Ein Brief des Kaisers Gallienus an Side. Herrscherliche Hilfe bei einer Versorgungskrise

Abstract

Excavations at Side have unearthed a stele recording a letter by Emperor Gallienus to the civic institutions of Side. The emperor’s titles, his judgement and subsequent commentary are preserved in full; only the letter’s end is missing. The Imperial titles and powers, especially the tribunicia potestas, allow the constitutio to be dated to the year 267 AD. The letter is written in heavily stylised Greek that makes it difficult to understand and certainly emphasizes, among other things, the emperor’s will to be seen as possessing Greek παιδεία. The letter appears to be a reaction by the emperor to a petition by the Sideans, who were suffering a lack of bread cereals. After expressing his surprise that such a dire shortage could even occur, the emperor aids the city by waiving the state customs due on imported wheat, as long as it is earmarked for consumption by the Sideans. The due in question must be the quadragesima portuum Asiae, since Side and its territory were on the south-eastern border of this customs area. Potentially, this constitutio may thus have allowed the city to make significant profit if it endeavoured to purchase wheat abroad on its own authority. Well-negotiated contracts with wheat importers could have made Side, now free of the due, an attractive port of call for grain ships. At the end of his letter, the emperor mentions the city’s fides (towards Rome), which Side was evidently proud of, as is revealed by the city’s coin legends. It is uncertain, unfortunately, whether Gallienus mentions fides to praise the
city or to admonish it to remain loyal. It is worth noting that the customs privilege is granted with no expiration date, though it is of course restricted to grain required for sustenance. It is worth considering whether such privileges might not be the first steps towards the abolition of domestic customs – a process that was probably finalised by Diocletian some decades later.