Three former village headmen (komarchs) of Mermertha nominate villagers to the praepositus of the first pagus of the Oxyrhynchite nome for compulsory public services, including tesserarius, komarchs, field guard, police chief and collectors of tunics, guaranteeing their suitability. Dated 24 September 346, Oxyrhynchos.
In English machine translation
In the consulship of our masters Constantius for the 4th time and Constans for the 3rd time, the Augusti, Thoth 27.
To Aurelius Sarapammon son of Eulogios, praepositus of the 1st pagus of the Oxyrhynchite nome,
from the Aurelii Horos son of Horion and Panechotes son of Horos and Ptolemaios son of Hermes, all three from the village of Mermertha in the 1st pagus of the same nome, former komarchs. We give and nominate, at our own risk, for the following services persons who are well-off and suitable for the service. They are:
tesserarius:
Hermes son of Hermias
komarchs:
Pathermouthis son of Horos
and Palei son of Stephanos
of the priests only (?):
Aniketos son of Horos
quadrarius:
Petros son of Horos
field guard:
Panechotes son of Artemidoros
chief of police:
Severos son of Horos
in charge of tunics:
Ammonis son of Serapion
Kopreus son of Harachthes
all from the same village, for whom we also stand surety.
I, Aurelius Ptolemaios, have submitted it.
We, the Aurelii Horos and Panechotes, have submitted it.
I, the same Horos, wrote on behalf of the same man, as he does not know letters.
The tesserarius and quadrarius were village officials concerned with registration and levies; the phrase rendered 'of the priests only' is obscure. Liturgies were compulsory public services assigned to persons with sufficient property.
Working translation of the DDbDP edition, made with Claude Opus 5.5 from the edition and the catalogue records shown below (catalogued as Nomination to Liturgies). It has not been reviewed by a papyrologist: check the edition before citing. Restorations follow the edition; […] marks lost text and (?) an uncertain reading.