A newly analyzed papyrus has unveiled a spectacular case of forgery and fiscal fraud in the Roman Empire, providing scholars with rare insight into the legal and administrative workings of the imperial state.
Discovered among the collections of the Israel Antiquities Authority and recently published in the international scholarly journal Tyche, the document details a financial crime involving tax fraud and the illegal sale and manumission of slaves in the Roman provinces of Judea and Arabia. The case, which took place against the backdrop of political unrest in the region, offers a direct look at Roman jurisdiction, legal practice, and the turbulent relationship between the empire and its subjects.
The Greek-language papyrus, the longest ever found in the Judean Desert with over 133 lines of text, had remained unnoticed for decades after being misclassified as Nabataean. Its significance came to light in 2014 when Professor Hannah Cotton-Paltiel of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem rediscovered it while organizing documentary papyri at the Israel Antiquities Authority’s scrolls laboratory. Upon realizing the misclassification, Cotton-Paltiel exclaimed, “It’s Greek to me!” In recognition of her role in its rediscovery, the document has been named P. Cotton in line with papyrological conventions.
Understanding the importance of the document, she assembled a team of scholars from the Austrian Academy of Sciences, the University of Vienna, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem to decipher the text. They determined that the papyrus contained notes from prosecutors preparing for a trial before Roman officials on the eve of the Bar Kochba revolt (132–136 CE).