Roman Egypt was an imperial province of the Roman Empire from 30 BC to AD 641. The province encompassed most of modern-day Egypt except for the Sinai . It was bordered by the provinces of Crete and Cyrenaica to the west and Judaea , later Arabia Petraea , to the East.
125-417: Egypt was conquered by Roman forces in 30 BC and became a province of the new Roman Empire upon its formation in 27 BC. Egypt came to serve as a major producer of grain for the empire and had a highly developed urban economy. It was by far the wealthiest Roman province outside of Italy . The population of Roman Egypt is unknown, although estimates vary from 4 to 8 million . Alexandria , its capital,
250-480: A proconsul , since a Roman law (a lex ) granted him "proconsular imperium " (Latin: imperium ad similitudinem proconsulis ). Unlike in senatorial provinces , the prefect was responsible for the collection of certain taxes and for the organization of the all-important grain shipments from Egypt (including the annona ). Because of these financial responsibilities, the governor's administration had to be closely controlled and organized. The governorship of Egypt
375-475: A cemetery is 60 metres (200 ft) long and 20 metres (66 ft) wide. 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. In the 5th century, regional styles of monumental church basilica with pastaphoria emerged: on
500-533: A city founded c. 130 by the emperor Hadrian ( r. 117–138 ). All these were sacred cities dedicated to particular deities. 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. Illustrations produced by Edme-François Jomard and Vivant Denon form much of
625-564: A direct descendant of the Justinian plague strain. However, the spread of Justinian plague may have caused the evolutionary radiation that gave rise to the currently extant 0ANT.1 clade of strains. The number of deaths is uncertain. Some modern scholars believe that the plague killed up to 5,000 people per day in Constantinople at the peak of the pandemic. According to one view, the initial plague ultimately killed perhaps 40% of
750-574: 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. 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
875-427: A more general function. Their salary was sexagenarian – 60,000 sesterces annually. Each village or kome ( κώμη , kṓmē ) was served by a village scribe ( κωμογραμματεύς , kōmogrammateús , 'secretary of the kome '), whose term, possibly paid, was usually held for three years. Each, to avoid conflicts of interest, was appointed to a community away from their home village, as they were required to inform
1000-414: A record of soldiers' service history, six bronze Roman military diplomas dating between 83 and 206 are the main source of documentary evidence for the auxilia in Egypt; these inscribed certificates rewarded 25 or 26 years of military service in the auxilia with Roman citizenship and the right of conubium . That the army was more Greek-speaking than in other provinces is certain. The heart of
1125-565: A result of the plague in the countryside, farmers could not take care of crops and the price of grain rose in Constantinople. Justinian had expended huge amounts of money for wars against the Vandals in the region of Carthage and the Ostrogoths ' kingdom in Italy . He had invested heavily in the construction of great churches, such as Hagia Sophia . As the empire tried to fund the projects,
1250-405: A rival power base (as Mark Antony had been able to do), while the military legati commanding the legions were career soldiers, formerly centurions with the senior rank of primus pilus , rather than politicians whose military experience was limited to youthful service as a military tribune . Beneath the praefectus Aegypti , the overall commander of legions and auxilia stationed in Egypt
1375-477: A temple of Serapis and a tetrastyle at Diospolis Magna at Thebes , and, at Philae , a triumphal arch and temples dedicated to the worship of the emperor Augustus and the goddess Roma , the personification of Rome. 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 ,
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#17328008198201500-438: A time. Three or four alae of cavalry were stationed in Egypt, each ala numbering around 500 horsemen. There were between seven and ten cohortes of auxilia infantry, each cohors about 500 hundred strong, although some were cohortes equitatae – mixed units of 600 men, with infantry and cavalry in a roughly 4:1 ratio. Besides the auxilia stationed at Alexandria, at least three detachments permanently garrisoned
1625-457: Is easily stored and transported with limited spoilage, unlike other agricultural products. Healthy grain supply and trade is important to many societies, providing a caloric base for most food systems as well as important role in animal feed for animal agriculture . The grain trade is as old as agricultural settlement, identified in many of the early cultures that adopted sedentary farming. Major societal changes have been directly connected to
1750-658: Is known from other provinces of the empire, and little evidence exists of the military practices of the prefect and his officers. 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. Not much is known about the military encampments of the Roman imperial period , since many are underwater or have been built over and because Egyptian archaeology has traditionally taken little interest in Roman sites. Because they supply
1875-773: Is named for the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I (r. 527–565), who according to his court historian Procopius contracted the disease and recovered in 542, at the height of the epidemic which killed about a fifth of the population in the imperial capital. The contagion arrived in Roman Egypt in 541, spread around the Mediterranean Sea until 544, and persisted in Northern Europe and the Arabian Peninsula until 549. By 543,
