Strata of Roman society
The historian Plinius the Younger knows us that in the year 100 AD he mentions a letter from him explaining how he was granted Roman citizenship during the reign of Emperor Trajanus. Alexandria, due to being Egyptian, and the Emperor’s response to him was that it was his authority to grant Roman citizenship, but Alexandria’s citizenship had conditions.
From this papyrus we see that the Egyptian society in the Roman era came in the form of a class hierarchy, the Roman class is at the top of the pyramid and they get many privileges, then followed by the Greeks who get fewer privileges and with them the Jews, but the matter did not last with them for long until they lost those privileges, and then comes The broad and basic class, which includes farmers, craftsmen, small landowners, merchants, a few rich people, and the majority were among the poor who lived in rural cities and villages, and then came the villagers who did not receive any privileges and who formed the despised class (Egyptians)
the Romans
The Romans obtained many privileges, the most important of which were the highest positions in Roman Egypt, and the most important of these was the governor
The governor
He received the title Praephectus Egypt. He was appointed by the Roman knights, especially those who hold the title of consul. The appointment comes from Rome for a period of three years and may reach four or five years. One of his most important works is
A representative of the emperor - residing in Alexandria - is under the hands of many officials
- He leaves the city once a year for a trip for four to five months, in which he travels to the Delta and Upper Egypt to preside over some rulers, review petitions, review accounts, and monitor employee performance
Military garrison
The military garrison consisted of two divisions of Roman citizens, in addition to many auxiliary units of the states' inhabitants, headed by Roman officers (the cavalry class) and a naval force based in the city of Alexandria in order to guard the sea and the river, and the Roman army consisted of seventeen thousand or eighteen thousand A fighter and we had many cold visas that indicate this, as the papyri run is not a small number of places of recruited individuals in the south of the country and their residence in those units.
The military unit is located on the opposite side of the city of Abu Letopolis (Apollinopolis) in 131 BC, and after 25 years there were 500 men present in it, it was divided into six companies of the hundred unit, then three factions, meaning a unit ten in addition to 363 infantry, 14 knights and 19 camels .
The period of military service was 25 years for the army, and 26 years for the fleet, limited to Roman citizens. As for the units, they were different. A soldier enjoys Romanian citizenship after the end of his service with respect. The soldiers were chosen from residents of the provincial capitals and were of the origins of the Greeks who settled in Egypt during the days of the Ptolemies. As for the Egyptians, the participation did not take place until the end of the second century BC.
The policy of the emperors in the first and half of the second century was to allocate the military garrison to units to reside in countries other than their countries of origin. Therefore, we find that most of the old soldiers who settled in Egypt were the first foreigners, but with the passage of time these soldiers merged with the inhabitants of those countries and became feeling at home.
It is noticeable that these soldiers married and had children despite the prohibition of the Roman law for marriage until the third century AD, and the wife and children were in an illegal situation, but after the end of his military service they became legal.
This is the reason for the emergence of a new trend, which is the conscription of state residents from the reign of Emperor Hadrian from AD 117 - 138. Therefore, the garrison and the war veterans resided in Egypt since the middle of the second century.
The financial situation of the soldiers in Egypt
When he left the military service, the soldier would receive a large reward, estimated at 12 thousand drachmas, and a compulsory part of it was saved, and he used to undertake many investment projects such as buying and selling, obtaining second profits, as well as granting loans. 1% monthly rate
For example, a soldier from the Cavalry Division owned personal and military assets estimated at 8 pieces of gold, 199 talents of silver. He also granted about 15 loans and upon leaving the military service received a certificate of exemption from military service. For example, in AD 159 he sent a Roman official to the registrar of a district to give a soldier a certificate of exemption from paying the head tax in exchange for ending his military service.
The number of demobilized soldiers
They are concentrated within the more prosperous villages such as Philadelphia in the Arsinoe region of the Fayoum. They numbered 5 landowners, as the soldier, after his departure, was looking for new lands to reside, for example in 136 AD. A soldier returns to his village, Karanis, University of Michigan, 1944-1934. I have found letters stating that Trentpanus was the son of a soldier who served in the fleet in Alexandria.
Class of Greece and Jews
Roman Egypt included three independent Greek cities, Nokratis in the delta, which was founded in 650 BC.
Alexandria in 331, founded by Alexander the capital, is the center of trade, with Arabs and Jews reaching it
And the Ptolemaic city in Upper Egypt near Thebes
The city of Antinopolis in 130 AD, founded by Emperor Hadrian, because of the drowning of his companion, Antinus, the young affectionate who drowned in the Nile during a trip to Upper Egypt, and that city established the same system of the mentioned Greek cities. .
Most of the papyri that talked about Alexandria faded away due to the humidity, but few of them arrived, such as the one that talked about the Qarous lighthouse, its port and its main street with a length of 30 meters, and the side streets from six to seven meters and the floor was polished with stone slabs. The population was 300,000, Diodorus recalls Sicily in August. It has a population of about half a million.
Nucrates, a Ptolemaic city. Little information has reached us in the Roman era, but Antinopolis, the matter is different, papyri spread about its construction and the privileges of its citizens.
Administrative system for cities
It is the registration of citizens in tribes and neighborhoods that have a constitutional system and the presence of a gymnasium, and it is an old integrated building that was taken care of by these cities and run by a person known as the director of the gymnasiarchos) and his job provides the gym with a request for lighting oil, massage and cosmet, which is the supervision of rituals, (Ephebes) ) Young people take over the work inside the gym.
Theaters and sports centers are characteristic of those cities, especially Alexandria, and are spread on the Mediterranean coast, and the favorite sport was wrestling and boxing.
Urinary Council (Shura Council)
It is the most important sign of the independence and independence of the city-state in Roman Egypt, and its members who live in the city avoid it. When Augustus entered the city of Alexandria, he deprived it of its polytheistic council. Because of the hostility, it faced upon entering Egypt, as well as Caesar before his arrival in Alexandria without a council until 200 AD the Emperor Septimus Severus establishes shuras for all regional worlds.
Privileges for city dwellers
When social life was available to all citizens and non-citizens, Roman citizens were exempt from the tax, as the rest of the population felt offended and subservient to the Romans.
The Greeks are allowed to purchase state lands, unlike the Egyptian state, so the emergence of farm owners and a vast loss for citizens of Yuanese cities.
Exempting real estate owners who are inside Alexandria and its borders from taxes and exempting the families of these citizens from public services
Enrollment in military service and thus facilitate the acquisition of Romanian citizenship.