A New Brew

Contracts awarded to brewers suggest the existence of local beer monopolies. However, the beer industry was a very decentralised sector, involving many brewers, as well as full- and part-time sellers supplying local markets. Such local networks were difficult for the state to penetrate, hence the use of local intermediaries who were themselves active in the industry. The fiscal contracts concerned the administration of state revenues derived from the village beer industry. Their most significant component was the farming of a craft and sales tax. In addition, contractors were involved with the distribution of state-supplied barley. A comparison with bakers shows that these artisans were not supplied with wheat, which could be profitably exported. The motivation for the sale of state barley was thus the conversion of revenue in kind into cash. Royal breweries existed, but their significance is unclear, and private individuals and temples owned breweries as well. Temples were, moreover, frequently the lessors of contracts, underscoring their role in the Ptolemaic economy and fiscal system. Missing variables complicate the assessment of the impact of the institutions on economic performance.