Shifman's monograph on the Palmyrene tax inscription of 137 CE, published in Russian in 1980, has been largely neglected in subsequent scholarship, sharing the fate of other fine contributions published in Russian. A wide-ranging scholar in Classics and Semitics, Shifman had direct access to the inscription, which is located in St Petersburg. He provides a detailed account of the recovery of the inscription, editing and translating the Greek and Aramaic text, and adding a detailed philological commentary. His primary purpose was to show the significance of the inscription for the study of the economy and society of the Roman Empire and especially the Syrian Province.

Translated by: Svetlana Khobnya