Taxation and Tax Farming in the Egibi Archive

Abstract

Abstract The Egibi archive contains a group of texts concerning the tax farming activities of Marduk-nāṣir-apli, son of Itti-Marduk-balāṭu, the head of the Egibi family in the third generation (521–487 BCE). This group of texts includes documents that refer to various taxes, such as ilku and qaštu, mostly in the form of receipts, as well as a dossier of a rab hanše, Bēl-erība, son of Kalbāya, descendant of Šumu-libši, who was closely involved in the collection of ilku. A detailed analysis and contextualization of these texts reveal the ilku taxation processes, and the roles of the rab hanšê Bēl-erība and the tax farmer Marduk-nāṣir-apli in these processes. These texts also add more evidence for the taxation on the military fiefs and qaštu-tax in Babylon.