Not a Roman Trial of Christians: A Reassessment of P.Mil.Vogl. VI 287

Abstract

Abstract:An article published in this journal in 2019 proposes to identify a fragmentary papyrus containing a Greek record of court proceedings from Roman Egypt (P.Mil.Vogl. VI 287) as the only known authentic transcript of a trial of Christians by a Roman governor. The present article reassesses the problem from the perspective of Christian sources and papyrological evidence and presents a revised text and new interpretation of the papyrus in question.