Newly Deciphered 1500-Year-Old Inscriptions Reveal Ancient Imperial Death Decree

Researchers from the University of Warsaw have successfully identified 1500-year-old inscriptions on an ancient Anatolian wall that detail charges by local citizens of tax fraud by local officials and a rare Roman imperial death decree against those found perpetrating the crimes. The study author said the lack of evidence of similarly harsh punishments for tax crimes in the same time period and region suggests the decree, which was discovered in the ancient city of Stratonicea in the Roman province of Caria, may have been intended as a ‘rhetorical’ warning about the severity of perpetrating rebellion, which could also be considered a direct insult to the emperor himself. The inscriptions, which were translated into digital form, revealed a tax fraud investigation and an imperial death decree. Local corrupt officials met with a rare imperial death decree. The 1500-year-old inscription revealed that the local officials appointed by the regional government to collect taxes had “committed a very bad practice there.” “They issued certificates of payment of tax dues (in money and in kind) without indicating the amount or tax unit that had been paid,” the researcher explained. “In practice, they probably showed other, lower amounts in documents transferred to Constantinople, and they collected much more money from the local population.” The difference, Dr. Nowakowski explained, “went into their pockets.” The ancient lettering indicates that the Roman authorities knew about the corruption and the growing frustrations of the local population as early as 465 AD. However, after no action was taken due to what the research team termed a “dishonest official” for 15 years and the problems and complaints continued, the regional government intervened. The result is the newly translated 480 written orders from the praetorium of the East, Flavius Illus Pusaeus Dionysius, which stonemasons inscribed on the walls for everyone to see. The imperial death decree, within 1500-year-old inscriptions were displayed on the walls of the ancient town hall building in Stratonicea. The research team said that such high penalties were extremely rare for tax law violations. Similar violations recorded during the same period showed no cases where tax crime violators received a death sentence. The most shocking detail discovered in the new translation was one unusually harsh penalty the empire planned to levy on any local official found guilty of the alleged tax corruption: death. The decree was likely a rhetorical tool to emphasize the importance of the matter.

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