The emperor was a pervasive presence in the lives of the inhabitants of Egypt. From honorific statues erected in public spaces and the reliefs carved on temple walls to the portraits on coins passing from hand to hand to the regnal dating formulas hastily-written on fleeting papyrus receipts, Roman rulers, indeed, occupied both space and time in the land of the Nile. What do these representations tell us about the relations between the emperors and the Egyptians? What do they reveal about the agency, mindset, and culture of individuals and communities in Roman Egypt? And what do they tell us about the integration of Egypt into the Roman empire?

Drawing on a varied range of sources from the reigns of Augustus (30 BC–AD 14), Nero (AD 54–68) and Domitian (AD 81–96), Nicola Barbagli will show the different ways in which the emperor was represented in written and visual media, and address how and by whom imperial power was negotiated in Egypt under the first emperors. In particular, the extent of local agency in the representation of power and the vitality of Egyptian cultural traditions will be highlighted, contributing to a reappraisal of the multicultural society of Roman Egypt and its active participation in the cultural and political dynamics of the wider Roman world.

Nicola Barbagli is NINO Postdoctoral Fellow 2026-2028.

Practical information

The lecture will be held as an in-person and online event.

• date: Tuesday 20 October 2026
• time: 15.30-16.30 hrs, drinks afterwards in the LIAS Common Room
• venue: Leiden University, Herta Mohr building, room 0.02, and online via Zoom
• admission: free – register for in-person attendance; register to attend via Zoom (link to be added)
• main language: English

Illustration: Augustus (30 BC–AD14) as pharaoh; relief at the temple of Opet in Karnak (photo by N. Barbagli, 2025)