The Belasting & Douanemuseum (Tax and Duty Museum) in Rotterdam, one of two tax museums world-wide, houses an exhibition on taxation in antiquity, “Van Farao tot Fiscus. Belastingen in de Oudheid” (From pharao to fiscus – taxation in antiquity). It explains the development of taxation in the ancient world to a general public.
The exhibition was initiated by Dr. Kristin Kleber (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) as part of her Vidi-project on the taxation in the Achaemenid Empire, and implemented in cooperation with her by Anne-Houk de Jong, curator of the Belasting & Douanemuseum. The exhibition, which aims to reach the Dutch general public, can be seen in Rotterdam from 14 December 2014 until 18 March 2018.
On the upper floor of the museum, the visitor walks through a ‘Near Eastern house’ in which each room is dedicated to an ancient civilization: Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Persian Empire, ancient Greece and Rome (in particular Roman Egypt). At the outer walls of the ‘house’ paintings and other art objects document the reception history of taxation in the Bible. On the basis of the wall texts, objects, animations and short videos the visitor can learn about different types of taxes and the development from levies in kind to taxes paid in silver (money). The objects include cuneiform tablets from the Djemdet Nasr to the Achaemenid period, Egyptian ushabtis, ostraca and papyri from Egypt and Old Persian coins, as well as a few replicas of other objects (e.g., duck and lion weights).