An unprecedented discovery in the Judean Desert has unveiled a nearly 2,000-year-old papyrus, shedding light on a Roman corruption trial in the lead-up to the Bar Kokhba revolt.
The document, the longest Greek papyrus ever found in the region, has sparked international interest among scholars studying Roman legal practices and Jewish history.
An international team of researchers, including experts from the Austrian Academy of Sciences, the University of Vienna, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, has published its findings in the academic journal Tyche. The papyrus, now known as P. Cotton in honour of the scholar who rediscovered it, Professor Emerita Hannah Cotton-Paltiel, contains 133 lines of Greek text. It was found in 2014, misidentified for decades as Nabatean, before Cotton-Paltiel reclassified it as Greek.
The document presents a fascinating glimpse into Roman judicial proceedings on the eve of the Bar Kokhba revolt (132-136 CE). It details a criminal trial involving two men, Gadalias and Saulos, who were accused of sophisticated tax fraud, including the falsification of documents and fraudulent slave transactions designed to evade Roman taxes. The pair allegedly created false slave sales and manumission records to avoid paying the necessary taxes, a serious offence under Roman law.
Gadalias, the son of a notary and possibly a Roman citizen, had a criminal history marked by extortion, violence, and forgery. Saulos, his accomplice, masterminded the fraudulent slave transactions, even forging documents to conceal their crimes. For these actions, the defendants faced severe penalties under Roman law, including forced labor and, in some cases, execution. “Forgery and tax fraud were punishable by harsh penalties under Roman law,” explained Dr. Anna Dolganov, one of the researchers. “This trial serves as a rare record of the Roman Empire’s rigorous enforcement of the law, even in remote provinces like Judea.”
The papyrus provides a transcript of the trial proceedings, offering insight into the strategies used by Roman prosecutors. One prosecutor, for example, is seen preparing for the defense’s likely objections, hinting that Gadalias and Saulos may have been involved in anti-Roman conspiracies during Emperor Hadrian’s visit to the region in 129 CE. The text also mentions Tineius Rufus, the Roman governor of Judea, further linking the case to the larger political context of the time.
The discovery of this papyrus highlights the extensive bureaucracy of the Roman Empire and the way legal practices were recorded and enforced throughout the empire, from Egypt to Judea. “This document reveals that Roman legal systems, documented in Egypt, were equally applied in Judea and other provinces,” said Professor Fritz Mitthof.
Although the fate of Gadalias and Saulos remains uncertain, the P. Cotton papyrus offers invaluable insight into the legal and political tensions leading up to the Bar Kokhba revolt. Researchers believe the papyrus may have been hidden in a cave during the conflict, although the exact circumstances of its concealment are unknown.
The trial and its connection to the larger Jewish uprisings of the time—particularly the Kitos War (115-117 CE) and the Bar Kokhba revolt—raise intriguing questions about the motivations behind the accused’s actions. Dr. Avner Ecker of the Hebrew University pointed out that “freeing slaves as a business model does not appear to have been financially profitable,” suggesting that the tax evasion associated with the transactions might have been the key motive.
In a time of political and social upheaval, the P. Cotton papyrus serves as a rare and remarkable document, offering a glimpse into the complexities of Roman law, corruption, and the ongoing struggles for Jewish independence in the 2nd century CE.
(Source: Jerusalem Post)