This contribution offers a new edition of P.Tebt. I 124, made possible through the use of new infrared images and in situ examination with a digital microscope. The text, written on the verso of a land register during the final years of Ptolemy VIII’s reign, contains a careless copy of a petition addressed to the king by the catoecic cavalrymen of the Arsinoite nome. In it, they request exemption from a tax, likely a one-time monetary levy based on the size of their kleroi. In a second column excerpts from other documents are attested that record various privileges granted to the katoikoi. The new readings reveal the degree of self-awareness with which the katoikoi appealed to the sovereigns, their rhetorical strategies, and their emphasis on concepts such as εὔνοια and πίϲτιϲ, which are also prominent in other sources documenting the interaction of a subordinate group with a Hellenistic ruler. Several new readings provide the opportunity to discuss details emerging from the text – for instance, a reference to a substantial grain tax of 40,000 artabas that the petitioners were expected to deliver from a single year’s harvest. This figure may provide an insight into the number of catoecic cavalrymen stationed in the Arsinoite nome. Additionally, the revised text sheds light on a series of fiscal policies and privileges concerning the katoikoi. Among these, one may mention the attempted reintroduction of a land tax, the ἡμιαρτάβιον, on catoecic land by a high-ranking official named Lochos.
Riccardo Vecchiato (Tue,) studied this question.