2000-577: Is not known precisely when it was withdrawn from Egypt, though it was certainly before 23 AD, during the reign of Tiberius ( r. 14–37 ). 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 . After August 119, the III Cyrenaica was ordered out of Egypt; the XXII Deiotariana was transferred sometime afterwards, and before 127/8,
2125-514: Is sometimes grown as a perennial . Winter varieties are hardy enough to be planted in the autumn, becoming dormant in the winter, and harvested in spring or early summer; spring varieties are planted in spring and harvested in late summer. The term cereal is derived from the name of the Roman goddess of grain crops and fertility, Ceres . Cereals were domesticated in the Neolithic , some 8,000 years ago. Wheat and barley were domesticated in
2250-463: Is unparalleled in the ancient world for its completeness and complexity. The royal scribes could act as proxy for the strategoi , but each reported directly to Alexandria, where dedicated financial secretaries – appointed for each individual nome – oversaw the accounts: an eklogistes and a graphon ton nomon . The eklogistes was responsible for general financial affairs while the graphon ton nomon likely dealt with matters relating to
2375-718: The Constitutio Antoniniana gave Roman citizenship to all free Egyptians. The Antonine Plague struck in the late 2nd century, but Roman Egypt recovered by the 3rd century. Having escaped much of the Crisis of the Third Century , Roman Egypt fell under the control of the breakaway Palmyrene Empire after an invasion of Egypt by Zenobia in 269. The emperor Aurelian ( r. 270–275 ) successfully besieged Alexandria and recovered Egypt. The usurpers Domitius Domitianus and Achilleus took control of
2500-458: The Idios Logos , responsible for special revenues like the proceeds of bona caduca property, and the iuridicus (Koinē Greek: δικαιοδότης , romanized: dikaiodotes , lit. 'giver of laws'), the senior legal official, were both imperially appointed. From the reign of Hadrian ( r. 117–138 ), the financial powers of the prefect and the control of
2625-654: The Legio II Traiana arrived, to remain as the main component of the Army of Egypt for two centuries. After some fluctuations in the size and positions of the auxilia garrison in the early decades of Roman Egypt, relating to the conquest and pacification of the country, the auxilia contingent was mostly stable during the Principate , increasing somewhat towards the end of the 2nd century, and with some individual formations remaining in Egypt for centuries at
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#17328008198202750-565: The canabae settlements surrounding the army's base at Nicopolis, while only about one eighth were Alexandrian citizens. 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. 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: auxilia veterans from Chios and Hippo Regius (or Hippos ) are named. Evidence from
2875-526: The demos '), and cargo supervisors ( ἐπίπλοοι , epiploöi ). 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. The liturgy system extended to most aspects of Roman administration by the reign of Trajan ( r. 98–117 ), though constant efforts were made by people eligible for such duties to escape their imposition. The reforms of
3000-591: The Black Death (1346–1353). Ancient and modern Yersinia pestis strains are closely related to the ancestor of the Justinian plague strain that has been found in the Tian Shan , a system of mountain ranges on the borders of Kyrgyzstan , Kazakhstan , and China , suggesting that the Justinian plague originated in or near that region. However, there would appear to be no mention of bubonic plague in China until
3125-509: The Coptos – Myos Hormos road and at the imperial granite quarry at Mons Claudianus . Another Roman outpost, known from an inscription, existed on Farasan , the chief island of the Red Sea 's Farasan Islands off the west coast of the Arabian Peninsula . As in other provinces, many of the Roman soldiers in Egypt were recruited locally, not only among the non-citizen auxilia , but among
3250-577: The Egyptian language (which evolved from the Demotic Egyptian of the Late and Ptolemaic periods to 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. In AD 212,
3375-464: The Egyptian temples and priesthoods was devolved to other procurators, a dioiketes ( διοικητής ), the chief financial officer, and an archiereus ( ἀρχιερεύς , 'archpriest'). A procurator could deputize as the prefect's representative where necessary. Procurators were also appointed from among the freedmen ( manumitted slaves) of the imperial household , including the powerful procurator usiacus , responsible for state property in
3500-747: The Fertile Crescent ; rice was domesticated in East Asia, and sorghum and millet were domesticated in West Africa. Maize was domesticated by Indigenous peoples of the Americas in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago. In the 20th century, cereal productivity was greatly increased by the Green Revolution . This increase in production has accompanied a growing international trade , with some countries producing large portions of
3625-494: The Idios Logos . In 200/201, the emperor Septimius Severus ( r. 193–211 ) granted each metropolis, and the city of Alexandria, a boulē (a Hellenistic town council). 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 ( ἐπιστράτηγος , epistratēgós , 'over-general'), each of whom
