The Lex Hieronica was a unique system of regulations concerning the agricultural taxation of Sicily by the Roman Republic. The taxation system was named after King Hiero II of Syracuse. The basic provision requires that farmers pay ten percent of their produce in tax to Rome. It is likely that the Lex Hieronica was an appropriation of both Hiero II's taxation system of his Kingdom and the Carthaginian taxation system of western Sicily. The date of establishment of the law is uncertain. It was likely implemented sometime in between the first two Punic wars.
The sources
Literary
The main source for the provisions of the Lex Hieronica comes from Cicero's In Verrem. Other primary sources, such as Appian, Polybius and Livy, claim that there was an agricultural tithe in Sicily. These authors contribute to the debate concerning when the Lex Hieronica was established. However, In Verrem is the only primary source which gives a detailed account of the provisions or refers to the Lex Hieronica directly.Serrati, John, and Christopher Smith. "Garrisons and Grain: Sicily between the Punic Wars" In Sicily from Aeneas to Augustus: New Approaches in Archaeology and History, 115-33. Edinburgh University Press, 2000. p. 124 In some instances Cicero refers to a provision pertaining to tax collection to the edict of Verres. These include a praetor's edict setting forth the laws of the praetor's area of jurisdiction, the praetorship of Sicily being rotated annually. Each praetor introduced his own edict. However, it was customary for a praetor's edict to conform to previous edicts. Unfortunately, it is difficult to determine whether or not a provision pertaining to tax collection from the edict of Verres is a continuation of the Lex Hieronica or a new regulation.Pritchard, R.T. (1970). 343 This is due to the fact that one of Cicero's charges against Verres was that he interfered with the taxation practises. For this reason, further evidence must be sought if a provision from the edict of Verres is to be treated as a provision of the Lex Hieronica.
Archaeological Archaeological excavations in the Sicilian town of Morgantina, a town within the Kingdom of Syracuse, have uncovered three buildings connected to the Lex Hieronica: two large granaries and a public office. The buildings date to the time of the rule of Hiero II. All three of the buildings have been found in the agora of Morgantina. For this reason, the buildings were most likely all public buildings.Bell Malcolm. An archaeologist's perspective on the lex Hieronica. In: La Sicile de Cicéron : lecture des Verrines. Actes du colloque de Paris (19-20 mai 2006) Organisé par l'UMR 8585, Centre Gustave Glotz. Besançon : Institut des Sciences et Techniques de l'Antiquité, 2007. pg. 187 The two excavated granaries have been named the Eastern and Western Granaries. The Eastern Granary belongs to the architectural style which was prevalent in the rule of Hiero II. The Eastern Granary is estimated to have been 92.85 metres long and 7.60 metres wide.Deussen Paul.W. "The Granaries of Morgantina and the Lex Hieronica". In: Le Ravitaillement en blé de Rome et des centres urbains des débuts de la République jusqu'au Haut-Empire. Actes du colloque international de Naples, 14-16 Février 1991. Rome : École Française de Rome, 1994. pg. 232 This space was subdivided into six rooms, with administrative offices located at the northern end and vast storage facilities consisting of the southern halls which measure ca. 20 and ca. 40 metres in length.Deussen Paul.W. "The Granaries of Morgantina and the Lex Hieronica". In: Le Ravitaillement en blé de Rome et des centres urbains des débuts de la République jusqu'au Haut-Empire. Actes du colloque international de Naples, 14-16 Février 1991. Rome : École Française de Rome, 1994. p. 233 The format of this building was deemed to be effective and successful to be continued on in use under Roman occupation. This is apparent as its style was used as a model for the building of other Roman granaries, such as that built by Scipio Aemilius in Numantia in 134 BCE.Deussen Paul.W. "The Granaries of Morgantina and the Lex Hieronica". In: Le Ravitaillement en blé de Rome et des centres urbains des débuts de la République jusqu'au Haut-Empire. Actes du colloque international de Naples, 14-16 Février 1991. Rome : École Française de Rome, 1994. p. 234 In comparison, the Western Granary lacked the same monumental scope that was evident in the Eastern Granary. The Western Granary's size is more difficult to determine as its southern end was completely destroyed in the 17th century by the construction of a farmhouse. However, excavations have landed on the conclusion it was likely 32.90 metres wide and 7.50 metres wide. This granary had a single door and a ramp leading up to it on its short, northern end.
Provisions The Lex Hieronica was an agricultural tax on all Sicilian farmers, except those in the territory of the cities of Centuripa, Halesa, Segesta, Halyciae, and Panormus, Tauromenium and Messana.Cic. Verr. 2.3.13 The latter two cities were exempted from the tax due to their status as civitas foederata.Serrati, John, and Christopher Smith. "Garrisons and Grain: Sicily between the Punic Wars" In Sicily from Aeneas to Augustus: New Approaches in Archaeology and History, Edinburgh University Press, 2000. p. 120 The other cities were exempted from the tithe due to their status as free states immune from tax but not with foederata.
