These papyri provide the first secure information, in concrete detail, on the purposes and the effects of the imperial tax reform under Diocletian at the end of the 3rd century and the beginning of the 4th. They also throw much new light on the 4th-century practice of "public liturgy"—the administrative device of making up the lack of money in the state treasury by compulsory labor service. An introduction, apparatus criticus, and translation accompany each text. A comprehensive index completes the volume.

A change in archaeological venue from prior excavations at Karanis to nearby Soknopaiou Nesos resulted in useful comparable data. Evidence has proven that both sites flourished in the same period, from the first century BCE to the third century CE.

This study of the Master of the Offices is an attempt to throw more light upon the intricate administrative system obtaining in the Later Roman and Byzantine Empires through a detailed treatment of the history and scope of one particular office. It is a development of work done in connection with a doctoral thesis on the Roman Magistri, some of the results of which are incorporated in the first chapter.