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Province, 117 CE

Aegyptus

Imperial prefecture (equestrian prefect)Capital: AlexandriaRoman since 30 BCE

Legally unlike every other province — Augustus barred senators from even entering without his personal permission, and ran it through an equestrian prefect answerable only to the emperor, because Egypt's grain fed Rome and no ambitious senator was allowed near that lever. In 117 the province was still recovering from the Kitos War, whose Jewish-Greek communal violence had devastated Alexandria's ancient Jewish quarter.

Annexed in 30 BCE, immediately after Actium and the deaths of Antony and Cleopatra.

60 places on the map

Sources

  • Cassius Dio, Roman History 51.17
  • Tacitus, Annals 2.59 (senators barred from Egypt)

Roman Maps shows the empire frozen at 11 August 117 CE, the day Trajan died — its moment of greatest territorial extent. Explore the full map →