Tradition and Transformation. Egypt under Roman Rule

In 30 BCE, Egypt became a province of the Roman empire. Alongside unbroken traditions—especially of the indigenous Egyptian population, but also among the Greek elite—major changes and slow processes of transformation can be observed. The multi-ethnical population was situated between new patterns of rule and traditional lifeways. This tension between change and permanence was investigated during the conference. The last decades have seen an increase in the interest in Roman Egypt with new research from different disciplines—Egyptology, Ancient History, Classical Archaeology, Epigraphy, and Papyrology—providing new insights into the written and archaeological sources, especially into settlement archaeology. Well-known scholars analysed the Egyptian temples, the structure and development of the administration beside archaeological, papyrological, art-historical and cult related questions.

Katja Lembke, Dr. phil. (1992) in Classical Archaeology, Egyptology, and Latin Philology, is Director of the Roemer- und Pelizaeus-Museum Hildesheim, Germany. Her publications focus on the influences of the Egyptian culture outside Egypt (Phönizische anthropoide Sarkophage, DaF 10, 2001) and on Graeco-Roman Egypt (Ägyptens späte Blüte, 2004). Since 2004 she has been the field director of a survey in the Petosiris-Necropolis at Tuna el-Gebel (Middle Egypt).

Martina Minas-Nerpel, Dr. phil. (1998) and Habilitation (2004) in Egyptology, is Senior Lecturer in Egyptology at Swansea University, UK. She has published extensively on historical, religious, and linguistic aspects of dynastic and Graeco-Roman Egypt, including Die hieroglyphischen Ahnenreihen der Ptolemäischen Könige. Ein Vergleich mit den Titeln der eponymen Priester in den demotischen und griechischen Papyri (Philipp von Zabern, 2000).

Stefan Pfeiffer, Dr. phil. (2004) and Habilitation (2007) in Ancient History, is Akademischer Rat in Ancient History at the Westfälische Wihelmsuniversität Münster, Germany. He has published widely on ancient Juadism as well as on the history and religion of Graeco-Roman Egypt including Das Dekret von Kanopos (238 v. Chr.). Kommentar und historische Auswertung (APF Beiheft 18, 2003).