [Hardcover]

The Roman Empire was based on law, and it was vital for rulers and ruled that laws should be understood. They were often given permanent form in stone or bronze. This book transcribes, translates, and fully illustrates with photographs, the inscription (more than 155 lines, in its damaged state) that carries the regulations drawn up over nearly two centuries for the customs dues of the rich province of Asia (western Turkey). The regulations, taken from Roman archives, were set up in Greek in Ephesus, and the book provides a rendering of the text back into Latin. The damaged text is hard to restore and to interpret. Six scholars offer line-by-line commentary, and five essays bring out its significance, from the Gracchi to Nero, for Rome's government and changing attitudes towards provincial subjects, for the historical geography of the Empire, for its economic history, and for the social life of Roman officials.

Introduction
Text and Translations
Commentary
Interpretative Essays
Geography, Politics and Imperialism in the Asian Customs Law,S. Mitchell
The Lex Portorii Asiae and Financial Administration,M. Corbier
The Elaboration and Diffusion of the Text of the Monumentum Ephesenum,G. D. Rowe
Nero's Reforms of Vectigalia and the Inscription of the Lex Portorii Asiae,D. Rathbone
The Social World of Tax Farmers and their Personnel,O. van Nijf

M. Cottier, Department of Classics, University of Toronto. M. H. Crawford, Department of History, University College London. C. V. Crowther, Centre for Study of Ancient Documents, Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies, University of Oxford. J.-L. Ferrary B. M. Levick, St Hilda's College, Oxford. O. Salomies, Institutum Classicum, University of Helsinki. M. W?rrle, Kommission f?r Alte Geschichte und Epigrafik des Deutschen Arch?ologischen Instituts, Munich.