Award Information
Using political oracular responses, I will evaluate the reaction of the Egyptian provincial population to “Romanisation”, that is, the political and cultural integration of culturally diverse peoples into the Roman Empire. This research will add a new dimension to the current scholarly discussion concerning the nature of Romanisation, which, based on Romanocentric and provincial elite evidence, has often viewed Romanisation as a welcome and relatively smooth process for provincial cultural groups. The oracular responses, which originate from the provincials themselves, call such a perception into question as they betray a strong animosity towards Rome, and are furthermore not necessarily the voice only of the elite. The responses also offer the opportunity to examine how a politically absorbed cultural group might maintain a discrete cultural identity within the larger Empire.