View source for Roman Egypt

{{short description|Roman province that encompassed most of modern-day Egypt}}
{{about|the Roman subdivision which was called "Aegyptus"|Deities in Greek mythology|Aegyptus (mythology)}}
{{Infobox Former Subdivision
| native_name            = {{native name|la|{{big|{{aut|Provincia Aegypti}}}}|italic=no}}<br/>{{native name|grc-x-koine|Ἐπαρχία Αἰγύπτου|links=no}}
| conventional_long_name = Province of Egypt
| common_name            = Egypt
| subdivision            = [[Roman province|Province]]
| nation                 = the [[Roman Empire]]
| era                    = {{nowrap|[[Classical antiquity]]}}<br/>[[Late antiquity]]
| capital                = [[Alexandria]]
| title_leader           = [[praefectus Aegypti|Prefect]]{{efn|Styled as ''prefectus [[augustus (title)|augustalis]]'' ("augustal prefect") after 381, and then ''[[dux]] et praefectus augustalis'' ("duke and augustal prefect") after 539.<ref>{{cite book | title = Egypt in the Byzantine World, 300–700 | editor-first = Roger S. | editor-last = Bagnall | chapter = The Imperial Presence: Government and Army | last = Palme | first = Bernhard | pages = 244–270 | publisher = Cambridge University Press | year = 2007 | isbn = 978-0521871372 | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=bCtxJwWlVW4C&pg=PA244}}</ref>}}
| leader1                = [[Cornelius Gallus]]
| leader2                = [[Theodore (prefect of Egypt)|Theodore]]
| year_leader1           = 30–26 BC
| year_leader2           = 642
| image_map              = Roman Empire - Aegyptus (125 AD).svg
| image_map_caption      = Province of Aegyptus in AD 125
| year_start             = 30 BC
| event_start            = Conquest of [[Ptolemaic Kingdom]]
| event1                 = Formation of the [[Diocese of Egypt|Diocese]]
| date_event1            = 381
| year_end               = 642
| event_end              = [[Muslim conquest of Egypt|Muslim conquest]]
| life_span              = 30 BC – 642 AD<hr/>Under [[Palmyrene Empire|Palmyrene]] rule; 270–273{{Clear}}[[Sasanian Empire|Sasanian]] [[Sasanian Egypt|occupation]]; 619–628
| stat_year1             = 1st century AD
| stat_pop1              = {{nowrap|4 to 8 million}}<ref name="pop"/>
| today                  = [[Egypt]]
| p1                     = Ptolemaic Kingdom
| s1                     = Sasanian Egypt
| s2                     = Rashidun Caliphate
| demonym                = 
}}
{{History of Egypt}}
'''Roman Egypt'''{{efn|{{Langx|la|Aegyptus}} {{IPA|la|ae̯ˈɡʏptʊs|}}; {{Langx|grc-x-koine|Αἴγυπτος}} {{Transliteration|grc|Aígyptos}} {{IPA|el|ɛ́ːɡyptos|}}}} was an [[imperial province]] of the [[Roman Empire]] from 30&nbsp;BC to AD&nbsp;642.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-03-31 |title=Ancient Egypt - Roman, Byzantine, 30 BCE-642 CE {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/ancient-Egypt/Roman-and-Byzantine-Egypt-30-bce-642-ce |access-date=2025-04-26 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> The province encompassed most of modern-day [[Egypt]] except for the [[Sinai Peninsula|Sinai]]. It was bordered by the provinces of [[Crete and Cyrenaica]] to the west and [[Judaea (Roman province)|Judaea]], later [[Arabia Petraea]], to the East.

Egypt was conquered by Roman forces in 30&nbsp;BC and became a province of the new Roman Empire upon its formation in 27&nbsp;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 [[Roman Italy|Italy]].<ref>[[Angus Maddison|Maddison, Angus]] (2007), ''Contours of the World Economy, 1–2030 AD: Essays in Macro-Economic History'', p. 55, table 1.14, [[Oxford University Press]], {{ISBN|978-0-19-922721-1}}</ref> The population of Roman Egypt is unknown, although estimates vary from {{Nowrap|4 to 8 million}}.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Alan |first=Bowman |date=24 May 2012 |title=11 Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt: Population and Settlement' |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/34600/chapter-abstract/294339007?redirectedFrom=fulltext |access-date=2023-10-18 |website=academic.oup.com |pages=317–358}}</ref><ref name="pop">{{cite web |last1=Janzen |first1=Mark |title=Ancient Egypt Population Estimates: Slaves and Citizens |url=https://thetorah.com/ancient-egypt-population-estimates-slaves-and-citizens/ |website=TheTorah.com |access-date=18 August 2019 |date=2017}}</ref> [[Alexandria]], its capital, was the largest [[port]] and second largest city of the Roman Empire.<ref>Popkin, M. (2022), ''Souvenirs and the Experience of Empire in Ancient Rome'', Cambridge University Press, p61</ref><ref>Reinhold, M. (2002), ''Studies in Classical History and Society'', Oxford University Press, p36</ref>

Three [[Roman legions]] garrisoned Egypt in the early [[Roman imperial period]], with the garrison later reduced to two, alongside {{Lang|la|[[auxilia]]}} formations of the [[Roman army]].<ref name=":0" /> The major town of each ''[[Nome (Egypt)|nome]]'' (administrative region) was known as a [[metropolis]]{{efn|{{Langx|grc-x-koine|μητρόπολις|mētropolis|lit=mother city}}}} and granted additional privileges.<ref name=":0" /> The inhabitants of Roman Egypt were divided by social class along ethnic and cultural lines.<ref name=":0" /> Most inhabitants were peasant farmers, who lived in rural villages and spoke the [[Egyptian language]] (which evolved from the Demotic Egyptian of the [[Late Period of ancient Egypt|Late]] and [[Ptolemaic Kingdom|Ptolemaic]] periods to [[Coptic language|Coptic]] under Roman rule). In each metropolis, the citizens spoke [[Koine Greek]] and followed a [[Hellenistic]] culture. However, there was considerable social mobility, increasing urbanization, and both the rural and urban population were involved in trade and had high literacy rates.<ref name=":0" /> In AD&nbsp;212, the ''[[Constitutio Antoniniana]]'' gave [[Roman citizenship]] to all free Egyptians.<ref name=":0" />

The [[Antonine Plague]] struck in the late 2nd century, but Roman Egypt recovered by the 3rd century.<ref name=":0" /> Having escaped much of the [[Crisis of the Third Century]], Roman Egypt fell under the control of the breakaway [[Palmyrene Empire]] after [[Palmyrene invasion of Egypt|an invasion of Egypt]] by [[Zenobia]] in 269.<ref name="egypt keenan nicholson">{{Citation |last=Keenan |first=James |title=Egypt |work=The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity |year=2018 |editor-last=Nicholson |editor-first=Oliver |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198662778.001.0001/acref-9780198662778-e-1628 |access-date=2020-12-30 |edition=online |publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en |doi=10.1093/acref/9780198662778.001.0001 |isbn=978-0-19-866277-8}}</ref> The emperor [[Aurelian]] ({{Reign|270|275}}) successfully besieged Alexandria and recovered Egypt. The usurpers [[Domitius Domitianus]] and [[Achilleus (Roman usurper)|Achilleus]] took control of the province in opposition to emperor [[Diocletian]] ({{Reign|284|305}}), who recovered it in 297–298.<ref name="egypt keenan nicholson" /> Diocletian then introduced administrative and economic reforms. These coincided with the [[Christianization of the Roman Empire]], especially the growth of [[Christianity in Egypt]].<ref name="egypt keenan nicholson" /> After [[Constantine the Great]] gained control of Egypt in AD&nbsp;324, the emperors promoted Christianity.<ref name="egypt keenan nicholson" /> The [[Coptic language]], derived from earlier forms of Egyptian, emerged among the Christians of Roman Egypt.<ref name=":0" />

Under [[Diocletian]] the frontier was moved downriver to the [[First Cataract]] of the [[Nile]] at Syene ([[Aswan]]), withdrawing from the [[Dodekaschoinos]] region.<ref name="egypt keenan nicholson" /> This southern frontier was largely peaceful for many centuries,<ref name="egypt keenan nicholson" /> likely garrisoned by ''[[limitanei]]'' of the [[late Roman army]]. Regular units also served in Egypt, including [[Scythian]]s known to have been stationed in the [[Thebaid]] by [[Justinian the Great]] ({{Reign|527|565}}). Constantine introduced the gold ''[[Solidus (coin)|solidus]]'' coin, which stabilized the economy.<ref name="egypt keenan nicholson" /> The trend towards private ownership of land became more pronounced in the 5th century and peaked in the 6th century, with large estates built up from many individual plots.<ref name="egypt keenan nicholson" /> Some large estates were owned by Christian churches, and smaller land-holders included those who were themselves both tenant farmers on larger estates and landlords of tenant-farmers working their own land.<ref name="egypt keenan nicholson" /> The [[First plague pandemic|First Plague Pandemic]] arrived in the [[Mediterranean Basin]] with the emergence of the [[Justinianic Plague]] at [[Pelusium]] in Roman Egypt in 541.

[[Sasanian conquest of Egypt|Egypt was conquered]] by the [[Sasanian Empire]] in 618, who [[Sasanian Egypt|ruled the territory for a decade]], but it was returned to the [[Eastern Roman Empire]] by the defection of the governor in 628. Egypt permanently ceased to be a part of the Roman Empire in 642, when it became part of the [[Rashidun Caliphate]] following the [[Muslim conquest of Egypt]].

== Formation ==

The [[Ptolemaic Kingdom]] ({{Reign|305|30|era=BC}}, the [[Thirty-first Dynasty of Egypt|Thirty-first Dynasty]]) had ruled Egypt since the [[Wars of Alexander the Great]] that overthrew [[Achaemenid Egypt]]. The Ptolemaic [[pharaoh]] [[Cleopatra VII]] sided with [[Julius Caesar]] during [[Caesar's Civil War]] (49–45&nbsp;BC) and Caesar's subsequent [[Roman dictator]]ship. After [[Assassination of Julius Caesar|Caesar's assassination]] in 44 BC, Cleopatra aligned Egypt with [[Mark Antony]], the Roman [[triumvir]] who controlled the eastern Mediterranean. In the [[last war of the Roman Republic]] (32–30&nbsp;BC), Antony (with Cleopatra's support) fought against [[Octavian]]. The decisive naval [[Battle of Actium]] was won by Octavian, who then invaded Egypt. In August 30 BC, following the [[Battle of Alexandria (30 BC)|Battle of Alexandria]] the defeated Antony and Cleopatra killed themselves.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|last=Rathbone|first=Dominic|title=Egypt: Roman|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199545568.001.0001/acref-9780199545568-e-2355|work=The Oxford Classical Dictionary|volume=|pages=|year=2012|editor-last=Hornblower|editor-first=Simon|edition=4th|publisher=Oxford University Press|language=en|doi=10.1093/acref/9780199545568.001.0001|isbn=978-0-19-954556-8|access-date=2020-12-30|editor2-last=Spawforth|editor2-first=Antony|editor3-last=Eidinow|editor3-first=Esther|url-access=subscription}}</ref> The Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt ceased to exist; Egypt was seized by Octavian as his personal possession.<ref name=":0" />

The legal status [[Augustus#First settlement|was settled]] in January 27&nbsp;BC, when Octavian was granted the honorific name of [[Augustus]] and Egypt became an [[imperial province]] of the newly established [[Roman Empire]]. Augustus (and succeeding [[Roman emperor]]s) ruled Egypt as the [[Roman pharaoh]]. The Ptolemaic institutions were dismantled: the government administration was wholly reformed, as was the social structure, though some bureaucratic elements were maintained.<ref name=":0" /> The Graeco-Egyptian legal system of the [[Hellenistic period]] continued in use, but within the bounds of [[Roman law]].<ref name=":0" /> The [[tetradrachm]] coinage minted at the Ptolemaic capital of Alexandria continued to be the currency of an increasingly monetized economy, but its value was made equal to the Roman ''[[denarius]]''.<ref name=":0" /> Augustus introduced land reforms that enabled wider entitlement to private ownership of land (previously rare under the Ptolemaic [[cleruchy]] system of allotments under royal ownership) and the local administration reformed into a Roman [[Liturgy (ancient Greece)|liturgical]] system, in which land-owners were required to serve in local government.<ref name=":0" /> The priesthoods of the [[Ancient Egyptian deities]] and [[Hellenistic religion]]s of Egypt kept most of their [[Egyptian temple|temples]] and privileges, and in turn the priests also served the [[Roman imperial cult]] of the [[deified]] emperors and their families.<ref name=":0" />

== Roman government in Egypt ==
{{Further|List of governors of Roman Egypt}}

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 [[Hellenistic civilization|Hellenism]] against Egyptian influences. Some of the previous offices and names of offices under the Hellenistic Ptolemaic rule were kept, some were changed, and some names would have remained but the function and administration would have changed.

