Indiction
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An indiction (, impost) was a periodic reassessment of taxation in the
Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...
which took place every fifteen years. In
Late Antiquity Late antiquity marks the period that comes after the end of classical antiquity and stretches into the onset of the Early Middle Ages. Late antiquity as a period was popularized by Peter Brown (historian), Peter Brown in 1971, and this periodiza ...
, this 15-year cycle began to be used to date documents and it continued to be used for this purpose in
Medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...
Europe, and can also refer to an individual year in the cycle; for example, "the fourth indiction" came to mean the fourth year of the current indiction. Since the cycles themselves were not numbered, other information is needed to identify the specific year.


History

Indictions originally referred to the periodic reassessment for an agricultural or land tax in the
Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...
. There were three different cycles: a 15-year cycle used throughout the empire; a 14-year cycle used in
Roman Egypt Roman Egypt was an imperial province of the Roman Empire from 30 BC to AD 642. The province encompassed most of modern-day Egypt except for the Sinai. It was bordered by the provinces of Crete and Cyrenaica to the west and Judaea, ...
; and a five year cycle called the ''
lustrum A lūstrum (, plural lūstra) was a term for a five-year period in Ancient Rome. It is distinct from the homograph ''lustrum'' ( ): a haunt of wild beasts (and figuratively, a den of vice), plural ''lustra'' ( ).Oxford Latin Desk Dictionary (2 ...
'', derived from the
Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( ) was the era of Ancient Rome, classical Roman civilisation beginning with Overthrow of the Roman monarchy, the overthrow of the Roman Kingdom (traditionally dated to 509 BC) and ending in 27 BC with the establis ...
an census. Changes to the tax system usually took place at the beginning of one of these cycles and at the end of the indiction
Emperors The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/ grand empress dowager), or a woman who rule ...
often chose to forgive any arrears. The 15-year cycle can be traced in literary and epigraphic references to taxation reforms and the cancellation of arrears.


Principate

The '' Chronicon Paschale'' (c. 630 AD) claims that the 15-year cycle was instituted by
Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...
in 49 BC, which was also the first year of the Antiochene era, but there is no other evidence for this and, if the cycle were the same one known from later periods, the start date ought to be 48 BC. The earliest known event associated with the 15-year cycle is the establishment of a special board of three
praetor ''Praetor'' ( , ), also ''pretor'', was the title granted by the government of ancient Rome to a man acting in one of two official capacities: (i) the commander of an army, and (ii) as an elected ''magistratus'' (magistrate), assigned to disch ...
s to pursue arrears for the cycle ending in 42 AD, under
Claudius Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; ; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54), or Claudius, was a Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Nero Claudius Drusus, Drusus and Ant ...
.Duncan-Jones 1994 p. 60 The beginning of the cycle in 58 AD coincides with a set of tax reforms and remissions instituted by
Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68) was a Roman emperor and the final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 until his ...
.
Vespasian Vespasian (; ; 17 November AD 9 – 23 June 79) was Roman emperor from 69 to 79. The last emperor to reign in the Year of the Four Emperors, he founded the Flavian dynasty, which ruled the Empire for 27 years. His fiscal reforms and consolida ...
carried out a census of Italy at the start of the next indiction in 73 AD The indiction starting in 103 AD may coincide with the tax remission by
Trajan Trajan ( ; born Marcus Ulpius Traianus, 18 September 53) was a Roman emperor from AD 98 to 117, remembered as the second of the Five Good Emperors of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. He was a philanthropic ruler and a successful soldier ...
depicted on the Plutei of Trajan. At the start of the next indiction in 118 AD,
Hadrian Hadrian ( ; ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. Hadrian was born in Italica, close to modern Seville in Spain, an Italic peoples, Italic settlement in Hispania Baetica; his branch of the Aelia gens, Aelia '' ...
wrote off 900,000,000 sesterces of tax arrears, which he refers to in an inscription as the largest remission ever granted. He again remitted arrears at the start of the next indiction in AD 133, as did
Antoninus Pius Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Pius (; ; 19 September 86 – 7 March 161) was Roman emperor from AD 138 to 161. He was the fourth of the Five Good Emperors from the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. Born into a senatorial family, Antoninus held var ...
at the start of the next indiction in 148 AD.
Marcus Aurelius Marcus Aurelius Antoninus ( ; ; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 and a Stoicism, Stoic philosopher. He was a member of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty, the last of the rulers later known as the Five Good Emperors ...
and
Commodus Commodus (; ; 31 August 161 – 31 December 192) was Roman emperor from 177 to 192, first serving as nominal co-emperor under his father Marcus Aurelius and then ruling alone from 180. Commodus's sole reign is commonly thought to mark the end o ...
carried out another remission at the start of the indiction beginning in 178 AD. The 14-year cycle used in Egypt derived from the fact that liability for the Egyptian
poll tax A poll tax, also known as head tax or capitation, is a tax levied as a fixed sum on every liable individual (typically every adult), without reference to income or resources. ''Poll'' is an archaic term for "head" or "top of the head". The sen ...
began at the age of fourteen, necessitating a new survey of the population every fourteen years. Tax reforms and remissions recorded in
papyrus Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, ''Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'' or ''papyruses'') can a ...
sources indicate that it was also in existence in the first century AD.Duncan-Jones 1994 p. 61. The first evidence is an edict by Marcus Mettius Rufus, the Prefect of Egypt in AD 89, requiring property and loans to be registered. The next cycle in 103 AD coincides with reforms to record-keeping. The beginning of the cycle in 117 AD coincided with the 15-year cycle and was the occasion of Hadrian's large tax remission. This 14-year cycle is last attested in 257 AD. From 287 AD, at the latest, Roman Egypt used a system of 5-year cycles, then a non-cyclic series which reached number 26 by 318 AD.


