# Roman Egypt



## Circadian (Dec 31, 2012)

Okay, so I'm planning a time travel book and the main setting is during the Roman province in Ancient Egypt.  I especially need to know what daily life would have been like during this period for a Roman guy in Egypt.  What did people do normally around this time?  Also, what kind of education was common back then and was it only available to certain people?  Did Romans believe in the Egyptian gods or did they stick with the Roman ones?  Did Romans and Native Egyptians get along?

Also, who was allowed to enter any Egyptian temple dedicated to a god or goddess?  Were there guard priests who would cut the ears off random Roman people who dared to get too close?  Yeah, I tried researched but couldn't find much of anything that was helpful.

~Circe


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## alanmt (Dec 31, 2012)

I do remember that initially during the Greek Ptolemaic dynasty after the fracturing of Alexander the Great's empire upon his death that Greek gods were worshipped but there was a return to the Egyptian gods after a serious plague, but that was before the Roman conquest.  There are a number of good reference books on daily Roman life in Rome, and that could be extrapolated to a Roman in the provinces - the Romans definitely tried to Romanize their provinces but clearly, witness Marc Antony and the Ptolemaic descendants, Egyptian culture had its own seductive influence on Greeks and Romans who lived there.


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## Cran (Dec 31, 2012)

The most detailed studies will be found in the thousands of books on the subject. Universities and larger metropolitan libraries will have broader collections to choose from. 

There only seem to be odd bits and pieces of information online, such as:



> The Cult of Isis was, thanks to Ptolemy, Hellenized to a degree that  the Roman mind could understand it, and yet still foreign enough to be  exotic and alien.
> 
> Unlike most religious structures in the Roman world, the Iseum did  not open to the streets or forum where public spectators could view the  proceedings inside. The Iseum was walled off from the surrounding world,  suggesting a space of inner sanctity. Even within its walls, there was a  "sanctuary" much like modern monasteries where only clergy and the  initiated could enter. In there rituals involving fire, water and  incense were conducted in front of a sacred statuary of the deities  concerned. This secret religious life that was set apart from the  community and the State is what helped arouse the suspicions of the  conservatives back in the days of the Republic...


- From: *The Cult of Isis; History - Roman Empire*; UNRV




> Greek citizens of the provincial capitals continued to practice the  custom of getting rid of unwanted children. The Egyptians, whose beliefs  prohibited them from killing children, often rescued children who were  left out to die. The law allowed them to adopt such foundlings or to  take them as slaves.
> 
> When Cleopatra committed suicide and Octavian made Egypt a Roman  province in 30 BC. things began to change although Greek remained the  administrative language and the Romans had no reason to alter the  efficient Greek system of administration. There was a thriving trade in  glass, papyrus, jewelry and linen. However, Egypt was looked upon as the  breadbasket of Rome and most of the harvest was immediately shipped out  of the country.
> 
> As the economic prosperity of Rome declined, life for the Egyptians  became very much harder. Poverty was widespread and the number of  insolvencies increased; even the middle class suffered. The peasants  were in worse condition, for they lost their small possessions, and  became hirelings working for a minimum wage on state farms. Taxes were a  heavy burden, prices rose and the coinage was debased. The peasants  abandoned their work because they could no longer survive on the wages  they were paid. They turned to robbery to survive, wandering in the  cities and provinces. Villages, which were once populated, became  deserted.


- From: *Eternal Egypt - Common People's Life *





> An Alexandrian cannot leave more than 25% of his estate to his wife if she gave him no children.
> If a woman over 50 marries a man under 60 her dowry goes to the state at death as does the dowry of a woman under 50 marrying a man over 60.
> A woman cannot inherit if she is over fifty or if she has fewer than three children.  (This rule probably applied to inheritances outside the immediate family)
> Any inheritance to a very wealthy but unmarried, childless woman shall be confiscated by the state.
> ...


- From: *Women in the Ancient World/Greek and Roman Egypt*





> 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.[SUP][3][/SUP]  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.[SUP][4][/SUP]  One of the routes that many followed to ascend to another caste was  through enlistment in the army. Although only Romans 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.[SUP][5][/SUP]  The different groups had different rates of taxation based on their  social class. The Greeks were exempt from the poll tax, while Hellenized  inhabitants of the nome capitals were taxed at a lower rate than the  native Egyptians, who could not enter the army and paid the full poll  tax.[SUP][6][/SUP]


-From: *Social Structure in Early Roman Egypt; Wikipedia*




> The Romans, as the Greeks had earlier done, assume Egyptian  customs and regalia, and do their best to drain the country dry. As had  happened when the Greeks took control of Egypt, now Romans and those  under Roman hegemony have unfettered access to Egypt. Further eroding  the population demographic.
> Egyptians fared no better under Roman occupation than they  had under the Greeks. It was just more of the same, which continues unto  today, marginalization into obscurity. With the occupiers now claiming  ethnic identity.
> 
> [However, even under these difficult circumstances, Egyptians did not loose their inventiveness and genius. In about 60 A.D. the Egyptian "Heron of Alexandria" invented the first "Steam Engine" the steam-powered device called the “Aeolipile”.
> He also invented the Windwheel (Windmill). The first "Gun" was used by Egyptians against the Moguls in the 1260 battle of Ain Jalute. It would be hundreds of years, before Europeans came to understand these things sufficiently to copy and use them. ]


- From: *Ancient Egypt: Greek and Roman rule*




> For almost a decade, Egypt was garrisoned with Roman legions and  auxiliary units until conditions became stable. All business was  transacted according to the principles and procedures of Roman law, and  local administration was converted to a liturgic system in which  ownership of property brought an obligation of public service. New  structures of government formalized the privileges associated with  "Greek" background.


- From: *Roman Egypt; Metropolitan Museum of Art, thematic essay*





> The People of Greek and Roman Egypt
> 
> The papyri from Greek and Roman Egypt show a truly diverse  society, with various ethnic groups (Egyptians, Nubians, Greeks, Romans,  Jews, Arabs, and many more) interacting on a daily basis. At the same  time, the documents make clear that language is not a good indicator of  ethnicity. What language a person decides to use, depends on the context  in which the document is written. In this period, Egyptians, when  dealing with the state, were required to use the Greek language, either  by learning it themselves, or by finding somebody willing to write the  text for them. Throughout the Greek and Roman periods the care of the  deceased (whether they were Greek or Egyptian), would remain the domain  of Egyptian priests; in these circumstances Egyptian remained the  language of choice, although sometimes translated into Greek. Greeks,  especially women, when they decided that Egyptian law would be more  advantageous for them, would go to an Egyptian notary and have legal or  business documents drawn up in Demotic Egyptian.


- From: *Diversity in the Desert: Daily life in Greek and Roman Egypt*; University of Michigan


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## Circadian (Jan 1, 2013)

Thanks for replying, guys.  And thanks for all the wonderful sources, Cran.  I certainly learned something new today.

~Circe


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