1,900-Year-Old Papyrus Reveals Gripping Case About Roman Tax Fraud and Forgery

In 2014, a researcher realized that the longest Greek papyrus ever found in the Judaean Desert was not what it seemed. The newly translated scroll reveals extraordinary details of a judicial hearing involving two men accused of crimes, including inciting rebellion on the eve of a massive revolt.

Researchers in Austria and Israel have translated the longest Greek papyrus ever found in the Judaean Desert. Previously unearthed, misidentified, and then nearly forgotten, Hannah Cotton Paltiel of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem rediscovered the papyrus in 2014. Now, Paltiel and her colleagues have translated the text, revealing it to be prosecutors’ notes for an ancient Roman trial from the early second century CE. The artifact provides unique insight into a case that dealt with tax fraud, forgery, and the fraudulent sale and freeing of enslaved people during a period of tension in the Roman province of Judaea.

“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!’” Paltiel explained in a Hebrew University of Jerusalem statement. The Nabataeans were an ancient people who lived in northern Arabia and southern Levant as early as 312 BCE. The researchers named the papyrus “P. Cotton” in acknowledgment of her re-discovery. 

“This is the best-documented Roman court case from Iudaea apart from the trial of Jesus,” said Avner Ecker, also a co-author from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Iudaea is another spelling for Judaea.

As detailed in a January 20 study published in the journal Tyche, the papyrus includes over 133 lines of text, and includes prosecutors’ notes for a trial before Roman officials as well as a transcript of the consequent judicial hearing. The notes include comments from one prosecutor to another about the strength of specific evidence and how to anticipate rebuttals. Though the identities of the prosecutors are unknown, the researchers suggest they were functionaries of the Roman fiscal administration. 

“This papyrus is extraordinary because it provides direct insight into trial preparations in this part of the Roman Empire,” said Anna Dolganov of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, who participated in the study. 

The primary defendants were two men named Saulos and Gadalias, both accused of corruption. Saulos was accused of having coordinated the fake sale and emancipation of enslaved people without paying necessary taxes. His collaborator, Gadalias, was the son of a notary with a history of violence, counterfeiting, extortion, and inciting rebellion (sounds like a friendly chap). Both were accused of forging documents. 

“Forgery and tax fraud carried severe penalties under Roman law, including hard labor or even capital punishment,” Dolganov explained. 

Saulos and Gadalias were also accused of rebellious activities during Emperor Hadrian’s visit, which took place around 129 CE. Interestingly, the judicial hearing took place on the day before the Bar Kokhba revolt (132 to 136 CE), a Jewish rebellion against Roman rule in Judaea. In fact, the text mentions Tineius Rufus, who governed Judaea at the beginning of the Bar Kokhba revolt. The Jewish people had previously rebelled against the Roman Empire from 115 to 117 CE (the Jewish Diaspora revolt). 

“Whether they were indeed involved in rebellion remains an open question, but the insinuation speaks to the charged atmosphere of the time,” said Dolganov. What’s more, freeing enslaved people “does not appear to be a profitable business model,” Ecker added. It’s not clear who the enslaved individuals were. 

While we may never know the ultimate fate of Saulos and Gadalias, the P. Cotton papyrus offers a rare glimpse into the legal proceedings of the Greek-speaking Roman Near East. It also captures a tense period between rebellious upheavals and the perennial bad attitude towards taxes, a common human frustration for thousands of years.