The Lex Hieronica required that each farmer pay ten percent of their produce as tax in the form of a tithe. An extra tithe could be imposed when necessary. This tithe applied to farmers who produced corn and barley.Cic. Verr. 2.3.118 In addition, it is likely that the tithe also applied to wine, oil, and other minor agricultural products.Cic. Verr. 2.3.18 The tithe could either be paid in kind or in cash.Cic. Verr. 2.3.191-2 The number of farmers had to be annually logged in official records. Modern reconstruction suggests that these records took the form of a three columned table which logged the name of the farmer, the amount of crops sown, and the amount contributed to the tithe respectively.Bell Malcolm. An archaeologist's perspective on the lex Hieronica. In: La Sicile de Cicéron : lecture des Verrines. Actes du colloque de Paris (19-20 mai 2006) Organisé par l'UMR 8585, Centre Gustave Glotz. Besançon : Institut des Sciences et Techniques de l'Antiquité, 2007. pg. 192 These public records were likely stored in a public building of the sort discovered at Morgantina.
The Roman senate sold the rights to collect the Sicilian tithe to contractors. The tithe collectors were known as decumani. Usually, only Sicilians could purchase the rights to become decumani. However, occasionally there were Italian decumani in Sicily.Serrati, John, and Christopher Smith. "Garrisons and Grain: Sicily between the Punic Wars" In Sicily from Aeneas to Augustus: New Approaches in Archaeology and History, Edinburgh University Press, 2000. p. 123 The rights to collect were sold annually at an auction.Cic. Verr. 2.3.14 Prior to 75 BCE the auctions were held in Syracuse. In 75 BCE the consuls Lucius Octavius and Gaius Aurelius Cotta moved the site of the auctions to Rome, except those contracts concerning grain.Cic. Verr. 2.3.18-19 The collection rights were specific to a crop and a region of Sicily.Cic. Verr. 2.3.78 The rights to collect the tithe of a crop were paid for in kind.Cic Verr. 3.2. 72, 75 For example, the right to collect grain was paid for with grain. However, Cicero also claims that the contracts could be bought with a monetary equivalent.Cic. Verr. 2.3.113 Finally, Cicero suggests that the collector received an additional 6 percent of the produce which he was responsible for collecting.Cic. Verr. 2.3.116-18
The price of the collection rights was determined based on records of previous harvest and the professiones of the farmers.Lintott, A. W. 1993. Imperium Romanum: politics and administration. London: Routledge. p. 75 A professio was a declaration concerning the amount of seed which had been sown. The collector and the farmer were required to come to an informal personal agreement, a pactio, concerning the total produce and hence the amount of produce which the farmer had to pay.R. T. Pritchard. "Cicero and the 'Lex Hieronica' Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte 19, no. 3 (1970): p. 358 The edict of Verres required that this must take place on the threshing floor.Cic. Verr. 2.3.36 It is likely that this edict did not differ from the requirements of the Lex Hieronica as Cicero charges Verres with only abusing this practise. The determination of the total produce would be too difficult in the field itself due to thickness of the crop.R. T. Pritchard. "Cicero and the 'Lex Hieronica' Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte 19, no. 3 (1970): p. 359 However, the true amount of produce could easily be hidden if assessment took place in the granary. Once collected, the grain tithe would have been stored in public grannies, like those uncovered at Morgantina.
The edict of Verres also required the tithe to be delivered to the waterside by a specific date, the first of August.Cic. Verr. Cicero Ver 2.3.36 The Lex Hieronica probably contained a similar requirement as harvests would have been gathered in early July. Furthermore, Cicero seems to suggest that Verres was not wrong to demand delivery by the first of August, rather his abuse of the farmers would have made such delivery impossible. It is unclear whether the collector or the farmer was responsible for delivering the tax to the waterside. On the one hand, Cicero never claims that the farmers were manipulated on the basis of such a responsibility.Lintott, A. W. 1993. Imperium Romanum: politics and administration. London: Routledge. p.76 Furthermore, Cicero mentions no case of a farmer actually making a delivery. On the other hand, the language with which Cicero describes Septicus, a mistreated farmer in Sicily, suggests that the farmer was responsible.Cic. Verr. 2.3.36-37 Once at the waterside the tithe would then be distributed to the army, to the garrison in Sicily or to Rome for private sale. Transport contractors were responsible for shipping. Whether or not transport contractors were the tax collectors is unclear.
Strict penalties applied to both the collectors and the farmers for violation. The Lex Hieronica established special courts in order to mediate disputes between the collectors and the farmers.Cic. Verr. 2.2.32-33 The disputes that the court mediated likely concerned the failure of the two parties to come to an agreement on the threshing floor concerning the amount of tax owed.R. T. Pritchard. "Cicero and the 'Lex Hieronica'" Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte 19, no. 3 (1970): p. 362 In the edict of Verres, the collector could be sued for eight times the amount wrongly exacted, whereas the farmer could be sued for no more than four times the amount wrongly withheld.Cic. Verr. 2.3.26