place
Bithynia
also: Bithynia et Pontus, Bithyniae
Roman province in northwest Asia Minor (modern northwestern Turkey), bequeathed to Rome by its last king Nicomedes IV in 74 BC and combined with Pontus as a double province; rich source of tax-farming contracts for the publicani.
Reading notes
- Ad Familiares 13.9 §1 company of tax-farmers in Bithynia
The societates publicanorum were joint-stock companies of equestrian businessmen who bid for state contracts to collect provincial taxes and customs duties; the Bithynian company held the franchise for the province of Bithynia et Pontus.