3750-883: The Mediterranean Basin with the emergence of the Justinianic Plague at Pelusium in Roman Egypt in 541. Egypt was conquered by the Sasanian Empire in 618, who 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 641, when it became part of the Rashidun Caliphate following
3875-674: The Muslim conquest of Egypt . The Ptolemaic Kingdom ( r. 305–30 BC , the 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 BC) and Caesar's subsequent Roman dictatorship . After Caesar's assassination in 44 BC, Cleopatra aligned Egypt with Mark Antony ,
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4000-495: The Ptolemaic period , but the development of a much more complex and sophisticated 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
4125-403: The Roman calendar . Evidence exists of more than 60 edicts issued by the Roman governors of Egypt. To the government at Alexandria besides the prefect of Egypt, the Roman emperors appointed several other subordinate procurators for the province, all of equestrian rank and, at least from the reign of Commodus ( r. 176–192 ) of similar, "ducenarian" salary bracket. The administrator of
4250-616: The Thebaid by Justinian the Great ( r. 527–565 ). Constantine introduced the gold solidus coin , which stabilized the economy. 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. 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. The First Plague Pandemic arrived in
4375-532: The augustus himself: his fairness ( aequitas , 'equality') and his foresight ( providentia , 'providence'). From the early 2nd century, service as the governor of Egypt was frequently the penultimate stage in the career of a praetorian prefect. The governor's powers as prefect, which included the rights to make edicts ( ius edicendi ) and, as the supreme judicial authority, to order capital punishment ( ius gladii , 'right of swords '), expired as soon as his successor arrived in
4500-609: The deified emperors and their families. 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 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
4625-486: The grain market is a major global commodity market that includes crops such as maize , rice , soybeans , wheat and other grains. Grains and cereal are synonymous with caryopses , the fruits of the grass family . In agronomy and commerce, seeds or fruits from other plant families are called grains if they resemble caryopses. For example, amaranth is sold as " grain amaranth ", and amaranth products may be described as "whole grains". The pre-Hispanic civilizations of
4750-404: The poll tax . Hellenized inhabitants of the nome capitals paid a low rate of poll tax, while native Egyptians paid a higher rate. Native Egyptians were barred from serving in the army, and there were other defined legal distinctions between the classes. Within the mētropoleis there was a Hellenic socio-political élite, an urban land-owning aristocracy that dominated Egypt by the 2nd and throughout
4875-606: The strategoi and epistrategoi of the names of persons due to perform unpaid public service as part of the liturgy system. They were required to be literate and had various duties as official clerks. Other local officials drawn from the liturgy system served for a year in their home kome ; they included the practor ( πράκτωρ , práktōr , 'executor'), who collected certain taxes, as well as security officers, granary officials ( σιτολόγοι , sitologoi , 'grain collectors'), public cattle drivers ( δημόσιοι kτηνοτρόφοι , dēmósioi ktēnotróphoi , 'cattleherds of
5000-661: The 2nd century suggests most auxilia came from Egypt, with others drawn from the provinces of Africa and Syria , and from Roman Asia Minor . Auxilia from the Balkans, who served throughout the Roman army, also served in Egypt: many 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. Thracians , common in
5125-538: The 3rd centuries through their large private estates. 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 ' nomes ', the traditional administrative divisions of Egypt. Boulai , or town councils, in Egypt were only formally constituted by Septimius Severus . It
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5250-685: The Andes had grain-based food systems, but at higher elevations none of the grains was a cereal . All three grains native to the Andes ( kaniwa , kiwicha , and quinoa ) are broad-leafed plants rather than grasses such as corn, rice, and wheat. A cereal is a grass cultivated for its edible grain. Cereals are the world's largest crops, and are therefore staple foods . They include rice , wheat , rye , oats , barley , millet , and maize . Edible grains from other plant families, such as buckwheat and quinoa , are pseudocereals . Most cereals are annuals , producing one crop from each planting, though rice
5375-590: The Army of Egypt was the Nicopolis garrison at Alexandria, with at least one legion permanently stationed there, along with a strong force of auxilia cavalry. These troops would both guard the residence of the praefectus Aegypti against uprisings among the Alexandrians and were poised to march quickly to any point at the prefect's command. At Alexandria too was the Classis Alexandrina ,
5500-638: The Christians of Roman Egypt. Under Diocletian the frontier was moved downriver to the First Cataract of the Nile at Syene ( Aswan ), withdrawing from the Dodekaschoinos region. This southern frontier was largely peaceful for many centuries, likely garrisoned by limitanei of the late Roman army . Regular units also served in Egypt, including Scythians known to have been stationed in
5625-608: The Egyptian monarchy. The division between the rural life of the villages, where the Egyptian language was spoken, and the metropolis, where the citizens spoke Koine Greek and frequented the Hellenistic gymnasia , was the most significant cultural division in Roman Egypt, and was not dissolved by the Constitutio Antoniniana of 212, which made all free Egyptians Roman citizens. There was considerable social mobility however, accompanying mass urbanization, and participation in
