Soter, Sotas, and Dioscorus before the Governor: The First Authentic Court Record of a Roman Trial of Christians?

Abstract

In this article I argue that P.Mil.Vogl. 6.287, a private fragmentary excerpt made from the official journal of Roman court transcripts constitutes the first genuine protocol of a trial of Christians lacking any later alterations or embellishments. I further reason that the papyrus scrap of unknown provenance and housed today in the papyrus collection of the University of Milan belongs to the middle of the third century ce. The fragmentary lines transmit the decision by the judge, probably the Roman governor of Egypt, rendered in direct speech, the Roman style of recording court proceedings. The defendants were accused of conspiracy (συνωμοσία). Of the defendants names survive Soter, son of Sotas, Sotas, son of NN, and Dioscorus, son of Origenes. The latter is synonymous with one of the very few known Christians from third-century Egypt, the Alexandrinian Antonius Dioscorus, son of Origenes, residing in the metropolis Arsinoe around the middle of the third century.

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