An international team of researchers unveiled a nearly 2,000-year-old corruption case, shedding light on Roman legal practices and Jewish history in Judea.
Scholars from the Austrian Academy of Sciences, the University of Vienna, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem published their findings in the international academic journal Tyche, detailing a unique papyrus from the collections held by the Israel Antiquities Authority.
The papyrus, named P. Cotton in recognition of Prof. Emerita Hannah Cotton-Paltiel’s discovery, contains 133 lines of Greek text and is the longest Greek papyrus ever found in the Judean Desert. It was rediscovered in 2014 in the Dead Sea Scrolls lab of the Israel Antiquities Authority by Cotton-Paltiel.
Initially mislabeled as Nabataean, the text went unnoticed for decades until its reclassification by Cotton-Paltiel.“I volunteered to organize documentary papyri in the Israel Antiquities Authority’s scrolls laboratory, and when I saw it, marked ‘Nabataean,’ I exclaimed, ‘It’s Greek to me!’” the researcher recalled, according to Gizmodo.
The document is identified as prosecutors’ notes for a trial before Roman officials on the eve of the Bar-Kochba Revolt (132-136 CE). It details a criminal investigation into sophisticated tax fraud, including forgery, tax evasion, and fraudulent transactions involving fictitious sales of slaves. The main defendants, Gadalias and Saulos, stood accused of corrupt dealings, including falsified documents and fictitious slave sales to evade Roman taxes.
Gadalias, a notary’s son and likely a Roman citizen, had a history of criminal activities, including violence, extortion, forgery, and incitement to rebellion. Saulos, his accomplice, orchestrated the fictitious sale and manumission of slaves without paying the requisite Roman taxes.
To conceal their activities, they forged documents, which were serious offenses in the Roman Empire, punishable by forced labor and even execution. “Forgery and tax fraud carried severe penalties under Roman law, including hard labor or even capital punishment,” said Anna Dolganov.
Transcript of the judicial hearing
The papyrus includes a rapidly drafted transcript of the judicial hearing and reflects the Roman Empire’s rigorous enforcement of laws even in its remote provinces. It implicates Gadalias and Saulos in potential rebellious activities during Emperor Hadrian’s visit to the region around 129 CE.
One prosecutor advises another on the strength of evidence and strategizes to anticipate objections, reflecting suspicion that the defendants’ actions might be part of a conspiracy against the empire. “This papyrus is extraordinary because it provides direct insight into trial preparations in this part of the Roman Empire,” said Dolganov.
The papyrus names Tineius Rufus, the governor of Judea when the Bar-Kochba Revolt began, and references the role of jurors and the regulation of private transactions. “This document shows that core Roman institutions documented in Egypt were also implemented throughout the empire,” said Prof. Fritz Mitthof.
The research team reveals how the Roman imperial state dealt with financial crimes, specifically tax fraud involving slaves, during a period marked by major Jewish revolts.
The careful preservation of the papyrus remains a mystery. It likely originated from a hideout cave in the Judean Desert during the Bar-Kochba Revolt, although the circumstances of its arrival in the cave remain unknown. The trial’s outcome may have been interrupted by the revolt.
While the ultimate fate of Gadalias and Saulos is uncertain, the P. Cotton papyrus offers a rare glimpse into the legal proceedings of the Greek-speaking Roman Near East. “Freeing enslaved people does not appear to be a profitable business model,” said Dr. Avner Ecker of the Hebrew University. The case raises questions about the accused’s motives, as freeing slaves does not appear to have been a lucrative scheme, and tax evasion related to the emancipation of slaves is intriguing.
This criminal case unfolded between two major Jewish uprisings against Roman rule: the Kitos War (115-117 CE) and the Bar-Kochba Revolt (132-136 CE). The historical context, combined with the document’s rich legal content, provides a window into the complexities of Roman law and life in an era of conflict and change.