5750-609: The Hellenistic-Egyptian god Serapis (under the name ϹΑΡΑΠΟ , "Sarapo"). 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. In the administrative provincial capitals of the nomoi , the mētropoleis mostly inherited from
5875-563: The Latin: praefectus Aegypti , lit. 'prefect of Egypt' or the Koinē Greek : ἔπαρχος Αἰγύπτου , romanized: eparchos Aigyptou , lit. ' Eparch of Egypt'. 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 ,
6000-672: The Mediterranean, the struggling Goths were reinvigorated and their conflict with Constantinople entered a new phase. The plague weakened the Byzantine Empire at a critical point, when Justinian's armies had nearly retaken all of Italy and the western Mediterranean coast; the evolving conquest would have reunited the core of the Western Roman Empire with the Eastern Roman Empire. Although
6125-540: 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. 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
6250-530: The Pharaonic and Ptolemaic period, Roman public buildings were erected by the governing strategos and the local gymnasiarch . 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. Prominent remains include two Roman theatres at Pelusium ,
6375-468: The Ptolemaic cleruchy system of allotments under royal ownership) and the local administration reformed into a Roman liturgical system, in which land-owners were required to serve in local government. The priesthoods of the Ancient Egyptian deities and Hellenistic religions of Egypt kept most of their temples and privileges, and in turn the priests also served the Roman imperial cult of
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#17328008198206500-546: The Ptolemaic Kingdom remained wholly under Roman rule until the administrative reforms of the augustus Diocletian ( r. 284–305 ). In these first three centuries of Roman Egypt, the whole country came under the central Roman control of single governor, officially called in Latin : praefectus Alexandreae et Aegypti , lit. 'prefect of Alexandria and Egypt' and more usually referred to as
6625-542: The Ptolemies levied, but the Romans gave special low rates to citizens of mētropoleis . 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
6750-523: The Roman triumvir who controlled the eastern Mediterranean. In the last war of the Roman Republic (32–30 BC), Antony (with Cleopatra's support) fought against Octavian . The decisive naval Battle of Actium was won by Octavian, who then invaded Egypt. Following the Battle of Alexandria the defeated Antony and Cleopatra killed themselves. The Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt ceased to exist; Egypt
6875-406: 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
7000-670: 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. To further compound the whole situation, Jews, who themselves were very Hellenized overall, had their own communities, separate from both Greeks and native Egyptians. 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
7125-612: The army in other Roman provinces, were also present, and an auxiliary diploma from the Egyptian garrison has been found in Thracia . Two auxilia diplomas connect Army of Egypt veterans with Syria, including one naming Apamea . 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. The social structure in Aegyptus under
7250-420: The cereal supply for other countries. Starchy grains from broadleaf (dicot) plant families: Pulses or grain legumes , members of the pea family , have a higher protein content than most other plant foods, at around 20%, while soybeans have as much as 35%. As is the case with all other whole plant foods, pulses also contain carbohydrates and fat. Common pulses include: Oilseed grains are grown primarily for
7375-558: The city's inhabitants and caused the deaths of up to a quarter of the human population of the Eastern Mediterranean . Frequent subsequent waves of the plague continued to strike throughout the 6th, 7th and 8th centuries, with the disease becoming more localized and less virulent. A revisionist view expressed by scholars such as Lee Mordechai and Merle Eisenberg argues that the mortality of the Justinian Plague
7500-485: The city, which was dedicated to the medjed , a sacred species of Mormyrus fish. 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 . The Napoleonic-era evidence is also important for documenting Hermopolis Magna, where more buildings survive and which
7625-629: The clinical manifestations of the disease and the detection of Y. pestis DNA from human remains at ancient grave sites dated to that period. Genetic studies of modern and ancient Yersinia pestis DNA suggest that the origin of the Justinian plague was in Central Asia . The most basal or root level existing strains of the Yersinia pestis as a whole species are found in Qinghai , China. Other scholars contest that, rather than Central Asia,
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#17328008198207750-481: 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. In eastern Egypt, the columns and colonnade were emphasized, and
7875-665: The conquest occurred in 554, the reunification did not last long. In 568, the Lombards invaded Northern Italy , defeated the small Byzantine army that had been left behind and established the Kingdom of the Lombards . Gaul is known to have suffered severely from the plague, and plague victims at an early Anglo-Saxon burial site at Edix Hill near Cambridge show that it also reached Britain. Procopius said that plague sufferers experienced delusions, nightmares, fevers, swellings in
