Roman Egypt

Egypt (Aegyptus ae̯ˈɡʏptʊs; Αἴγυπτος ɛ́ːɡyptos) was a subdivision of the Roman Empire from Rome's invasion of the Ptolemaic Egyptian Kingdom after the battle of Alexandria in 30 BC to its loss by the Byzantine Empire to the Islamic conquests in AD 641. The province encompassed most of modern-day Egypt except for the Sinai, and was bordered by the provinces of Crete and Cyrenaica to the west and Judaea, later Arabia Petraea, to the East. Egypt came to serve as a major producer of grain for the empire and had a highly developed urban economy. Aegyptus was by far the wealthiest Eastern Roman province, and by far the wealthiest Roman province outside of Italy. The population of Roman Egypt is unknown, although estimates vary from 4 to 8 million. Alexandria, its capital, was the largest port and second largest city of the Roman Empire. After the Assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC, the Ptolemaic Kingdom (305-30), which had ruled Egypt since the Wars of Alexander the Great brought an end to Achaemenid Egypt (the Thirty-first Dynasty), took the side of Mark Antony in the last war of the Roman Republic, against the eventual victor Octavian, who as Augustus became the first Roman emperor in 27 BC, having defeated Mark Antony and the pharaoh, Cleopatra VII, at the naval Battle of Actium. After the deaths of Antony and Cleopatra, the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt ceased to exist, becoming the personal possession of Augustus who ruled Egypt as the Roman pharaoh (as did succeeding emperors). The legal status of Egypt was settled in 27 BC, when it became an imperial province of the newly established Roman empire. The Ptolemaic institutions were dismantled, and though some bureaucratic elements were maintained the government administration was wholly reformed along with the social structure. The Graeco-Egyptian legal system of the Hellenistic period continued in use, but within the bounds of Roman law. The tetradrachm coinage minted at the Ptolemaic capital of Alexandria continued to be the currency of an increasingly monetized economy, but its value was made equal to the Roman denarius.