Roman Egypt : a history / edited by Roger S Bagnall ; with contributions from Mona Haggag [and others].

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Haggag, Mona, author.

Contributor:

Bagnall, Roger S, editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Romans--Egypt.

Romans.

Egypt--History--30 B.C.-640 A.D.

Egypt.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xxxiv, 380 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2021.

Summary:

Egypt played a crucial role in the Roman Empire for seven centuries. It was wealthy and occupied a strategic position between the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean worlds, while its uniquely fertile lands helped to feed the imperial capitals at Rome and then Constantinople. The cultural and religious landscape of Egypt today owes much to developments during the Roman period, including in particular the forms taken by Egyptian Christianity. Moreover, we have an abundance of sources for its history during this time, especially because of the recovery of vast numbers of written texts giving an almost uniquely detailed picture of its society, economy, government, and culture. This book, the work of six historians and archaeologists from Egypt, the US, and the UK, provides students and a general audience with a readable new history of the period and includes many illustrations of art, archaeological sites, and documents, and quotations from primary sources.

Contents:

Cover

Half-title page

Title page

Copyright page

Contents

List of illustrations

List of maps

List of boxes

List of contributors

Preface

Chronology

1 Laying the foundations for Roman Egypt

1.1 The pharaonic background and the Third Intermediate Period (1069-664 BC)

1.2 Rebuilding a centralized state: Saite rule

1.3 Two Persian occupations and sixty years of independence

1.4 Greeks in Egypt before Alexander

1.5 Alexander and the Ptolemies

1.6 Resistance to foreign rule

1.7 Alexandria and other urban centers

1.8 The world of the temples

1.9 The population of Egypt

1.10 A multilingual environment

1.11 Greek and Egyptian education in Ptolemaic Egypt

1.12 The Hellenization of the Egyptian administration

1.13 A mixed economy

1.14 Romans in Egypt before the Roman conquest

2 The coming of Roman rule

2.1 Government and administration: continuity and change from the Ptolemies to the Romans

2.2 The Roman army in Egypt

2.3 Languages in Roman Egypt

2.4 The central role of Alexandria

2.5 Egypt's integration into the Roman economy

2.6 The development of urban elites

2.7 The treatment of the temples and its implications

2.8 The Jewish communities of Egypt, especially Alexandria

2.9 Religious change under Roman rule

2.10 The people of Roman Egypt

2.11 The origins of Christianity in Egypt

3 Development and crisis in a Roman province

3.1 The continued rise of urbanism and the elite

3.2 Violence from inside, above, and outside

3.3 Intensification of high-value agriculture

3.4 The Antonine plague and its debated consequences

3.5 Twilight of the temples

3.6 The emergence of the Alexandrian church, then city bishops

the persecutions of Christians

3.7 The invention of the Coptic writing system

4 The making of Late Antique Egypt.

4.1 Diocletian's reforms of administration, coinage, and taxation

4.2 An Egyptian nation in a Roman nation

4.3 Turbulence and renewal in Alexandria

4.4 Elite struggles for wealth and power and the rise of a new aristocracy

4.5 Paganism, Christianity, and religious pluralism

4.6 The emergence of Christian institutions in public

the church and imperial politics

4.7 The reappearance of a Jewish community in Egypt

4.8 The invention of charitable institutions

4.9 Monasticism

4.10 The development of a Christian literary culture in Coptic

4.11 The development of a Christian educational culture

5 Divergence and division

5.1 Patriarchs and church politics from Chalcedon to Justinian

5.2 Conflicts over doctrine and power from Justinian to Heraclius

5.3 Alexandria as a university city: the auditoria of Kom El-Dikka

5.4 Egyptian villages in Late Antiquity

5.5 The dominance of the wealthy elite

5.6 City and country: dependence and divergence

5.7 Coptic develops a literature and bids for official status

6 The Persians, the Arab conquest, and another transformation of Egypt

6.1 The Sasanians in Egypt

6.2 The Arab conquest and lingering uncertainties

6.3 Administrative continuity and evolution

6.4 Old and new elites

6.5 Impact on the rural population

6.6 The evolution of the church and the dominance of the Miaphysites

6.7 The formation of a Coptic identity

6.8 The evolution of language use and gradual extinction of Coptic as spoken and business/legal language

6.9 Linguistic change and religious conversion

Epilogue

Glossary

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 20 Aug 2021).

ISBN:

9781108957328

1108957323

9781108957120

1108957129

9781108953948

1108953948

OCLC:

1245247737