8000-461: The count of the Orient (i.e. the vicar) of the diocese headquartered in Antioch in Syria. Emperor Justinian abolished the Diocese of Egypt in 538 and re-combined civil and military power in the hands of the dux with a civil deputy ( praeses ) as a counterweight to the power of the church authorities. All pretense of local autonomy had by then vanished. The presence of the soldiery was more noticeable, its power and influence more pervasive in
8125-434: The creation of the first temporary settlements and the division of society into classes. This assumption that grain agriculture led to early settlements and social stratification has been challenged by James Scott in his book Against the Grain . He argues that the transition from hunter-gatherer societies to settled agrarian communities was not a voluntary choice driven by the benefits of increased food production due to
8250-425: The creation of urban communities with " Hellenic " landowning elites. These landowning elites were put in a position of privilege and power and had more self-administration than the Egyptian population. Within the citizenry, there were gymnasiums that Greek citizens could enter if they showed that both parents were members of the gymnasium based on a list that was compiled by the government in 4–5 AD. The candidate for
8375-524: The disease but survived. During the disease's four returns in his lifetime, he lost his wife, a daughter and her child, other children, most of his servants and people from his country estate. According to contemporary sources, the outbreak in Constantinople was thought to have been carried to the city by infected rats on grain ships arriving from Egypt. To feed its citizens, the city and outlying communities imported large amounts of grain, mostly from Egypt. The rat population in Egypt thrived on feeding from
8500-400: 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
8625-478: 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
8750-400: The equestrian order, rather than, as in other provinces, a governor of the senatorial class. 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. As a result of these strictures, the governor was rendered unable to build up
8875-399: The evidence of these remains, because since the 19th century many of the ruins have themselves disappeared. South of Thebes, the mētropoleis may have been largely without classical buildings, but near Antinoöpolis the classical influence may have been stronger. Most mētropoleis were probably built on the classical Hippodamian grid employed by the Hellenistic polis , as at Alexandria, with
9000-632: The expansion of nomadic peoples who moved across the Eurasian steppe , such as the Xiongnu and the later Huns , had a role in spreading plague to West Eurasia from an origin in Central Asia. Earlier samples of Yersinia pestis DNA have been found in skeletons dating from 3000 to 800 BC, across West and East Eurasia. The strain of Yersinia pestis responsible for the Black Death , the devastating pandemic of bubonic plague , does not appear to be
9125-450: The exploitation of the predominant agricultural base. The volume of trade, both internal and external, reached its peak in the 1st and 2nd centuries. By the end of the 3rd century, major problems were evident. A series of debasements of the imperial currency had undermined confidence in the coinage, and even the government itself was contributing to this by demanding more and more irregular tax payments in kind, which it channelled directly to
9250-454: The extraction of their edible oil . Vegetable oils provide dietary energy and some essential fatty acids . They are also used as fuel and lubricants. Ancient grains is a marketing term used to describe a category of grains and pseudocereals that are purported to have been minimally changed by selective breeding over recent millennia, as opposed to more widespread cereals such as corn , rice and modern varieties of wheat , which are
9375-442: The function and administration would have changed. The Romans introduced important changes in the administrative system, aimed at achieving a high level of efficiency and maximizing revenue . The duties of the prefect of Aegyptus combined responsibility for military security through command of the legions and cohorts , for the organization of finance and taxation, and for the administration of justice. The Egyptian provinces of
9500-681: The government of the country in the prefect's name and were themselves drawn from the Egyptian upper classes. 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. Each strategos was supplemented by a royal scribe ( βασιλικός γραμματεύς , basilikós grammateús , 'royal secretary'). These scribes were responsible for their nome 's financial affairs, including administration of all property, land, land revenues, and temples, and what remains of their record-keeping
9625-527: The governors' engagements. Yearly in Lower Egypt , and once every two years in Upper Egypt , the praefectus Aegypti held a conventus (Koinē Greek: διαλογισμός , romanized: dialogismos , lit. 'dialogue'), during which legal trials were conducted and administrative officials' practices were examined, usually between January ( Ianuarius ) and April ( Aprilis ) in
9750-466: The grain and unable to remove themselves; explosions caused by fine particles of grain dust , and falls . Justinianic Plague The plague of Justinian or Justinianic plague (AD 541–549) was an epidemic that afflicted the entire Mediterranean Basin, Europe, and the Near East, severely affecting the Sasanian Empire and the Byzantine Empire , especially Constantinople . The plague
