Late Roman administration and cultural interdependence in the Egyptian Dachla Oasis

Egypt in the 4th century is a prime example of a permanent xenocracy in transition, which shaped the self-image of the Egyptian population for centuries. The study focuses on the effects of the pre-existing structures of Hellenistic and Roman rule on the ground.

This is where the subproject comes in and focuses on the changes to these structures that took place in the course of the 4th century through the administrative apparatus of the late Roman emperors. It is dedicated to the question of the extent to which the progressive fragmentation of the administration in the 4th century was responsible for increasing de-xenocratization at local level.

It pursues the thesis that the new diversification of local administration in the course of the 4th century led to more and more local self-administration and thus to more and more administrative and staff personnel, a process through which not only a Roman local elite but also a broad Roman middle class finally emerged in the Egyptian cities, which was firmly integrated locally into the administrative processes, whereby a large part of the population could in fact become "rulers" of their respective microcosm from "subjects" themselves.

The primary focus here is therefore not on the vertical structures of the exercise of power through top-down administration, but on the complex network of horizontal claims to authority and influence among the Egyptian inhabitants in the late Roman administrative structure.