I think the most captivating and interesting was the very end, in fact, the last day. I have been waiting the whole semester for this lecture. I do not know why specifically I am interested in Roman Egypt. Maybe because it’s the connection of two ancient and powerful civilizations that hold great interest to me; honestly, at least one did, which was Rome.

Rome has always fascinated me, maybe because the history books say more about it than ancient Egypt. However, learning about the way the Romans treated the Egyptians was interesting. They seemed like the first conquerors of Egypt that treated the Egyptians at the bottom of the barrel. Of course, maybe this is why they retained their power for so long. Unlike other conquerors in the past in Egypt, the Romans kept the Egyptians low and raised up other groups above them, such as the Jews. The Egyptians being supplanted meant it less likely for them to have large revolts because no one was in power except the Romans. Also, the Romans indiscriminately killed…a lot! It was their way or the afterlife. Because of Rome’s power, I can see this being a factor as to why Egypt never gained its glory again.

Another interesting aspect was that the Romans did not care about ideology. It seems, at least here in America, we are taught early on that the Roman’s persecuted the Jews. Since introductory history and high school history classes don’t really go too much into the facts of why, I think we always assume it is because of religion because everything seemed/seems to be about religion. The fact that Roman’s didn’t care about religion and even adopted some of the Egyptian Gods as their own, such as Isis is almost relieving. It seems that Egypt was more of a smorgasbord of religion rather than enforcement of one religion.

Although I did not like hearing about the brutality of the Roman’s, I do think, that like the Greek’s, they allowed the Egyptian way of life to continue and even adopted or modified Egyptian practices to their own such as portrait mummification. Also, that they ensured the continued building or fixing of temples. They did not appear to disrespect the legacy of Egypt; they only cared that the people did what they wanted.

However, now that I have taken this class, although I have had a passing interest in ancient Egypt in the past, learning and reading about the whole of ancient Egypt has been a fascinating subject. I learned a great deal of facts I had not known before. Such as King Tutankhamen; not a very powerful king in the strictest sense of the word, but famous to us because his tomb has been one of the only tombs found fully intact, which gives us an exact idea of the might and power of Egypt during its time. These types of facts are what interest me; learning things that change the way I think about something.