The [[Roman Empire|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 [[Roman legion|legion]]s and [[Cohort (military unit)|cohorts]], for the organization of finance and taxation, and for the administration of justice.
[[File:Emperador romano como faraón (26519131170).jpg|left|thumb|A 1st-century AD Roman emperor wearing ''[[nemes]]'' with a ''[[uraeus]]'', as [[pharaoh]] ([[Louvre]])]]
The Egyptian provinces of the Ptolemaic Kingdom remained wholly under Roman rule until the administrative reforms of the ''[[Augustus (title)|augustus]]'' [[Diocletian]] ({{Reign|284|305}}).<ref name="oxford ch4" />{{Rp|57}} In these first three centuries of Roman Egypt, the whole country came under the central Roman control of single governor, officially called in {{Langx|la|praefectus Alexandreae et Aegypti|lit=prefect of Alexandria and Egypt}} and more usually referred to as the {{Langx|la|praefectus Aegypti|links=no|lit=prefect of Egypt}} or the {{Langx|grc-x-koine|ἔπαρχος Αἰγύπτου|lit=[[Eparch]] of Egypt|translit=eparchos Aigyptou}}.<ref name="oxford ch4" />{{Rp|57}} The double title of the governor as prefect "of Alexandria and Egypt" reflects  the distinctions between [[Upper and Lower Egypt]] and Alexandria, since Alexandria, outside the [[Nile Delta]], was not within the then-prevailing traditional geographic boundaries of Egypt.<ref name="oxford ch4" />{{Rp|57}}

From the 1st century BC, the [[Roman governor]] of Egypt was appointed by the emperor for a multi-year term and given the rank of [[prefect]] ({{Langx|la|praefectus}}).<ref name=":0" /> Both the governor and the major officials were of [[equestrian rank]] (unlike other Roman provinces, which had governors of [[Roman Senate|senatorial]] rank).<ref name=":0" /> The prefect of Egypt had more or less equivalent civil and military powers (''[[imperium]]'') to a [[proconsul]], since a [[Roman law]] (a {{Langx|la|lex|label=none}}) granted him "proconsular ''imperium''" ({{Langx|la|imperium ad similitudinem proconsulis|links=no}}).<ref name="oxford ch4" />{{Rp|57}} Unlike in [[senatorial province]]s, the prefect was responsible for the collection of certain taxes and for the organization of the all-important grain shipments from Egypt (including the [[Cura Annonae|''annona'']]).<ref name="oxford ch4" />{{Rp|58}} Because of these financial responsibilities, the governor's administration had to be closely controlled and organized.<ref name="oxford ch4" />{{Rp|58}} The governorship of Egypt was the second-highest office available to the [[equestrian class]] on the ''[[cursus honorum]]'' (after that of the [[praetorian prefect]] ({{Langx|la|praefectus praetorio|links=no}}), the commander of the imperial [[Praetorian Guard]]) and one of the highest-paid, receiving an annual salary of 200,000 ''[[sesterces]]'' (a "ducenarian" post).<ref name="oxford ch4" />{{Rp|58}} The prefect was appointed at the emperor's discretion; officially the governors' status and responsibilities mirrored those of the ''augustus'' himself: his fairness ({{Langx|la|aequitas|lit=equality|label=none}}) and his foresight ({{Langx|la|[[providentia]]|lit=providence|label=none}}).<ref name="oxford ch4" />{{Rp|58}} From the early 2nd century, service as the governor of Egypt was frequently the penultimate stage in the career of a praetorian prefect.<ref name="oxford ch4" />{{Rp|58}}
[[File:Portrait of family of Septimius Severus - Altes Museum - Berlin - Germany 2017.jpg|thumb|The first generations of the imperial [[Severan dynasty]] depicted on the "[[Severan Tondo]]" from Egypt ([[Antikensammlung Berlin]])]]
The governor's powers as prefect, which included the rights to make [[edicts]] ({{Langx|la|ius edicendi|label=none}}) and, as the supreme judicial authority, to order [[capital punishment]] ({{Langx|la|ius gladii|lit=right of [[gladius|swords]]|label=none}}), expired as soon as his successor arrived in the provincial capital at Alexandria, who then also took up overall command of the [[Roman legions]] of the Egyptian garrison.<ref name="oxford ch4" />{{Rp|58}} (Initially, three legions were stationed in Egypt, with only two from the reign of [[Tiberius]] ({{Reign|14|37|era=AD}}).)<ref name="oxford ch4" />{{Rp|58}} The official duties of the ''praefectus Aegypti'' are well known because enough records survive to reconstruct a mostly complete official calendar (''[[fasti]]'') of the governors' engagements.<ref name="oxford ch4" />{{Rp|57}} Yearly in [[Lower Egypt]], and once every two years in [[Upper Egypt]], the ''praefectus Aegypti'' held a ''conventus''  ({{Langx|grc-x-koine|διαλογισμός|links=no|lit=dialogue|translit=dialogismos}}), during which legal trials were conducted and administrative officials' practices were examined, usually between January (''[[Ianuarius]]'') and April (''[[Aprilis]]'') in the [[Roman calendar]].<ref name="oxford ch4" />{{Rp|58}} Evidence exists of more than 60 edicts issued by the Roman governors of Egypt.<ref name="oxford ch4" />{{Rp|58}}

To the government at Alexandria besides the prefect of Egypt, the Roman emperors appointed several other subordinate [[Procurator (ancient Rome)|procurators]] for the province, all of equestrian rank and, at least from the reign of [[Commodus]] ({{Reign|176|192}}) of similar, "ducenarian" salary bracket.<ref name="oxford ch4" />{{Rp|58}} The administrator of the ''[[Idios Logos]]'', responsible for special revenues like the proceeds of ''[[bona caduca]]'' property, and the ''[[iuridicus]]'' ({{Langx|grc-x-koine|δικαιοδότης|links=no|lit=giver of laws|translit=dikaiodotes}}), the senior legal official, were both imperially appointed.<ref name="oxford ch4" />{{Rp|58}} From the reign of [[Hadrian]] ({{Reign|117|138}}), the financial powers of the prefect and the control of the [[Egyptian temples]] and priesthoods was devolved to other procurators, a ''[[dioiketes]]'' ({{Langx|grc-x-koine|διοικητής|label=none}}), the chief financial officer, and an ''archiereus'' ({{Langx|grc-x-koine|ἀρχιερεύς|lit=archpriest|label=none}}).<ref name="oxford ch4" />{{Rp|58}} A procurator could deputize as the prefect's representative where necessary.<ref name="oxford ch4" />{{Rp|58}}
[[File:Himation Statue Greek Orator Roman-Egypt.png|left|thumb|Statue of an orator, wearing a [[himation]], from [[Heracleopolis Magna]], in [[Middle Egypt]] ([[Egyptian Museum]], Cairo)]]
Procurators were also appointed from among the [[freedmen]] ([[manumitted]] slaves) of the [[imperial household]], including the powerful {{Langx|la|[[procurator usiacus]]|label=none}}, responsible for state property in the province.<ref name="oxford ch4" />{{Rp|58}} Other procurators were responsible for [[Farm (revenue leasing)|revenue farming]] of [[state monopolies]] (the {{Langx|la|[[procurator ad Mercurium]]|label=none}}), oversight of farm lands (the {{Langx|la|[[procurator episkepseos]]|label=none}}), of the warehouses of Alexandria (the {{Langx|la|[[procurator Neaspoleos]]|label=none}}), and of exports and emigration (the {{Langx|la|[[procurator Phari]]|lit=procurator of [[Pharos of Alexandria|the Pharos]]|label=none}}).<ref name="oxford ch4" />{{Rp|58}} These roles are poorly attested, with often the only surviving information beyond the names of the offices is a few names of the incumbents. In general, the central provincial administration of Egypt is no better-known than the Roman governments of other provinces, since, unlike in the rest of Egypt, the conditions for the preservation of official [[papyri]] were very unfavourable at Alexandria.<ref name="oxford ch4">{{Cite book |last=Jördens |first=Andrea |title=The Oxford Handbook of Roman Egypt |year=2012 |isbn=9780199571451 |editor-last=Riggs |editor-first=Christina |editor-link=Christina Riggs |edition=online |language=en |chapter=Government, Taxation, and Law |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199571451.001.0001 |access-date=2021-01-04 |chapter-url=https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/28112/chapter-abstract/212245203}}</ref>{{Rp|58}}

Local government in the [[hinterland]] ({{Langx|grc-x-koine|χώρα|links=no|lit=countryside|translit=khṓrā}}) outside Alexandria was divided into traditional regions known as [[Nome (Egypt)|''nomoi'']].<ref name="oxford ch4" />{{Rp|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]]'' ({{Langx|grc-x-koine|στρατηγός|links=no|lit=general|translit=stratēgós}}); 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.<ref name="oxford ch4" />{{Rp|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.<ref name="oxford ch4" />{{Rp|58}} Each ''strategos'' was supplemented by a royal [[scribe]] ({{Langx|grc-x-koine|βασιλικός γραμματεύς|links=no|lit=royal secretary|translit=basilikós grammateús|label=none}}).<ref name="oxford ch4" />{{Rp|58}} These scribes were responsible for their ''nome''<nowiki/>'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.<ref name="oxford ch4" />{{Rp|58}} The royal scribes could act as proxy for the {{Transliteration|grc|strategoi}}, but each reported directly to Alexandria, where dedicated financial secretaries – appointed for each individual ''nome'' – oversaw the accounts: an {{Transliteration|grc|eklogistes}} and a {{Transliteration|grc|graphon ton nomon}}.<ref name="oxford ch4" />{{Rp|58}} The {{Transliteration|grc|eklogistes}} was responsible for general financial affairs while the {{Transliteration|grc|graphon ton nomon}} likely dealt with matters relating to the ''Idios Logos''.<ref name="oxford ch4" />{{Rp|58–59}} In 200/201, the emperor [[Septimius Severus]] ({{Reign|193|211}}) granted each metropolis, and the city of Alexandria, a [[Boule (ancient Greece)|''boulē'']] (a Hellenistic town council).<ref name=":0" />
[[File:Bronze youth BM Br828 n5.jpg|thumb|Bronze statue of a nude youth, from [[Athribis]] in [[Lower Egypt]] ([[British Museum]], London)]]
The ''nomoi'' were grouped traditionally into those of Upper and Lower Egypt, the two divisions each being known as an "[[epistrategy]]" after the chief officer, the ''epistrategos'' ({{Langx|grc-x-koine|ἐπιστράτηγος|links=no|lit=over-general|translit=epistratēgós|label=none}}), each of whom was also a Roman procurator. Soon after the Roman annexation, a new epistrategy was formed, encompassing the area just south of [[Memphis, Egypt|Memphis]] and the [[Faiyum]] region and named "the [[Heptanomia]] and the Arsinoite nome".<ref name="oxford ch4" />{{Rp|58}} In the Nile Delta however, power was wielded by two of the ''epistrategoi''.<ref name="oxford ch4" />{{Rp|58}} The ''epistrategos''<nowiki/>'s role was mainly to mediate between the prefect in Alexandria and the ''strategoi'' in the ''mētropoleis'', and they had few specific administrative duties, performing a more general function.<ref name="oxford ch4" />{{Rp|58}} Their salary was sexagenarian – 60,000 sesterces annually.<ref name="oxford ch4" />{{Rp|58}}

Each village or ''kome'' ({{Langx|grc-x-koine|κώμη|links=no|translit=kṓmē|label=none}}) was served by a village scribe ({{Langx|grc-x-koine|κωμογραμματεύς|links=no|lit=secretary of the ''kome''|translit=kōmogrammateús|label=none}}), whose term, possibly paid, was usually held for three years.<ref name="oxford ch4" />{{Rp|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 (ancient Greece)|liturgy]] system.<ref name="oxford ch4" />{{Rp|59}} They were required to be literate and had various duties as official clerks.<ref name="oxford ch4" />{{Rp|59}} Other local officials drawn from the liturgy system served for a year in their home ''kome''; they included the ''practor'' ({{Langx|grc-x-koine|πράκτωρ|links=no|lit=executor|translit=práktōr|label=none}}), who collected certain taxes, as well as security officers, granary officials ({{Langx|grc-x-koine|σιτολόγοι|links=no|lit=grain collectors|translit=sitologoi|label=none}}), public cattle drivers ({{Langx|grc-x-koine|δημόσιοι kτηνοτρόφοι|links=no|lit=cattleherds of the ''[[Deme|demos]]''|translit=dēmósioi ktēnotróphoi|label=none}}), and cargo supervisors ({{Langx|grc-x-koine|ἐπίπλοοι|links=no|translit=epiploöi|label=none}}).<ref name="oxford ch4" />{{Rp|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.<ref name="oxford ch4" />{{Rp|59}} The liturgy system extended to most aspects of Roman administration by the reign of [[Trajan]] ({{Reign|98|117}}), though constant efforts were made by people eligible for such duties to escape their imposition.<ref name="oxford ch4" />{{Rp|59}}
[[File:MC - Pharao.jpg|left|thumb|A 2nd-century AD Roman emperor wearing ''nemes'', as pharaoh ({{Interlanguage link|Museum Carnuntinum|lt=|de||WD=}}, [[Bad Deutsch-Altenburg]])]]
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.

[[Justinian I|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 ==
[[File:Fayum mummy portrait (160-170 AD) - British museum, EA65345.jpg|thumb|[[Encaustic painting|Encaustic]] and [[tempera]] painted [[Fayum mummy portrait]] of a Roman officer {{Circa|160|170}}, with a green ''[[sagum]]'', gold [[Fibula (brooch)|''fibula'']], white tunic, and red leather [[Balteus (sword belt)|''balteus'']] ([[British Museum]])]]
The [[Roman army]] was among the most homogenous Roman structures, and the organization of the army in Egypt differed little from its organization elsewhere in the Roman Empire. The [[Roman legions]] were recruited from [[Roman citizens]] and the [[Roman auxilia|Roman ''auxilia'']] recruited from the non-citizen subjects.<ref name="oxford ch5">{{Cite book |last=Haensch |first=Rudolf |title=The Oxford Handbook of Roman Egypt |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2012 |isbn=9780199571451 |editor-last=Riggs |editor-first=Christina |editor-link=Christina Riggs |edition=online |language=en |chapter=The Roman Army in Egypt |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199571451.001.0001 |access-date=2021-01-04 |chapter-url=https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/28112/chapter-abstract/212245399}}</ref>{{Rp|69}}

Egypt was unique in that its garrison was commanded by the ''praefectus Aegypti'', an official of the equestrian order, rather than, as in other provinces, a governor of the senatorial class.<ref name="oxford ch5" />{{Rp|75}} This distinction was stipulated in a law promulgated by Augustus, and, because it was unthinkable that an equestrian should command a senator, the commanders of the legions in Egypt were themselves, uniquely, of equestrian rank.<ref name="oxford ch5" />{{Rp|75}} As a result of these strictures, the governor was rendered unable to build up a rival power base (as Mark Antony had been able to do), while the military ''[[legati]]'' commanding the legions were career soldiers, formerly [[centurion]]s with the senior rank of ''[[primus pilus]]'', rather than politicians whose military experience was limited to youthful service as a [[military tribune]].<ref name="oxford ch5" />{{Rp|75}} Beneath the ''praefectus Aegypti'', the overall commander of legions and {{Lang|la|auxilia}} stationed in Egypt was styled in {{Langx|la|praefectus stratopedarches|links=no}}, from the {{Langx|grc-x-koine|στρατοπεδάρχης|links=no|lit=camp commander|translit=[[stratopedarches|stratopedárchēs]]|label=Greek}}, or as {{Langx|la|praefectus exercitu qui est in Aegypto|links=no|lit=prefect of the army in Egypt}}.<ref name="oxford ch5" />{{Rp|75–76}} Collectively, these forces were known as the {{Langx|la|exercitus Aegyptiacus|lit=Army of Egypt|label=none}}.<ref name="oxford ch5" />{{Rp|76}}

