Late in the year 249 CE, an extraordinary imperial directive was despatched throughout the extended domains of the Roman world. Monitored sacrifices to the gods were to be made by the empire's inhabitants, all of whom – excepting the Jews, whose ancestral monotheism enjoyed legal recognition – were to perform this act of devotional loyalty at their local temples. Commissions were empowered to oversee and record the mandated compliance, with census and tax rolls furnishing controls over identity. Specified times were announced for the stipulated observances, and signed certificates were issued to confirm the loyalty of all dutiful subjects. Here, from the preserving sands of Egypt, is one of forty-six surviving papyrus specimens, all of which were composed in a standardized petitionary form:

From its timing and manifest cultural logic, the purpose of this call for empire-wide sacrifice is not difficult to establish.