Une inscription de Kos et une loi de Valens (Iscrizioni di Cos ED 90 et CTh 13, 10, 7)

Abstract

A Greek inscription from Kos, published without a commentary in 1993, is revised and restored with
the aid of squeezes from the beginning of the 20th century. This edict of a governor of the province Insulae accompanied an imperial constitution which is not preserved on the stone but of which the edict gives a detailed summary: With the aim to counterbalance fiscal charges levied on neighbouring properties, in case of diminution or increase of assessable personnel, the defensor civitatis may receive the requests of taxpayers in each city. However, only the provincial governor is authorised to modify a repartition of the capitatio humana amongst the neighbours. These dispositions correspond to a law by Valens from January 16, 371 which is obviously the source of the edict put up at Kos. A fragment of a Latin inscription of the same provenance, republished in the appendix, could have been part of another law of Valens, forbidding curiales to evade services which they owe their city.