Fiscus Iudaicus

The or was a tax imposed on Jews in the Roman Empire after the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple in AD 70.

The fiscus Iudaicus replaced the traditional half-shekel Temple tax which had been paid annually by Jews for the maintenance of the Temple in Jerusalem. The new tax redirected those funds to the reconstruction of the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus in Rome, which had been destroyed during the Year of the Four Emperors. The redirection of these funds represented a significant humiliation for the Jewish population of the empire. The tax continued even after the Capitoline Temple was rebuilt, contributing to Roman finances and also serving as a deterrent against proselytism and conversion to Judaism.

Under Domitian, the enforcement of the tax became stringent. Suetonius recounts that the tax was then applied to those who denied their Jewish origin or practiced Jewish customs without identifying as Jewish, and describes an incident where a 90-year-old man was examined to confirm if he was circumcised. Tax receipts found in Egypt indicate that even children were liable for this tax. Later, Nerva introduced reforms that eased some of the tax's burdens but did not abolish it entirely.

Contemporary sources

Modern knowledge of the ' is found in four primary sources:
* A passage from ''The Jewish War'' by Josephus
* A passage from ''The Twelve Caesars'' by Suetonius
* A passage from the ''Roman History'' by Cassius Dio
* Seventy-one Roman Egyptian tax receipts.
The tax receipts from Egypt date from 70 CE to 116 CE, with the tax ceasing during the Diaspora Revolt, which led to widespread suppression and the near-total annihilation of Egyptian Jewry.

Imposition

The tax was initially imposed by Roman emperor Vespasian as one of the measures against Jews as a result of the First Roman-Jewish War, or first Jewish revolt of AD 66–73. The tax was imposed on all Jews throughout the empire, not just on those who took part in the revolt against Rome. The tax was imposed after the destruction of the Second Temple in AD 70 in place of the levy (or tithe) payable by Jews towards the upkeep of the Temple. The amount levied was two denarii, equivalent to the one-half of a shekel that observant Jews had previously paid for the upkeep of the Temple of Jerusalem. The tax was to go instead to the Temple of Capitoline Jupiter, the major center of ancient Roman religion. The ' was a humiliation for the Jews. In Rome, a special procurator known as ''procurator ad capitularia Iudaeorum'' was responsible for the collection of the tax."Fiscus Judaicus", ''Encyclopaedia Judaica'' Only those who had abandoned Judaism were exempt from paying it. According to Shmuel Safrai, the Romans believed that conquering a nation also subjected its gods, justifying their claim to the revenue of Israel's temple as spoils of victory.

While the tax paid for the Temple of Jerusalem was payable only by adult men between the ages of 20 and 50, the ''fiscus Iudaicus'' was imposed on all Jews, including women, children, and elderly—and even Jewish slaves. In Egypt, the documentary evidence (in the form of receipts) confirms the payment of the tax by women and children. The oldest person known from these receipts to have paid the ' was a 61-year-old woman, which led Sherman LeRoy Wallace to conjecture that the tax was levied only until age 62, as was the regular Roman poll tax paid by individuals throughout the empire. The tax was continued even after the completion of the reconstruction of the Capitoline temple for its upkeep.

Domitian

Domitian, who ruled between 81 and 96, expanded the ' to include not only born Jews and converts to Judaism, but also those who concealed the fact that they were Jews or observed Jewish customs. Suetonius relates that when he was young, an old man of 90 was examined to see whether he was circumcised, which shows that during this period the tax was levied even on those above age 62. Louis Feldman argues that the increased harshness was caused by the success of the Jewish (and possibly Christian) proselytism.

Domitian applied the tax even to those who merely " lived like Jews":

Domitian's ruling opened the door to possibilities of blackmail in Rome and in all Italy. Charges of following Judaism were easily made but difficult to disprove, not least because the practices of certain philosophical sects resembled some Jewish customs. As a result, many people chose to settle with the accusers out of court rather than risk the uncertainties of judicial hearings, thus effectively encouraging the blackmailers. Titus Flavius Clemens was put to death for "living a Jewish life" or "drifting into Jewish ways" in 95, which may well have been related to the administration of the ' under Domitian.

Schism between Judaism and Christianity

The ' was originally imposed on Jews. At the time likely neither the Romans nor the Christians considered their religion to be separate from Judaism. If anything they would have considered themselves as a Jewish sect. Jewish and non-Jewish Christians would therefore be liable to the tax, Marius Heemstra argues.

However, in 96 Domitian's successor Nerva reformed the administration of and redefined Judaism as a religion, furthering the distinction between Judaism and Christianity. This paved the way for the Roman persecution of Christians that began a few years later and continued until the Edict of Milan in 313. The coins of Nerva bear the legend "abolition of malicious prosecution in connection with the Jewish tax", in reference to his reform of the harsh policies of Domitian.

Abolition

It remains unclear when the ' was abolished. Documentary evidence confirms the collection of the tax in the middle of the 2nd century, and literary sources indicate that the tax was still in existence in the early 3rd century. Some historians credit the emperor Julian with its abolition in about 361 or 362.

Medieval revival

The tax was revived in the Middle Ages in 1342 under the name of sacrifice penny'by the Holy Roman Emperors. The (originally ) tax was introduced in 1342 by Emperor Louis IV the Bavarian, who ordered all Jews above age 12 and possessing 20 gulden to pay one gulden annually for protection. The practice was justified on the grounds that the emperor, as the legal successor of the Roman emperors, was the rightful recipient of the Temple tax. The was collected on Christmas Day. Emperor Charles IV later ordered the income of the tax to be delivered to the archbishop of Trier. This tax was at some places replaced by an overall communal tax."Opferpfennig"
''Encyclopaedia Judaica''. 2008.

See also

* Jewish poll tax
* Jizya
* Leibzoll
* Rabbi tax
* Sicaricon
* Tolerance tax

Notes

References

* Edwards, Douglas R. (1996).
Religion & Power: Pagans, Jews, and Christians in the Greek East
'. Oxford University Press.
* Feldman, Louis H. (1993).
Jew and Gentile in the Ancient World: Attitudes and Interactions from Alexander to Justinian
'. Princeton University Press.
* Radin, Max (1915).
The Jews among the Greeks and Romans
'. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America
* Schäfer, Peter (1998).
Judeophobia: Attitudes toward the Jews in the Ancient World
'. Harvard University Press.
*
* Stern, Menachem (1997). "Fiscus Judaicus". ''Encyclopaedia Judaica'' (CD-ROM Edition Version 1.0). Ed. Cecil Roth. Keter Publishing House.
* O'Quin, Chris (2009).
The Fiscus Judaicus
.
* Heemstra, Marius (2010).

.
The Fiscus Judaicus and the Parting of the Ways
'. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck.
*

External links

Jewish Encyclopedia: Fiscus Judaicus

Livius.org: Fiscus Judaicus"The 'New Cleopatra' and the Jewish Tax"
Biblical Archaeology Society

Austin Simmons, ''The Cipherment of the Franks Casket'' (PDF)
The fiscus Judaicus is depicted on the back side of the Franks Casket.

{{First Jewish–Roman War, state=collapsed
Jews and Judaism in the Roman Empire
Jewish–Roman wars
Latin political words and phrases
Personal taxes
Roman law
Vespasian
History of taxation
Disabilities (Jewish) in Europe
Taxation in ancient Rome
Jupiter (god)
Religious taxation