The Roman garrison was concentrated at Nicopolis, a district of Alexandria, rather than at the strategic heart of the country around [[Memphis, Egypt|Memphis]] and [[Egyptian Babylon]].<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|last=Alston|first=Richard|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NuKFAgAAQBAJ|title=Soldier and Society in Roman Egypt: A Social History|publisher=[[Routledge]]|year=2002|isbn=978-1-134-66476-4|location=London and New York|pages=13–39|language=en|chapter=2. The Army and the Province}}</ref>{{Rp|37}} Alexandria was the Mediterranean's second city in the early Roman empire, the cultural capital of the Greek East and rival to Rome under Antony and Cleopatra.<ref name=":4" />{{Rp|37}} Because only a few papyri are preserved from the area, little more is known about the legionaries' everyday life than is known from other provinces of the empire, and little evidence exists of the military practices of the prefect and his officers.<ref name="oxford ch5" />{{Rp|75}} Most papyri have been found in [[Middle Egypt]]'s villages, and the texts are primarily concerned with local affairs, rarely giving space to high politics and military matters.<ref name="oxford ch5" />{{Rp|70}} Not much is known about the military encampments of the [[Roman imperial period (chronology)|Roman imperial period]], since many are underwater or have been built over and because [[Egyptian archaeology]] has traditionally taken little interest in Roman sites.<ref name="oxford ch5" />{{Rp|70}} Because they supply a record of soldiers' service history, six bronze [[Roman military diploma]]s dating between 83 and 206 are the main source of documentary evidence for the {{Lang|la|[[auxilia]]}} in Egypt; these inscribed certificates rewarded 25 or 26 years of military service in the {{Lang|la|auxilia}} with Roman citizenship and the right of ''[[conubium]]''.<ref name="oxford ch5" />{{Rp|70–71}} That the army was more Greek-speaking than in other provinces is certain.<ref name="oxford ch5" />{{Rp|75}}

The heart of the Army of Egypt was the Nicopolis garrison at Alexandria, with at least one legion permanently stationed there, along with a strong force of {{Lang|la|auxilia}} cavalry.<ref name="oxford ch5" />{{Rp|71}} These troops would both guard the residence of the {{Langx|la|praefectus Aegypti|label=none}} against uprisings among the Alexandrians and were poised to march quickly to any point at the prefect's command.<ref name="oxford ch5" />{{Rp|71–72}} At Alexandria too was the {{Langx|la|Classis Alexandrina|label=none}}, the provincial fleet of the [[Roman Navy]] in Egypt.<ref name="oxford ch5" />{{Rp|71}} In the 2nd and 3rd centuries, there were around 8,000 soldiers at Alexandria, a fraction of the [[megalopolis]]'s huge population.<ref name="oxford ch5" />{{Rp|72}}

Initially, the legionary garrison of Roman Egypt consisted of three legions: the ''[[Legio III Cyrenaica]]'', the ''[[Legio XXII Deiotariana]]'', and one other legion.<ref name="oxford ch5" />{{Rp|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]] ({{Reign|14|37}}).<ref name="oxford ch5" />{{Rp|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, Egypt|Thebes]].<ref name="oxford ch5" />{{Rp|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 Fortis|''Legio II Traiana'']] arrived, to remain as the main component of the Army of Egypt for two centuries.<ref name="oxford ch5" />{{Rp|70}}

After some fluctuations in the size and positions of the {{Lang|la|auxilia}} garrison in the early decades of Roman Egypt, relating to the conquest and pacification of the country, the {{Lang|la|auxilia}} contingent was mostly stable during the [[Principate]], increasing somewhat towards the end of the 2nd century, and with some individual formations remaining in Egypt for centuries at a time.<ref name="oxford ch5" />{{Rp|71}} Three or four [[Ala (Roman cavalry unit)|''alae'']] of cavalry were stationed in Egypt, each ''ala'' numbering around 500 horsemen.<ref name="oxford ch5" />{{Rp|71}} There were between seven and ten [[Cohort (military unit)|''cohortes'']] of {{Lang|la|auxilia}} infantry, each ''cohors'' about 500 strong, although some were ''[[cohortes equitatae]]'' – mixed units of 600 men, with infantry and cavalry in a roughly 4:1 ratio.<ref name="oxford ch5" />{{Rp|71}} Besides the {{Lang|la|auxilia}} stationed at Alexandria, at least three detachments permanently garrisoned the southern border, on the Nile's [[First Cataract]] around [[Philae]] and Syene ([[Aswan]]), protecting Egypt from enemies to the south and guarding against rebellion in the [[Thebaid]].<ref name="oxford ch5" />{{Rp|72}}

Besides the main garrison at Alexandrian Nicopolis and the southern border force, the disposition of the rest of the Army of Egypt is not clear, though many soldiers are known to have been stationed at various outposts ({{Langx|la|praesidia|label=none}}), including those defending roads and remote natural resources from attack.<ref name="oxford ch5" />{{Rp|72}} Roman detachments, ''centuriones'', and ''[[Beneficiarius|beneficiarii]]'' maintained order in the Nile Valley, but about their duties little is known, as little evidence survives, though they were, in addition to the ''strategoi'' of the ''nomoi'', the prime local representatives of the Roman state.<ref name="oxford ch5" />{{Rp|73}} Archaeological work led by [[Hélène Cuvigny]] has revealed many ''[[ostraca]]'' (inscribed ceramic fragments) which give unprecedently detailed information on the lives of soldiers stationed in the [[Eastern Desert]] along the [[Coptos]]–[[Myos Hormos]] road and at the imperial granite quarry at ''[[Mons Claudianus]]''.<ref name="oxford ch5" />{{Rp|72}} Another Roman outpost, known from an inscription, existed on [[Farasan Island|Farasan]], the chief island of the [[Red Sea]]'s [[Farasan Islands]] off the west coast of the [[Arabian Peninsula]].<ref name="oxford ch5" />{{Rp|72}}

As in other provinces, many of the Roman soldiers in Egypt were recruited locally, not only among the non-citizen {{Lang|la|auxilia}}, but among the legionaries as well, who were required to have Roman citizenship.<ref name="oxford ch5" />{{Rp|73}} An increasing proportion of the Army of Egypt was of local origin in the reign of the [[Flavian dynasty]], with an even higher proportion – as many as three quarters of legionaries – under the [[Severan dynasty]].<ref name="oxford ch5" />{{Rp|73}} Of these, around one third were themselves the offspring ({{Langx|la|castrenses|links=no|lit=camp-men}}) of soldiers, raised in the ''[[canabae]]'' settlements surrounding the army's base at Nicopolis, while only about one eighth were Alexandrian citizens.<ref name="oxford ch5" />{{Rp|73}} Egyptians were given Roman-style Latin names on joining the army; unlike in other provinces, indigenous names are nearly unknown among the local soldiers of the Army of Egypt.<ref name="oxford ch5" />{{Rp|74}}

One of the surviving military diplomas lists the soldier's birthplace as [[Coptos]], while others demonstrate that soldiers and centurions from elsewhere retired to Egypt: {{Lang|la|auxilia}} veterans from [[Chios]] and [[Hippo Regius]] (or [[Hippos, Israel|Hippos]]) are named.<ref name="oxford ch5" />{{Rp|73–74}} Evidence from the 2nd century suggests most {{Lang|la|auxilia}} came from Egypt, with others drawn from the provinces of [[Africa (Roman province)|''Africa'']] and [[Roman Syria|''Syria'']], and from Roman [[Asia Minor]].<ref name="oxford ch5" />{{Rp|73–74}} {{Lang|la|Auxilia}} from the Balkans, who served throughout the Roman army, also served in Egypt: many [[Dacian language|Dacian]] names are known from ''ostraca'' in the Trajanic period, perhaps connected with the recruitment of [[Dacians]] during and after [[Trajan's Dacian Wars]]; they are predominantly cavalrymen's names, with some infantrymen's.<ref name="oxford ch5" />{{Rp|74}} [[Thracians]], common in the army in other Roman provinces, were also present, and an auxiliary diploma from the Egyptian garrison has been found in [[Thracia]].<ref name="oxford ch5" />{{Rp|74}} Two {{Lang|la|auxilia}} diplomas connect Army of Egypt veterans with Syria, including one naming [[Apamea, Syria|Apamea]].<ref name="oxford ch5" />{{Rp|74}} Large numbers of recruits mustered in Asia Minor may have supplemented the garrison after the [[Diaspora Revolt]], a Jewish uprising in Egypt, Libya and Cyprus.<ref name="oxford ch5" />{{Rp|74}}

== Society ==
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:Octavian Karnak.jpg|right|thumb|200px|A depiction of [[Augustus]] wearing the [[nemes]] like Egyptian pharaohs.]] -->

The social structure in Aegyptus under the Romans was both unique and complicated. On the one hand, the Romans continued to use many of the same organizational tactics that were in place under the leaders of the Ptolemaic period. At the same time, the Romans saw the Greeks in Aegyptus as "Egyptians", an idea that both the native Egyptians and Greeks would have rejected.<ref name="Oxyrhynchus and Rome, p.3">{{cite journal|last=Turner|first=E. G.|year=1975|title=Oxyrhynchus and Rome|journal=[[Harvard Studies in Classical Philology]]|volume=79|pages=1–24 [p. 3]|doi=10.2307/311126|jstor=311126}}</ref> To further compound the whole situation, Jews, who themselves were very Hellenized overall, had their own communities, separate from both Greeks and native Egyptians.<ref name="Oxyrhynchus and Rome, p.3" />[[File:Egyptian - Mummy Portrait of a Man - Walters 323.jpg|thumb|1st-century AD mummy excavated by [[William Flinders Petrie]]]]

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.<ref name=":0" /> 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 ''[[Gymnasium (ancient Greece)|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.<ref name=":0" /> 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.<ref name=":0" />

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.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Alston|first=Richard|year=1997|title=Philo's In Flaccum: Ethnicity and Social Space in Roman Alexandria|journal=Greece and Rome|series=Second Series|volume=44|issue=2|pages=165–175 [p. 166]|doi=10.1093/gr/44.2.165|s2cid=163149248}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book|last=Lewis|first=Naphtali|author-link=Naphtali Lewis |title=On Government and Law in Roman Egypt|publisher=Scholars Press|year=1995|location=Atlanta|page=145|chapter=Greco-Roman Egypt: Fact or Fiction?}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Bell|first=Idris H.|year=1922|title=Hellenic Culture in Egypt|journal=[[Journal of Egyptian Archaeology]]|volume=8|issue=3/4|pages=139–155 [p. 148]|doi=10.2307/3853691|jstor=3853691}}</ref> The different groups had different rates of taxation based on their social class. [[Roman citizens]] and citizens of Alexandria were exempted from the [[Tax per head|poll tax]]. Hellenized inhabitants of the nome capitals paid a low rate of poll tax, while native Egyptians paid a higher rate.<ref name=":0" /> Native Egyptians were barred from serving in the army, and there were other defined legal distinctions between the classes.<ref>Bell, p.148</ref> Within the ''mētropoleis'' there was a Hellenic socio-political élite, an urban land-owning aristocracy that dominated Egypt by the 2nd and throughout the 3rd centuries through their large private estates.<ref name=":0" />

The social structure in Aegyptus is very closely linked to the governing administration. Elements of centralized rule that were derived from the Ptolemaic period lasted into the 4th century.  One element in particular was the appointment of [[strategoi]] to govern the '[[Nome (Egypt)|nome]]s', the traditional administrative divisions of Egypt.  [[Boulai]], or town councils, in Egypt were only formally constituted by [[Septimius Severus]].  It was only under [[Diocletian]] later in the 3rd century that these boulai and their officers acquired important administrative responsibilities for their nomes. The Augustan takeover introduced a system of compulsory public service, which was based on ''poros'' (property or income qualification), which was wholly based on social status and power. The Romans also introduced the poll tax which was similar to tax rates that the Ptolemies levied, but the Romans gave special low rates to citizens of ''mētropoleis''.<ref>Lewis, p.141</ref> The city of [[Oxyrhynchus]] had many papyri remains that contain much information on the subject of social structure in these cities.  This city, along with Alexandria, shows the diverse set-up of various institutions that the Romans continued to use after their takeover of Egypt.

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.<ref>{{cite book|last=Sherwin-White|first=A. N.|url=https://archive.org/details/romancitizenship0000sher|title=The Roman Citizenship|publisher=Clarendon Press|year=1973|location=Oxford|page=[https://archive.org/details/romancitizenship0000sher/page/391 391]|isbn=978-0-19-814813-5 |url-access=registration}}</ref>

[[File:Bust of Roman Nobleman, ca. 30 B.C.E.– 50 C.E., 54.51.jpg|thumbnail|Bust of Roman Nobleman, {{Circa|30 BC–50 AD}}, [[Brooklyn Museum]]|left]]
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 "[[Ancient Greece|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.<ref name="Roman Oxyrhynchus, p. 84">{{cite journal|last=Turner|first=E. G.|year=1952|title=Roman Oxyrhynchus|journal=[[Journal of Egyptian Archaeology]]|volume=38|pages=78–93 [p. 84]|doi=10.1177/030751335203800110|jstor=3855498|s2cid=220269251}}</ref>

The candidate for the gymnasium would then be let into the [[ephebus]]. There was also the council of elders known as the [[gerousia]]. This council of elders did not have a boulai to answer to. All of this Greek organization was a vital part of the metropolis and the Greek institutions provided an elite group of citizens. The Romans looked to these elites to provide municipal officers and well-educated administrators.<ref name="Roman Oxyrhynchus, p. 84" /> These elites also paid lower poll-taxes than the local native Egyptians, [[fellah]]in.<ref name=":0" /> It is well documented that Alexandrians in particular were exempted from paying poll-taxes, and were able to enjoy lower tax-rates on land.<ref name=":12">{{cite book|last=Delia|first=Diana|title=Alexandrian Citizenship During the Roman Principate|publisher=Scholars Press|year=1991|location=Atlanta|pages=30–31}}</ref> Egyptian landholders paid about 3 times more than the elites per aroura of land in tax-rates, and about 4–5 times more than Alexandrians per aroura of land in tax-rates.<ref name=":12" />

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.<ref>Delia, pp.31–32</ref> 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.<ref>Delia, p.33</ref>

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 ==
[[File:Periplous of the Erythraean Sea.svg|thumb|450px|[[Indo-Roman trade and relations|Roman trade with India]] started from Aegyptus according to the [[Periplus of the Erythraean Sea]] (1st century).]]
The economic resources that this imperial government existed to exploit had not changed since the [[Ptolemaic period]], but the development of a much more complex and sophisticated [[tax|taxation system]] was a hallmark of Roman rule. Taxes in both cash and kind were assessed on land, and a bewildering variety of small taxes in cash, as well as customs dues and the like, was collected by appointed officials.

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.<ref name=":23">{{Cite book|last=Blouin|first=Katherine|title=The Oxford Handbook of Roman Egypt|year=2012|isbn=9780199571451|editor-last=Riggs|editor-first=Christina|editor-link=Christina Riggs|edition=online|language=en|chapter=Between Water and Sand: Agriculture and Husbandry|doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199571451.013.0003|access-date=2021-02-20|chapter-url=https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199571451.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199571451-e-3}}</ref>{{Rp|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 ({{Langx|grc-x-koine|Ἱερά γη|links=no|lit=holy land|translit=Hierā́ gē}}); the royal land ({{Langx|grc-x-koine|Βασιλική γη|lit=royal land|translit=Basilikḗ gē|label=none}}) belonging to the state and forming most of its revenue; and the "gifted land" ({{Langx|grc-x-koine|γή εν δωρεά|links=no|lit=land in gift|translit=gḗ en dōreá}}; {{Langx|grc-x-koine|Δωρεά|lit=gifts|translit=Dōreá|label=none}}) leased out under the [[cleruchy]] system.<ref name=":23" />{{Rp|23–24}}

[[File:NMW - Römisches Mosaik 1.jpg|thumb|[[Roman mosaic]] showing a boat on river Nile, 1st century AD]]
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.

