Late Antique Documentary Translations on Papyrus: Evidence from the Greek-Latin Reports of Court Proceedings

Abstract: This article revises our understanding of bilingualism in Late Antique legal contexts, focusing on language use in Greek-Latin reports of court proceedings on papyrus. Key questions addressed include: where and why does Latin or Greek appear? In which language was a verdict given? When translation is evident, how was it made? Using two of the best-preserved papyri as a foundation, the study explores these questions across a wider range of surviving papyrus reports. The main conclusions include: the parties of a court case could address the courtroom in Greek, but no evidence suggests mandatory understanding of Latin; written translations into Greek were made for the benefit of the parties and local officials for private use or future reference; translations were usually made by officials with a good knowledge of Latin and Greek and not mechanically with a collection of formulae or bilingual glossaries (as has been asserted); judges and their staff were supposed to know both languages and sometimes used both, while at other times only one of the two; judges were supposed to give verdicts in Latin, but in practice the two languages existed alongside one another, and we cannot say which of the two was more common, although plausibly it was Greek.