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Glite Dictionary
indiction

indiction

1 9.9
A period of fifteen years used for dating and taxes in ancient Rome and medieval times
  • noun
  • /ɪnˈdɪkʃən/
  • Archaic
: indicción
  • We see here the same mentality that so frustrates scholars confronted by the many Byzantine documents and inscriptions dated only by an indiction, a year in the taxation cycle that recurred every fifteen years.

Examples

  • In ancient Rome, officials used the indiction system to determine taxation every fifteen years.

  • The tax records show that the last collection was made during the seventh indiction period in the year 150.

  • Presently I have no indiction of that but we will be looking as this investigation continues to go down its due course.

    Taxi to the Dark Side (2008)

  • The historian explained how the indiction helped track changes in land ownership across generations.

Surface Forms

indiction singular
indictions plural

Etymology

Indiction comes from the Latin verb indicere, made of in- 'on' and dicere 'to say', and the same root appears in English words like dictate and dictionary. Officials would 'announce' taxes at fixed times, and that regular announcement became the name for the fifteen-year tax and dating period, so indiction means a 15-year tax or dating cycle.