Roman Egypt

Province of Egypt Provincia Aegypti ( Koinē Greek)
Province of the Roman Empire
30 BC – 641 AD Under Palmyrene rule; 270–273 Sasanian occupation; 619–628
Province of Aegyptus in AD 125
Capital	Alexandria
Population
• 1st century AD	4 to 8 million.[1]
Historical era	Muslim conquest	641
Preceded by Succeeded by Ptolemaic Kingdom Sasanian Egypt Rashidun Caliphate
Today part of	Egypt

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Roman Egypt

Egypt was conquered by Roman forces in 30 BC and became a province of the new Roman Empire upon its formation in 27 BC. Egypt came to serve as a major producer of grain for the empire and had a highly developed urban economy. It was by far the wealthiest Roman province outside of Italy.^[2] The population of Roman Egypt is unknown, although estimates vary from 4 to 8 million.^[3][1] Alexandria, its capital, was the largest port and second largest city of the Roman Empire.^[4][5]

Three

As Rome overtook the Ptolemaic system in place for areas of Egypt, they made many changes. The effect of the Roman conquest was at first to strengthen the position of the Greeks and of

The Romans introduced important changes in the administrative system, aimed at achieving a high level of efficiency and maximizing revenue. The duties of the prefect of Aegyptus combined responsibility for military security through command of the legions and cohorts, for the organization of finance and taxation, and for the administration of justice.

The Egyptian provinces of the Ptolemaic Kingdom remained wholly under Roman rule until the administrative reforms of the

The governor's powers as prefect, which included the rights to make

Procurators were also appointed from among the

Local government in the hinterland (Koinē Greek: χώρα, romanized: khṓrā, lit. 'countryside') outside Alexandria was divided into traditional regions known as nomoi.^[8]: 58 The mētropoleis were governed by magistrates drawn from the liturgy system; these magistrates, as in other Roman cities, practised euergetism and built public buildings. To each nome the prefect appointed a strategos (Koinē Greek: στρατηγός, romanized: stratēgós, lit. 'general'); the strategoi were civilian administrators, without military functions, who performed much of the government of the country in the prefect's name and were themselves drawn from the Egyptian upper classes.^[8]: 58 The strategoi in each of the mētropoleis were the senior local officials, served as intermediaries between the prefect and the villages, and were legally responsible for the administration and their own conduct while in office for several years.^[8]: 58 Each strategos was supplemented by a royal scribe (βασιλικός γραμματεύς, basilikós grammateús, 'royal secretary').^[8]: 58 These scribes were responsible for their nome's financial affairs, including administration of all property, land, land revenues, and temples, and what remains of their record-keeping is unparalleled in the ancient world for its completeness and complexity.^[8]: 58 The royal scribes could act as proxy for the strategoi, but each reported directly to Alexandria, where dedicated financial secretaries – appointed for each individual nome – oversaw the accounts: an eklogistes and a graphon ton nomon.^[8]: 58 The eklogistes was responsible for general financial affairs while the graphon ton nomon likely dealt with matters relating to the Idios Logos.^{[8]: 58–59} In 200/201, the emperor Septimius Severus (r. 193–211) granted each metropolis, and the city of Alexandria, a boulē (a Hellenistic town council).^[6]

The nomoi were grouped traditionally into those of Upper and Lower Egypt, the two divisions each being known as an "

Each village or kome (κώμη, kṓmē) was served by a village scribe (κωμογραμματεύς, kōmogrammateús, 'secretary of the kome'), whose term, possibly paid, was usually held for three years.[8]^: 59 Each, to avoid conflicts of interest, was appointed to a community away from their home village, as they were required to inform the strategoi and epistrategoi of the names of persons due to perform unpaid public service as part of the liturgy system.^[8]: 59 They were required to be literate and had various duties as official clerks.^[8]: 59 Other local officials drawn from the liturgy system served for a year in their home kome; they included the practor (πράκτωρ, práktōr, 'executor'), who collected certain taxes, as well as security officers, granary officials (σιτολόγοι, sitologoi, 'grain collectors'), public cattle drivers (δημόσιοι kτηνοτρόφοι, dēmósioi ktēnotróphoi, 'cattleherds of the demos'), and cargo supervisors (ἐπίπλοοι, epiploöi).^[8]: 59 Other liturgical officials were responsible for other specific aspects of the economy: a suite of officials was each responsible for arranging supplies of particular necessity in the course of the prefect's official tours.^[8]: 59 The liturgy system extended to most aspects of Roman administration by the reign of Trajan (r. 98–117), though constant efforts were made by people eligible for such duties to escape their imposition.^[8]: 59

The reforms of the early 4th century had established the basis for another 250 years of comparative prosperity in Aegyptus, at a cost of perhaps greater rigidity and more oppressive state control. Aegyptus was subdivided for administrative purposes into a number of smaller provinces, and separate civil and military officials were established; the praeses and the dux. The province was under the supervision of the count of the Orient (i.e. the vicar) of the diocese headquartered in Antioch in Syria.

