Rome’s primary vehicle for collecting data on populations and property was the census (on the republican census see Nicolet 1980: 49-88; for the imperial period see Brunt 1990: 345-6; for its role in the financial system, see Lo Cascio 1999; on its ideological import see Ando 2000: 350-62). Many states around the Mediterranean had kept rolls of their citizens and those records had often served both ideological and financial purposes. In virtue of its examination of the juridical status and consequent tax liability, the census had enormous social importance, and it is clear that census returns, especially those recording citizenship and tax exemptions, were among individuals’ most cherished possessions (Ando 2000: 353-8).
The conduct of the census required heads of household to present themselves to supervising magistrates and supply information about themselves, the members of their household, and the habitable and arable property in their possession (Ulpian ‘‘On the Census’’ bk. 3 = D. 50.15.4.pr.). It is possible that the forma censualis, the ‘‘form of the census,’’ sought different information in different provinces according to local needs: certainly Egyptian farmers were required to file supplementary declarations registering such fields as went uninundated by the Nile and which would therefore lie fallow for that year (e. g. P. Mich. 6.366-9; cf. Sel. Pap. 321-2); they also declared the size of their flocks and any variations in them (P. Amh. 2.73). Only some areas will have had properties with fish ponds, salt pans, and harbors generating income (Ulpian ‘‘On the Census’’ bk. 3 = D. 50.15.4.6-7); and republican censuses asked individuals to compute their liquidity, by subtracting outstanding debts from present assets, and to list their durable goods, particularly their agricultural implements (Pompeius Festus s. v. rudus; Gel. 6.11.9; Livy 6.27.5; A. H. M. Jones 1974: 164; Brunt 1990: 329-36; Ando 2000: 357-8).
Data are insufficient to speak with any certainty about provincial censuses in the late republic: Rome acquired so much territory so quickly, amidst such political instability, that it may have been impossible to conduct an adequate census of it. Yet the acquisition and use of statistical abstracts is well-attested as an ideal even then (Nicolet 1996). Augustus seems to have conducted censuses throughout the empire (although not all at once, pace Lk. 2:1-3), and thereafter evidence confirms a census in virtually all provinces soon after their acquisition and periodically after that, though we cannot now determine if there was a regular cycle in every province, or if subsequent censuses were supervised by Roman or local officials (Brunt 1990: 345-6; Lo Cascio 1999 on supervision of censuses after the first).
World History
