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office a s s u m e d t h e c h a r a c t e r of l i t u r g y . T h e responsibilities t a k e n over b y t h e πρεσβύτεροι caused necessarily t h e e x t e n s i o n of t h e i r c o m p e t e n c e so t h a t t h e y b e c a m e m o r e closely concerned w i t h t h e a d m i n i s t r a t i v e life of a village. As t h e g u a r a n t e e s of t h e yields of t h e c u l t u r e s t h e y were g r a n t e d t h e r i g h t of supervising r u r a l acti-vities; i n t h i s d o m a i n t h e y b e c a m e t h e a s s i s t a n t s of t h e L a g i d e clerks. F o r t h a t r e a s o n t h e y occasionnally p e r f o r m e d t h e d u t i e s of t h e police. T o w a r d s t h e e n d of t h e second c e n t u r y B. C. t h e πρεσβύτεροι b e c a m e t h e officially a p p o i n t e d g u a r a n t e e s f o r t h e le-vies a n d d u e s imposed on t h e c o m m u n i t y . T h e i r relations w i t h t h e village i n h a b i t a n t s b e c a m e essentially m o d i f i e d . F r o m t h a t mo-m e n t t h e πρεσβύτεροι ceased t o b e p r o t e c t o r s of t h e p e a s a n t class t o w h i c h t h e y belonged. T h e y b e c a m e t r u e a g e n t s of t h e f i s c .
Α. Ε . R . В о а к , Tesserarii and quadrarii as village officials in Egypt in the fourth Century (Studies J o h n s o n , 322—335).
T h e a u t h o r e n d e a v o u r s t o p r o v e , t h a t t h e tesserarii a n d t h e quadrarii i n t h e 4 t h c e n t u r y were village officials whose d u t y w a s t o supervise t h e p a y m e n t of p u b l i c t a x e s .
D . C l a r k e , Alexandria ad Aegyptum (Bull. F a c . A r t s F a r o u k I U n i v . У , 99—102).
n o t seen.
C. R o e b u c k , The Organisation of Naucratis (CI. P h i l . , X L V I , 212—220).
n o t seen.
F . W . v o n В i s s i η g, Naukratis 1-е partie (Bulletin de la Société royale d'Archéologie d ' A l e x a n d r i e , X X X I X , 33—82, [1951]). T h e a u t h o r gives a detailed a c c o u n t of t h e h i s t o r y of t h e city, its origin a n d d e v e l o p m e n t a n d m a k e s f u l l use of epigraphical evi-dence.
J a c q u e l i n e L a l l e m a n d , La création des provinces d, Egypte
Iovia et d'Egypte Herculia (Académie royale de Belgique, Bull, de la classe des l e t t r e s e t des sciences morales e t politiques, 5-e série, t o m e X X X V I , 1950).
Since M о m m s e η t h e historians of t h e reign of Diocletian a t t r i b u t e t o t h i s e m p e r o r t h e division of E g y p t i n t o t h r e e p r o v i n
