Egypt in Late Antiquity

Egypt in Late Antiquity brings together a vast amount of information pertaining to the society, economy, and culture of a province important to our understanding of the entire eastern part of the later Roman Empire. Focusing on Egypt from the accession of Diocletian in 284 to the middle of the fifth century, Roger Bagnall draws his evidence mainly from documentary and archaeological sources, including the papyri that have been published over the last thirty years. He deals with the natural and technological setting, the life of Greco-Roman cities and Egyptian country villages, family life, religion, language and literacy, and the distribution and uses of power. One dominant theme in this volume is the changing relationship between the cities and villages. Bagnall examines how the villages, which had been undergoing integration into the urban economies, were losing their internal structure and sense of community as the influence of local temples declined. He argues that in the fourth century Christianization and the development of Coptic allowed Hellenism to serve as a vehicle for a resurgent native culture, with the church providing new internal structure for the villages and new ties to the cities.