9875-674: The grain trade, such as the fall of the Roman Empire . From the early modern period onward, grain trade has been an important part of colonial expansion and international power dynamics. The geopolitical dominance of countries like Australia, the United States, Canada and the Soviet Union during the 20th century was connected with their status as grain surplus countries. Those who handle grain at grain facilities may encounter numerous occupational hazards and exposures . Risks include grain entrapment , where workers are submerged in
10000-405: The groin, armpits and behind the ears, and coma or death. Treatments included cold baths, powders "blessed" by saints, magic amulets or rings, and various drugs, especially alkaloids. When these treatments failed, people went to hospitals or tried to quarantine themselves. The Plague of Justinian is the first and the best known outbreak of the first plague pandemic, which continued to recur until
10125-497: 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. These elites also paid lower poll-taxes than
10250-461: The hard-pressed Justinian: When pestilence swept through the whole known world and notably the Roman Empire, wiping out most of the farming community and of necessity leaving a trail of desolation in its wake, Justinian showed no mercy towards the ruined freeholders. Even then, he did not refrain from demanding the annual tax, not only the amount at which he assessed each individual, but also the amount for which his deceased neighbors were liable. As
10375-415: The large granaries maintained by the government, and the fleas thrived as well. Procopius, in a passage closely modelled on Thucydides , recorded that at its peak the plague was killing 10,000 people in Constantinople daily, but the accuracy of the figure is in question, and the true number will probably never be known. He noted that because there was no room to bury the dead, bodies were left stacked in
10500-529: The legionaries as well, who were required to have Roman citizenship. 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 . Of these, around one third were themselves the offspring (Latin: castrenses , lit. 'camp-men') of soldiers, raised in
10625-495: The liturgical focus at the east, and the pastaphoria (side-rooms) were a common mark of churches in the country. 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. The earliest known monumental basilica of which remains survive is that at Antinoöpolis; a five-aisled, apsed basilica facing east and set in
10750-512: The local native Egyptians, fellahin . It is well documented that Alexandrians in particular were exempted from paying poll-taxes, and were able to enjoy lower tax-rates on land. 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. These privileges even extended to corporal punishments. Romans were protected from this type of punishment while native Egyptians were whipped. Alexandrians, on
10875-402: The long storage potential of grains, but rather that the shift towards settlements was a coerced transformation imposed by dominant members of a society seeking to expand control over labor and resources. The grain trade refers to the local and international trade in cereals such as wheat , barley , maize , and rice , and other food grains . Grain is an important trade item because it
11000-514: The main consumers, the army personnel. Local administration by the 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 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
11125-462: The middle of the 8th century. Some historians believe the first plague pandemic was one of the deadliest pandemics in history , resulting in the deaths of an estimated 15–100 million people during two centuries of recurrence, a death toll equivalent to 25–60% of Europe's population at the time of the first outbreak. Research published in 2019 argued that the 200-year-long pandemic's death toll and social effects have been exaggerated, comparing it to
11250-415: The modern third plague pandemic (1855–1960s). Furthermore, historians seek to play down the effects of the late-antique bubonic plague, arguing that our eyewitness accounts of the disease are hysterical in tone and misleading in effect. The plague of Justinian is generally regarded as the first historically recorded epidemic of Yersinia pestis . This conclusion is based on historical descriptions of
11375-468: The monetized economy and literacy in Greek by the peasant population was widespread. 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. In between those classes was the metropolite, who was almost certainly of Hellenic origin. Gaining citizenship and moving up in ranks
11500-622: The native Egyptians were treated as a conquered race. 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. The economic resources that this imperial government existed to exploit had not changed since
11625-505: 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. Local government in the hinterland (Koinē Greek: χώρα , romanized: khṓrā , lit. 'countryside') outside Alexandria
11750-400: The open. Funeral rites were often left unattended to, and the entire city smelled like the dead. Given such circumstances, it is highly probable that a sudden increase in mortality rates may not have been as accurately recorded, hence why the overall death toll is based on an estimate. In his Secret History , he records the devastation in the countryside and reports the ruthless response by
11875-500: The other hand, had the privilege of merely being beaten with a rod. 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. All of these changes amounted to the Greeks being treated as an ally in Egypt and
