ABSTRACT
Ancient historians have, from time to time, turned their attention to the economic impact of the army on the provinces in which it was stationed and have also considered the economic status of the recruits, veterans and soldiers of the army. By far the greatest attention has been paid to the institutional aspects of these questions, specifically the issue of the pay of the soldiers. This chapter will not, however, concentrate on pay but will deal with a whole range of broadly economic issues. The significant advantage of the Egyptian material is that it allows the evidence to be set within a specific economic context so that we can assess the income and economic status of soldiers and veterans in relation to the probable income of their Graeco-Egyptian neighbours, though I also make some attempt to relate the pay of soldiers to the Italian economy of the first century AD. Moreover, the army is frequently seen as an economically important organisation. The impact of the army was, supposedly, important in two ways. First, the army was probably the major item of expenditure in the imperial budget and much of the tax revenue was consumed in supporting the army. This had the effect of taking money from all the provinces of the empire and distributing it to those areas in which the army was based, mainly the frontier regions. The army then formed a significant market and source of coinage, necessary for paying taxes, which encouraged the establishment of trade routes directed towards the supply of the army and provided a significant boost to the economies of frontier regions, thereby encouraging the Romanisation of those areas. In the West, the army is seen as transforming local economies and the cause of major shifts in the pattern of settlement.1 Second, in marked contrast, the army is seen as having a debilitating effect on local economies. The taxation necessary to support the ever-increasing expenses of the military drained the treasury, causing fiscal problems which generated the twin evils of debasement of the currency, leading to inflation, and an increase in taxation, leading to a gradual decline in the economy of the empire. In the later Roman empire especially, the
demands of the troops for money and supplies are seen as placing insupportable burdens on a fairly fragile economy and being in part responsible for the decline of the Roman empire.2 These problems cannot be completely resolved by a study of the Egyptian evidence but a study of the impact of the army on a particular Eastern province will place the various theories in a concrete context which will allow a more balanced assessment of their merits. We will start, however, at the level of the individual soldier and the issue of military pay.
