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===Roman rule in Egypt=== |
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The first prefect of Egypt, ], brought Upper Egypt under Roman control by force of arms, established a protectorate over the southern frontier district, which had been abandoned by the later Ptolemies. The second prefect, ], made an unsuccessful expedition to conquer ]: the ] coast of Egypt was not brought under Roman control until the reign of ]. The third prefect, ], cleared the neglected canals for irrigation, stimulating a revival of agriculture. |
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], 120 AD]]From the reign of ] onwards, Egypt enjoyed an era of prosperity which lasted a century. Much trouble was caused by religious conflicts between the Greeks and the ]s, particularly in Alexandria, which after the destruction of ] in AD ] become the world centre of Jewish religion and culture. Under ] a Jewish revolt occurred, resulting in the suppression of the Jews of Alexandria and the loss of all their privileges, although they soon returned. ], who twice visited Egypt, founded Antinoöpolis in memory of his drowned lover ]. From his reign onwards buildings in the Greco-Roman style were erected throughout the country. |
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Under ], however, oppressive taxation led to a revolt (]) of the native Egyptians, which was suppressed only after several years of fighting. This ] caused great damage to the economy and marked the beginning of Egypt's economic decline. ], who led the Roman forces in the war, declared himself Emperor, and was acknowledged by the armies of Syria and Egypt. On the approach of Marcus Aurelius, however, he was deposed and killed, and the clemency of the emperor restored peace. A similar revolt broke out in ], when ] was proclaimed emperor on the death of ]. The Emperor ] gave a constitution to Alexandria and the provincial capitals in ]. |
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The most revolutionary event in the history of Roman Egypt was the introduction of ] in the 2nd century. It was at first vigorously persecuted by the Roman authorities, who feared religious discord more than anything else in a country where religion had always been paramount. But it soon gained adherents among the Jews of Alexandria. From them it rapidly passed to the Greeks, and then to the native Egyptians, who found its promise of personal salvation and its teachings of paradise in the afterlife appealing. The ancient religion of Egypt put up surprisingly little resistance to the spread of Christianity. Possibly its long history of collaboration with the Greek and Roman rulers of Egypt had robbed it of its authority. |
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] (]-]) granted Roman citizenship to all Egyptians, in common with the other provincials, but this was mainly to extort more taxes, which grew increasingly onerous as the needs of the Emperors for more revenue grew more desperate. There was a series of revolts, both military and civilian, through the 3rd century. Under ], in ], the Christians again suffered from persecution, but their religion continued to spread. In ] ], queen of ], briefly conquered Egypt, but lost it when ] crushed her rebellion against Rome. Two generals based in Egypt, ] and ], led successful revolts and made themselves Emperor. ] captured Alexandria from Domitius in ] and reorganised the whole province. His edict of ] against the Christians began a new era of persecution. But this was the last serious attempt to stem the steady growth of Christianity in Egypt. |
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===Christian Egypt=== |
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:''For the survival into modern times of Christianity in Egypt, see ].'' |
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Egyptian Christians believe that the ] was founded by ] around ], but little is known about how Christianity entered Egypt. The historian ] has suggested, with some evidence, that originally the Christians in Egypt were predominantly influenced by ] until the efforts of ] gradually brought the beliefs of the majority into harmony with the rest of Christianity. While the collective embarrassment over their ] origins would explain the lack of details for the first centuries of Christianity in Egypt, there are too many gaps in the history of Roman times to claim that our ignorance in this situation is a special case. |
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Nevertheless, by 200 it is clear that Alexandria was one of the great Christian centres. The Christian ]s ] and ] both lived part or all of their lives in that city, where they wrote, taught, and debated. |
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With the ] in ], ] ended the persecution of Christians, and in ] he made Christianity the religion of the Empire. Over the course of the 4th century, paganism gradually lost its following, as the poet ] bitterly noted. It lingered underground for many decades: the final edict against paganism was issued in ], but graffiti at ] in Upper Egypt proves worship of ] persisted at its temples into the 5th century. Many Egyptian Jews also became Christians, but many others refused to do so, leaving them as the only sizeable religious minority in a Christian country. |
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No sooner had the Egyptian Church achieved freedom and supremacy, however, than it became subject to ] 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 ], named for the Alexandrian priest ], and orthodoxy, represented by ], who became Archbishop of Alexandria in ] after the ] rejected Arius's views. The Arian controversy caused years of riots and rebellions throughout most of the fourth century. In the course of one of these, the great temple of ], the stronghold of paganism, was destroyed. Athanasius was alternately expelled from Alexandria and reinstated as its Archbishop between five and seven times. |
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It was never easy to impose religious orthodoxy on Egypt, a country with an ancient tradition of religious speculation. Not only did Arianism flourish there, but other heresies, such as ] and ], either native or imported, found many followers. Another religious development in Egypt was the ] of the ], 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 ] 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 mutation of the Ancient Egyptian language into ], which became the liturgical language of Egyptian Christianity and remains so to this day. |
