Volume 1

A dictionary of Greek and Roman geography / by various writers ; edited by William Smith.

Date:: 1873

Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A dictionary of Greek and Roman geography / by various writers ; edited by William Smith. Source: Wellcome Collection.

69/1140 (page 47)

fnodelled or abolished nearly all the other institutions of the empire, this interdict remained in force. The dependence of Egypt was therefore more absolute and direct than that of any other province of Rome. Its difficulty of access, and t he facility which it presented to an enterprising and ambitious governor to render himself independent, dictated these stringent pre- cautions. The prefect, however, possessed the same powers as the other provincial governors, although he did not receive the fasces and the other insig- nia of the latter. (Tac. Ann. xii. 60; Poll. Trig. Tyr. 22.) Augustus made very little change in the internal government of Egypt. It was divided into three great districts called Epistrategiae (^ima-TfiarTiyiai') —Upper Egypt (Thebais), of which the capital was Ptolemais, Middle Egypt (Heptanomis), and Lower Egypt (Strab. xvii. p. 787). Each of these three districts was divided into nomes, the nomes into toparchies, and the toparchies into kw/jlui and tottoi, in which the land was carefully measured according to &povpai. Each of the great districts was under an epistrategus (JiriarpaTipyos'), who was a Roman, and possessed both civil and military authority, and to him all the officials in his district were amenable. Each nome was governed by a strategus (cTTpaTTiyos'), in ancient times called vojxdpxris, who carried into execution the edicts of the pre- fect, and superintended the collection of the taxes imposed upon his nome. The strategus was ap- pointed by the prefect, and was selected from the natives, either Greeks or Egyptians: the term of his office was three years. The subdivisions of the nomes above mentioned were in like manner under the administration, each of its own officers, w^hose names and titles frequently occur in inscriptions. The three Greek cities of Alexandria, Ptolemais, and Arsinoe were not subject to the authorities of the nome, but were governed by their own municipal institutions (o’v(rrT]fxa iroXiriKhv iv Tcp ‘EWtjuik^ TpoTTO), Strab. xvii. p. 813). Two legions were found sufficient to keep Egypt in obedience. They were stationed at Elephantine and Parembole, in the south: at the Hermopolitan castle, on the borders of Heptanomis and the The- baid: at Memphis and Alexandria in the Delta: and at Paretonium in Libya. Cohorts of German horse were quartered in various portions of the Nile-valley. The native popidation were not allowed to possess arms — a precaution partly dictated by the fierce and excitable temper of the Egyptian people. (Amm. Marc. xxii. 16. § 23.) The Romans presently set themselves to improve the revenues and restore the agriculture of their new province. Under the second prefect C. Pe- tronius (Sueton. Octav. 18; Strab. xvii. p. 820) the canals of the Nile were cleared of sand, and many thousand acres brought again into cultivation. Egypt, under the emperors, shared with Sicily and northern Africa the ffistinction oi being accounted a granary of Rome. To the general survey of the Nile-valley under Aelius Gallus, the third prefect, we owe the accurate description of it by the geo- grapher Strabo. He accompanied the prefect to Syene (xvi. p. 816), and explored both the vestiges of ancient grandeur in the Thebaid, and the new cities which, like Ptolemais, had been built and were occu- pied by Greeks alone. The Caesars were as tolerant as the Macedonian kings, and made no change in the religion of their Coptic subjects. The names of Roman emperors are inscribed on many of the Egyp- tian and Nubian temples; e. g., that of Augustus at Philae, and that of Tiberius at Thebes, Aphrodi- topolis, and Berenice. Augustus was invested with the titles of the native kings — Son of the Sun, of Ammon, king of Upper and Lower Egypt, &c. The country was well governed under Tiberius, who strictly repressed the avarice of his prefects (Joseph. Ant. xviii. 5; Dion Cass. Ivii. 32). From Tacitus (^Ann. ii. 64) we learn that the emperor was highly displeased with his adopted son Germanicus for travelling in Egypt without a previous licence from himself. Pliny (viii. 71) records that, on this tour, Germanicus consulted the sacred bull Apis, and re- ceived an answer indicative of his future misfortunes. The liberty of coining money w’as taken from the Egyptians by Tiberius in the tenth year of his reign (a. d. 23); but the right of mintage was restored to them by Claudius. Pliny (vi. 26) has given an interesting description of the Egyptian trade with the East in this reign. The history of Egypt from this period is so nearly identified with that of Alex- andria, that we may refer generally to that head for the summary of its events. The country, indeed, had been so completely subjugated, that Vespasian could venture to withdraw from it nearly all the disposable military force, when in A. d. 67—68 it was required to put down the rebellion of Judaea. The principal commotions of Egypt were, indeed, caused by the common hostility of the Greek and Hebrew popu- lation. This, generally confined to the streets of Alexandria, sometimes raged in the Delta also, and in the reign of Hadrian demanded the imperial inter- ference to suppress. The Jews, indeed, w^ere very numerous in Egypt, especially in the open country; and after the destruction of Jerusalem, their prin- cipal temple was at Leontopolis. Hadrian (^Spar~ tian. 14) visited Egypt in the 6th year of his reign, and ascended the Nile as far as Thebes. The most conspicuous monument of this imperial progress was the city of Antinopolis, on the east bank of the Nile, which he raised as a monument to his favourite, the beautiful Antinous. (Dion Cass. Ixix. 16.) In the reign of M. Aurelius, A. d. 166, occurred the first serious rebellion of Egypt against its Roman masters. It is described as a revolt of the native soldiers. But they were probably Arabs who had been drafted into the legions, and whose predatory habits prompted them to desert and resume their wild life in the desert. The revolt lasted nearly four years (a. d. 171—175), and was put down by Avidius Cassius, who then proclaimed himself em- peror of Egypt, and his son Maecianus praetorian prefect. Avidius and his son, however, were put to death by their own troops, and the clemency of the emperor speedily regained the affections of his Egyp- tian subjects. (Capitol. M. Anton. 25.) On the death of Pertinax in A. d. 193, Pescennius Niger, who commanded a legion in Upper Egypt, and had won the favour of the natives by repressing the license of the soldiery, proclaimed himself em- peror. He was defeated and slain at Cyzicus, A. i>. 196, and his successful rival the emperor Severus visited the vacant province, and examined the monu- ments at Thebes and Memphis. Severus, however, was unppular with the Egyptians, as well from his exactions of tribute as from his impolitic derision of the national religion. In the reign of Caracalla, Egyptians for the first time took their seat in the Roman senate, and the worship of Isis was publicly sanctioned at Rom.e. (Dion Cass.Ixxvii. 23; Spartian. Sever. 17.)