12000-410: The plague caused tax revenues to decline through the massive number of deaths and the disruption of agriculture and trade. Justinian swiftly enacted new legislation to deal more efficiently with the glut of inheritance suits being brought as a result of victims dying intestate . The plague's long-term effects on European and Christian history were enormous. As the disease spread to port cities around
12125-470: The plague had spread to every corner of the empire. As the first episode of the first plague pandemic , it had profound economic, social, and political effects across Europe and the Near East and cultural and religious impact on Eastern Roman society. In 2013, researchers confirmed earlier speculation that the cause of the plague of Justinian was Yersinia pestis , the same bacterium responsible for
12250-524: The product of thousands of years of selective breeding. Ancient grains are often marketed as being more nutritious than modern grains, though their health benefits over modern varieties have been disputed by some nutritionists . Because grains are small, hard and dry, they can be stored, measured, and transported more readily than can other kinds of food crops such as fresh fruits, roots and tubers. The development of grain agriculture allowed excess food to be produced and stored easily which could have led to
12375-587: The province in opposition to emperor Diocletian ( r. 284–305 ), who recovered it in 297–298. Diocletian then introduced administrative and economic reforms. These coincided with the Christianization of the Roman Empire , especially the growth of Christianity in Egypt . After Constantine the Great gained control of Egypt in AD ;324, the emperors promoted Christianity. The Coptic language , derived from earlier forms of Egyptian, emerged among
12500-455: The province. Other procurators were responsible for revenue farming of state monopolies (the procurator ad Mercurium ), oversight of farm lands (the procurator episkepseos ), of the warehouses of Alexandria (the procurator Neaspoleos ), and of exports and emigration (the procurator Phari , 'procurator of the Pharos '). These roles are poorly attested, with often
12625-410: The provincial capital at Alexandria, who then also took up overall command of the Roman legions of the Egyptian garrison. (Initially, three legions were stationed in Egypt, with only two from the reign of Tiberius ( r. 14–37 AD ).) The official duties of the praefectus Aegypti are well known because enough records survive to reconstruct a mostly complete official calendar ( fasti ) of
12750-617: The provincial fleet of the Roman Navy in Egypt. In the 2nd and 3rd centuries, there were around 8,000 soldiers at Alexandria, a fraction of the megalopolis 's huge population. Initially, the legionary garrison of Roman Egypt consisted of three legions: the Legio III Cyrenaica , the Legio XXII Deiotariana , and one other legion. The station and identity of this third legion is not known for sure, and it
12875-437: The routine of town and village life. 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 recruited from the non-citizen subjects. Egypt was unique in that its garrison was commanded by the praefectus Aegypti , an official of
13000-777: The sanctuary distinguished with a triumphal arch in front of it. Grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit ( caryopsis ) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legumes . After being harvested, dry grains are more durable than other staple foods , such as starchy fruits ( plantains , breadfruit , etc.) and tubers ( sweet potatoes , cassava , and more). This durability has made grains well suited to industrial agriculture , since they can be mechanically harvested , transported by rail or ship, stored for long periods in silos , and milled for flour or pressed for oil . Thus,
13125-700: The sources. Sarris also provides up-to-date discussion of the genetic evidence, including the suggestion that the plague may have entered Western Eurasia via more than one route, and perhaps struck England before Constantinople. According to 2024 research, major plagues that significantly impacted the Roman Empire, such as the Antonine Plague , the Plague of Cyprian , and the Plague of Justinian, are strongly linked to periods of cooler and drier climate conditions, indicating that colder weather may have contributed to
13250-619: 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 . 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 ( praesidia ), including those defending roads and remote natural resources from attack. Roman detachments, centuriones , and beneficiarii maintained order in
13375-692: The specific strain that composed the Justinian plague began in sub-Saharan Africa, and that the plague was spread to the Mediterranean by merchants from the Kingdom of Aksum in East Africa. This point of origin aligns more with the general south–north spread of the disease from Egypt into the rest of the Mediterranean world. It also explains why Sassanid Persia saw a later development of the outbreak despite stronger trade links with Central Asia. After samples of DNA from Yersinia pestis were isolated from skeletons of Justinian plague victims in Germany, it
13500-564: The state and forming most of its revenue; and the "gifted land" (Koinē Greek: γή εν δωρεά , romanized: gḗ en dōreá , lit. 'land in gift'; Δωρεά , Dōreá , 'gifts') leased out under the cleruchy system. 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
13625-454: The typical Roman pattern of the Cardo (north–south) and Decumanus Maximus (east–west) thoroughfares meeting at their centres, as at Athribis and Antinoöpolis. 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
13750-519: The year 610. The Byzantine historian Procopius first reported the epidemic in 541 from the port of Pelusium , near Suez in Egypt. Two other first hand reports of the plague's ravages were by the Syriac church historian John of Ephesus and Evagrius Scholasticus , who was a child in Antioch at the time and later became a church historian. Evagrius was afflicted with the buboes associated with