[[File:Huvishka with seated god Serapis ("Sarapo").jpg|thumb|[[Kushan Empire|Kushan]] ruler [[Huvishka]] with seated Roman-Egyptian god [[Serapis]] (ϹΑΡΑΠΟ, ''"Sarapo"'') wearing the [[Modius (headdress)|modius]].<ref name="AHH326">{{cite book |last1=Dani |first1=Ahmad Hasan |last2=Harmatta |first2=János |title=History of Civilizations of Central Asia |year=1999 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publ. |isbn=978-81-208-1408-0 |page=326 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DguGWP0vGY8C&pg=PA326 |language=en}}</ref>]]
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,<ref>{{cite book|last=Christiansen|first=Erik|url={{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=VkVmAAAAMAAJ }}|title=Coinage in Roman Egypt: The Hoard Evidence|publisher=Aarhus University Press|year=2004}}</ref> and even the government itself was contributing to this by demanding more and more irregular tax payments in kind, which it channelled directly to the main consumers, the army personnel. Local administration by the [[Committee|councils]] was careless, recalcitrant, and inefficient; the evident need for firm and purposeful reform had to be squarely faced in the reigns of [[Diocletian]] and [[Constantine I]].

There are numerous indications of [[Indo-Roman trade relations|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").<ref name="AHH326"/><ref>[http://www.coinarchives.com/a/lotviewer.php?LotID=134885&AucID=160&Lot=1146 Serapis coin]</ref> 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.<ref name="AHH326"/>

== Architecture ==
[[File:Trajan on the Roman Mammisi at Dendera, Egypt.jpg|thumb|Roman emperor [[Trajan]] making offerings to Egyptian Gods, on the Roman [[Mammisi]] at the [[Dendera Temple complex]], Egypt.<ref name="PAS">"Trajan was, in fact, quite active in Egypt. Separate scenes of Domitian and Trajan making offerings to the gods appear on reliefs on the propylon of the Temple of Hathor at Dendera. There are cartouches of Domitian and Trajan on the column shafts of the Temple of Knum at Esna, and on the exterior a frieze text mentions Domitian, Trajan, and Hadrian"  {{cite book|last1=Stadter|first1=Philip A.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jJjiYdxHmPMC&pg=PA75|title=Sage and Emperor: Plutarch, Greek Intellectuals, and Roman Power in the Time of Trajan (98-117 A.D.)|last2=Stockt|first2=L. Van der|date=2002|publisher=Leuven University Press|isbn=978-90-5867-239-1|page=75|language=en}}</ref>]]
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 [[gymnasiarch]].<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|last=Bailey|first=Donald M.|url=https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199571451.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199571451-e-13|chapter=Classical Architecture|title=The Oxford Handbook of Roman Egypt|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|year=2012|isbn=9780199571451|editor-last=Riggs|editor-first=Christina|editor-link=Christina Riggs|edition=online|location=|pages=|language=en|doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199571451.001.0001|access-date=2021-01-17|archive-url=|archive-date=}}</ref>{{Rp|189}} In most cases, these have not survived and evidence of them is rare, but it is probable that most were built in the [[classical architecture]] of the Graeco-Roman world, employing the [[classical orders]] in stone buildings.<ref name=":3" />{{Rp|189}} Prominent remains include two [[Roman theatre (structure)|Roman theatres]] at [[Pelusium]], a temple of Serapis and a [[tetrastyle]] at Diospolis Magna at [[Thebes, Egypt|Thebes]], and, at [[Philae]], a [[triumphal arch]] and temples dedicated to the worship of the emperor Augustus and the goddess [[Roma (mythology)|Roma]], the personification of Rome.<ref name=":3" />{{Rp|189}} Besides a few individual stone blocks in some ''mētropoleis'', substantial remains of Roman architecture are known in particular from three of the ''mētropoleis'' – [[Heracleopolis Magna]], [[Oxyrhynchus]], and [[Hermopolis Magna]] – as well as from [[Antinoöpolis]], a city founded {{Circa|130}} by the emperor [[Hadrian]] ({{Reign|117|138}}).<ref name=":3" />{{Rp|189}} All these were sacred cities dedicated to particular deities.<ref name=":3" />{{Rp|189}} The ruins of these cities were first methodically surveyed and sketched by intellectuals attached to [[Napoleon's campaign in Egypt]], eventually published in the ''[[Description de l'Égypte]]'' series.<ref name=":3" />{{Rp|189}} Illustrations produced by [[Edme-François Jomard]] and [[Vivant Denon]] form much of the evidence of these remains, because since the 19th century many of the ruins have themselves disappeared.<ref name=":3" />{{Rp|189}} South of Thebes, the ''mētropoleis'' may have been largely without classical buildings, but near Antinoöpolis the classical influence may have been stronger.<ref name=":3" />{{Rp|189}} Most ''mētropoleis'' were probably built on the classical [[Hippodamian grid]] employed by the Hellenistic ''polis'', as at Alexandria, with the typical Roman pattern of the ''[[Cardo]]'' (north–south) and ''[[Decumanus Maximus]]'' (east–west) thoroughfares meeting at their centres, as at [[Athribis]] and Antinoöpolis.<ref name=":3" />{{Rp|189}}

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 (fish)|''medjed'']], a sacred species of ''[[Mormyrus]]'' fish.<ref name=":3" />{{Rp|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]].<ref name=":3" />{{Rp|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 (mythology)|Mercury]].<ref name=":3" />{{Rp|189}}

The oldest known remains of [[church architecture]] in Egypt are at the Roman village of [[Kellis]]; following the [[house church]] of the early 4th century, a three-[[aisle]]d, [[apse]]d [[basilica]] church was built in the Constantinian period, with ''[[pastaphoria]]'' on either side, while a third church was accompanied by a Christian cemetery.<ref name=":10" />{{Rp|671}} All these churches were built on an east–west axis, with the liturgical focus at the east, and the ''pastaphoria'' (side-rooms) were a common mark of churches in the country.<ref name=":10" />{{Rp|671}} Churches were built quickly after the victory of Constantine over Licinius, and in the 4th century even towns like [[‘Ain el-Gedida]] in the [[Dakhla Oasis]] had their own churches.<ref name=":10" />{{Rp|671}} The earliest known monumental basilica of which remains survive is that at Antinoöpolis; a five-aisled, apsed basilica facing east and set in a cemetery is {{Convert|60|m|ft|abbr=}} long and {{Convert|20|m|ft|abbr=}} wide.<ref name=":10" />{{Rp|671}}
[[File:Red Monastery Sohag Egypt Sanctuary North apse.jpg|left|thumb|North apse of the [[Red Monastery]] of Sohag]]
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.<ref name=":10" />{{Rp|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.<ref name=":10" />{{Rp|671–672}} In eastern Egypt, the columns and colonnade were emphasized, and the sanctuary distinguished with a [[triumphal arch]] in front of it.<ref name=":10" />{{Rp|671–672}}

A transept plan was adopted only in urban environments like [[Abu Mena]] and [[Marea (ancient city)|Marea]] in the western Nile Delta.<ref name=":10" />{{Rp|673}} In the middle 5th century, the Great Basilica, one of the largest churches in Egypt, was built at Hermopolis Magna at the central crossroads of the city.<ref name=":10" />{{Rp|673}} Unusually, the three-aisled transept basilica had semicircular extensions on the north and south walls.<ref name=":10" />{{Rp|673}} At the Coptic [[White Monastery]] at [[Sohag]], the 5th-century church was built with a [[triconch]] apse, an unusual design also found at Sohag's Dayr Anbā Bishoi; in the [[Wadi El Natrun]] at Dayr as-Suyrān; in the Dakhla Oasis in the Western Desert at Dayr Abū Mattā, and at Dendera.<ref name=":10" />{{Rp|674}} The tomb-chapel of the White Monastery's founder, [[Shenoute]], was also built with this triconch plan and was the first instance of a monastic founder's tomb built in a monastery.<ref name=":10" />{{Rp|673}} Some of the White Monastery's limestone ashlars were ''spolia''; the stones were likely taken from the pharaonic buildings at [[Upper Egyptian Athribis]] nearby.<ref name=":10" />{{Rp|674}} The main church's interior is a three-aisled basilica with an [[Ambon (liturgy)|ambon]] and seat, and the usual Egyptian western transverse aisle, but its exterior resembles an Egyptian temple, with [[cavetto cornice]]s on the roof.<ref name=":10" />{{Rp|674}} Unusually for the Coptic churches, the White Monastery's church has two narthexes, perhaps to accommodate worshippers from outside the monastic community.<ref name=":10" />{{Rp|674}} The affiliated [[Red Monastery]] nearby preserves the most extensive painted decoration from Late Antiquity anywhere and is probably representative of the period's Egyptian churches' interior decoration.<ref name=":10" />{{Rp|674}} Besides the main monumental basilica at Antinoöpolis, there were two other cruciform churches built there in the later 5th century.<ref name=":10" />{{Rp|671}}

== Religion ==
=== Imperial cult ===
{{Main|Roman imperial cult}}
[[File:Egipto Hadrianeum.JPG|thumb|Possible personification of the province of Egypt from the [[Temple of Hadrian]] in Rome ([[National Roman Museum]])]]
The worship of Egypt's rulers was interrupted entirely by the fall of the [[Ptolemaic dynasty]], who together with their predecessor [[Alexander the Great]] had been worshipped with an Egypto-Hellenistic [[ruler cult]].<ref name=":222">{{Cite book|last=Pfeiffer|first=Stefan|url=https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199571451.013.0007|chapter=The Imperial Cult in Egypt|title=The Oxford Handbook of Roman Egypt|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|year=2012|isbn=|editor-last=Riggs|editor-first=Christina|editor-link=Christina Riggs|edition=online|location=|pages=84–101|language=en|doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199571451.013.0007|access-date=2021-01-22|archive-url=|archive-date=}}</ref>{{Rp|98}} After the Roman conquest of Egypt, Augustus instituted a new Roman imperial cult in Egypt.<ref name=":222" />{{Rp|98}} Formally, the "Roman people" ({{Langx|la|populus Romanus}}) were now collectively the ruler of Egypt; emperors were never crowned pharaoh in person in the traditional way, and there is no evidence that the emperors were systematically incorporated into the traditional pantheons worshipped by the traditional priesthoods.<ref name=":7">{{Citation|last=Pfeiffer|first=Stefan|title=A Companion to Greco-Roman and Late Antique Egypt|chapter-url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9781118428429.ch27|volume=|pages=429–438|year=2019|editor-last=Vandorpe|editor-first=Katelijn|chapter=A Successful Ruler and Imperial Cult|edition=1st|publisher=Wiley|language=en|doi=10.1002/9781118428429.ch27|isbn=978-1-118-42847-4|s2cid=193089548 |access-date=2021-01-31}}</ref>{{Rp|435}} Instead, the image of Augustus was identified with [[Zeus]] ''Eleutherios'' ({{Langx|grc|Ἐλευθέριος||liberator|links=no}}), and modelled on the example of Alexander the Great, who was said to have "liberated" Egypt from the old pharaohs.<ref name=":7" />{{Rp|435}} Nevertheless, in 27 BC there was at Memphis, as was traditional, a high priest of Ptah appointed under Augustus's authority as the senior celebrant of the Egyptian ruler cult and referred to as a "priest of Caesar".<ref name=":7" />{{Rp|435}} Augustus had been honoured with a cult in Egypt before his death, and there is evidence that Nero was worshipped while still living, as was Hadrian in particular.<ref name=":7" />{{Rp|437}} While alive however, the emperor was usually honoured with offerings to the various gods "for his health" ({{Langx|la|pro salute|links=no}}); usually, only after the emperor's death was he deified and worshipped as a god.<ref name=":7" />{{Rp|437}} A letter of Claudius written to the Alexandrians in 41 AD rejects the offer of a cult of himself, permitting only divine honours such as statues and reserving cult worship for the deified Augustus.<ref name=":7" />{{Rp|438}} For juridical purposes, the imperial oath recalling Ptolemaic precedent had to be sworn in the name or "fortune" (''[[tyche]]'') of the emperor: "I swear by Caesar Imperator, son of God, Zeus ''Eleutherios'', Augustus".<ref name=":7" />{{Rp|437}}

The official cult was superintended by the ''[[archiereus]]'' for Alexandria and All Egypt ({{Langx|grc-x-koine|ἀρχιερεὺς Ἀλεξανδρίας καὶ Αἰγύπτου πάσης|translit=archiereùs Alexandrías kaì Aigyptou pásēs|label=none}}), who was procurator in charge of Egypt's temples and responsible for the worship of the imperial deities and of Serapis throughout the country.<ref name=":222" />{{Rp|95; 98}} As with the ''praefectus Aegypti'', the ''archiereus'' of Alexandria and All Egypt was a Roman citizen and probably appointed from the [[equestrian class]].<ref name=":222" />{{Rp|95}} The official cult in Egypt differed from that in other provinces; the goddess [[Roma (mythology)|Roma]], closely associated with the [[Roman Senate]], was not introduced by Augustus, since as an imperial province Egypt lay beyond the reach of the Senate's powers (''[[imperium]]'').<ref name=":222" />{{Rp|98}} The ''archiereus'' for Alexandria and All Egypt was appointed by the emperor.<ref name=":222" />{{Rp|95}} The high priest's full title ("high priest of the gods ''Augusti'' and the Great Serapis and the one who is responsible for the temples of Egypt and the whole country") indicates that the cult of Serapis was closely connected with the worship of the emperors and that both were overseen by the same Roman official.<ref name=":222" />{{Rp|94–95}}

