Papyrus with text in ancient Greek, records the minutes of judicial case, fraud and tax evasion in Judea of the Roman Empire
For the first time in 1,900 years, scientists have managed to decipher text, written in ancient Greek dating from the period of the Roman Empire.
The text is written in papyrus and found in the Judean desert and is a great historical text as it is according to researchers, it is the most complete legal affair of the period, after the trial of Jesus.
It consists of 133 lines and relates to a court case for a “complex tax fraud” committed by two Jews in the first half of the 2nd century AD.
The reddish papyrus, about the size of the A4 page, was discovered in 2014, but the “complicated decryption” of the text lasted over a decade.
In the writings, there is a reference to one of the defendants who “can be redeemed cheap” and has a history of “violence, attitudes and robbery”.
His accomplice did not allegedly had “produced fake coins”.
The timing of a fraud from antiquity
The case is in more detail, it concerns a judicial proceedings against two defendants, Gedalia and Saul, who are accused of falsifying documents on the sale and liberalization of slaves.
This sale was not only virtual, without the transfer of money, but it was not properly stated.
“This papyrus records a Roman criminal proceedings of Jews with a alleged history of attitudes and robbery,” Dr. Dolganov said, adding that Saul organized a virtual sale of slaves to a collaborator and later released one of them, without releasing one of them without paying them. .
“Document falsification and tax evasion were considered serious crimes in the Roman Empire, with forced labor or even execution,” he further explained.
The conspirators seem to have been deeply aware of Roman legislation and administration, which they have exploited to their advantage.
The case is recorded in the papyrus by the Roman accusers, who were preparing the trial and analyzed the power of evidence, including the historians of the accused.
Despite its large hole in the center, experts managed to understand enough of the content of the text to detail the facts in detail.
“The document is very damaged in the end,” said historian Anna Dolganov of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in the Daily Mail.
“However, we have a clear picture of the criminal case on the part of the category and tax evasion is as old as taxation itself in human history itself,” he said.
See this post on Instagram.
Source :Skai
I am Frederick Tuttle, who works in 247 News Agency as an author and mostly cover entertainment news. I have worked in this industry for 10 years and have gained a lot of experience. I am a very hard worker and always strive to get the best out of my work. I am also very passionate about my work and always try to keep up with the latest news and trends.
