The Roman emperors were absentee rulers, but they kept a close watch on Egypt because one-third of the annual grain supply of the city of Rome was derived from the Egyptian land tax, and the province was notoriously prone to unrest. In response to these problems, the emperors tried to manipulate the province in two ways:
A Some of the emperors or members of their families visited Egypt, most notably Germanicus (whose visit had not been approved by Tiberius: Tac. Ann. 2.59), Vespasian, Hadrian, Septimius Severus, Caracalla, Aurelian, and lastly Diocletian - the last two in response to usurpation and revolts;
B Most importantly, they produced edicts dealing specifically with Egypt, well attested in the papyrological and the literary record (see e. g. the Sel. Pap. II, nos. 211-17, and the list in Montevecchi 1988: 126-7).
Table 3.1 The bureaucracy of Roman Egypt (after Bowman 1986: 67)
One of the best documented events is the visit of Caracalla in 215 ce, recorded by two contemporary historians (both hostile to the emperor), Cassius Dio and Her-odian. Apparently, the Alexandrians offended Caracalla by connecting him with the murder of his brother Geta. In retaliation, Caracalla dismissed all ‘‘Egyptians’’ from Alexandria, except for the permanent residents, that is essentially everyone, except for Roman and Alexandrian citizens. He confiscated properties, removed the prefect from office, and turned his troops loose on the city for plunder and slaughter. After several days he called a halt of the violent acts and then issued several orders, such as the following:
All Egyptians in Alexandria, especially country-folk, who have fled from other parts and can easily be detected, are by all means to be expelled, with the exception, however, of pig-dealers and river boatmen and the men who bring down reeds for heating the baths. But expel all others, as by the numbers of their kind and their uselessness they are disturbing the city. I am informed that at the festival of Sarapis and on certain other festal days Egyptians are accustomed to bring down bulls and other animals for sacrifice, or even on the other days; they are not prohibited for this. The persons who ought to be prohibited are those who flee from their own districts to escape rustic toil, not those, however, who congregate here with the object of viewing the glorious city of Alexandria or come down for the sake of enjoying a more civilized life or for incidental business.
A further extract: For genuine Egyptians can easily be recognized among the linen-weavers by their speech, which proves them to have assumed the appearance and dress of another class; moreover in their mode of life, their far from civilized manners reveal them to be Egyptian country-folk (P. Giss. 40 ii = Sel. Pap. II 215).
In addition to recording these particular historical events, this document is perhaps even more significant for understanding the Roman perception of‘‘Egyptians,’’ and more broadly their construction of cultural differentiation. By this period the term ‘‘Egyptian’’ had no ethnic or cultural connotation, but referred broadly to the entire Graeco-Egyptian population of the countryside, which was trying to find refuge among the nameless masses of the city in an attempt to escape the hardships of countryside life and the burden of compulsory public services.
World History