[[File:New Wing, Vatican Museums (25497052238) (cropped).jpg|thumb|[[Nilus (mythology)|Nilus]], the [[River gods (Greek mythology)|river god]] of Egypt's [[Nile]], with ''[[cornucopia]]'', wheatsheaf, [[sphinx]], and [[Nile crocodile|crocodile]] ([[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 [[Liturgy (ancient Greece)|liturgy]] system, these high priests were responsible for the maintenance of the imperial temples and cults in their ''mētropoleis''.<ref name=":222" />{{Rp|98}} These officials, in place since the mid-1st century AD at latest, was each known as the "high priest of the Lords ''Augusti'' and all the gods" ({{Langx|grc-x-koine|ἀρχιερεὺς τῶν κυρίων Σεβαστῶν καὶ θεῶν ἁπάντων|translit=archiereùs tōn kuríōn Sebastōn kaì theōn apántōn|label=none}}) or the "high priest of the city" ({{Langx|grc-x-koine|ἀρχιερεὺς τῆς πόλεως|translit=archiereùs tēs póleōs|label=none}}), and was responsible mainly for the organization of the imperial cult, since the traditional local cults already had their own priesthoods.<ref name=":222" />{{Rp|92–93}} Though imposed by the Roman state and overseen from the provincial capital, the imperial cult was locally organized, though direct imperial control is also attested for the cult at Alexandria.<ref name=":222" />{{Rp|98}}<ref name=":7" />{{Rp|438}} Throughout Egypt, sacrificial [[altars]] dedicated to the worship of the deified emperor Augustus ({{Langx|grc-x-koine|Σεβαστός|lit=Venerable|links=no|translit=Sebastós}}) were set up in dedicated temples (''sebasteia'' or ''caesarea'').<ref name=":222" />{{Rp|86; 98}} Each ''sebasteion'' or ''caesareum'' had administrative functions as well as organizing the local cult of the emperor.<ref name=":222" />{{Rp|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.<ref name=":222" />{{Rp|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.<ref name=":7" />{{Rp|437}} The widow of the emperor Trajan, the ''[[List of Augustae|augusta]]'' [[Plotina]], was deified after her death by Hadrian.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|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.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|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 ({{Langx|grc-x-koine|ἡμέραι σεβασταί|links=no|lit=venerable days|translit=hēmérai sebastaí}}), fell according to the [[Roman calendar]].<ref name=":7" />{{Rp|438}}

=== Cult of Serapis and Isis ===
[[File:Serapis en su trono (26865464995).jpg|thumb|Enthroned statue of the syncretic god [[Serapis]] with [[Cerberus]], from [[Pozzuoli]] ([[National Archaeological Museum, Naples]])]]Serapis was a [[syncretic]] god of abundance and the afterlife which united Hellenistic and Egyptian features and which had been instituted by [[Ptolemy I Soter|Ptolemy I ''Soter'']] ({{Reign|305/304|282|era=BC}}) at the beginning of the Ptolemaic period, possibly related to the cult of [[Osiris]]-[[Apis (deity)|Apis]].<ref name=":8">{{Citation|last=Naether|first=Franziska|title=A Companion to Greco-Roman and Late Antique Egypt|chapter-url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9781118428429.ch28|volume=|pages=439–447|year=2019|editor-last=Vandorpe|editor-first=Katelijn|chapter=New Deities and New Habits|edition=1st|publisher=Wiley|language=en|doi=10.1002/9781118428429.ch28|isbn=978-1-118-42847-4|s2cid=189295877 |access-date=2021-01-31}}</ref>{{Rp|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]].<ref name=":8" />{{Rp|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.<ref name=":8" />{{Rp|439}} Caracalla took the title "Philosarapis" to indicate his devotion to the cult.<ref name=":8" />{{Rp|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 (basket)|''calathus'']].<ref name=":8" />{{Rp|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.<ref name=":8" />{{Rp|439}} As Isis {{Langx|la|lactans|lit=suckling Isis|label=none}}, she was an image of motherhood, feeding her infant Harpocrates; as Isis {{Langx|grc-x-koine|myrionymos|lit=the [[myriad]]-named}}, she was a goddess of magic and mysteries.<ref name=":8" />{{Rp|439}}

In Roman Egypt, the cult was superintended by the ''archiereus'' for Alexandria and All Egypt.<ref name=":222" />{{Rp|94–95}} Temples of Serapis ([[Serapeum|serapea]]) were found throughout Egypt, with the oldest serapeum at [[Memphis, Egypt|Memphis]] and the greatest the [[Serapeum of Alexandria]].<ref name=":8" />{{Rp|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.<ref name=":8" />{{Rp|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]].<ref name=":222" />{{Rp|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.<ref name=":222" />{{Rp|93}} As sponsors of temple cults, emperors appeared in traditional pharaonic regalia on carved temple reliefs.<ref name=":7" />{{Rp|435}} Similarly, Egyptian gods were sometimes shown wearing Roman military garb, particularly Anubis and Horus.<ref name=":8" />{{Rp|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, [[Medinet Madi|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.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sippel|first=Benjamin|title=Gottesdiener und Kamelzüchter: Das Alltags- und Sozialleben der Sobek-Priester im kaiserzeitlichen Fayum|publisher=Harrassowitz|year=2020|isbn=978-3-447-11485-1|location=Wiesbaden|pages=52–58; 208–227}}</ref>

[[File:Horus_horseman_Louvre_E4850.jpg|thumb|4th-century relief of the god [[Horus]] as a Roman cavalryman killing the crocodile, [[Setekh]] ([[Louvre]])|left]]
The [[Julio-Claudian emperors]] Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero all sponsored religious monuments and institutions at Coptos and [[Dendera Temple complex|Dendera]].<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|13}} Tiberius is known to have patronized monuments at [[Armant, Egypt|Armant]], [[Aswan]], [[Athribis]], [[Debod]], [[Diospolis Parva]], [[Temple of Edfu|Edfu]], [[Karnak]], [[Temple of Kom Ombo|Kom Ombo]], [[Luxor]], [[Philae]] and at the [[Temple of Shenhur]].<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|13}} Claudius's patronage is recorded at Aswan, Athribis, [[Esna]], Kom Ombo, and at Philae.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|13}} Nero is recorded as having sponsored Egyptian elites at the [[Dakhla Oasis]] in the [[Western Desert (Egypt)|Western Desert]], and at [[Karanis]] and [[Akoris, Egypt|Akoris]], as well as at Aswan and Kom Ombo.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|13}} During the short reigns of [[Galba]] and of the contestants in the [[Year of the Four Emperors]] after the fall of Nero, images of both [[Otho]] and Galba were carved in reliefs at [[Medinet Habu (temple)|Medinet Habu]], a Pharaonic temple dating from the [[Eighteenth Dynasty]], but no monuments to [[Vitellius]] are known.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|13}}

The [[Flavian emperors]] Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian are all known to have been responsible for works at Esna.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|14}} Both Vespasian and his older son Titus sponsored work at the Dakhla Oasis, with Vespasian also the sponsor of work at Medinet Habu.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|14}} Vespasian and his younger son Domitian were both credited with patronage of works at Kom Ombo and [[Gebel el-Silsila|Silsila]], and Domitian's sponsorship was also recorded at [[Akhmim]], Armant, Dendera, and Philae.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|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]]''.<ref name=":6">{{Citation|last1=Vandorpe|first1=Katelijn|title=A Companion to Greco-Roman and Late Antique Egypt|chapter-url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9781118428429.ch26|volume=|pages=405–427|year=2019|editor-last=Vandorpe|editor-first=Katelijn|chapter=Cults, Creeds, and Clergy in a Multicultural Context|edition=1st|publisher=Wiley|language=en|doi=10.1002/9781118428429.ch26|isbn=978-1-118-42847-4|access-date=2021-01-31|last2=Clarysse|first2=Willy|s2cid=151245168 |url=https://lirias.kuleuven.be/handle/123456789/637681 |url-access=subscription}}</ref>{{Rp|413}}[[File:113KOM EL SHOQAFA CATACOMBS (anthropomorphic Anubis in Roman military dress).jpg|thumb|2nd-century relief of Anubis as a Roman infantryman in the [[Catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa]]]]After Domitian's assassination, the emperor [[Nerva]]'s patronage of Egyptian temples is recorded only at Esna.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|14}} Nerva's adoptive heir [[Trajan]] continued to lend imperial sponsorship to Egyptian cults, with his patronage recorded at Dendera, Esna, [[Gebelein]], [[Temple of Kalabsha|Kalabsha]], Kom Ombo, Medinet Habu, and Philae.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|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.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|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.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|15}} Hadrian also sponsored building work at Philae, and both he and his successor [[Antoninus Pius]] sponsored work at Armant, Dendera, and Esna.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|16}} The reign of Antoninus Pius – also patron of building works at Coptos, [[Medamud]], Medinet Habu, and [[El-Tod|Tod]] – saw the last substantial building work on Egyptian temples.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|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.<ref name=":6" />{{Rp|413}} From the reign of Marcus Aurelius, who is recorded as having rededicated an offering to Hathor originally made by [[Ptolemy VIII Physcon|Ptolemy VIII ''Physcon'']], the rate of new temple building and decoration slackened.<ref name=":6" />{{Rp|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.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|18}} The name of his successor [[Pertinax]] ({{Reign|single=193}}) is recorded at the Temple of Tutu at [[Kellis]].<ref>{{Citation|last=Kaper|first=Olaf E.|title=Tradition and Transformation. Egypt under Roman Rule. Proceedings of the International Conference, Hildesheim, Roemer- and Pelizaeus-Museum, 3–6 July 2008|chapter-url=https://brill.com/view/book/edcoll/9789004189591/Bej.9789004183353.i-508_010.xml|volume=|pages=181–201|year=2010|editor-last=Lembke|editor-first=Katja|chapter=9. Galba's Cartouches at Ain Birbiyeh|publisher=BRILL|doi=10.1163/ej.9789004183353.i-508.38|isbn=978-90-04-18335-3|access-date=2021-02-11|editor2-last=Minas-Nerpel|editor2-first=Martina|editor3-last=Pfeiffer|editor3-first=Stefan}}</ref>{{Rp|182}} After inscriptions of Commodus, Greek inscriptions are no longer found in the temples of the Faiyum.<ref name=":6" />{{Rp|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.<ref name=":6" />{{Rp|413}}[[File:Copper alloy statues.jpg|left|thumb|Copper-alloy statuettes of Egyptian gods Anubis (left) and Horus (centre) as Roman officers with ''[[contrapposto]]'' stances ([[National Archaeological Museum, Athens]])]]
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 (emperor)|Geta]], on the occasion of the imperial tour of Egypt in 199–200.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|18}} Caracalla's own titles are recorded at Philae, Ombos, in Middle Egypt, and in the Delta.<ref name=":6" />{{Rp|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.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|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.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|19}}

Monumental temple-building and decoration among the Egyptian cults ceased altogether in the early 3rd century.<ref name=":6" />{{Rp|413}} After [[Philip the Arab]]'s [[cartouche]] was added to the temple wall at Esna, his successor [[Decius]]'s cartouche was carved into it, the last known instance of this long-established practice of usurping pharaohs' erasure of their predecessors' dynastic legacy.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|21}} Philip the Arab's reign saw the last Roman inscription found in the Temple of Kalabsha; at some time thereafter the site was abandoned by the Romans.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|22}} At [[Tahta]] in [[Middle Egypt]], the cartouche of [[Maximinus Daza]] was added to a since-ruined temple, along with other additions; he is the last Roman emperor known to have been recorded in official hieroglyphic script.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|25–26}} The last [[Buchis bull]] of [[Hermonthis]] ([[Armant, Egypt|Armant]]) was born in the reign of [[Licinius]] and died in the reign of [[Constantius II]]; the cartouche on its funerary ''stela'', dedicated in 340, is the last of all.<ref name=":6" />{{Rp|413}}<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|28}} Under the [[Theodosian dynasty]], during the joint reigns of [[Theodosius the Great]] and his sons [[Arcadius]] and [[Honorius (emperor)|Honorius]], an inscription at Philae's Temple of [[Harendotes]] commemorated the birthday of Osiris in the 110th ''[[anno Diocletiani]]'' (24 August 394), the latest hieroglyphic inscription to be dated securely.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|30}}<ref name=":6" />{{Rp|413}}

Caligula allowed the worship of Egyptian gods in Rome, which had been formally forbidden since Augustus's reign.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|12}} In Rome, and at Beneventum ([[Benevento]]), Domitian established new temples to the Egyptian gods Isis and Serapis.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|14}} A general "[[Ancient Egypt in the Western imagination|Egyptomania]]" followed Hadrian's tour of the country, and [[Hadrian's Villa]] at Tibur ([[Tivoli, Lazio|Tivoli]]) included an Egyptian-themed area known as the Canopus.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|16}} Hadrian may have been advised on religious matters by Pancrates, a poet and priest of Egypt.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|15}}
[[File:Coptic Relief.jpg|thumb|5th-century Christian [[relief]] ([[Staatliche Sammlung für Ägyptische Kunst]])]]