Emperor Justinian abolished the Diocese of Egypt in 538 and re-combined civil and military power in the hands of the dux with a civil deputy (praeses) as a counterweight to the power of the church authorities. All pretense of local autonomy had by then vanished. The presence of the soldiery was more noticeable, its power and influence more pervasive in the routine of town and village life.

Military

Initially, the legionary garrison of Roman Egypt consisted of three legions: the Legio III Cyrenaica, the Legio XXII Deiotariana, and one other legion.^[9]: 70 The station and identity of this third legion is not known for sure, and it is not known precisely when it was withdrawn from Egypt, though it was certainly before 23 AD, during the reign of Tiberius (r. 14–37).^[9]: 70 In the reign of Tiberius's step-father and predecessor Augustus, the legions had been stationed at Nicopolis and at Egyptian Babylon, and perhaps at Thebes.^[9]: 70 After August 119, the III Cyrenaica was ordered out of Egypt; the XXII Deiotariana was transferred sometime afterwards, and before 127/8, the Legio II Traiana arrived, to remain as the main component of the Army of Egypt for two centuries.^[9]: 70

After some fluctuations in the size and positions of the auxilia garrison in the early decades of Roman Egypt, relating to the conquest and pacification of the country, the auxilia contingent was mostly stable during the

Most inhabitants were peasants, many working as tenant-farmers for high rents in kind, cultivating sacred land belonging to temples or public land formerly belonging to the Egyptian monarchy.[6] The division between the rural life of the villages, where the Egyptian language was spoken, and the metropolis, where the citizens spoke Koine Greek and frequented the Hellenistic gymnasia, was the most significant cultural division in Roman Egypt, and was not dissolved by the Constitutio Antoniniana of 212, which made all free Egyptians Roman citizens.^[6] There was considerable social mobility however, accompanying mass urbanization, and participation in the monetized economy and literacy in Greek by the peasant population was widespread.^[6]

The Romans began a system of social hierarchy that revolved around ethnicity and place of residence. Other than Roman citizens, a Greek citizen of one of the Greek cities had the highest status, and a rural Egyptian would be in the lowest class.^[12] In between those classes was the metropolite, who was almost certainly of Hellenic origin. Gaining citizenship and moving up in ranks was very difficult and there were not many available options for ascendancy.^[13]

One of the routes that many followed to ascend to another caste was through enlistment in the army. Although only Roman citizens could serve in the legions, many Greeks found their way in. The native Egyptians could join the auxiliary forces and attain citizenship upon discharge.

Just as under the Ptolemies, Alexandria and its citizens had their own special designations. The capital city enjoyed a higher status and more privileges than the rest of Egypt. Just as it was under the Ptolemies, the primary way of becoming a citizen of Roman Alexandria was through showing when registering for a deme that both parents were Alexandrian citizens. Alexandrians were the only Egyptians that could obtain Roman citizenship.^[17]

If a common Egyptian wanted to become a Roman citizen he would first have to become an Alexandrian citizen. The Augustan period in Egypt saw the creation of urban communities with "Hellenic" landowning elites. These landowning elites were put in a position of privilege and power and had more self-administration than the Egyptian population. Within the citizenry, there were gymnasiums that Greek citizens could enter if they showed that both parents were members of the gymnasium based on a list that was compiled by the government in 4–5 AD.^[18]

The candidate for the gymnasium would then be let into the

These privileges even extended to corporal punishments. Romans were protected from this type of punishment while native Egyptians were whipped. Alexandrians, on the other hand, had the privilege of merely being beaten with a rod.[20] Although Alexandria enjoyed the greatest status of the Greek cities in Egypt, it is clear that the other Greek cities, such as Antinoöpolis, enjoyed privileges very similar to the ones seen in Alexandria; for instance, like Alexandrians, Antinoöpolites were exempted from paying poll-taxes.^[21] All of these changes amounted to the Greeks being treated as an ally in Egypt and the native Egyptians were treated as a conquered race.^{[citation needed]}

The Gnomon of the Idios Logos shows the connection between law and status. It lays out the revenues it deals with, mainly fines and confiscation of property, to which only a few groups were apt. The Gnomon also confirms that a freed slave takes his former master's social status. The Gnomon demonstrates the social controls that the Romans had in place through monetary means based on status and property.

Economy

A massive amount of Aegyptus' grain was shipped downriver (north) both to feed the population of Alexandria and for export to the Roman capital. There were frequent complaints of oppression and extortion from the taxpayers.

For land management and tenure, the Ptolemaic state had retained much of the categorization of land as under the earlier pharaohs, but the Roman Empire introduced a distinction between private and public lands – the earlier system had categorized little land as private property – and a complex arrangement was developed consisting of dozens of types of land-holding.^{[22]: 23–24} Land's status was determined by the hydrological, juridical, and function of the property, as well as by the three main categories of ownership held over from the Ptolemaic system: the sacred property belonging to the temples (Koinē Greek: Ἱερά γη, romanized: Hierā́ gē, lit. 'holy land'); the royal land (Βασιλική γη, Basilikḗ gē, 'royal land') belonging to the state and forming most of its revenue; and the "gifted land" (Koinē Greek: γή εν δωρεά, romanized: gḗ en dōreá, lit. 'land in gift'; Δωρεά, Dōreá, 'gifts') leased out under the cleruchy system.^{[22]: 23–24}

The Roman government had actively encouraged the privatization of land and the increase of private enterprise in manufacture, commerce, and trade, and low tax rates favored private owners and entrepreneurs. The poorer people gained their livelihood as tenants of state-owned land or of property belonging to the emperor or to wealthy private landlords, and they were relatively much more heavily burdened by rentals, which tended to remain at a fairly high level.

