A petition to a prefect whose name is lost from priests of Soknebtunis with regard to their right to cultivate land at Tebtunis, formerly temple land, but recently converted to crown land
Translation: To N.N., the lord prefect, from NN.NN. and the rest of the hereditary priests of the famous temple of Soknebtunis also called Kronos, Isis, Sarapis, Harpokrates and the associated gods, situated at the village of Tebtunis in the division of Polemon of the Arsinoite nome. We have had assigned to us from the state instead of a subvention 500 1/4 arouras of grain land at the said village of Tebtunis, which previously belonged to the aforesaid gods, but was reduced to Crown land by Petronius a former prefect, and (ever since leased by us at a rent …?). For the first time in the present 4th year of Vespasian … the komogrammateus desired in a report that for the coming 5th year a charge of 200 artabas of barley in addition should be imposed upon our aforesaid land (or we should be deprived of it); whereupon (we petitioned you) on the subject, and you, our lord, wrote to him that if Petronius had assigned the land to us instead of a subvention, and that ever since up to the present time we had been performing the due services of the gods in the temples, it was unjust to demand from us an increase of 200 artabas of barley with the alternative of being deprived of the land. The komogrammateus answered you saying that he had discovered firstly from certain documents preserved at the temple that the land was registered in the name of us the priests in a list of crops of the .. Year, and had been possessed by us by inheritance from our ancestors and cultivated since the time of Petronius at the (fixed?) rents, the possession of it by us the priests for so many years being due to the circumstance that we received no subvention from the state, and secondly that according to the yearly reports which we make to the strategos this land was cultivated by the priests. (When you, our lord, wrote to him, he allowed us two months in which to present our case.) Further in the priestly list which we entered at the village for examination we showed that the cultivation of the aforesaid land was registered in our names since the above-mentioned period, which list is preserved among the documents that have been previously entered at the proper offices; and in the .. year, when certain bastards from the temple asked for leave to cultivate the land before N.N., late epistrategos of the Heptanomis and Arsinoite nome, … he reserved the land for us, the legitimate priests, according to the reports of the trial in our possession. We entreat you therefore to guarantee to us this land which has been reserved to us instead of a subvention by inheritance from our ancestors, and at which we have long worked with our wives and children, thus enabling us to … perform the services and ceremonies, so that no one can claim the priestly land, and that we may obtain relief. Farewell.