==={{anchor|Christian Egypt}}Christianity===
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{{Main|History of Christianity in Egypt}}
The authors of the [[New Testament]] do not record any missions of the [[Apostles in the New Testament|apostles]] to Alexandria or any [[epistles]] to the Egyptians, though Egyptian and Alexandrian Jews in [[Jerusalem]] are mentioned in the ''[[Book of Acts]]''.<ref name=":10">{{Citation|last=Brooks Hedstrom|first=Darlene L.|title=The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Archaeology|url=http://oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199369041.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199369041-e-21|volume=|pages=664–684|year=2019|editor-last=Caraher|editor-first=William R.|chapter=Archaeology of Early Christianity in Egypt|publisher=Oxford University Press|language=en|doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199369041.013.21|isbn=978-0-19-936904-1|access-date=2021-02-07|editor2-last=Davis|editor2-first=Thomas W.|editor3-last=Pettegrew|editor3-first=David K.|url-access=subscription}}</ref>{{Rp|665}}<ref name=":11">{{Cite book|last=Choat|first=Malcolm|url=http://oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199571451.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199571451-e-29|title=The Oxford Handbook of Roman Egypt|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2012|isbn=|editor-last=Riggs|editor-first=Christina|location=|pages=475–490|chapter=Christianity|doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199571451.013.0029}}</ref>{{Rp|475–476}} ({{Bibleverse|Acts|2:10|KJV}} and {{Bibleverse-nb|Acts|6:9|KJV}}.) An Alexandrian Jew, [[Apollos]], is recorded in the ''Book of Acts'' as speaking in the synagogue at [[Ephesus]], and because of an interpolation to {{Bibleverse|Acts|18:24|KJV}} current by the 5th-century – e.g. in the ''[[Codex Bezae]]'' – which suggested Apollos had been converted to Christianity in Egypt ({{Langx|grc-x-biblical|ἐν τῇ πατρίδι|lit=in his country|translit=en tēi patrídi}}), Christianity's arrival has been dated to the 1st century, but there is no sure evidence of this, as Apollos may have been converted elsewhere.<ref name=":11" />{{Rp|475}} The [[pseudepigraphical]] ''[[Secret Gospel of Mark]]'', of dubious authenticity, is the first text to claim [[Mark the Apostle]] visited Egypt.<ref name=":11" />{{Rp|475}} The 3rd-century [[Sextus Julius Africanus]]'s chronology was probably the source of the 4th-century bishop [[Eusebius of Caesarea]]'s narrative of Mark's arrival in Egypt, which conflicts with that of the ''Secret Gospel of Mark'' and is the earliest history of Alexandrian Christianity, including the names of the ten bishops who supposedly succeeded Mark before the late 2nd-century episcopate of [[Julian of Alexandria]].<ref name=":11" />{{Rp|475}} The drive to connect Alexandria with the lives of New Testament characters was part of a desire to establish continuity and [[apostolic succession]] with the churches supposed to have been founded by [[Saint Peter]] and the other apostles.<ref name=":11" />{{Rp|475}} Christianity probably arrived in Egypt among the Hellenized Alexandrian Jews, from Palestine's communities of Jewish Christians.<ref name=":10" />{{Rp|665}}
[[File:P. Oxy. LX 4009.jpg|left|thumb|A possible 2nd-century papyrus fragment of the ''[[Gospel of Peter]]'', from the [[Oxyrhynchus Papyri]] (''P''. ''Oxy''. LX 4009, [[Sackler Library]])]]
The earliest evidence of Christianity in Egypt is a letter written in the first half of the 3rd century and mentioning the gymnasiarch and the [[Boule (ancient Greece)|''boulē'']] (thereby indicating the author and recipient were of the upper class) uses the Christian ''[[nomina sacra]]'' and the {{Langx|grc-x-biblical|ἐν κυρίῳ|lit=in the Lord|translit=en kyríōí}}, drawn from the [[Pauline epistles]].<ref name=":11" />{{Rp|480}} Another papyrus from the same period records the names of candidates for liturgy service "supervision of the water-tower and fountains of the metropolis" of Arsinoë ([[Faiyum]]); among the names is one "Antonios Dioscoros son of Origen, Alexandrian", against whose name is noted in {{Langx|grc-x-koine|ἔστ(ι) ∆ιόσκορος χρηστιανός|links=no|lit=he is the Dioscoros (who is a) Christian|translit=ésti Dióskoros chrēstianós}}.<ref name=":11" />{{Rp|480}} With Alexandrian citizenship and a Roman [[Nomen gentilicium|''nomen'']], Antonios ({{Langx|la|Antonius|links=no}}) was likely of higher social status than the other candidates on the list, and is the first named Egyptian Christian for which evidence exists.<ref name=":11" />{{Rp|480}} In the ''Chora'' beyond Alexandria, there is no evidence at all for Christianity in the 2nd century, excepting some ambiguous letters, besides some papyrus fragments of scriptures among the [[Oxyrhynchus Papyri]] and among the papyri found at [[Antinoöpolis]] and Hipponon (Qarara) in the Heracleopolite ''nome'' around [[Heracleopolis Magna]].<ref name=":11" />{{Rp|480}} Many of these are in the form of [[codices]] rather than scrolls, the codex being preferred by Christian scribes.<ref name=":11" />{{Rp|478}} Among the 2nd-century New Testament papyri are [[Rylands Library Papyrus P52]] and [[Papyrus 90|Oxyrhynchus Papyrus 3523]] – fragments of the ''Gospel of John'' –, and [[Papyrus 104|Oxyrhynchus Papyrus LXIV 4404]] a fragment of the ''[[Gospel of Matthew]]''.<ref name=":11" />{{Rp|478}} It is not known whether these indicate a Christian presence outside the capital in the 2nd century, whether these papyri, dated subjectively by [[palaeography]], are as old as has been proposed, or whether they were in Egypt when newly made or arrived in later times as already old books.<ref name=":11" />{{Rp|478–479}}

{{More citations needed section|date=January 2021}}
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 [[apologist]]s [[Clement of Alexandria]] and [[Origen]] both lived part or all of their lives in that city, where they wrote, taught, and debated. With the [[Edict of Milan]] in 313, [[Constantine I (emperor)|Constantine I]] ended the persecution of Christians. Over the course of the 5th century, paganism was suppressed and lost its following, as the poet [[Palladas]] pointedly noted. It lingered underground for many decades: the final edict against paganism was issued in 435, but graffiti at [[Philae]] in Upper Egypt proves worship of [[Isis]] persisted at its temples into the 6th century. Many Egyptian Jews also became Christians, but many others refused to do so, leaving them as the only sizable religious minority in a Christian country. In the 4th century CE, Coptic [[Christian mission | mission]]ary work extended to the area of present-day Ethiopia.<ref>
{{cite book
 |last1                = Meinardus
 |first1               = Otto F. A.
 |author-link1         = Otto Friedrich August Meinardus
 |year                 = 2002
 |orig-date            = 1999
 |chapter              = The Coptic African Mission
 |title                = Two Thousand Years of Coptic Christianity
 |url                  = https://books.google.com/books?id=Cmey73GtfuUC
 |location             = Cairo
 |publisher            = American University in Cairo Press
 |page                 = 132
 |isbn                 = 9789774247576
 |access-date          = 23 May 2025
}}
</ref>

No sooner had the Egyptian Church achieved freedom and supremacy than it became subject to a [[Schism (religion)|schism]] and prolonged conflict which at times descended into civil war. Alexandria became the centre of the first great split in the Christian world, between the [[Arianism|Arians]], named for the Alexandrian priest [[Arius]], and their opponents, represented by [[Athanasius]], who became Archbishop of Alexandria in 326 after the [[First Council of Nicaea]] rejected Arius's views. The Arian controversy caused years of riots and rebellions throughout most of the 4th century. In the course of one of these, the great [[Serapeum#Destruction of the Alexandrian Serapeum|temple of Serapis]], the stronghold of paganism, was destroyed. Athanasius was alternately expelled from Alexandria and reinstated as its Archbishop between five and seven times.[[File:Philae Temple of Isis coptic cross 1.JPG|thumb|[[Coptic cross]] and ''[[chi-rho]]'' carved into older reliefs at the [[Temple of Isis at Philae]]|left]]

Patristic authorship was dominated by Egyptian contributions: Athanasius, Didymus the Blind and Cyril, and the power of the Alexandrian see embodied in Athanasius, Theophilus,  his nephew, Cyril and shortly by Dioscuros.

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 language|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. Later on in the seventh and eighth centuries, Christianity spread out to Nubia.<ref>Kevin Shillington, ''History of Africa''</ref>

The [[Fall of Rome|fall of the Western Empire]] in the 5th century further isolated the Egyptian Romans from Rome's culture and hastened the growth of Christianity. The success of Christianity led to a virtual abandonment of pharaonic traditions: with the disappearance of the Egyptian priests and priestesses who officiated at the temples, no-one could read the [[Egyptian hieroglyphs|hieroglyphs]] of Pharaonic Egypt, and its temples were converted to churches or abandoned to the desert.
[[File:Egitto, epoca romana o bizantina, frammento di drappo da appendere a tema cristiano, lino e lana.JPG|thumb|Roman-era Christian-themed wool-and-linen Egyptian textile ([[Louvre]])]]
[[Cyril of Alexandria|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  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. 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.{{Citation needed|date=February 2008}}

The new religious controversy was over the [[Christ]]'s human and divine nature. The issue was whether he had two natures, human and divine, or a combined one ([[hypostatic union]] from his humanity and divinity).  In an intensely religious age, it was enough to divide an empire. The [[Miaphysite]] controversy arose after the [[First Council of Constantinople]] in 381 and continued until well after the [[Council of Chalcedon]] in 451, which ruled in favour of the position that Christ was "one person in two natures" as opposed to Monophysitism (a single nature).

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.<ref name="georgetown1">{{cite web|title=Egypt|url=http://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/resources/countries/egypt|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111220145046/http://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/resources/countries/egypt|archive-date=2011-12-20|access-date=2011-12-14|publisher=[[Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs]]}} See drop-down essay on "Islamic Conquest and the Ottoman Empire"</ref> 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) ===
{{More citations needed section|date=January 2021}}
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]].

{{Multiple image
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| header    = Maps of Roman Egypt
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| image1    = Roman Africa.JPG
| width1    =
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| caption1  = Northern Africa under Roman rule
| image2    = Roman Empire 125.png
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| caption2  = The Roman Empire during the reign of [[Hadrian]] (117–138). Two [[Roman legion|legions]] were deployed in the [[imperial province]] of Aegyptus (Egypt) in the year 125.
}}
[[File:Stele di philae.jpg|thumb|Trilingual ''stela'' of G. Cornelius Gallus from Philae ([[Egyptian Museum]])]]
The first prefect of Aegyptus, [[Gaius Cornelius Gallus]], brought Upper Egypt under Roman control by force of arms, and established a [[protectorate]] over the southern frontier district, which had been abandoned by the later Ptolemies.

The second prefect, [[Aelius Gallus]], made an unsuccessful expedition to conquer [[Arabia Petraea]] and even [[Arabia Felix]]. The [[Red Sea]] coast of Aegyptus was not brought under Roman control until the reign of [[Claudius]]. The third prefect, [[Gaius Petronius]], cleared the neglected canals for irrigation, stimulating a revival of agriculture. Petronius even led a campaign into present-day central [[Sudan]] against the [[Kingdom of Kush]] at [[Meroe]], whose [[Kandake|queen]] [[Amanirenas|Imanarenat]] had previously attacked Roman Egypt. Failing to acquire permanent gains, in 22 BC he razed the city of [[Napata]] to the ground and retreated to the north.

The reigns of [[Tiberius]], [[Caligula]], and [[Claudius]] were mainly peaceful in Egypt, with intermittent civil strife between Greeks and Jews in Alexandria.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|12}} According to the Latin historian [[Tacitus]], [[Germanicus]] visited Egypt without the permission of Tiberius and caused a rift with his uncle, the emperor.<ref name="cambridge ch1">{{Cite book |last=Ritner |first=Robert K. |author-link=Robert K. Ritner |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/CBO9781139053372A004/type/book_part |title=The Cambridge History of Egypt |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=1998 |isbn=978-1-139-05337-2 |editor-last=Petry |editor-first=Carl F. |edition=1 |volume=1 |pages=1–33 |chapter=Egypt under Roman rule: the legacy of ancient Egypt |doi=10.1017/chol9780521471374.002 |access-date=2021-01-26}}</ref>{{Rp|12}} Claudius refused Alexandrian demands for self-government under their own senate, and attempted to quell the unrest between Alexandrian Greek and Jews.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|12}} Under Nero, perhaps influenced by [[Chaeremon of Alexandria]] – an Egyptian priest and the emperor's [[Stoicism|Stoic]] tutor – an expedition to [[Meroë]] was undertaken, though possible plans for an invasion of the southern kingdom was forestalled by the military demands of the [[First Jewish–Roman War]], a revolt in [[Judaea]].<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|13}}

The first ''praefectus Aegypti'' of Alexandrian origin was [[Tiberius Julius Alexander]], who was governor through the [[Year of the Four Emperors]] and who eventually proclaimed the general [[Vespasian]], victor in the Jewish War, emperor at Alexandria in July 69 AD.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|13}} This prefect was himself of Hellenized Jewish descent and related to [[Philo of Alexandria]].<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|13}} The importance of the Egyptian grain harvest ({{Langx|la|claustra annonae|links=no|lit=key to the grain supply}}) to Rome helped Vespasian assert control over the whole empire.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|13}}

From the reign of [[Nero]] onward, Aegyptus enjoyed an era of prosperity which lasted a century. Much trouble was caused by religious conflicts between the Greeks and the [[Jew]]s, particularly in [[Alexandria]], which after the destruction of [[Jerusalem]] in 70 became the world centre of Jewish religion and culture.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

Vespasian was the first emperor since Augustus to appear in Egypt.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|13}} At Alexandria he was hailed as pharaoh; recalling the welcome of [[Alexander the Great]] at the [[Oracle of Zeus-Ammon]] of the [[Siwa Oasis]], Vespasian was proclaimed the son of the creator-deity [[Amun]] (Zeus-Ammon), in the style of the ancient pharaohs, and an incarnation of Serapis in the manner of the Ptolemies.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|13–14}} As Pharaonic precedent demanded, Vespasian demonstrated his divine election by the traditional methods of spitting on and trampling a blind and crippled man, thereby miraculously healing him.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|14}} (This Egyptian tradition of healing is related to the [[healing the man blind from birth]], one of the [[Miracles of Jesus|miracles]] of [[Jesus of Nazareth]].)<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|14}}

In 114, during the reign of [[Trajan]] ({{Reign|98|117}}), unrest among the Jews of Alexandria broke out after the coming of a [[Messiah in Judaism|Messiah]] was announced at [[Cyrene, Libya|Cyrene]].<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|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]].<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|14}} This [[Diaspora Revolt]] 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.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|14–15}} The city of Oxyrhynchus, by contrast, celebrated their survival of the rebellion with annual festivals for at least eighty years.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|15}}

{{Multiple image
| align = 
| direction = 
| total_width = 350
| image1 = Bronze bust of the Roman Emperor Hadrian 2nd century CE at the Greco-Roman Museum in Alexandria Egypt AG.jpg
| alt1 = 
| caption1 = Bronze portrait head of Hadrian
| image2 = Osiris-Antinous in marble 2nd century CE at the Greco-Roman Museum in Alexandria Egypt AG.jpg
| caption2 = Marble statue of<br/>Osiris-Antinous
| header = Hadrian and Antinous<br/>([[Graeco-Roman Museum]])
}}

In the reign of Trajan's successor [[Hadrian]] ({{Reign|117|138}}), an Egyptian revolt was instigated on the occasion of a new Apis bull's identification in 122; this rebellion was soon suppressed.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|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]].<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|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.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|15}}

In 139, at the start of the reign of [[Antoninus Pius]] ({{Reign|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.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|16}} The emperor's coinage commemorated the good fortune this was expected to portend with images of the millennial [[Phoenix (mythology)|phoenix]].<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|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 {{Langx|la|praefectus Aegypti.|label=none}}<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|16}}

The destructive [[Antonine Plague]] epidemic affected Egypt from 165 to 180; evidence of mass graves from that time has been discovered by archaeological excavation in the [[Valley of the Queens]].<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|17}} A revolt of the native [[Ancient Egyptians|Egyptians]] from 171 was suppressed only in 175, after much fighting.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|17}} This "[[Bucolic War]]", named for the native "herdsmen" ({{Langx|grc|Βουκόλοι|Boukóloi|cattlemen|links=no}}) was led by one [[Isidorus (Egyptian rebel)|Isidorus]] and had defeated the Roman garrison of Egypt.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|17}} Control was re-established by [[Avidius Cassius]], the governor of [[Roman Syria]] and son of an erstwhile ''praefectus Aegypti'', who then declared himself emperor in 175, being acknowledged by his own armies and the Army of Egypt amid rumours that the emperor [[Marcus Aurelius]] ({{Reign|161|180}}) was dead.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|17}} On the emperor's approach, Cassius was deposed and killed after three months' rule, and the clemency of Marcus Aurelius restored peace as he visited Alexandria in 176.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|17}}