Overall, the degree of monetization and complexity in the economy, even at the village level, was intense. Goods were moved around and exchanged through the medium of coin on a large scale and, in the towns and the larger villages, a high level of industrial and commercial activity developed in close conjunction with the exploitation of the predominant agricultural base. The volume of trade, both internal and external, reached its peak in the 1st and 2nd centuries.

By the end of the 3rd century, major problems were evident. A series of debasements of the imperial currency had undermined confidence in the coinage,

There are numerous indications of Roman trade with India during the period, particularly between Roman Egypt and the Indian subcontinent. Kushan Empire ruler Huvishka (150–180 CE) incorporated in his coins the Hellenistic-Egyptian god Serapis (under the name ϹΑΡΑΠΟ, "Sarapo").^[23][25] Since Serapis was the supreme deity of the pantheon of Alexandria in Egypt, this coin suggests that Huvishka had as strong orientation towards Roman Egypt, which may have been an important market for the products coming from the Kushan Empire.^[23]

Architecture

In the administrative provincial capitals of the nomoi, the mētropoleis mostly inherited from the Pharaonic and Ptolemaic period, Roman public buildings were erected by the governing strategos and the local

Vivant Denon made sketches of ruins at Oxyrhynchus, and Edme-François Jomard wrote a description; together with some historical photographs and the few surviving remains, these are the best evidence for the classical architecture of the city, which was dedicated to the medjed, a sacred species of Mormyrus fish.^[27]: 189 Two groups of buildings survive at Heracleopolis Magna, sacred to Heracles/Hercules, which is otherwise known from Jomard's work, which also forms the mainstay of knowledge about the architecture of Antinoöpolis, founded by Hadrian in honour of his deified lover Antinous.^[27]: 189 The Napoleonic-era evidence is also important for documenting Hermopolis Magna, where more buildings survive and which was dedicated to the worship of Thoth, equated with Hermes/Mercury.^[27]: 189

The oldest known remains of

In the late 4th century, monastic churches differed from the other churches by building rectangular sanctuaries – rather than semi-circular ones – at their east ends where the altar stood, and in place of the apse was an aedicula or niche embellished with an arch and columns in applied in plaster.^[28]: 671 In the 5th century, regional styles of monumental church basilica with pastaphoria emerged: on the coast of the Mediterranean and throughout the northern part of the country the churches were basilicas of three or five aisles, but in Middle Egypt and Upper Egypt the basilicas were often given a colonnade all the way around the structure, forming a continuous ambulatory by the addition of a transverse fourth aisle to the west of the other three.^{[28]: 671–672} In eastern Egypt, the columns and colonnade were emphasized, and the sanctuary distinguished with a triumphal arch in front of it.^{[28]: 671–672}

A transept plan was adopted only in urban environments like

The worship of Egypt's rulers was interrupted entirely by the fall of the

^: 94–95

Braccio Nuovo). Sculpture from Rome's Temple of Isis and Serapis

.

An archiereus existed in each of the nomoi; drawn from the local elite through the

altars dedicated to the worship of the deified emperor Augustus (Koinē Greek: Σεβαστός, romanized: Sebastós, lit. 'Venerable') were set up in dedicated temples (sebasteia or caesarea).^{[29]: 86, 98} Each sebasteion or caesareum had administrative functions as well as organizing the local cult of the emperor.^[29]: 86 Nevertheless, there is scant evidence that the worship of the emperors was common in private settings, and the Alexandrians were frequently hostile to the emperors themselves.^[29]

^: 98

The form of the imperial cult established in the reign of Augustus, which may have been largely focused on the deified first emperor himself, continued until the reign of Constantine the Great.

Plotina, was deified after her death by Hadrian.^[31]: 14 At Dendera, in a temple dedicated to Aphrodite, the late empress was identified with the Egyptian goddess Hathor, the first instance of a member of the imperial family – besides the emperor himself – being integrated into the Egyptian pantheon.^[31]: 14 Unlike the royal cult of the Ptolemaic dynasty, whose festivals were celebrated according to the Egyptian calendar, the imperial cult days, such as the emperors' birthdays (Koinē Greek: ἡμέραι σεβασταί, romanized: hēmérai sebastaí, lit. 'venerable days'), fell according to the Roman calendar.^[30]

