Ancient History Seminar: Egypt in Late Antiquity

1. Ancient History Seminar: Egypt in Late Antiquity by Jitse H.F. Dijkstra

2. Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776-1788)

3. M. Rostovtzeff, The Social and Economic History of the Roman Empire (1957, rev. ed.)

4. A.H.M. Jones, The Later Roman Empire. A Social, Economic and Administrative Survey (1964): still useful narrative survey

5. Peter Brown, The World of Late Antiquity (1971) > ‘paradigm shift’ since 1980s • Positive • Late Antiquity a transitional period between Antiquity and Middle Ages • - gradual and complex period of cultural change, one of the most profound periods of cultural change in history • ‘Transformation’ instead of ‘decline’ • `Longue durée` approach: 200-800 CE • period that has much in common with our time: multiculturalism, religious interactions, shifting frontiers, the origins of Christianity • birth of ‘Late Antique Studies’ as a separate discipline within Classics

6. Averil Cameron, The Later Roman Empire (284-430)/The Mediterranean World in Late Antiquity (395-600) (1993; rev. ed. 2012): thematic Stephen Mitchell, A History of the Later Roman Empire, AD 284-641(2007): best narrative survey of whole period

8. Roman Empire c. 300 (Tetrarchy)

9. The Tetrarchs, St Mark’s Basilica, Venice

10. Constantine, Capitol, Rome

11. Division of Empire in East and West: sons of Theodosius, Arcadius and Honorius

12. Eastern Roman Empire, ca. 525

13. Justinian (527-565)

14. Continuities and Change in Egypt from the Graeco-Roman Period

16. Queen Hatshepsut Temple (female Pharaoh) Deir el-Bahri, Egypt (1550 B.C.) Abu Simbel Temple dedicated to Rameses II (1279-1213 B.C.) Abu Simbel Temple dedicated to Rameses II (1279-1213 B.C.) Nubia

17. Horus Osiris and Isis

18. Periodization Graeco-Roman Egypt • Ptolemaic Egypt (323-30 BC): Ptolemy I – Roman conquest by Octavian • Egypt, Cyprus, Cyrenaica (Lybia), Thrace, Syria, Anatolia • ‘family affair’: Arsinoe II Philadelphos • Macedonian descent: Greekness/Hellenisation (Greek names) • Attitude towards population: continuity (Ptolemy I Soter etc.) • Last ‘Pharaoh’ Queen Cleopatra VII, lost Battle of Actium with Mark Antony in 31 BC, Octavian conquers Egypt (30 BC) • Greek status for some cities: Alexandria, Ptolemais, Naukratis, and later Antinoopolis • Greeks are the main officials • Roman period (30 BC – AD 284): Octavian (27 Augustus) – Diocletian • continuity: Augustus also ‘Pharaoh’, plus building projects; reform of coinage and calendar • Special position as ‘grain basket’ of Rome; no officials of senatorial class, prefect • Main officials: Roman; Greek administrative system retained (continuity); from ca. 202 (Septimius Severus) all nome capitals city status, poleis • Control over temples and temple land • Idios Logos (Special Account): who is Roman citizen, who has Greek or Egyptian status • Not many emperors visited Egypt, but Hadrian did in 129-30 • Third Century: instability conquest of Egypt by Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra (270-2)

19. Augustus as Pharaoh, temple of Mandulis at Kalabsha

21. Sources • Archaeology/material remains • Epigraphy/inscriptions • Literary works • Papyri! Limitations: • Most evidence in Delta has disappeared • Course of Nile has changed

22. Time and Place • Egypt in Late Antiquity: 284-642 (Bagnall stops in middle of V) Place: Especially the countryside (chora) outside of Alexandria