Urinary Tax Collector
One of the most rewarding things that comes from reading about ancient history is that it throws up a lot of parallels to the modern day. One of these is that paying for public toilets has never been popular—after all, why should having to perform a basic bodily function have to cost? Another is that in no point in time has there been any love lost between the ordinary, upstanding worker and the taxman.
The Romans of the first century AD would have felt disgruntled on both accounts when they were made to pay a tax that brought a whole new meaning to the term “Render unto Caesar”: the urine tax. First introduced by the ever-popular emperor Nero (54 – 68 AD), it came into effect again under his eventual successor, Vespasian, in after his rise to power in 69 AD. The measure was widely unpopular, and his son and future successor Titus had no issue taking on his father over the taxation of urine. His response stunned his son into silence however, when he held up some gold coins procured from the tax and quipped, pecunia non olet: “money doesn’t stink!”
The money might not have stunk, but despite the efficacy of Roman baths its origins would have smelled horrific. The piss would be requisitioned from overflowing public toilets and cesspools, from where it would be put to use for a variety of chemical processes, from soaking animal skins before tanning to extracting the ammonia to clean clothes to—that’s right—using as toothpaste.
The measure might not have been popular but there’s no doubt it was successful. When he came to power in 69 AD, Vespasian inherited an empire that was financially crippled after nearly two years of civil war. When he died 10 years later, he left his successor a surplus. From a fiscal point of view, enforcing a tax on urine was pragmatic. Let’s just spare a moment’s thought for the poor buggers whose job it was to collect it.
Imperial miner
The punishment of being condemned to work in one of the Roman Empire’s many mines was the worst non-capital sentence you could be dealt. Invented during the first century AD, the sentence stripped you of your citizenship, reduced you to the status of a slave, and consigned you to a (probably somewhat brief) lifetime of hard labour. And it was doled out to men and women alike, though usually only those of lower social standing. In fact, the only punishment that was perhaps worse is one that’s familiar to all of us thanks to a certain Christian story from the first century AD: crucifixion.
So what could get you sent to the mines? An act of negligence resulting in homicide was one thing—dropping a branch out of your window, for example, which landed on someone’s head with mortal consequences. This might sound like a random example, but it comes straight out of a third century AD law book. Other crimes that carried this punishment included: stealing something of moderate value during the day (at night would probably get you condemned ad bestiam—to fight beasts in the arena).
Testament to just how bad this punishment was is its place in the penal hierarchy. The emperor Hadrian certainly believed that being sent to the mines was a punishment worse than death. In a rather baffling act of law, he ruled that after their first offence cattle-rustlers should be sent to fight in the arena while after their second they should be sent to the mines. Perhaps the logic was that you could theoretically survive as a gladiator by means of your physical prowess and go on to live a pretty decent standard of life. Toiling away in the mines on the other hand, even if for a limited time, left you no chance.
Although this punishment was normally reserved for those of lower social standing, there were examples of this rule being overturned. The emperor Caligula, for example, did away with the tradition of having noblemen merely beheaded or exiled and also condemned them to the mines during his reign (37 – 41 AD). The Roman Empire was full of mines, the most profitable coming from areas such as Dacia or gold and silver-rich Spain. They provided precious metals for all uses: from coinage to weaponry to sculptures.
