The Roman Occupation of Egypt
With the deaths of both M. Antonius & Cleopatra VII, Rome swept Egypt, & seemingly overnight Augustus had laid claim over the entire region as the personal property of the imperial family. Occupation by Rome meant the first time in its history that Egypt was ruled by a foreign monarch living without the region. Similar to the Ptolemies, Rome imposed a number of restrictions on native Egyptians, but to a greater degree left Egyptians to their own internal affairs.
Rome brought new ideas about masculinity, femininity, & religious practices. Roman Egypt holds the first instances of hermaphroditic art in Egypt, a particular Roman interest, exemplified in 1, a figurine of a hermaphrodite posed reclining, similar to other Roman hermaphroditic art, but in faience, a uniquely Egyptian at this time (Wilfong). It is during Roman occupation also that the first instances of female genital mutilation occurred in Egypt, however initially mainly within the Jewish community (Graves-Brown).
Egypt retained a number of unique practices as well throughout its occupation, most notable here being the continued greater range of opportunities for women, such as Aurelia Charite, one of the most wealthy women of Roman Egypt (Rowlandson), whose own writing is preserved in a number of papyri, such as 2.