The Oxford Handbook of Roman Egypt (Oxford Handbooks)

Roman Egypt is a critical area of interdisciplinary research, which has steadily expanded since the 1970s and continues to grow. Egypt played a pivotal role in the Roman empire, not only in terms of political, economic, and military strategies, but also as part of an intricate cultural discourse involving themes that resonate today — east and west, old world and new, acculturation and shifting identities, patterns of language use and religious belief, and the management of agriculture and trade. Roman Egypt was a literal and figurative crossroads shaped by the movement of people, goods, and ideas, and framed by permeable boundaries of self and space. This publication is unique in drawing together many different strands of research on Roman Egypt, in order to suggest both the state of knowledge in the field and the possibilities for collaborative, synthetic, and interpretive research. Arranged in seven thematic sections, each of which includes articles from a variety of disciplinary vantage points and multiple sources of information, it offers new perspectives from both established and younger scholars, featuring individual issue topics, themes, and intellectual juxtapositions. List of Figures......Page 14 List of Tables......Page 20 List of Contributors......Page 21 List of Abbreviations and Conventions......Page 25 Introduction......Page 29 PART I LAND AND STATE......Page 40 1. Aegypto Capta : Augustus and the Annexation of Egypt......Page 41 2. Between Water and Sand: Agriculture and Husbandry......Page 56 3. Manufacture, Trade, and the Economy......Page 77 4. Government, Taxation, and Law......Page 101 5. The Roman Army in Egypt......Page 118 6. The Imperial Cult in Egypt......Page 139 PART II CITY, TOWN, AND CHORA......Page 162 7. Alexandria......Page 163 8. Settlement and Population......Page 187 9. Archaeology in the Delta......Page 206 10. The Archaeology of the Fayum......Page 226 11. The Theban Region under the Roman Empire......Page 251 12. Classical Architecture......Page 276 13. City of the Dead: Tuna el-Gebel......Page 298 14. The University of Michigan Excavation of Karanis (1924–1935): Images from the Kelsey Museum Photographic Archives......Page 321 PART III PEOPLE......Page 347 15. Status and Citizenship......Page 348 16. Identity......Page 366 17. The Jews in Roman Egypt: Trials and Rebellions......Page 389 18. Families, Households, and Children......Page 404 19. Age and Health......Page 427 PART IV RELIGION......Page 445 20. Religious Practice and Piety......Page 446 21. Coping with a Difficult Life: Magic, Healing, and Sacred Knowledge......Page 470 22. Egyptian Temples......Page 502 23. Funerary Religion: The Final Phase of an Egyptian Tradition......Page 531 24. Oracles......Page 551 25. Isis, Osiris, and Serapis......Page 578 26. Imported Cults......Page 600 27. Egyptian Cult: Evidence from Temple Scriptoria and Christian Hagiographies......Page 626 28. Christianity......Page 649 PART V TEXTS AND LANGUAGE......Page 670 29. Language Use, Literacy, and Bilingualism......Page 671 30. Papyri in the Archaeological Record......Page 690 31. Latin in Egypt......Page 702 32. Greek Language, Education, and Literary Culture......Page 715 33. Hieratic and Demotic Literature......Page 738 34. Egyptian Hieroglyphs......Page 765 35. Coptic......Page 789 PART VI IMAGES AND OBJECTS......Page 805 36. Funerary Artists: The Textual Evidence......Page 806 37. Portraits......Page 828 38. Terracottas......Page 851 39. Pottery......Page 875 40. Mummies and Mummification......Page 897 41. Nilotica and the Image of Egypt......Page 924 PART VII BORDERS, TRADE, AND TOURISM......Page 943 42. Travel and Pilgrimage......Page 944 43. The Western Oases......Page 965 44. The Eastern Desert and the Red Sea Ports......Page 991 45. Between Egypt and Meroitic Nubia: The Southern Frontier Region......Page 1008 Index......Page 1026 Roman Egypt is a critical area of interdisciplinary research, which has steadily expanded since the 1970s and continues to grow. Egypt played a pivotal role in the Roman empire, not only in terms of political, economic, and military strategies, but also as part of an intricate cultural discourse involving themes that resonate today -- east and west, old world and new, acculturation and shifting identities, patterns of language use and religious belief, and the management of agriculture and trade. Roman Egypt was a literal and figurative crossroads shaped by the movement of people, goods, and ideas, and framed by permeable boundaries of self and space. This Handbook is unique in drawing together many different strands of research on Roman Egypt, in order to suggest both the state of knowledge in the field and the possibilities for collaborative, synthetic, and interpretive research. Arranged in seven thematic sections, each of which includes essays from a variety of disciplinary vantage points and multiple sources of information, it offers new perspectives from both established and younger scholars, featuring individual essay topics, themes, and intellectual juxtapositions. This handbook, arranged in seven thematic sections, is unique in drawing together many different strands of research on Roman Egypt, in order to suggest both the state of knowledge in the field and the possibilities for collaborative, synthetic, and interpretive research.