The political and administrative systems of the Classical Cypriot city kingdoms are not well understood. A fresh interpretation of the Kition tariff, a famous Phoenician document which records accounts and expenses, will show the tasks of a chief of scribes and of his scribes who were employed by the royal administration, compared with those of other specialized scribes who worked for the Cypriot royal palaces. The investigation of regional recording systems will show that the administrative structure which employed the scribes was hierarchical, well organized, and similar in all the city kingdoms.