What do the literary and historical texts tell us about Roman attitudes towards Egypt?

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ROMAN EGYPT

What do the literary and historical texts tell us about Roman attitudes towards Egypt?

 ‘...a province so difficult of access, so productive of corn, ever distracted, excitable, and restless through the superstition and licentiousness of its inhabitants, knowing nothing of laws, and unused to civil rule.’ (His. 1.1)

This frank commentary from Tacitus reveals only to a small extent the extreme and often negative views generated towards Egypt following its annexation under Octavian.  When Mark Antony and Cleopatra were defeated at Actium in 31BC, the Roman Empire seized control of Egypt.  This new province would prove to be one of its most lucrative and often difficult endeavours.  Cleopatra’s suicide saw the end of the Ptolemaic dynasty which had been in place for almost 300 years.  Egypt would, for the first time, be governed by Roman law.   It was 14 years prior to this that the young Octavian – later known as Augustus –  had been handed almost total authority of Rome following the death of Julius Caesar at the hands of forty conspiring senators.  His position was a tenuous one: it was the creation of such an autocracy which had resulted in the death of his great-uncle, and Octavian was sure – at least outwardly – to revive the Republican sentiments that had otherwise been lost.   The military dictatorship he formed with Marcus Lepidus and Mark Antony (also known as the Second Triumvirate) sought to supposedly protect the Republic by ensuring no one man had complete control; consular power was granted to each of them by the Senate.  It was not long, however, until conflicting ambitions within the Triumvirate started to show.  Lepidus, who had once held control of Africa, found his powers gradually eroded and Octavian was left to cement his own political agenda in Rome.  Mark Antony’s attachment to the east would at the very least prove useful to Octavian in the propaganda campaign he was now to launch.

It was only a few years after the very creation of the Triumvirate that Mark Antony had married the wealthy and ambitious Cleopatra and was living openly with her in Egypt – abandoning his wife in Rome.  Octavian, in the meantime, seized the opportunity to push forward his own image as a modest and unassuming figurehead of the Republic, emphasising the stark contrast between himself and Mark Antony in the opulent east.  Octavian had won the sympathies of the Roman people by exposing Antony as a traitor to Rome and as someone who now regarded himself as an Egyptian.  The naval battle which took place in 31BC saw Octavian’s forces in Rome in a battle against the combined forces of Antony and Cleopatra.  The battle of Actium would be the final war of the Republic, and Octavian’s subsequent victory would see him become undisputed head of the Roman world – a world which, following the suicides of his Oriental enemies, would now include Egypt.

Katherine A. Bard writes:

  ‘Augustus’ triumphal entry into Alexandria in 30BC was the climax to almost three centuries of growing Roman influence over Ptolemaic Egypt.’ (1999:77)

        If this is the case, then we can indeed assume that curiosity towards Egypt and Egyptian culture certainly existed in the Republican period.  Yet, as Stephen Nimis points out, its perception in the minds of Romans would change dramatically when it became an official Roman province.   He notes:

‘Rome’s rule in Egypt was one of its most unsuccessful ventures, and there was persistent mutual hostility and mistrust between Romans and Egyptians.’ (2004: 41)

 We can certainly assume that any Egyptian hostility stemmed from the fact that residents of Egypt experienced a repressive policy under Augustus’ Principate, resulting in a decreased social mobility. (M. Reinhold, 1980, 100) Egyptian influences in government were quickly quashed in favour of Greek-style practices; taxes increased, and there was a heavy military presence throughout the province.  Strabo, although himself a Greek, had visited Egypt, and writes through the eyes of a Roman official, commenting on how the governing of the province would change under Roman rule.  He is critical of the preceding Kingdom, highlighting the fact that, ‘...the kings were carrying on a bad government; the prosperity of the cities was also vanishing on account of the prevailing lawlessness.’ (XVII.12)  Furthermore, when quoting Polybius, he classifies Egyptian natives as ‘quick-tempered’, and Alexandrians as, ‘not distinctly inclined to civil life.’

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        What Augustus himself thought of Egypt isn’t clear.  Certainly, to enhance the negative stereotypes of Egyptians which were rapidly emerging around the time of Actium would have been to his advantage, but he was in no place to deny the important role of Egypt itself as one of his most profitable and active estates.  Augustus claims in his Res Gestae (27) to have added Egypt to empire of Roman people, but, as Alison Cooley points out, the reality was somewhat different:

‘His emphasis on Egypt as now subject to the rule of the Roman people is echoed in many different ...

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