The fortress of Masada was the scene of a major siege during the time of the First Jewish-Roman War, in the Iis century of our era. The payslip papyrus was discovered on the site, along with thirteen other written documents. Zev Radovan, Bridgeman Images / Shai Halevi, Israel Antiquities Authority
ARCHEOLOGY – Extremely rare, the document indicates that the pay of a legionnaire did not fly very high and that a good part was deducted at source for campaign expenses.
To be in garrison in the province of Judea, in the Iis century of our era, was not the most lucrative activity. A papyrus recently examined by experts from the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) sheds new light on the finances of the soldiers who besieged and occupied the fortress of Masada, 50 kilometers south of Jerusalem, during the time of the First Jewish-Roman War (66-74 AD). According to this payslip, the various equipment costs deducted at source accounted for almost all of a legionnaire’s pay.
The fragmentary papyrus thus indicates, in Latin, that a very large part of two-thirds of the annual pay of an anonymous soldier was spent on the acquisition of boots, a linen tunic and fodder for his horse. This document, one of fourteen texts unearthed at Masada, would be only the third known pay slip in the Roman world that can be attributed to a legionary, according to archaeologists from the AIA.
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The pay of a legionnaire varied according to several criteria, such as his seniority or his specialty; the details of the lines of the bulletin of Masada were however not communicated by the Israeli papyrologists. Fixed at 225 denarii per annum for most of the Iis century, the pay of the simple legionnaire could climb up to triple according to the charges with which he could be invested. A praetorian guard, an elite corps of the Roman army, received 730 denarii a year. Both could also receive bonuses.
End of balance and end of month
The AIA researchers who have studied the Masada papyrus, however, point out that the soldiers were not necessarily reduced to what the scrupulous treasury of the legion deigned to leave them. The legionnaire could indeed count on supplements of income which did not appear on his report. “It was possible that soldiers were allowed to loot during military campaigns”observes in a February 15 statement the curator Oren Ableman, head of the Dead Sea Scrolls Unit of the AIA.
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The prospect of booty was one of the main motivations of the Roman legionary, but it was not his only parallel means of enrichment. Some soldiers thus became loan sharks. “A deed of loan signed between a Roman soldier and a Jewish resident reports that the soldier was charging interest significantly higher than what was then legal”, says Oren Ableman. This example has been documented by a text discovered in the cave of Nahal Hever and dated to the revolt of Bar Kokhba, around the years 132-135.
Dated by Israeli archaeologists to the year 72, Masada’s payslip may have belonged to a legionnaire who took part in the siege of the fortress in 73. The battle forms one of the last episodes of the First Jewish War. Roman Empire, which broke out in 66 with the uprising of the Jews of the province of Judea. The “Great Revolt” was suppressed in the following years, with the sack of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Second Temple. As for Massada, the formidable defensive position perched on a rocky outcrop, more than 430 meters high, was taken only after a tedious campaign. This long-term operation in the Judean desert deserved a new pair of boots.
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