13875-699: Was also a Roman procurator. Soon after the Roman annexation, a new epistrategy was formed, encompassing the area just south of Memphis and the Faiyum region and named "the Heptanomia and the Arsinoite nome". In the Nile Delta however, power was wielded by two of the epistrategoi . The epistrategos '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
14000-483: Was concentrated at Nicopolis, a district of Alexandria, rather than at the strategic heart of the country around Memphis and Egyptian Babylon . 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. Because only a few papyri are preserved from the area, little more is known about the legionaries' everyday life than
14125-529: Was dedicated to the worship of Thoth , equated with Hermes / Mercury . 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- aisled , apsed basilica church was built in the Constantinian period, with pastaphoria on either side, while a third church was accompanied by a Christian cemetery. All these churches were built on an east-west axis, with
14250-472: Was developed consisting of dozens of types of land-holding. Land's status was determined by the hydrological, juridical, and function of the property, as well as by the three main categories of ownership held over from the Ptolemaic system: the sacred property belonging to the temples (Koinē Greek: Ἱερά γη , romanized: Hierā́ gē , lit. 'holy land'); the royal land ( Βασιλική γη , Basilikḗ gē , 'royal land') belonging to
14375-480: Was divided into traditional regions known as nomoi . The mētropoleis were governed by magistrates drawn from the liturgy system; these magistrates, as in other Roman cities, practised euergetism and built public buildings. To each nome the prefect appointed a strategos (Koinē Greek: στρατηγός , romanized: stratēgós , lit. 'general'); the strategoi were civilian administrators, without military functions, who performed much of
14500-437: Was far lower than previously believed. They say that the plague might have caused high mortality in specific places, but it did not cause widespread demographic decline or decimate Mediterranean populations. According to them, any direct mid-to-long term effects of plague were minor. However, their position has been the subject of a concerted critique by Peter Sarris, who challenged both their core methodology and their handling of
14625-594: Was found that modern strains currently found in the Tian Shan mountain range system are most basal known in comparison with the Justinian plague strain. Additionally, a skeleton found in Tian Shan dating to around 180 AD and identified as an "early Hun" was found to contain DNA from Yersinia pestis closely related to the Tian Shan strain basal ancestor of the Justinian plague strain German samples. This finding suggests that
14750-480: Was not within the then-prevailing traditional geographic boundaries of Egypt. 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 ( Latin : praefectus ). Both the governor and the major officials were of equestrian rank (unlike other Roman provinces, which had governors of senatorial rank). The prefect of Egypt had more or less equivalent civil and military powers ( imperium ) to
14875-419: 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
15000-415: Was seized by Octavian as his personal possession. The legal status was settled in 27 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 emperors ) ruled Egypt as the Roman pharaoh . The Ptolemaic institutions were dismantled: the government administration was wholly reformed, as
15125-572: Was styled in Latin: praefectus stratopedarches , from the Greek: στρατοπεδάρχης , romanized: stratopedárchēs , lit. 'camp commander', or as Latin: praefectus exercitu qui est in Aegypto , lit. 'prefect of the army in Egypt';. Collectively, these forces were known as the exercitus Aegyptiacus , 'Army of Egypt'. The Roman garrison
15250-532: Was the largest port and second largest city of the Roman Empire. Three Roman legions garrisoned Egypt in the early Roman imperial period , with the garrison later reduced to two, alongside auxilia formations of the Roman army . The major town of each nome (administrative region) was known as a metropolis and granted additional privileges. The inhabitants of Roman Egypt were divided by social class along ethnic and cultural lines. Most inhabitants were peasant farmers, who lived in rural villages and spoke
15375-447: Was the second-highest office available to the equestrian class on the cursus honorum (after that of the praetorian prefect (Latin: praefectus praetorio ), the commander of the imperial Praetorian Guard ) and one of the highest-paid, receiving an annual salary of 200,000 sesterces (a "ducenarian" post). The prefect was appointed at the emperor's discretion; officially the governors' status and responsibilities mirrored those of
15500-563: Was the social structure, though some bureaucratic elements were maintained. The Graeco-Egyptian legal system of the Hellenistic period continued in use, but within the bounds of Roman law . 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 . Augustus introduced land reforms that enabled wider entitlement to private ownership of land (previously rare under
15625-504: Was very difficult and there were not many available options for ascendancy. 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. The different groups had different rates of taxation based on their social class. Roman citizens and citizens of Alexandria were exempted from
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