Marcus Aurelius's successor [[Commodus]] ({{Reign|176|192}}) overturned his adoptive father's pardon of Avidius Cassius's family by having them all murdered at the beginning of his reign.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|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.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|18}} [[Pescennius Niger]] ({{Reign|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.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|18}}
[[File:Upper part of an Egyptian statue of Caracalla as a pharaoh, Alexandria National Museum, Egypt.jpg|left|thumb|Granite statue of Caracalla wearing ''[[nemes]]'' and ''[[uraeus]]'' cobra headdress ([[Alexandria National Museum]])]]
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.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|18}} A series of administrative reforms, probably intended to improve revenue collection, included a new [[Boule (ancient Greece)|''boulē'']] (a local council or senate) for Alexandria, and for the ''mētropolis'' of each ''nome'', instituted in 200/201.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|18}}

[[Caracalla]] ({{Reign|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.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|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.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|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.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|19}}

[[Macrinus]] ({{Reign|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]] ({{Reign|single=218}}) after the [[Battle of Antioch (218)|Battle of Antioch]] were announced in Alexandria, the Alexandrians rose up, killed the senator, and forced out the prefect.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|20}} The victor in the civil war was [[Elagabalus]] ({{Reign|218|222}}), himself succeeded by [[Severus Alexander]] ({{Reign|218|222}}) after the former's murder, but even though Severus Alexander may have visited Alexandria, neither emperor is much recorded in Egyptian sources.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|20}}

After Decius died, [[Trebonianus Gallus]] ({{Reign|251|253}}) was recognized as emperor; in 253 an embassy from [[Meroë]] to the Romans is attested from a ''graffito'' carved at Philae.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|22}} Both Trebonianus Gallus and [[Aemilianus]] ({{Reign|single=253}}) had coins issued in their names at Alexandria.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|22}} During the reigns of [[Valerian (emperor)|Valerian]] ({{Reign|253|260}}) and his son [[Gallienus]] ({{Reign|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]] ({{Reign|240|270}}) at the 260 [[Battle of Edessa]].<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|22}} After this humiliation, the army [[Acclamatio|acclaimed]] the brothers [[Quietus]] and [[Macrianus Minor|Macrianus]] ({{Reign|260|261}}) ''augusti''; they were the acknowledged emperors in Egypt.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|22–23}} When they were overthrown, the Alexandrians acclaimed [[Lucius Mussius Aemilianus]], the ''praefectus Aegypti'' as their new emperor.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|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.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|23}}

There was a series of revolts, both military and civilian, through the 3rd century. Under [[Decius]], in 250, the Christians again suffered from persecution, but their religion continued to spread. The prefect of Aegyptus in 260, [[Mussius Aemilianus]], first supported the [[Macriani (disambiguation)|Macriani]], [[Gallienus usurpers|usurpers during the rule of Gallienus]], and later, in 261, became a [[Roman usurper|usurper]] himself, but was defeated by Gallienus.

During the existence of the break-away [[Palmyrene Empire]], Egypt came under the rule of [[Zenobia]].<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|23}} Under her control, the Palmyrene state went to war with Rome, holding Egypt against [[Aurelian]] ({{Reign|270|275}}); his forces, led by his eventual successor [[Probus (emperor)|Probus]] ({{Reign|276|282}}), captured Egypt by the end of 271.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|23}} In 272 however, both Alexandria and Palmyra were again in revolt, at the instigation of [[Firmus]], an Alexandrian with connections to the Blemmyes.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|23}} Aurelian besieged Alexandria and Firmus killed himself.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|23}} The reign of Aurelian's successor [[Marcus Claudius Tacitus]] ({{Reign|275|276}}) left no known surviving mark on Egypt, and his brother [[Florianus]] ({{Reign|single=276}}) was overthrown by Probus with the support of the Army of Egypt.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|23}} The Blemmyes attacked Coptos and Ptolemais with incursions into Upper Egypt; Probus defeated them.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|23}}

[[File:PikiWiki Israel 44432 Zipori.jpg|thumb|"[[Pompey's Pillar (column)|Pompey's Pillar]]", a monument erected by [[Diocletian]] ({{Reign|284|305}}) in the [[Serapeum of Alexandria]], represented in a [[mosaic]] from [[Sepphoris]] in [[Roman Palestine]]]]

=== Later Roman Egypt (4th–7th centuries) ===
{{further|Diocese of Egypt|Augustamnica|Arcadia Aegypti|Thebaid}}
Coptos revolted in 293 and was destroyed by the ''augustus'' [[Diocletian]]'s ''[[Caesar (title)|caesar]]'' (junior co-emperor) and future successor, [[Galerius]] ({{Reign|293|311}}).<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|24}} Diocletian's reforms subdivided the empire into more numerous [[late Roman province]]s; these were grouped into thirteen [[Roman dioceses]], and these into four [[praetorian prefectures]].<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|23}} The old province of Aegyptus was divided, with the [[Thebaid]] becoming its own province. Financial and tax reforms were implemented in Egypt in 297, and Egyptian currency was brought into line with the rest of the empire's monetary reforms.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|23–24}} The role of the ''praefectus Aegypti'' was divided between a ''[[praeses]]'' – a civilian governor – and a military ''[[dux]]''.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|24}}

In 297, [[Domitius Domitianus]] led a revolt and made himself emperor, assisted by [[Achilleus (Roman usurper)|Achilleus]].<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|24}} [[Diocletian]] captured Alexandria from them after an eight-month siege and "[[Pompey's Pillar (column)|Pompey's Pillar]]" was erected in his honour in the Serapeum of Alexandria.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|24}} Diocletian then travelled through Egypt as far as [[Philae]], where new gates were constructed for the occasion.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|24}} Diocletian is also known to have visited Panopolis in 298.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|24}} He ceded the [[Dodekaschoinos]], upstream of the [[First Cataract]] in [[Lower Nubia]], to the [[Noba]] people, who were subsidized by the Romans to defend the frontier, now at Syene (Aswan), from attack by the Blemmyes.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|24}} Diocletian's second visit to Egypt, in 302, involved distributions of bread to the Alexandrians and actions taken against adherents of [[Manichaeism]]; the following year, Diocletian instituted the [[Diocletianic Persecution]] against Christianity.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|24}} The persecution was remembered as particularly intense under [[Satrius Arrianus]] and [[Sossianus Hierocles]], the ''praefecti'' between 304 and 307 and in 310 respectively.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|24}} The [[Edict of Serdica]] published by Galerius, the senior emperor in 311, ended the Diocletianic Persecution.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|24}}[[File:Roman - Pendant with Portrait of Alexander the Great - Walters 57526.jpg|thumb|4th-century pendant with portrait of Alexander the Great as Zeus-Ammon with [[repoussé]] border ([[Walters Art Museum]])|left]]In 313, having defeated their rivals, the co-''augusti'' [[Licinius]] ({{Reign|308|324}}) and [[Constantine the Great]] ({{Reign|306|337}}) issued their [[Edict of Milan]], giving Christianity official recognition among the Romans' other religions.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|26}} The tax system was reformed, and new fifteen-year cycles (back-dated to 312) of [[indiction]]s were instituted for revenue purposes.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|26}} The former soldier [[Pachomius the Great]] was baptized into Christianity in 313.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|26}} Constantine may have planned a visit to Egypt in 325, since preparations were made for an imperial reception at Oxyrhynchus, but these plans would have been forestalled by the convocation of the Christian [[First Council of Nicaea]].<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|27}} The [[Nicene Creed]] united most of the [[Christian Church]] against the [[Arianism]] promoted by the Egyptian bishop [[Arius]] and in favour of the doctrines of another Egyptian bishop, [[Athanasius of Alexandria]].<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|27}} In 330, the Christian monastic [[Macarius of Egypt]] established his monastery at [[Scetis]] ([[Wadi El Natrun]]) in the [[Nitrian Desert]].<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|27}}

On 24 February 391, the emperor [[Theodosius the Great]] ({{Reign|379|395}}), in the names of himself and his co-''augusti'' (his brother-in-law [[Valentinian II]] ({{Reign|375|392}}) and his own son [[Arcadius]] ({{Reign|383|408}})) banned sacrifices and worship at temples throughout the empire in a decree addressed to Rome's ''[[praefectus urbi]]''.<ref name=":9">{{Cite book|last=Gwynn|first=David M.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oqeyBwAAQBAJ|title=Christianity in the Later Roman Empire: A Sourcebook|publisher=Bloomsbury Academic|year=2015|isbn=978-1-4411-0626-1|location=|pages=148|language=en}}</ref><ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|29}} On 16 June, writing to the ''praefectus augustalis'' and the ''comes Aegypti'', Theodosius and his imperial colleagues reissued the ban on temple worship and sacrifices for Alexandria and Egypt specifically.<ref name=":9" /><ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|29}}
[[File:Alexandrian World Chronicle - 6v.jpg|thumb|[[Folio]] 6 [[verso]] from the ''Golenischev papyrus'' of the ''[[Alexandrian World Chronicle]]'', showing [[Pope Theophilus I of Alexandria|Theophilus of Alexandria]] standing triumphantly on top of the Serapeum with its bust of Serapis]]
Unrest was fomented  against the pagan inhabitants by the bishop, [[Pope Theophilus I of Alexandria|Theophilus of Alexandria]], who provoked riots by attempting to convert a temple into a church and staging the discovery of Christian relics.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|29}} These were processed through the streets and the pagans were forced to take refuge in the [[Serapeum of Alexandria|Serapeum]], with the philosopher Olympius at their head.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|29}} The Christian mob loyal to Theophilus sacked the Serapeum, and ultimately it was rededicated as a church to [[John the Baptist]].<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|29}} The Serapeum of [[Canopus, Egypt|Canopus]] ([[Abu Qir]]) was looted at the same time, becoming first a monastery and then a church dedicated to [[Cyrus and John]].<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|29}} [[Ammonius Grammaticus]] – a priest of Thoth – and the Alexandrian poet [[Claudian]] both subsequently fled Egypt, for Constantinople and Rome respectively.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Fowden|first=Garth|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5-JKsMTEUaQC|title=The Egyptian Hermes: A Historical Approach to the Late Pagan Mind|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=1993|isbn=978-0-691-02498-1|location=|pages=183|language=en}}</ref><ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|30}}

Arcadius' son and successor [[Theodosius II]]'s long reign ({{Reign|402|450}}) saw the unrest generated by the bishop [[Cyril of Alexandria]]; he was opposed to the doctrines of [[Nestorius]], bishop of Constantinople, in relation to the title Mother of God (''[[Theotokos]]'').<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|30}} The faction of Cyril, aided by [[Shenoute]], prevailed, and Nestorius, having been denounced at the 431 [[Council of Ephesus]], was banished in 435 to the [[Kharga Oasis]] in the Western Desert.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|30}} The see of Alexandria's bishop reached the zenith of its influence in 449, when under [[Dioscorus I]] ({{Reign|444|454/458}}) it successfully defended the doctrines of [[Eutyches]] at the [[Second Council of Ephesus]] against the positions of Dioscorus' rival bishops, [[Pope Leo I|Leo I]] of Rome and [[Flavian of Constantinople]].<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|30}}

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 {{Circa|425}}.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|31}} In 451, the emperor [[Marcian]] ({{Reign|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.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|31}}

Marcian however, convened the 451 [[Council of Chalcedon]], overturning the conclusions of the Second Council of Ephesus, condemning Dioscorus and sending him into exile.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|31}} The resultant, and lasting, [[schism]] between the [[Coptic Church]] and the [[state church of the Roman Empire]] dates from this time.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|31}} [[Proterius of Alexandria|Proterius]] was appointed bishop in Dioscorus' stead.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|32}} When the Alexandrians heard of the accession of Marcian's successor [[Leo I the Thracian|Leo I]], they tore apart the hated Proterius and replaced him with their own nomination, [[Pope Timothy II of Alexandria|Timothy II]], whose election was not recognized by either Leo or his successor and son-in-law [[Zeno (emperor)|Zeno]].<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|32}} When Leo's brother-in-law [[Basiliscus]] seized Zeno's throne in 475, his [[miaphysitism]] enabled a thaw in relations between Alexandria and the eastern imperial capital, but Zeno's recovery of Constantinople the following year resumed the hostility.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|32}} Zeno's attempt to repair relations between Rome, Constantinople and Alexandria resulted in his own excommunication by the bishop of Rome, [[Pope Felix III|Felix III]], and beginning the [[Acacian schism]].<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|32}}
[[File:Carmagnola 1.jpg|thumb|The ''[[Carmagnola (Venice)|Carmagnola]]'', an Egyptian porphyry head on Venice's [[St Mark's Basilica]] thought to represent Justinian I<ref>{{cite web|author=Yuri Marano|date=2012|title=Discussion: Porphyry head of emperor ('Justinian'). From Constantinople (now in Venice). Early sixth century.|url=http://laststatues.classics.ox.ac.uk/database/discussion.php?id=826|website=Last Statues of Antiquity (LSA Database), University of Oxford}}</ref>]]

The Sasanian Empire invaded the Nile Delta in the reign of [[Anastasius I Dicorus|Anastasius I]] ({{Reign|491|518}}), though the [[Sasanian army]] retreated after they failed to capture Alexandria or make significant gains.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|32}} In the early 6th century and in the reign of [[Justin I]] ({{Reign|518|527}}), the Blemmyes again made attacks on Upper Egypt.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|32}} Justin's successor [[Justinian I]] ({{Reign|527|565}}) and his wife, the ''augusta'' [[Theodora (wife of Justinian I)|Theodora]], both sought to convert the [[Noba]] to Christianity; envoys of Justinian promoted [[dyophysitism]] but the Noba were persuaded to adopt the miaphysitism of the Coptic Church by emissaries of the empress.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|32}} Newly converted, they assisted the Roman army in its conquest of the pagan Blemmyes, and the general [[Narses]] was in 543 sent to confiscate the cult statues of Philae (which were sent to Constantinople), close the temple, and suppress its priesthood by imprisonment.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|32}} In 577, during the retirement of Justinian's successor [[Justin II]] ({{Reign|565|574}}) and the start of [[Tiberius II Constantine]]'s reign ({{Reign|574|582}}), the defences at Philae had to be rebuilt to repel attacks by the Blemmyes.<ref name="cambridge ch1" />{{Rp|33}}{{Unreferenced section|date=December 2020}}[[File:NE 565ad.jpg|thumb|450px|A map of the Near East in 565, showing Byzantine Egypt and its neighbors.]]The reign of [[Constantine the Great]] also saw the founding of [[Constantinople]] as a new capital for the Roman Empire, and in the course of the 4th century, the Empire was divided in two, with Egypt finding itself in the Eastern Empire with its capital at Constantinople. Latin, never well established in Egypt, would play a declining role with Greek continuing to be the dominant language of government and scholarship. During the 5th and 6th centuries the [[Eastern Roman Empire]], known historiographically as the [[Byzantine Empire]], gradually transformed itself into a thoroughly Christian state whose culture differed significantly from its pagan past.

The Eastern Empire became increasingly "oriental" in style as its links with the old Græco-Roman world faded. The Greek system of local government by citizens had now entirely disappeared. Offices, with new Greek-Byzantine names, were almost hereditary in the wealthy land-owning families. Alexandria, the second city of the empire, continued to be a centre of religious controversy and violence.

