Turns Out Ancient Rome Took Tax Fraud Very Seriously Newly discovered stone fragments in Turkey have shed light on a dramatic case of tax fraud in the Roman Empire, revealing how seriously the empire treated financial misconduct. The fragments, uncovered in 2024 and analyzed as part of the European Research Council’s STONE-MASTERS project, were initially thought to be a funeral inscription but were later identified as missing parts of a legal decree from 480 CE. The text details a threat of execution against officials in Anatolia, now modern-day Turkey, for decades of tax evasion. The University of Warsaw announced the findings, emphasizing the severity of the punishment and the broader implications for understanding Roman governance. The decree, attributed to a praetorian prefect, outlines a legal response to widespread corruption among tax collectors in the region. Archaeologist Paweł Nowakowski, a researcher involved in the project, explained that the officials in question likely underreported tax revenues to Constantinople while siphoning funds from local populations. This practice, which persisted for over a decade, prompted imperial intervention. The decree, issued in 480 CE, threatened the corrupt officials with the death penalty if they failed to rectify their actions within three months. While the text does not explicitly confirm the execution was carried out, Nowakowski noted that the decree’s public inscription suggests the punishment was enforced, as otherwise, there would be no record of the decision. The discovery builds on historical knowledge of the scandal, which archaeologists have studied since the 19th century. By comparing the newly found fragments to existing records, researchers linked the text to known legal documents from the same period.#turkey #university_of_warsaw #ancient_rome #pawel_nowakowski #european_research_council