Late Antiquity and Middle Ages

The 15-year cycle was introduced as a dating system on documents throughout the Roman empire by Constantine in 312 AD and it was in used in Egypt by 314 AD. The '' Chronicon Paschale'' (c. 630 AD) assigned its first year to 312–313 AD, whereas a Coptic document of 933 AD assigned its first year to 297–298 AD, one cycle earlier. Both of these were years of the Alexandrian calendar whose first day was Thoth 1 on August 29 in years preceding common Julian years and August 30 in years preceding leap years, hence each straddled two Julian years. The reason for beginning the year at that time was that the harvest would be in, and so it was an appropriate moment to calculate the taxes that should be paid. The indiction was first used to date documents unrelated to tax collection in the mid-fourth century. By the late fourth century it was being used to date documents throughout the
Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...
. In the
Eastern Roman Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...
outside of Egypt, the first day of its year was September 23, the birthday of
Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in A ...
. During the last half of the fifth century, probably 462 AD, this shifted to September 1, where it remained throughout the rest of the
Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...
. In 537 AD,
Justinian Justinian I (, ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was Roman emperor from 527 to 565. His reign was marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovatio imperii'', or "restoration of the Empire". This ambition was ...
decreed that all dates must include the indiction via , which eventually caused the Byzantine year to begin on . But in the western Mediterranean, its first day was according to
Bede Bede (; ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, Bede of Jarrow, the Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable (), was an English monk, author and scholar. He was one of the most known writers during the Early Middle Ages, and his most f ...
, or the following or , called the papal indiction. An ''indictio Senensis'' beginning is sometimes mentioned. The 7,980-year
Julian Period The Julian day is a continuous count of days from the beginning of the Julian period; it is used primarily by astronomers, and in software for easily calculating elapsed days between two events (e.g., food production date and sell by date). Th ...
was formed by multiplying the 15-year indiction cycle, the 28-year
solar cycle The Solar cycle, also known as the solar magnetic activity cycle, sunspot cycle, or Schwabe cycle, is a periodic 11-year change in the Sun's activity measured in terms of Modern Maximum, variations in the number of observed sunspots on the Sun ...
and the 19-year Metonic cycle.


Terminology

When the term "indiction" began to be used, it referred only to the full cycle, and individual years were referred to as being Year 1 of the indiction, Year 2 of the indiction, etc. It gradually became common to apply the term to the years themselves, which thus became the first indiction, the second indiction, and so on.


Calculation

A useful chart providing all the equivalents can be found in Chaîne's book on chronology, and can easily be consulted online at the Internet Archive, from page 134 to page 172. The Roman indiction for a modern
Anno Domini The terms (AD) and before Christ (BC) are used when designating years in the Gregorian calendar, Gregorian and Julian calendar, Julian calendars. The term is Medieval Latin and means "in the year of the Lord" but is often presented using "o ...
year ''Y'' (January 1 to December 31) may be calculated as follows: :(''Y'' + 3) mod 15 For example, the indiction for the year 2017 is 10:"Calendars" p. B4 :(2017 + 3) mod 15 = 10 However, this formula will produce an error for the last year of an indiction, where the modulo value is 0 instead of the expected 15, as can be seen when applying it to the year 2022: :(2022+3) mod 15 = 0 One can simply read 0 as 15, but in order to have the correct result directly, the addition of a value of 1 from the offset may be delayed until after the mod operation: :(''Y'' + 2) mod 15 + 1 That yields the expected answer, for 2022 again: :(2022+2) mod 15 + 1 = 15


References

{{Wiktionary, indiction


Works cited

*Bonnie Blackburn, Leofranc Holford-Strevens, ''The Oxford Companion to the year'' (Oxford, 1999), p. 769-71. *"Calendars" in ''Astronomical Almanac for the Year 2017'' (Washington: US Government Publishing Office, 2016) p. B4. *''Chronicon paschale 284–628 AD'', trans. Michael Whitby, Mary Whitby (Liverpool, 1989), p. 10. *Richard Duncan-Jones, ''Money and government in the Roman empire'' (Cambridge University Press, 1994) p. 59-63.


Further reading

*Roger S. Bagnall, K. A. Worp, ''The chronological systems of Byzantine Egypt'' (Zutphen, 1978). *Leo Depuydt, "AD 297 as the beginning of the first indiction cycle", ''The Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists, ''24:137–9. *Yiannis E. Meimaris, ''Chronological systems in Roman-Byzantine Palestine and Arabia'' (Athens, 1992), 32-34 *S. P. Scott ustinian I "Forty-seventh new constitution" ovella 47 ''The civil law'' orpvs jvris civilis(1932; reprinted New York, 1973), 16 (in 7): 213-15.


External links


Dates and dating
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Units of time Byzantine calendar Julian calendar