“The Roman Army in the Diaspora Revolt in Egypt: New Insights from a Latin Papyrus”

Fragmentary papyri that seem inconspicuous at first glance sometimes contain important historical information — like this hastily written list of the names of soldiers from the two legions that were stationed in Egypt in the Roman imperial period: legio III Cyrenaica and legio XXII Deiotariana. In this lecture I will try to show that the document dates from the time of the great Jewish uprising in Egypt (115–117 CE), and that the record reveals the high losses suffered by the Roman army in this bloodily suppressed revolt.