Roman Egypt

Roman Egypt was the province formed after Octavian conquered the Ptolemaic kingdom in 30 BCE. It remained under Roman and later Byzantine rule until the Arab conquest in the seventh century.

Prefect of Egypt: The equestrian governor who administered Roman Egypt and commanded its forces. The emperor appointed this official to govern Egypt rather than entrusting it to a senator.
Ptolemaic Kingdom: A Hellenistic kingdom ruled by the Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt from 305 to 30 BCE. This kingdom was the state Rome annexed to create its Egyptian province.
Gaius Cornelius Gallus: A Roman poet and politician who became the first prefect of Egypt after its annexation. His career illustrates the new provincial office and its early political risks.
Oxyrhynchus Papyri: A large collection of ancient papyrus documents excavated at Oxyrhynchus in Egypt. Its contracts, petitions, and letters document ordinary life across centuries of Roman rule.
Roman Empire: The state ruled by Roman emperors from the late first century BCE until the fifteenth century CE. Egypt became a province within this empire and supplied resources to its wider system.
Roman taxation in Egypt: The systems through which Roman authorities assessed and collected taxes in Egypt. Census records and tax registers reveal how provincial rule extracted revenue from land and people.
Battle of Actium: The 31 BCE naval battle in which Octavian defeated the forces of Mark Antony and Cleopatra. Its outcome left Octavian able to invade Egypt and end Ptolemaic rule.
Aelius Gallus: A Roman prefect of Egypt who led an expedition into Arabia in the late first century BCE. His campaign shows Egypt's role as a base for Roman expansion toward the Red Sea.
Fayum mummy portraits: Painted portraits attached to some mummies from Roman-period Egypt, especially the Fayum region. They show how Egyptian burial practices incorporated portrait styles and materials from the wider Roman world.
Byzantine Egypt: Egypt under the Eastern Roman Empire, from the late fourth century until the Arab conquest in the seventh century. It continued Roman provincial institutions after the empire's political center shifted east.

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