Lucia Colella’s monograph offers a detailed and nuanced study of Roman wills produced in Egypt from the 1st century AD to Severus Alexander, grounded in legal, social, historical, and papyrological analysis. The work is a compelling contribution to the study of Roman legal culture in the provinces and especially of how Roman institutions operated in the pluralistic context of ancient Egypt.
The volume is organized into an introduction, three main chapters, an appendix, and a conclusion, followed by rich bibliography and indexes, as well as by colour tables of the documents analyzed. Each section serves a distinct purpose in building Colella’s argument that Roman wills in Egypt reveal not only strict legal continuity with the ius civile but also unique adaptations shaped by the social, cultural, and administrative environment of Egypt. One key example is offered by adaptations and translations into Greek, while Roman wills had to be redacted in Latin. The linguistic factor is also central to the choice of the chronological span under consideration, which ends with Severus Alexander’s constitution (AD 224–235) that allowed Roman citizens to make wills in Greek, with consequences also for legal practice.
The introduction clarifies the objectives of the volume, which is situated within a flourishing tradition of studies on Roman wills but adopts an entirely new perspective. These documents are typically used as purely legal sources, often without a systematic and thorough verification of the reliability of the standard editions. In contrast, Colella aims to investigate the material not only from a papyrological—that is, material and scribal—point of view, but also from a socio-historical and cultural perspective, in connection with local practice, based on an extensive and detailed critical-editorial reassessment of the texts.
The first chapter thus addresses the nature of the documentation under examination. It is a primarily papyrological analysis, with particular focus on linguistic dynamics, the textual structure of the documents, the drafting process and its various forms (originals, copies, translations, drafts), as well as on material aspects such as palaeography and layout. The discussion goes into detail on paratextual devices and scribal practices. This constitutes a significant contribution not only within the specific scope of the topic considered, but more broadly as an example of a holistic approach to papyrological material—one that sees it not merely as a container of text, but as an inseparable whole of text and context, of content and materiality. One particularly notes the historical and cultural significance of the dichotomy between originals and other versions of the text also from the material viewpoint: the former were reserved for tabulae ceratae written in Latin, while the latter appeared on papyrus sheets written in Greek, according to a well-rooted tradition that opposed Roman and Hellenic uses.[1]
The second chapter proceeds with an analysis of the social, economic, and cultural background of the authors of the examined wills: Roman citizens in Egypt. The investigation adopts a twofold perspective, focusing on both the social groups to which the testators belonged and the wealth involved in the estates. Colella is well aware that the limited number of surviving documents hinders the possibility of obtaining reliable statistical data, yet it is still possible to identify some clearly significant trends—such as “la provenienza dalle file dell’esercito della maggior parte dei testatori e dei testimoni; i beneficiari sono per lo più familiari o commilitoni dei disponenti” (p. 5) [“the provenance of the majority of testators and witnesses from the ranks of the army; the beneficiaries are mostly family members or fellow soldiers of the testators”]. A further line of inquiry explores the relationship between Roman law and local practice, showing that groups identifiable as civic elites tended to favour local testamentary dispositions (διαθῆκαι), whereas soldiers and veterans, by contrast, did not constitute a true elite from a socio-economic standpoint.
The third chapter provides the reference text corpus through a meticulous edition or re-edition of the extant Roman wills from Egypt within the established chronological limits, totaling 26 documents. Each text is preceded by a commentary—usually extensive—that describes both the material features and the content of the document. The edition stands out for its editorial precision and ecdotic depth, frequently bringing to light details and features previously overlooked, especially in terms of materiality, layout, and paratextual elements. The texts are usefully accompanied by Italian translations. The appendix contains similar editions of two previously unpublished documents related to Roman wills: an excerpt from trial proceedings (P.Lond. III 898 descr.) and a Latin papyrus fragment (P.Ryl. inv. G Add 1048), in which a testator likely asks someone—possibly the heir—to manumit certain slaves on his behalf.
In conclusion, Lucia Colella’s work stands out for its interdisciplinary approach and methodological rigor. By combining a juristic background with a detailed reading of documentary evidence, she reconstructs the complex reality of Roman law in practice in the Egyptian province. The book contributes to the ongoing scholarly conversation about law and empire by showing how Roman legal identity could be maintained even in a multicultural context. Colella challenges simplistic oppositions between Roman and local law, proposing instead a spectrum of legal accommodation. The study enriches our understanding of Roman private law, especially testamentary law, by providing rare insights into its practical applications outside of Rome. Furthermore, the emphasis placed on material aspects serves as an excellent methodological reminder never to forget the nature of the papyrological witness, which should never be regarded as an abstract text, but always as something tightly rooted in its context of production and use.
Notes
[1] See N. Reggiani, What Is a Book? The Ideology of Materiality in Ancient Greek and Roman Writing Technology, in New Approaches to the Materiality of Text in the Ancient Mediterranean. From Monuments and Buildings to Small Portable Objets, ed. by E. Angliker and I. Bultrighini, Turnhout 2023, 95-107.