^: 438

Cult of Serapis and Isis

syncretic god of abundance and the afterlife which united Hellenistic and Egyptian features and which had been instituted by Ptolemy I Soter (r. 305/304–282 BC) at the beginning of the Ptolemaic period, possibly related to the cult of Osiris-Apis.^[32]: 439 Serapis assumed the role of Osiris in the Egyptian pantheon as god of the afterlife and regeneration, the husband of the fertility goddess Isis, and the father of the child Horus, known to the Hellenistic world as Harpocrates.^[32]: 439 Emperors were sometimes depicted as Serapis, with their portraits bearing Serapis's distinguishing features, who, unlike most native Egyptian gods but in common with Osiris, was never depicted in animal or part-animal form.^[32]: 439 Caracalla took the title "Philosarapis" to indicate his devotion to the cult.^[32]: 439 Serapis was distinguished by his Greek-style clothes, long hair, and beard, as well as by his flat-topped crown, known as a calathus.^[32]: 439 The Mysteries of Isis, a mystery cult developed outside Egypt and reimported to the country from Roman territories elsewhere, were increasingly celebrated, and Isis was the supreme female deity and creator-goddess in the pantheon, incorporating the Ptolemaic queen-worship tradition.^[32]: 439 As Isis lactans, 'suckling Isis', she was an image of motherhood, feeding her infant Harpocrates; as Isis myrionymos, 'the myriad-named', she was a goddess of magic and mysteries.^[32]

^: 439

In Roman Egypt, the cult was superintended by the archiereus for Alexandria and All Egypt.[29]^: 94–95 Temples of Serapis (serapea) were found throughout Egypt, with the oldest serapeum at Memphis and the greatest the Serapeum of Alexandria.^[32]: 439 The holy family of Serapis, Isis, and Harpocrates was worshipped throughout the empire; by the 4th century, the cult had become, behind Christianity, the most popular religion in the Roman world.^[32]: 439

Temples

The imperially-appointed archiereus for Alexandria and All Egypt was responsible for the administrative management of the temples, beyond those of the imperial cult, dedicated to Graeco-Roman deities and the

ancient Egyptian gods.^[29]: 95 He controlled access to the priesthoods of the Egyptian cults: the ritual circumcision of candidates was subject to his approval and he mediated disputes involving temples, wielding some judicial powers.^[29]: 93 As sponsors of temple cults, emperors appeared in traditional pharaonic regalia on carved temple reliefs.^[30]: 435 Similarly, Egyptian gods were sometimes shown wearing Roman military garb, particularly Anubis and Horus.^[32]

^: 439

The history of Egyptian temples in Roman times can be studied particularly well in some settlements at the edges of the Faiyum: Archaeological evidence, along with lots of written sources on the daily life of the priests, are available from Bakchias, Narmouthis, Soknopaiou Nesos, Tebtunis, and Theadelphia. For instance, temples can be seen supporting each other by asking colleagues to assist when there was a shortage of staff, but also competing with each other for spheres of influence. When temples came into conflict with authorities, then mainly with lower administrative officials, who belonged to the local population themselves; the Roman procurators intervened in these conflicts, if at all, then in a moderating manner.^[33]

Setekh (Louvre

)

The

Eighteenth Dynasty, but no monuments to Vitellius are known.^[31]

^: 13

The

Flavian emperors Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian are all known to have been responsible for works at Esna.^[31]: 14 Both Vespasian and his older son Titus sponsored work at the Dakhla Oasis, with Vespasian also the sponsor of work at Medinet Habu.^[31]: 14 Vespasian and his younger son Domitian were both credited with patronage of works at Kom Ombo and Silsila, and Domitian's sponsorship was also recorded at Akhmim, Armant, Dendera, and Philae.^[31]: 14 185 scenes in many temples show Domitian, concentrated in the oases and in Upper Egypt; his name was in some places removed as a result of his damnatio memoriae.^[34]: 413

After Domitian's assassination, the emperor Nerva's patronage of Egyptian temples is recorded only at Esna.^[31]: 14 Nerva's adoptive heir Trajan continued to lend imperial sponsorship to Egyptian cults, with his patronage recorded at Dendera, Esna, Gebelein, Kalabsha, Kom Ombo, Medinet Habu, and Philae.^[31]: 14 During Hadrian's tour of Egypt in 130–131, the emperor founded the new Hellenistic polis of Antinoöpolis at the point where Antinous drowned in the Nile and instituted a cult of Antinous as Osiris, to whom a death by drowning was sacrosanct.^[31]: 15 Hadrian commissioned the Barberini obelisk to commemorate his late lover's funeral rites, including the Egyptian opening of the mouth ceremony; the obelisk was erected in Rome and the cult of Antinous was propagated throughout the provinces.^[31]: 15 Hadrian also sponsored building work at Philae, and both he and his successor Antoninus Pius sponsored work at Armant, Dendera, and Esna.^[31]: 16 The reign of Antoninus Pius – also patron of building works at Coptos, Medamud, Medinet Habu, and Tod – saw the last substantial building work on Egyptian temples.^[31]: 16 After those of Antoninus Pius found at Medinet Habu, Deir el-Shelwit, and Dendera, no further imperial cartouches are known from the regions of Thebes and the western oases.^[34]: 413 From the reign of Marcus Aurelius, who is recorded as having rededicated an offering to Hathor originally made by Ptolemy VIII Physcon, the rate of new temple building and decoration slackened.^[34]: 413 Commodus was recorded as Pharaonic sponsor of temples at Armant, Esna, Kom Ombo and Philae, the last emperor to be widely honoured in this way in surviving monuments; a general lack of resources and the political turbulence after Commodus's assassination was probably responsible.^[31]: 18 The name of his successor Pertinax (r. 193) is recorded at the Temple of Tutu at Kellis.^[35]: 182 After inscriptions of Commodus, Greek inscriptions are no longer found in the temples of the Faiyum.^[34]: 413 It is possible that the reform of Septimius Severus at the turn of the 3rd century aggravated the decline of the Egyptian temples; the mētropoleis now given administrative control over the temples of their nomoi did not prioritize their upkeep.^[34]: 413

