Manuscript Discovered In Judean Desert Has Details Of An Intricate Tax-Evasion, Fiscal Fraud & False Sale Of Slaves

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Think Tax Evasion Is New? A 1,900-Year-Old Roman Papyrus Says Otherwise.

This wasn’t the biggest tax fraud case in history — or in ancient Roman history — but it was still a serious one. The people involved were accused of forging documents, cheating the government out of taxes, and faking the sale of slaves. In ancient Rome, dodging taxes was a big deal. Punishments could include huge fines, being kicked out of your homeland forever, forced labor in harsh places like salt mines, or even being thrown to wild animals in front of a crowd.

The details of this case were found in an old papyrus scroll that had been sitting around for years before someone finally studied it. It contains notes from a prosecutor and rough records from a court hearing. It looks like the scam involved faking paperwork and illegally freeing or selling slaves — all so the scammers could avoid paying taxes in the Roman provinces of Judea and Arabia (which today would be part of Israel and Jordan).

The two main culprits were both men. One was named Gadalias, the broke son of a government official. He had already been in trouble for crimes like fraud, counterfeiting, robbery, and even skipping jury duty four times. His partner was Saulos, described as a friend and the brains behind the whole operation. Their names — Gadalias (Gedaliah) and Saulos (Saul) — suggest they were Jewish.

All this happened around the time Emperor Hadrian visited the region, probably between the years A.D. 130 and 132. Shortly after, a Jewish rebel leader named Simon bar Kochba led a major revolt against the Roman Empire. The Romans crushed the rebellion brutally, killing many and forcing most of the surviving Jews out of Judea, which the emperor renamed Syria Palestina.




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