The Roman Tax Farmers Who Made India Trade Miserable

Trade Routes That Changed Human History Forever — Fexingo History · Jul 7, 2026 · 5m · transcript

The Roman Empire's trade with India was astronomical in scale — Pliny the Elder moaned that 100 million sesterces flowed east every year for silks, spices, and pepper. But who actually collected the taxes on that trade? The publicani — private tax-farming corporations — who bid for the right to squeeze customs duties from merchants at Red Sea ports like Berenike and Myos Hormos. This episode follows the paper trail: ostraka (pottery shard receipts) and the Muziris papyrus itself to uncover how a syndicate called the 'Guild of the Sarapion' Heraclides and sons' controlled…