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 I|Justinian]] (527&ndash;565) saw the Empire recapture Rome and much of [[Roman Italy|Italy]] from the barbarians, but these successes left the empire's eastern flank exposed. The Empire's "[[Breadbasket|bread basket]]" now lacked protection.[[File:Crátera en alabastro (HR) (26772805492).jpg|thumb|Augustan-era ''[[krater]]'' in Egyptian [[alabaster]], found in a Roman necropolis at [[San Prisco]] in 1897 ([[National Archaeological Museum, Naples]])]]

==== Episcopal sees ====
Ancient episcopal sees of the Roman province of '''Aegyptus Primus (I)''' listed in the ''[[Annuario Pontificio]]'' as [[titular see]]s,<ref name=AP>''Annuario Pontificio 2013'' (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 {{ISBN|978-88-209-9070-1}}), "Sedi titolari", pp. 819-1013</ref> 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.
{{columns-list|colwidth=30em|
* [[Agnus (Egypt)|Agnus]]
* [[Andropolis, Egypt|Andropolis]] (Khirbita)
* [[Butus]] (near Desuq? Com-Casir?)
* [[Cleopatris]] (Seresna)
* [[Coprithis]] (Qabrit)
* [[Damanhur|Hermopolis Parva]]
* [[Letopolis]] (Ausim)
* [[Phatanus]] (El-Batanu, El-Batnu)
* [[Mariotes]] (Lake Mariout)
* [[Menelaite]] (Idku)
* [[Metelis]] (Fuwwah)
* [[Naucratis]] (An Nuqrash)
* [[Nicius]] (Zawyat Razin)
* {{ill|Onouphis|de}} (Minuf)
* [[Petra in Aegypto]] (Hagar-En-Nauatiyeh)
* [[Sais, Egypt|Sais]] (San Al Hajar)
* [[Taua (Egypt)|Taua]] (Thaouah? near Ebiar?)
* [[Terenuthis]] (Al Tarranah)
* [[Thois]] (Tideh)
}}

Ancient episcopal sees of the Roman province of '''Aegyptus Secundus (II)''' listed in the ''[[Annuario Pontificio]]'' as [[titular see]]s :<ref name=AP/>
{{columns-list|colwidth=30em|
* [[Busiris (Lower Egypt)|Busiris]] (Abu-Sir)
* [[Cabasa]] (Chahbas-Esch-Choada)
* [[Cynopolis in Aegypto]] (Banâm Benâ)
* *[[:de:Tell el-Balamun|Diospolis Inferior]] (*Tell el-Balamun)
* [[Pachnemunis]] (Kom el-Khanziri)
* [[Phragonis]] (Tell-El-Faraïn, Côm-Faraïn)
* [[Schedia]]
* [[Sebennytus]] (Sebennytos)
* [[Xois]]
}}

=== Sassanian Persian invasion (619 AD) ===
[[File:626Byzantium.JPG|thumb|450px|The [[Byzantine Empire]] in 629 after [[Heraclius]] had reconquered Syria, Palestine and Egypt from the [[Sassanid Empire]].]]
{{Main|Roman–Persian Wars|Sasanian Egypt}}
The [[Sasanian conquest of Egypt]], beginning in AD 618 or 619, was one of the last [[Sassanid Empire|Sassanid]] triumphs in the Roman-Persian Wars against [[Byzantine Empire|Roman Empire]]. From 619 to 628, [[Sasanian Egypt|they incorporated Egypt once again within their territories]], the previous longer time being under the [[Twenty-seventh Dynasty of Egypt|Achaemenids]]. [[Khosrow II]] Parvêz had begun [[Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628|this war]] on the pretext of retaliation for the assassination of Emperor [[Maurice (emperor)|Maurice]] (582–602) and had achieved a series of early successes, culminating in the conquests of [[Siege of Jerusalem (614)|Jerusalem]] (614) and [[Siege of Alexandria (619)|Alexandria]] (619).

A Byzantine counteroffensive launched by Emperor [[Heraclius]] in the spring of 622 shifted the advantage, and the war was brought to an end by the fall of Khosrow on 25 February 628.<ref>Frye, pp.&nbsp;167–70{{full citation needed|date=July 2019}}</ref> The Egyptians had no love of the emperor in Constantinople and put up little resistance. Khosrow's son and successor, [[Kavadh II]] Šêrôe (Šêrôy), who reigned until September, concluded a peace treaty returning territories conquered by the Sassanids to the [[Eastern Roman Empire]].

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) ===
[[File:Byzantiumby650AD.svg|thumb|450px|The Mediterranean world in 650, after the Arabs had conquered Egypt and Syria from the Byzantines.]]
{{Main|Muslim conquest of Egypt}}

An army of 4,000 [[Arabs]] led by [[Amr Ibn Al-Aas]] was sent by the [[Caliph]] [[Umar]], successor to [[Muhammad]], to spread Islamic rule to the west. Arabs crossed into Egypt from Palestine in December 639,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IvPVEb17uzkC&pg=PA67|title= Byzantium and the Early Islamic Conquests |first=Kaegi|last=Walter|author-link= Walter Kaegi|page=67|isbn= 978-0521411721 |publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1992}}</ref> and advanced rapidly into the [[Nile Delta]]. The Imperial garrisons retreated into the walled towns, where they successfully held out for a year or more.

The Arabs sent for reinforcements, and in April 641 they [[Siege of Alexandria (641)|besieged Alexandria]]. Following a brief truce, the imperial forces retreated, ending 671 years of Roman government.{{efn|Alexandria was conquered by [[Augustus]] on 1 August 30 BC;<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wiseman |first=T. P. |author-link=T. P. Wiseman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vPaKDwAAQBAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA203 |title=The House of Augustus: A Historical Detective Story |date=2019 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-18908-6 |pages=203 |language=}}</ref> the last Roman forces departed on 17 September 642.<ref name="butler"/>}} The Byzantines assembled a fleet with the aim of recapturing Egypt, and briefly won back [[Alexandria]] in late 645. However, the Muslims retook the city in 646, completing the [[Muslim conquest of Egypt]]. 40,000 civilians were evacuated to Constantinople with the imperial fleet.<ref name="butler">{{Cite book |last=Butler |first=Alfred J. |author-link=Alfred J. Butler|url=https://www.copticchurch.net/pdf/intro/arab_conquest_of_egypt.pdf |title=The Arab Conquest of Egypt and the Last Thirty Years under Roman Dominion |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1903 |isbn=1724498029|pages=358–484}}</ref>

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
File:Mummy Mask of a Man, early 1st century C.E.,72.57.jpg|Mummy Mask of a Man, early 1st century AD, 72.57, [[Brooklyn Museum]]
File:Vaso canopo (26797992031).jpg|[[Canopic jar]] from the 3rd or 4th century ([[National Archaeological Museum, Florence]])
File:FuneraryMasksRomanEgypt.jpg|[[Death mask|Funerary masks]] uncovered in [[Faiyum]], 1st century.
File:Egitto, horus imperatore, II sec dc..JPG|2nd-century statuette of Horus as Roman general ([[Louvre]])
File:Egitto, horus legionario, I sec. ac-IV dc ca..JPG|1st–4th-century statuette of Horus as a Roman soldier ([[Louvre]])
File:Figure of Isis-Aphrodite MET DT6643.jpg|2nd-century statuette of Isis–Aphrodite ([[Metropolitan Museum of Art]])
File:Basso egitto, iside-afrodite, II sec dc ca..JPG|2nd-century statuette of Isis–Aphrodite from Lower Egypt ([[Louvre]])
File:Egitto, iside che allatta arpocrate, I sec ac.-IV dc ca..JPG|1st–4th-century statuette of Isis ''lactans'' ([[Louvre]])
File:Musee Pio Clementino-Isis lactans.jpg|Isis ''lactans'': the mother goddess suckles [[Harpocrates]] ([[Pio-Clementino Museum]])
File:Anubis, Anzio, Villa Pamphili, 1st-2nd century AD, Pario marble - Museo Gregoriano Egizio - Vatican Museums - DSC00818.jpg|1st/2nd-century [[Parian marble]] statue of Anubis ([[Gregorian Egyptian Museum]])
File:Berenike Buddha (drawing).jpg|The ''[[Berenike Buddha]]'', discovered in [[Berenice Troglodytica|Berenice]], Egypt, 2nd century CE.
File:Floor mosaic with Anubis, from a domus in Ariminum (Rimini), end 2nd - early 3rd century, Museo della Città, Rimini, Italy (19716812562).jpg|2nd/3rd-century [[mosaic]] of Anubis from [[Ariminum]] ([[Museo della Città, Rimini]])
File:Luxor Museum Koptischer Grabstein 01.jpg|6th- or 7th-century Christian sandstone grave [[stela]] ([[Luxor Museum]])
File:Luxor Museum Frühchristliche Stele 01.jpg|6th- or 7th-century Christian sandstone [[stela]] ([[Luxor Museum]])
File:Luxor Museum Relief 01.jpg|6th- or 7th-century Christian sandstone [[relief]] ([[Luxor Museum]])
File:As-Hadrian-Aegyptus-RIC 0839,As.jpg|[[Hadrian]] coin celebrating Aegyptus Province, struck {{Circa|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.
File:Denarius-Zenobia-s3290.jpg|[[Zenobia]] coin reporting her title as queen of Egypt (''[[Augusta (honorific)|Augusta]]''), and showing her diademed and draped bust on a crescent. The obverse shows a standing figure of Ivno Regina ([[Juno (mythology)|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.    
</gallery>

== See also ==
* [[Roman pharaoh]]

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* {{Cite book |last=Angold |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Angold |title=Byzantium: the bridge from antiquity to the Middle Ages |date=2001 |publisher=[[St. Martin's Press]] |isbn=978-0-312-28429-9 |location=New York}}
* {{Cite book |last=Bowman |first=Alan K. |author-link=Alan Bowman (classicist) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vePG331dopIC |title=Egypt after the pharaohs: 332 BC-AD 642 ; from Alexander to the Arab conquest |date=1996 |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |isbn=978-0-520-20531-4 |edition=2. |location=Berkeley, Calif.}}
* {{Cite journal |last1=Bowman |first1=Alan K. |author-link=Alan Bowman (classicist) |last2=Rathbone |first2=Dominic |author-link2=Dominic Rathbone |date=November 1992 |title=Cities and Administration in Roman Egypt |journal=[[Journal of Roman Studies]] |volume=82 |pages=107–127 |doi=10.2307/301287 |issn=0075-4358 |jstor=301287}}
* {{Cite book |last=Chauveau |first=Michel |author-link=Michel Chauveau |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a5U-8b-fVNgC |title=Egypt in the age of Cleopatra: history and society under the Ptolemies |date=2000 |publisher=[[Cornell University Press]] |isbn=978-0-8014-8576-3 |series=Cornell paperbacks |location=Ithaca ; London |translator-last=Lorton |translator-first=David |translator-link=David Lorton}}
* {{Cite journal |last=El-Abbadi |first=M. A. H. |author-link=Mostafa El-Abbadi |date=December 1964 |title=The Gerousia in Roman Egypt |journal=[[The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology]] |volume=50 |pages=164–169 |doi=10.2307/3855750 |issn=0307-5133 |jstor=3855750}}
* {{Cite book |last=Ellis |first=Simon |title=Graeco-Roman Egypt |date=1992 |publisher=[[Shire Publications]] |isbn=978-0-7478-0158-0 |editor-last=Adams |editor-first=Barbara G. |series=Shire Egyptology |location=Princes Risborough}}
* {{Cite book |url=https://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/hhshu/hou_han_shu.html |title=Annotated Translation of the Chapter on the Western Regions according to the ''Hou Hanshu'' |date=September 2003 |edition=2nd |translator-last=Hill |translator-first=John E.}}
* {{Cite book |url=https://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/weilue/weilue.html |title=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 |date=September 2004 |edition=Draft translation |translator-last=Hill |translator-first=John E.}}
* {{Cite book |last=Kelly |first=Paul V. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tKuiEAAAQBAJ |title=The financial markets of Roman Egypt: risk and return |date=2023 |publisher=[[Liverpool University Press]] |isbn=978-1-837-64718-7 |location=Liverpool}}
* {{Cite book |last=Peacock |first=David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yugRDAAAQBAJ |title=The Oxford history of ancient Egypt |date=2003 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-280458-7 |editor-last=Shaw |editor-first=Ian |editor-link=Ian Shaw (Egyptologist) |edition=New |location=Oxford |pages=422–445 |chapter=The Roman Period (30 BC–AD 311)}}
* {{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZOLuaRusoCgC |title=The Oxford handbook of Roman Egypt |date=2012 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-957145-1 |editor-last=Riggs |editor-first=Christina |editor-link=Christina Riggs |edition=1st |series=Oxford handbooks in archaeology |location=Oxford}}
* {{Cite book |last=Rowlandson |first=Jane |author-link=Jane Rowlandson |title=Landowners and tenants in Roman Egypt: the social relations of agriculture in the Oxyrhynchite nome |date=2002 |publisher=Clarendon Press |isbn=978-0-19-814735-0 |edition=Repr |series=Oxford classical monographs |location=Oxford}}
* {{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8-M9TnEYKXIC |title=Women and society in Greek and Roman Egypt: a sourcebook |date=1998 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-0-521-58212-4 |editor-last=Rowlandson |editor-first=Jane |editor-link=Jane Rowlandson |location=Cambridge, U.K. ; New York}}
* {{Cite book |last=Sippel |first=Benjamin |title=Gottesdiener und Kamelzüchter: das Alltags- und Sozialleben der Sobek-Priester im kaiserzeitlichen Fayum |date=2020 |publisher=[[Harrassowitz Verlag]] |isbn=978-3-447-11485-1 |series=Philippika |location=Wiesbaden |language=de |oclc=1224479323}}

== External links ==
{{commons category|Roman Egypt|<br/>Roman Egypt|position=left}}
* [http://www.annourbis.com/maps/map000.html Detailed Map of Aegyptus]

{{Ancient Egypt topics}}
{{Roman provinces AD 117}}
{{Late Roman Provinces}}
{{Egypt topics}}
{{Rulers of the Ancient Near East}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roman Egypt}}
[[Category:Roman Egypt| ]]
[[Category:New Testament places]]
[[Category:Provinces of the Roman Empire|Egypt]]
[[Category:Provinces of the Byzantine Empire|Egypt]]
[[Category:Late Roman provinces]]
[[Category:States and territories established in the 1st century BC]]
[[Category:30 BC]]
[[Category:1st-century BC establishments in Roman Egypt|*]]
[[Category:1st-century BC establishments in Egypt]]
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in the 7th century]]
[[Category:640s disestablishments in the Byzantine Empire]]
[[Category:7th-century disestablishments in Egypt]]