aerarium

aerarium, treasury of ancient Rome, housed in the Temple of Saturn and the adjacent tabularium (record office) in the Forum. Under the republic (c. 509–27 bc) it was managed by two finance officials, the urban quaestors, and controlled by the Senate. In theory, all revenues were paid into the aerarium, and all public payments were made from it. In practice, in the late republic money was moved from the provinces to the aerarium only if the province, after paying the governor’s allowance, produced a surplus. Conversely, money was paid out of the aerarium to a province only if the provincial revenue did not cover expenses. All accounts, however, had to be balanced with the aerarium, which was thus a central clearinghouse. It also served as an archive where laws, decrees, and acta of the Senate—as well as certain other kinds of documents—were stored and could be consulted by authorized persons.

Under the principate (27 bc–ad 305) the aerarium gradually lost importance, as the emperors, under whose authority most public money was spent, came to use their own treasury (fiscus) for the receipt and disbursement of funds without accounting to the aerarium. The administration of the aerarium underwent various changes, but after ad 56 two prefects became the norm.

In ad 6 the emperor Augustus founded a second treasury, the aerarium militare (military treasury). The old treasury was thereafter known as aerarium Saturni, eventually becoming the municipal treasury of the city of Rome. The new treasury’s function was to pay bounties to discharged veterans or purchase land for them. It was supplied with funds from taxes (sales, inheritance, and property) collected by the emperor’s procurators and was administered by three former praetors.