Talk:Phylakitai

Prose and Content

• Lead
  • The lead is not sufficiently long to cover all aspects of the article. It also does not follow a clear chronological or topical flow. I recommend spedning a bit of time re-writing the lead to start with historical background, development, a sentence on etymology, and discussion of organization and responsibilities. In general, the broad ideas of any major topic in the article should be summed up in the lead.

I rewrote the lede so it better reflects the most important points in the article. Edward056686 (talk) 00:35, 14 April 2026 (UTC)

The lead is much-improved and very well written, it definitely covers all aspects of the article now. Fritzmann (message me) 03:57, 14 April 2026 (UTC)

• Content & Broadness
  • "The phylakitai may have been influenced by the Medjay." How so? Is the claim just that they are a successor to the Medjay or that certain practices and customs were inherited from them?

I edited this line to be more clear, essentially it's unknown whether there was continuity between the Medjay and the phylakitai but both had police duties. Edward056686 (talk) 23:44, 13 April 2026 (UTC)

Looks good Fritzmann (message me) 03:57, 14 April 2026 (UTC)

• • Does any source have an estimated year for when the phylakitai were established? Considering that Ptolemaic Egypt lasted for 300+ years that seems a bit broad.

There isn't a specific year that it can be said that the 'phylakitai were established. They're a Ptolemaic institution in a sense, although they could maybe have continuity with earlier institutions. Edward056686 (talk) 23:44, 13 April 2026 (UTC)

Good enough for me! Fritzmann (message me) 03:57, 14 April 2026 (UTC)

• • The article seems to jump directly from the establishment of the phylakitai with the Ptolemies to their dissolution by the Romans. Is there any coverage of their existence? It seems to be either a gap in the article or the historical record, and if it's the latter that would be good to briefly mention. (Jumping back from the end of my review, I see that there is some discussion in the Roles & Responsibility section, but I still have to imagine there must be some evolution of the force, or incidents that they were involved in, during their history)

At this point, it isn't possible to write an organizational history of the phylakitai. The sources that papyrologists have to work with are chance fragments of day-to-day operations, and there is no documentation of how they changed as a body over time or if the organization as a whole was ever implicated in any major events. The remarkable thing is that any information about them exists, when law enforcement in most ancient civilizations is virtually undocumented by comparison. I added a historiography section to provide more context. Edward056686 (talk) 23:44, 13 April 2026 (UTC)

The historiography section adds to the article immensely. Knowing the limits of our knowledge on the subject makes it clear this article captures the breadth of current historical understanding. Fritzmann (message me) 03:57, 14 April 2026 (UTC)

• • Describe what a statione is when mentioned

I've edited this. Edward056686 (talk) 23:44, 13 April 2026 (UTC)

Y Fritzmann (message me) 03:57, 14 April 2026 (UTC)

• • Is phylakitai an "it" or a "they"? Both "was" and "were" are used to refer to it in the article.

I don't see where they're referred to as "was" in the article. Edward056686 (talk) 23:44, 13 April 2026 (UTC)

That was my mistake; not sure where I did either on another look Fritzmann (message me) 03:57, 14 April 2026 (UTC)

• • What does the hierarchy of the phylakitai look like? Were there "police districts" like today? Police stations? Who was in charge of certain divisions, and was there a "minister of police" or someone similar in charge of the whole organization?

I expanded the information about the hierarchy of officers in settlements and nomes, but modern police stations may not have had a direct analogue in Ptolemaic Egypt. Edward056686 (talk) 00:35, 14 April 2026 (UTC)

That organizaitonal hierarchy is exactly what I was wondering about, thanks for clarifying! Fritzmann (message me) 03:57, 14 April 2026 (UTC)

• Neutrality
  • I can see no point of view or neutrality issues in this artilce.

Illustration and Images

• Copyright
  • Images are appropriately licensed.
• Captions
  • Images have captions as required.

Referencing

• General Referencing
  • Reference lists are well formatted with no issues.
• Verifiability
  • [8] Bagnall 2006, verifies details of the Roman phylakes
  • [15] Clarysse 2006, verifies the association with gl-sr
  • [14] Fischer-Bovet 2014, verifies the tax exemption
  • 10% spotcheck with no issues and general review of references is solid, no issues.

I removed the link you added to cleruchy because the page currently describes a different (but related organization). Ptolemaic cleruchy bore few similarities to Athenian colonization. Edward056686 (talk) 23:43, 13 April 2026 (UTC)

@Fritzmann2002: Thank you for this review and pointing out different areas to improve. I tried to address everything and added one more image. Edward056686 (talk) 03:46, 14 April 2026 (UTC)

@Edward056686:, all looks good, promoting now! Thank you for your rapid cooperation with my critiques, the lead especially is in a great spot now. Thank you also for the catch on cleruchy; perhaps a new article is warranted for the process during the Ptolemaic period! It has been a pleasure working with you, best regards for your work in the future. Fritzmann (message me) 03:57, 14 April 2026 (UTC)