A rationibus

The a rationibus was the imperial finance secretary or the finance ministry in the Roman Empire .

history

The office of a rationibus was introduced at the beginning of the imperial era . While under Augustus all secretarial tasks were still carried out by a single office called a manu , under Emperor Claudius the specialized secretariats of the a rationibus , responsible for imperial money, the ab epistulis (correspondence) and the a libellis , the dealt with the petitions to the emperor. At the beginning the office was assigned to the imperial domus , ie the private "house" of the emperor, and therefore was held by the freed slaves belonging to the familia . In addition to several inscriptions that mention the office of a rationibus , a silva (a poem) by Statius to a holder of the office whose name is unknown has come down to us from the 1st century . The latter had supervised all incoming income to the emperor and calculated the necessary expenses, and was therefore solely responsible for the emperor's finances. Even under Claudius, someone like Marcus Antonius Pallas knew how to turn the office into an extremely influential and wealthy position for its owner.

In the 2nd century the office was held only by men from the knighthood (the equites ); since then the title procurator a rationibus has become common. Since the end of the 2nd century, the title of a rationibus or procurator a rationibus has changed to that of Rationalis , and later only subordinates of Rationalis appear as a rationibus . The task of the a rationibus was then to record all actions of the tax authorities or rationalists. These protocols came from the various provinces to Rome, where they were checked. Above all, this should prevent corruption among finance ministers.

literature

Peter Eich: On the metamorphosis of the political system in the Roman Empire . Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-05-004110-2 , pp. 159–188 (not evaluated).
Wilhelm Liebenam : a rationibus . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume IA, 1, Stuttgart 1914, Col. 263 f.

Web link

Sabine Schmall: Patrimonium and Fiscus, studies on imperial domain and financial administration from Augustus to the middle of the 3rd century AD , inaugural dissertation, Philosophical Faculty of the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Bonn 2011. PDF

Remarks

↑ See also Aloys Winterling , Aula Caesaris. Studies on the institutionalization of the Roman imperial court in the period from Augustus to Commodus (31 BC – 192 AD) , Oldenbourg, Munich 1999, p. 94f. There also to Statius' poem.
↑ Statius, silvae 3, 3, 85-108.

[1] See also Aloys Winterling , Aula Caesaris. Studies on the institutionalization of the Roman imperial court in the period from Augustus to Commodus (31 BC – 192 AD) , Oldenbourg, Munich 1999, p. 94f. There also to Statius' poem.

[2] Statius, silvae 3, 3, 85-108.