CORN DOLE ARCHIVE

almost twenty years earlier. He does not describe himself specifically as homologos a category of registered persons without full citizen status but begins his petition with the words "registered and having approached from the list of minors in the 1st year of Decius" (2913 ii 7-9), which repeats the major part of the formulary’s description of the homologoi. The most noteworthy fact about him is that he was illegitimate and therefore debarred from epicrisis official scrutiny of status. This is expressed by the phrase chrematizon metros Iseitos, "officially known by the name of his mother Isis," which precludes his fulfilling the requirement of being officially "born of parents both of the metropolite class" (refer to 1306, PSI x 1109, 10). The homologoi therefore seem to be persons who were not qualified to share the corn dole by their citizen status, but who were admitted as a concession. The manner of their selection is not known. One may reasonably suspect that the mother at least was of the metropolite class.

The only applicant who is specifically said to belong to the category of the homologoi uses the same words "registered and having approached from the list of minors" and likewise seems to be illegitimate, though this conclusion is based on the shortness of the lacuna between his name and his mother’s. He claims to have been registered in the phylarch’s records "in the category of the homologoi" (2912 11), but says nothing of his age. He has been away from Oxyrhynchus and reports his return in order to collect his dole.

Procedures

The procedures for the distribution of the dole cannot be recovered in much detail but the allusions in the documents are sufficient to build up a general picture. The phylarchs were responsible for drawing up lists of eligible persons in their districts under the three heads of epikrithentes those who have passed scrutiny (including Romans and Alexandrians), homologoi and rhemboi sundries (comprising leitourgēkōtes those who have performed liturgy and apeleutheroi leitourgēkōtes freedmen who have performed liturgy). For this purpose they consulted the public records contained in the dēmosia bibliothēkē public library. Before they were listed the applicants for the dole had to undergo a special screening process called diakrisis special screening, which entailed the presentation of documentary evidence, in one case specifically a certificate of epicrisis and proofs of lineage (2898 15-17). There are three other cases of the production of documents to support applications and these same documents may well have been produced again for the diakrisis. An Alexandrian produced something called "the copy of the presiding official," perhaps an official authority to reside in Oxyrhynchus, perhaps simply a certificate of actual residence there (2916). Another Alexandrian produced an extract from his nomination to an Oxyrhynchite liturgy (2915). And in the third case an Oxyrhynchite is ordered to produce "the symbols of citizenship" (2908 ii 32-3). The process of the diakrisis was controlled by diakritai screeners, officials appointed by the city council (2913).

The successful candidates also had to answer to their names at a roll call, the anagoria roll call. The conditions and the purpose of it are uncertain. Probably its main object was to prevent impersonation. It may also have been an opportunity for public objections to be heard. Every qualified person who had not yet been successful in the lottery would have an interest in preventing the admission of unqualified candidates. The