More on public and private Roman accounting history

This narrative aims to provide an overview of public and private accounting of the ancient Roman empire, by covering a relatively unstudied period from the Roman Republic to the early Principate. Scattered references are accessed in essential Roman literary sources such as Cicero, Livy and others, supplemented by legal sources and contributions from eminent Roman historians such as Badian and Mommsen. The narrative for public accounting covers the organisation and role that scribae quaestori of the aerarium played in state accounting during the Republic. Specific attention is also given to the state fiscal administration reforms of Augustus that created a departmentalised civil service overseeing the imperial fiscus. The narrative for private accounting examines selected opinions on private law from Gaius Institutes and Digesta of Justinian to demonstrate the sophistication of Roman accounting practices, focusing on obligation by book entry. The narrative concludes with a detailed examination of the modern debate over the analysis that Columella provides for viticulture profitability.