)

With a carved relief at Esna, Septimius Severus was commemorated, together with his son and co-augustus Caracalla, his wife Julia Domna the augusta, and their younger son Geta, on the occasion of the imperial tour of Egypt in 199–200.^[31]: 18 Caracalla's own titles are recorded at Philae, Ombos, in Middle Egypt, and in the Delta.^[34]: 413 After he murdered his brother and co-augustus Geta, his image was removed from their father's monument relief at Esna as part of the damnatio memoriae imposed by Caracalla.^[31]: 19 Caracalla's successor was Macrinus, whose patronage is recorded only at Kom Ombo; evidence of his successor Elagabalus in Egypt has not survived, and neither is the patronage of Severus Alexander recorded.^[31]: 19

Monumental temple-building and decoration among the Egyptian cults ceased altogether in the early 3rd century.

Christianity

The authors of the

^{: 478–479}

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Bishops often named their successors (e.g. Peter, his brother, by Athanasius in 373) or the succession was effected by imposing the hands of a deceased bishop on the one chosen to follow him. By 200 it is clear that Alexandria was one of the great Christian centres. The Christian

Egypt had an ancient tradition of religious speculation, enabling a variety of controversial religious views to thrive there. Not only did Arianism flourish, but other doctrines, such as Gnosticism and Manichaeism, either native or imported, found many followers. Another religious development in Egypt was the monasticism of the Desert Fathers, who renounced the material world in order to live a life of poverty in devotion to the Church.

Egyptian Christians took up monasticism with such enthusiasm that the Emperor Valens had to restrict the number of men who could become monks. Egypt exported monasticism to the rest of the Christian world. Another development of this period was the development of Coptic, a form of the Ancient Egyptian language written with the Greek alphabet supplemented by several signs to represent sounds present in Egyptian which were not present in Greek. It was invented to ensure the correct pronunciation of magical words and names in pagan texts, the so-called Greek Magical Papyri. Coptic was soon adopted by early Christians to spread the word of the gospel to native Egyptians and it became the liturgical language of Egyptian Christianity and remains so to this day.

Christianity eventually spread out west to the Berbers. The Coptic Church was established in Egypt. Since Christianity blended with local traditions, it never truly united the people against Arabian forces in the seventh and eight centuries.^{[citation needed]} Later on in the seventh and eighth centuries, Christianity spread out to Nubia.^[37]

The

Cyril, the patriarch of Alexandria, convinced the city's governor to expel the Jews from the city in 415 with the aid of the mob, in response to the Jews' alleged night-time massacre of many Christians. ^{[citation needed]} The murder of the philosopher Hypatia in March 415 marked a dramatic turn in classical Hellenic culture in Egypt but philosophy thrived in sixth century Alexandria.^{[citation needed]} Another schism in the Church produced prolonged disturbances and may have alienated Egypt from the Empire. The countless papyrus finds mark the continuance of Greek culture and institutions at various levels.

The new religious controversy was over the

Monophysite belief was not held by the 'miaphysites' as they stated that Jesus was out of two natures in one nature called, the "Incarnate Logos of God". Many of the 'miaphysites' claimed that they were misunderstood, that there was really no difference between their position be the Chalcedonian position, and that the Council of Chalcedon ruled against them because of political motivations alone. The Church of Alexandria split from the Churches of Rome and Constantinople over this issue, creating what would become the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, which remains a major force in Egyptian religious life today.[38] Egypt and Syria remained hotbeds of Miaphysite sentiment, and organised resistance to the Chalcedonian view was not suppressed until the 570s.

History

Early Roman Egypt (30 BC–4th century)

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The province was established in 30 BC after Octavian (the future Roman emperor Augustus) defeated his rival Mark Antony, deposed Pharaoh Cleopatra, and annexed the Ptolemaic Kingdom to the Roman Empire.