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===Byzantine Egypt=== |
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The reign of Constantine also saw the founding of ] as a new capital for the Roman Empire, and in the course of the ] the Empire was divided in two, with Egypt finding itself in the Eastern Empire with its capital at Constantinople. This meant that within a few years Latin, never well established in Egypt, disappeared, and Greek reasserted itself as the language of government. During the ] and ] the Eastern Roman Empire gradually became the ], a Christian, Greek-speaking state that had little in common with the old Empire of Rome, which disappeared in the face of the barbarian invasions in the 5th century. Another consequence of the triumph of Christianity was the final demise of the pagan culture: with the disappearance of the old Egyptian priesthood, no-one could read the ] of Pharaonic Egypt, and its temples were converted to churches or abandoned to the desert. |
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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 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. ], the ], convinced the city's governor to expel the Jews from the city in ] with the aid of the mob, in response to the Jews' nighttime massacre of many Christians. The murder of the philosopher ] marked the final end of classical Hellenic culture in Egypt. Another schism in the Church produced a prolonged civil war and alienated Egypt from the Empire. |
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The new religious controversy was over the nature of the ]. The majority of the Christian world supported the orthodox view that ] is three persons in one (], ] and ]), and that ] was therefore of the same nature as God. But Egypt was a stronghold of ]: the belief that God has only one nature, that of God the Father, and that ] (God the Son) and the Holy Spirit are of a different nature: they are ''from'' God but not ''of'' God. This may seem an arcane distinction, but in an intensely religious age it was enough to divide an empire. The Monophysite controversy arose after the ] in ] and continued until the ] in ], which ruled in favour of the orthodox position. Many of the monophysites claimed that they were misunderstood, that there was really no difference between their position and the orthodox position, and that the Council of Chalcedon ruled against them because of political motivations. But Egypt and Syria remained hotbeds of Monophysite sentiment, and organised resistance to the orthodox view was not suppressed until the ]. |
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The reign of ] (]–]) saw the Empire recapture ] and much of ] from the barbarians, but these successes left the Empire's eastern flank exposed. |
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== Persian and Arab Conquests == |
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The Persian occupation of Egypt, beginning in 619 or 618, was one of the triumphs in the last ] war against ]. ] Parvêz had begun this war in retaliation for the assassination of Emperor ] (582-602) and had achieved a series of early successes, culminating in the conquests of ] (614) and ] (619). A Byzantine counteroffensive launched by Emperor ] in spring 622 shifted the advantage, however, and the war was brought to an end by the fall of Khosrow on 25 February 628 (Frye, pp. 167-70). The Egyptians had no love of the Emperor in Constantinople and put up little resistance. Khosrow's son and successor, ] Šêrôe (Šêrôy), who reigned until September, concluded a peace treaty returning territories conquered by the Sassanids to the ]. |
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The Persian occupation allowed Monophysitism to resurface in Egypt, and when imperial rule was restored by Emperor Heraclius in ], the Monophysites 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. |
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An army of 4,000 ] led by ], was sent by the ] ], successor to the Prophet ], to spread his new faith, ], to the west. The Arabs crossed into Egypt from Palestine in December ], 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. But the Arabs sent for reinforcements, and in April ] they captured Alexandria, thus completing the ]. Most of the Egyptian Christians welcomed their new rulers: the accession of a new regime meant for them the end of the persecutions by the Byzantine state church. Thus ended 973 years of Græco-Roman rule over Egypt. |
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==See also== |
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==External links== |
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== References == |
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*Bowman, Alan Keir. 1996. ''Egypt After the Pharaohs: 332 BC–AD 642; From Alexander to the Arab Conquest''. 2nd ed. Berkeley: University of California Press |
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*Chauveau, Michel. 2000. ''Egypt in the Age of Cleopatra: History and Society under the Ptolemies''. Translated by David Lorton. Ithaca: Cornell University Press |
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*Ellis, Simon P. 1992. ''Graeco-Roman Egypt''. Shire Egyptology 17, ser. ed. Barbara G. Adams. Aylesbury: Shire Publications, ltd. |
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*Hölbl, Günther. 2001. ''A History of the Ptolemaic Empire''. Translated by Tina Saavedra. London: Routledge Ltd. |
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*Lloyd, Alan Brian. 2000. "The Ptolemaic Period (332–30 BC)". In ''The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt'', edited by Ian Shaw. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. 395–421 |
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*Peacock, David. 2000. "The Roman Period (30 BC–AD 311)". In ''The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt'', edited by Ian Shaw. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. 422–445 |
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{{Ancient Egypt}} |
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