In 31 BC the armies of Octavian (the future Augustus) defeated the forces of Mark Antony and Cleopatra at Actium. Following their suicide, Egypt became a province of the Roman empire.

The Roman emperors still built (ancient) Egyptian style temples. There they were shown as Egyptian Pharaohs in Egyptian style.

More than under Ptolemaic rule, Egypt was now part of the classical world. Egyptian gods, for example Harpocrates, were most often shown in classical attitude and dress.

Only in the decoration of objects related to burials were ancient Egyptian motifs still prominently deployed.

The painted mummy portraits are especially famous products of the period. Painted portraits of the deceased in a purely Roman style were placed over the head of the mummies. Many of the portraits were found at Hawara.

Imports from all parts of the Mediterranean appear now everywhere in Egypt on an unprecedented scale. See for example these fragments of Samian ware.

Objects of daily use are now purely Roman and do not look very different from those in other parts of the Roman empire. See the examples of Roman furniture.

Through the good climatic conditions there are many objects and object types - in other parts of the Roman empire not preserved - which have been excavated in Egypt and which complete our picture of the material culture of the Ancient world. See for example the page on Roman hairnets.

Many new technologies were introduced in the Roman Period, such as blown glass; the period brought the use of transparent glass and glass mirrors.

The main city in Roman Egypt was Alexandria. Perhaps the second most important settlement, also with the status of a city (Greek: polis), is Ptolemais in Upper Egypt, but this has not yet been excavated. Many other sites in Egypt have yielded important finds from the Roman Period, such as Oxyrhynchus.

At several sites in Egypt have been found many papyri (and ostraca) written in Greek. Several long-lost works of classical Greek authors have been rediscovered in such Egyptian sources.

Egypt was from the beginning a centre of Christianity. Monasticism was an important part of it; there are innumerable monasteries in Egypt. Especially famous is the White Monastery, which was founded by Shenute, one of the leading figures of Christanity in Egypt (fifth century AD).

Many terracottas dating to the Roman Period have been found in Egypt. They show a wide range of subjects, including Egyptian gods. The style of these figures is almost always Hellenistic/Roman.

There is almost no other province of the Roman empire, from which so many daily life objects are preserved. See for example the collection of leather shoes from Hawara, glass mirrors, bone working.