The first prefect of Aegyptus,

In 114, during the reign of Trajan (r. 98–117), unrest among the Jews of Alexandria broke out after the coming of a Messiah was announced at Cyrene.^[31]: 14 The uprising that year was defeated, but between 115 and 117 a revolt continued in the countryside in the absence of the armies away on Trajan's Parthian campaign.^[31]: 14 This Kitos War meant that the Greeks and the Egyptian peasants took up arms in the fight against the Jews, which culminated in their defeat and the effective destruction of the Alexandrian Jewish community, which did not recover until the 3rd century.^{[31]: 14–15} The city of Oxyrhynchus, by contrast, celebrated their survival of the rebellion with annual festivals for at least eighty years.^[31]: 15

Hadrian and Antinous
(Graeco-Roman Museum)

Bronze portrait head of Hadrian

Marble statue of
Osiris-Antinous

In the reign of Trajan's successor Hadrian (r. 117–138), an Egyptian revolt was instigated on the occasion of a new Apis bull's identification in 122; this rebellion was soon suppressed.^[31]: 15 Hadrian himself toured Egypt with his court for eight to ten months in 130–131, embarking on a Nile cruise, hunting lions in the desert, and making the dawn visit to the Colossi of Memnon.^[31]: 15 Hadrian founded the city of Antinoöpolis where his lover Antinous drowned in the river; the polis joined the other three poleis as a city with Hellenic citizenship rights, and he commissioned the Via Hadriana, connecting Antinoöpolis with Berenice Troglodytica, on the Red Sea.^[31]: 15

In 139, at the start of the reign of Antoninus Pius (r. 138–161), the Sothic cycle came to its end, meaning that for the first time in 1,460 years, the heliacal rising of Sirius coincided with the Egyptian calendar's New Year.^[31]: 16 The emperor's coinage commemorated the good fortune this was expected to portend with images of the millennial phoenix.^[31]: 16 At some time during his reign, Antoninus Pius visited Alexandria and had new gates and a new hippodrome built, but in 153, a riot in Alexandria killed the praefectus Aegypti.^[31]: 16

The destructive

Marcus Aurelius's successor Commodus (r. 176–192) overturned his adoptive father's pardon of Avidius Cassius's family by having them all murdered at the beginning of his reign.^[31]: 17 After Commodus's own murder, Pertinax was appointed emperor on 1 January 193, but this was only officially noticed in Egypt in early March, shortly before Pertinax's murder; news of this did not become known in parts of Egypt until late May.^[31]: 18 Pescennius Niger (r. 193–194), who had commanded a garrison at Aswan and the army in Syria, was recognized as the reigning emperor of Egypt by June 193, with Egypt ignoring the claims made in the brief reign of Didius Julianus at Rome.^[31]: 18

Following Hadrian's route, Septimius Severus made a tour of Egypt in 199–200, visiting the Colossi of Memnon and ordering the statues repaired, which resulted in the natural "singing" phenomenon reported by visitors to the Colossi for centuries ceasing to be heard.^[31]: 18 A series of administrative reforms, probably intended to improve revenue collection, included a new boulē (a local council or senate) for Alexandria, and for the mētropolis of each nome, instituted in 200/201.^{[6][31]: 18}

Caracalla (r. 198–217) granted Roman citizenship to all Egyptians, in common with the other provincials, with the 212 Constitutio Antoniniana. As a consequence, many Egyptians adopted the emperor's nomen gentilicium, "Aurelius" (after his imperial predecessor Marcus Aurelius) as their name according to Roman naming conventions, though citizenship's entitlements were less valuable than in past centuries and carried a tax burden.^[31]: 19 Caracalla murdered his brother and co-augustus Geta not long after their father's death, claiming self-defence and imposing a damnatio memoriae; this excuse and other defects of the emperor's character were mocked by the Alexandrians as he approached Egypt in 215, angering Caracalla.^[31]: 19 The emperor massacred Alexandria's welcoming delegation and allowed his army to sack the city; afterwards, he barred Egyptians from entering the place (except where for religious or trade reasons) and increased its security.^[31]: 19

Macrinus (r. 217–218), having assassinated Caracalla, assumed power and dispatched a new praefectus Aegypti and, breaking precedent, a senator to govern Egypt. When the deaths of Macrinus and his co-augustus Diadumenian (r. 218) after the Battle of Antioch were announced in Alexandria, the Alexandrians rose up, killed the senator, and forced out the prefect.^[31]: 20 The victor in the civil war was Elagabalus (r. 218–222), himself succeeded by Severus Alexander (r. 218–222) after the former's murder, but even though Severus Alexander may have visited Alexandria, neither emperor is much recorded in Egyptian sources.^[31]: 20

After Decius died, Trebonianus Gallus (r. 251–253) was recognized as emperor; in 253 an embassy from Meroë to the Romans is attested from a graffito carved at Philae.^[31]: 22 Both Trebonianus Gallus and Aemilianus (r. 253) had coins issued in their names at Alexandria.^[31]: 22 During the reigns of Valerian (r. 253–260) and his son Gallienus (r. 253–268), the empire's instability was compounded by the Valerianic Persecution and the unprecedented total defeat and capture of Valerian by the Sasanian Empire's Shapur I (r. 240–270) at the 260 Battle of Edessa.^[31]: 22 After this humiliation, the army acclaimed the brothers Quietus and Macrianus (r. 260–261) augusti; they were the acknowledged emperors in Egypt.^{[31]: 22–23} When they were overthrown, the Alexandrians acclaimed Lucius Mussius Aemilianus, the praefectus Aegypti as their new emperor.^[31]: 23 He enjoyed successes against the Blemmyes attacking the Thebaid, but by August 262 Alexandria was devastated and had lost two thirds of its inhabitants amid street fighting between the loyalists of Aemilianus and Gallienus; Aemilianus was defeated.^[31]: 23

