The Late Pharaohs Were More Greek than Egyptian

By far the most ancient civilization known to the Romans was the Egyptian. To give an idea of just how ancient some of its buildings are, Julius Caesar is closer in time to the publication of this book than to the building of the Great Pyramids. It is thought the first Pharaoh was called Narmer and that he ruled around 3,100 BC, during the very early Bronze Age (in his time, stone tools were more common than metal ones).

However, Egyptian society changed significantly in the ensuing 3,000 years. The pyramids were built early on, with later pharaohs preferring burials in crypts in the Valley of the Kings. The biggest change happened in the 4th century BC when Alexander the Great conquered Egypt (along with most of the rest of the known world). On his death bed in 323 BC, he split his empire amongst his generals, and it was Ptolemy, a Greek, who got Egypt. Ptolemy founded the Hellenic (Greek) dynasty of the pharaohs, which lasted until the time of Julius Caesar.

Biological problems with Egyptian rulers can be explained by their idea of what constituted an acceptable marriage. As a pharaoh was a god amongst men, he couldn’t marry beneath him; so quite often, the pharaoh married his own sister. In the case of Ptolemy XIII, he was a boy of twelve or thirteen, married to his older sister, Cleopatra VII (she was the last Cleopatra and is, by far, the most famous). Obviously, inbreeding resulted in rulers with birth defects, and insanity cropped up regularly throughout Egyptian history.

When Ptolemy XIII did Caesar the immense favor of killing Pompey, Egypt was involving itself, irrevocably, in the affairs of Rome. While they had chosen the right side on this occasion, Egypt would become a key new focal point for the power plays of the next decade or so.

Eventually, with the death of Cleopatra (the statement is not a spoiler when this 2,000-year-old story has been told and retold hundreds of times in books, plays, and films; more on this later), Egypt was absorbed into the Roman Empire. It became a Roman province ruled not by a pharaoh, but by a Roman prefect. This previously unimaginable change in Egypt’s ruler symbolized the even more momentous change in Egypt’s status on the world stage. 

Alexandria, a major center of Greek culture and trade, became the new capital city. As Egypt's first port city, it became the breadbasket of the empire and the main grain exporter in the Mediterranean.

The Romans were fairly relaxed about local customs and culture. As polytheists, they had no problem with Egyptian religion, for instance; so while the administration changed, and Roman soldiers could occasionally be seen on the streets, the day-to-day life of the average Egyptian changed little.  Although the Hellenic era introduced European influences into Egyptian culture, by and large, the hieroglyphs and ancient symbolisms so characteristic of their history remained for centuries to come.

Below is a reconstruction of what Cleopatra VII is thought to have actually looked like.