A team of researchers have recently translated an ancient papyrus that describes what one of them terms “the best-documented Roman court case from Judea apart from the trial of Jesus.” Nathan Steinmeyer writes:
The papyrus, which contains 133 lines of preserved text, is the longest Greek papyrus ever uncovered in the Judean Desert, although for decades it had been misclassified as a Nabatean text and practically lost in the archives of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA); . . . the papyrus preserves an incredible snapshot into the Roman legal system and life between two Jewish revolts against the Romans: the Diaspora Revolt (ca. 115–117 CE) and the Bar-Kokhba Revolt (ca. 132–136 CE). The papyrus, which pertains to a legal case brought before a Roman court, contains the prosecutor’s trial notes and a rapidly drafted transcript of the judicial hearing itself.
The case consists of charges of corrupt dealings against two Jewish men, Gadalias and Saulos. Gadalias had a criminal history involving violence, extortion, counterfeiting, and inciting rebellion. Saulos, his collaborator, orchestrated the fictitious sale and manumission of slaves without paying the requisite Roman taxes. To conceal their activities, the defendants forged documents.
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