There was a series of revolts, both military and civilian, through the 3rd century. Under

Coptos revolted in 293 and was destroyed by the augustus

The Blemmyes continued to attack Roman Egypt, though they were romanticized by pagans for their resistance to the Christians. Olympiodorus of Thebes wrote a positive account of them after a visit in c. 425.^[31]: 31 In 451, the emperor Marcian (r. 450–457) arrived at a peace treaty with the Blemmyes which allowed them the use of the temple at Philae annually and permitted them to use (and return) the temples' cult statues for oracular purposes.^[31]: 31

Marcian however, convened the 451

The Sasanian Empire invaded the Nile Delta in the reign of

Egypt nevertheless continued to be an important economic center for the Empire supplying much of its agriculture and manufacturing needs as well as continuing to be an important center of scholarship. It would supply the needs of the Byzantine Empire and the Mediterranean as a whole. The reign of Justinian (527–565) saw the Empire recapture Rome and much of Italy from the barbarians, but these successes left the empire's eastern flank exposed. The Empire's "bread basket" now lacked protection.

Episcopal sees

Ancient episcopal sees of the Roman province of Aegyptus Primus (I) listed in the Annuario Pontificio as titular sees,^[42] suffragans of the Patriarchate of Alexandria are enumerated in the following. The list here, however, does not cover other provinces such as Augustamnica, Arcadia and Thebais.

Ancient episcopal sees of the Roman province of Aegyptus Secundus (II) listed in the Annuario Pontificio as titular sees :^[42]

Sassanian Persian invasion (619 AD)

The

A Byzantine counteroffensive launched by Emperor

The Sassanian conquest allowed Miaphysitism to resurface in the open in Egypt, and when imperial rule was restored by Emperor Heraclius in 629, the Miaphysites were persecuted and their patriarch expelled. Egypt was thus in a state of both religious and political alienation from the Empire when a new invader appeared.

Arab Islamic conquest (639–646 AD)

An army of 4,000

• 
  Mummy Mask of a Man, early 1st century AD, 72.57, Brooklyn Museum
• 
  Canopic jar from the 3rd or 4th century (National Archaeological Museum, Florence)
• 
  Funerary masks uncovered in Faiyum, 1st century.
• 
  2nd-century statuette of Horus as Roman general (Louvre)
• 
  1st–4th-century statuette of Horus as a Roman soldier (Louvre)
• 
  2nd-century statuette of Isis–Aphrodite (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
• 
  2nd-century statuette of Isis–Aphrodite from Lower Egypt (Louvre)
• 
  1st–4th-century statuette of Isis lactans (Louvre)
• 
  Isis lactans: the mother goddess suckles

  Pio-Clementino Museum

  )
• 
  1st/2nd-century

  Gregorian Egyptian Museum

  )
• 
  The Berenike Buddha, discovered in Berenice, Egypt, 2nd century CE.
• 
  2nd/3rd-century

  Ariminum (Museo della Città, Rimini

  )
• 
  6th- or 7th-century Christian sandstone grave

  stela (Luxor Museum

  )
• 
  6th- or 7th-century Christian sandstone

  stela (Luxor Museum

  )
• 
  6th- or 7th-century Christian sandstone relief (Luxor Museum)
• 
  Hadrian coin celebrating Aegyptus Province, struck c. 135. In the obverse, Egypt is personified as a reclining woman holding the sistrum of Hathor. Her left elbow rests on a basket of grain, while an ibis stands on the column at her feet.
• 
  Augusta), and showing her diademed and draped bust on a crescent. The obverse shows a standing figure of Ivno Regina (Juno) holding a patera

  in her right hand and a sceptre in her left hand, with a peacock at her feet and a brilliant star on the left.

