Egypt, Rome and Aegyptophilia : rethinking Egypt's relationship with ancient Rome through material culture
This thesis is concerned to demonstrate that Egypt had an important part to play in the formation of the Roman empire. There is a tendency for Classical scholarship to discuss Romeâs relationship with Egypt in terms which fall very far short of the way in which Romeâs encounters with Greek culture are treated. Within scholarship today, any perceived problems with Egypt are still often overstated, while any respect which the Romans may have held for Egyptian culture is dismissed, underplayed or only grudgingly accepted. I intend to re-appraise certain aspects of Egyptian/Egyptianising material culture in order to demonstrate that while some areas of the Roman literary corpus are scattered with apparently derogatory remarks about Egypt, the material evidence tells a quite different story. The aim of this thesis is to examine Egyptian/Egyptianising material culture in order to put the evidence of written texts into a fuller cultural context and perspective. I shall take a chronological approach and intend to focus primarily on artefacts found in the public sphere. The exception will be Chapter Four in which I shall discuss notions about Egypt in the private sphere. The final Chapter will conclude with Hadrianâs
Mackenzie, Vanessa E.
D051 Ancient History
Egypt, Rome and Aegyptophilia : rethinking Egypt's relationship with ancient Rome through material culture. This thesis is concerned to demonstrate that Egypt had an important part to play in the formation of the Roman empire. There is a tendency for Classical scholarship to discuss Romeâs relationship with Egypt in terms which fall very far short of the way in which Romeâs encounters with Greek culture are treated. Within scholarship today, any perceived problems with Egypt are still often overstated, while any respect which the Romans may have held for Egyptian culture is dismissed, underplayed or only grudgingly accepted. I intend to re-appraise certain aspects of Egyptian/Egyptianising material culture in order to demonstrate that while some areas of the Roman literary corpus are scattered with apparently derogatory remarks about Egypt, the material evidence tells a quite different story. The aim of this thesis is to examine Egyptian/Egyptianising material culture in order to put the evidence of written texts into a fuller cultural context and perspective. I shall take a chronological approach and intend to focus primarily on artefacts found in the public sphere. The exception will be Chapter Four in which I shall discuss notions about Egypt in the private sphere. The final Chapter will conclude with Hadrianâs
egypt rome rethink egypt relationship ancient_rome material_culture concerned egypt important_part play formation roman_empire tendency classical_scholarship discuss rome relationship egypt term fall far short way rome encounter greek_culture treat within scholarship today perceive problem egypt still often respect romans may_hold egyptian_culture dismiss accept intend appraise certain_aspect egyptian material_culture order area roman literary_corpus scatter apparently derogatory remark egypt material_evidence tell quite_different story aim_examine egyptian material_culture order put evidence write_texts full cultural_context perspective shall take chronological intend focus_primarily artefacts find public_sphere exception shall discuss notion egypt private_sphere final conclude