• Roman pharaoh

Notes

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Janzen, Mark (2017). "Ancient Egypt Population Estimates: Slaves and Citizens". TheTorah.com. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
2. ISBN 978-0-19-922721-1
3. ^ Alan, Bowman (24 May 2012). "11 Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt: Population and Settlement'". academic.oup.com. pp. 317–358. Retrieved 2023-10-18.
4. ^ Popkin, M. (2022), Souvenirs and the Experience of Empire in Ancient Rome, Cambridge University Press, p61
5. ^ Reinhold, M. (2002), Studies in Classical History and Society, Oxford University Press, p36
6. ^
   ISBN 978-0-19-954556-8
   , retrieved 2020-12-30
7. ^
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   , retrieved 2020-12-30
8. ^
   ISBN 9780199571451. Retrieved 2021-01-04. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help
   )
9. ^
   ISBN 9780199571451. Retrieved 2021-01-04. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help
   )
10. ^
    ISBN 978-1-134-66476-4
    .
11. ^
    JSTOR 311126
    .
12. S2CID 163149248
    .
13. ^ Lewis, Naphtali (1995). "Greco-Roman Egypt: Fact or Fiction?". On Government and Law in Roman Egypt. Atlanta: Scholars Press. p. 145.
14. JSTOR 3853691
    .
15. ^ Bell, p.148
16. ^ Lewis, p.141
17. ISBN 978-0-19-814813-5
    .
18. ^
    S2CID 220269251
    .
19. ^ ^{a b} Delia, Diana (1991). Alexandrian Citizenship During the Roman Principate. Atlanta: Scholars Press. pp. 30–31.
20. ^ Delia, pp.31–32
21. ^ Delia, p.33
22. ^
    ISBN 9780199571451
    . Retrieved 2021-02-20.
23. ^
    ISBN 978-81-208-1408-0
    .
24. ^ Christiansen, Erik (2004). Coinage in Roman Egypt: The Hoard Evidence. Aarhus University Press.
25. ^ Serapis coin
26. ISBN 978-90-5867-239-1
    .
27. ^
    ISBN 9780199571451. Retrieved 2021-01-17. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help
    )
28. ^
    ISBN 978-0-19-936904-1
    , retrieved 2021-02-07
29. ^
    doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199571451.013.0007. Retrieved 2021-01-22. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help
    )
30. ^
    S2CID 193089548
    , retrieved 2021-01-31
31. ^
    ISBN 978-1-139-05337-2. Retrieved 2021-01-26. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help
    )
32. ^
    S2CID 189295877
    , retrieved 2021-01-31
33. ISBN 978-3-447-11485-1
    .
34. ^
    S2CID 151245168
    , retrieved 2021-01-31
35. ISBN 978-90-04-18335-3
    , retrieved 2021-02-11
36. ^
    doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199571451.013.0029
    .
37. ^ Kevin Shillington, History of Africa
38. ^ "Egypt". Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs. Archived from the original on 2011-12-20. Retrieved 2011-12-14. See drop-down essay on "Islamic Conquest and the Ottoman Empire"
39. ^
    ISBN 978-1-4411-0626-1
    .
40. ISBN 978-0-691-02498-1
    .
41. ^ Yuri Marano (2012). "Discussion: Porphyry head of emperor ('Justinian'). From Constantinople (now in Venice). Early sixth century". Last Statues of Antiquity (LSA Database), University of Oxford.
42. ^
    ISBN 978-88-209-9070-1
    ), "Sedi titolari", pp. 819-1013
43. ^ Frye, pp. 167–70^{[full citation needed]}
44. ISBN 978-0521411721
    .

Further reading

• Angold, Michael. 2001. Byzantium : the bridge from antiquity to the Middle Ages. 1st US Edition. New York : St. Martin's Press
• Bowman, Alan Keir. 1996. Egypt After the Pharaohs: 332 BC–AD 642; From Alexander to the Arab Conquest. 2nd ed. Berkeley: University of California Press
• Bowman, Alan K. and Dominic Rathbone. "Cities and Administration in Roman Egypt." The Journal of Roman Studies 82 (1992): 107–127. Database on-line. JSTOR, GALILEO; accessed October 27, 2008
• Chauveau, Michel. 2000. Egypt in the Age of Cleopatra: History and Society under the Ptolemies. Translated by David Lorton. Ithaca: Cornell University Press
• El-Abbadi, M.A.H. "The Gerousia in Roman Egypt." The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 50 (December 1964): 164–169. Database on-line. JSTOR, GALILEO; accessed October 27, 2008.
• Ellis, Simon P. 1992. Graeco-Roman Egypt. Shire Egyptology 17, ser. ed. Barbara G. Adams. Aylesbury: Shire Publications Ltd.
• Hill, John E. 2003. "Annotated Translation of the Chapter on the Western Regions according to the Hou Hanshu." 2nd Draft Edition. [1]
• Hill, John E. 2004. The Peoples of the West from the Weilue 魏略 by Yu Huan 魚豢: A Third Century Chinese Account Composed between 239 and 265 CE Draft annotated English translation. [2]
• Kelly, Paul V. (2023). The financial markets of Roman Egypt: risk and return. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press.
  ISBN 9781802078336
  .
• Peacock, David. 2000. "The Roman Period (30 BC–AD 311)". In The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, edited by Ian Shaw. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. 422–445
• Riggs, Christina, ed. (2012). The Oxford Handbook of Roman Egypt. Oxford University Press.
  ISBN 978-0-19-957145-1
  .
• Rowlandson, Jane. 1996. Landowners and Tenants in Roman Egypt: The social relations of agriculture in the Oxyrhynchite nome. Oxford University Press
• Rowlandson, Jane. 1998. (ed) Women and Society in Greek and Roman Egypt: A Sourcebook. Cambridge University Press.
• Sippel, Benjamin. 2020. Gottesdiener und Kamelzüchter: Das Alltags- und Sozialleben der Sobek-Priester im kaiserzeitlichen Fayum. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz (Philippika 144).
  ISBN 978-3-447-11485-1
  .

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Roman Egypt.

• Detailed Map of Aegyptus