Roman pharaoh

Emperor Caracalla (reigned 211–217 AD) depicted as a pharaoh in the Temple of Kom Ombo.

Cleopatra VII had affairs with Roman dictator Julius Caesar and Roman general Mark Antony, but it was not until after her 30 BC suicide (after Mark Antony was defeated by Octavian, who would later be Emperor Augustus Caesar) that Egypt became a province of the Roman Republic. Subsequent Roman emperors were accorded the title of pharaoh, although exclusively while in Egypt. As such, not all Roman emperors were recognized as pharaohs. Although Octavian made a point of not taking the Pharaonic crown when he conquered Egypt, which would have been difficult to justify to the wider empire considering the vast amount of propaganda which he had spread about the "exotic" behavior of Cleopatra and Antony[3], the native population of Egypt regarded him as the pharaoh succeeding Cleopatra and Caesarion. Depictions of Octavian, now called Augustus, in traditional pharaonic garbs (wearing different crowns and the traditional kilt) and sacrificing goods to various Egyptian gods were made as early as around 15 BC and they are present in the Temple of Dendur, built by Gaius Petronius, the Roman governor of Egypt.[4] Even earlier than that, Augustus had been accorded royal titles in the Egyptian version of a 29 BC stele made by Cornelius Gallus, despite royal titles not being present in the Latin or Greek-language versions of the same text.[5]

Unlike the preceding Ptolemaic pharaohs and pharaohs of other previous foreign dynasties, the Roman emperors were rarely physically present in Egypt. As such, the traditional role of the pharaoh, a living embodiment of the gods and cosmic order, was somewhat harder to justify; an emperor rarely visited the province more than once in their lifetime, a sharp contrast to previous pharaohs who had spent a majority of their lives in Egypt. Even then, Egypt was hugely important to the empire as it was highly fertile and the richest region of the Mediterranean. Egypt was governed differently from other provinces, emperors treating it more like a personal possession than a province; hand-picking governors and administering it without the Roman Senate's interference - no senator was ever named governor of Egypt and they were even barred from visiting the province without explicit permission.[6]

To the Egyptians, their religion demanded that there was a pharaoh to act as the intermediate between the gods and humanity. As such, the emperors continued to be regarded as pharaohs since this proved the most simple solution, disregarding the actual political situation, similar to how Egypt had regarded the Persians or Greeks before the Romans. The abstract nature of the role of these "Roman pharaohs" ensured that the priests of Egypt could demonstrate their loyalty both to their traditional ways and to the new foreign ruler. The Roman emperors themselves mostly ignored the status accorded to them by the Egyptians; in Latin and Greek their titles continued to be Roman only (Imperator in Latin and Autokrator in Greek) and their role as god-kings was only ever acknowledged domestically by the Egyptians themselves.[7]

As Christianity became more and more accepted within the empire, eventually becoming the state religion, emperors no longer found it possible to accept the traditional implications of being pharaoh (a position firmly rooted in the Egyptian religion) and by the early 4th century, Alexandria itself, the capital of Egypt since the time of Alexander the Great, had become a major center of Christianity. By this point, the view of the Romans as pharaohs had already declined somewhat; Egypt being on the periphery of the Roman Empire was much different from the traditional pharaonic view of Egypt as the center of the world. This was evident in the imperial pharaonic titulatures; though early emperors had been given elaborate titulatures similar to those of the Ptolemies and native pharaohs before them, emperors from Commodus (reigned 180–192 AD) onwards were usually given just a nomen, though still written within a cartouche (as all pharaonic names were).[8] Although there continued to be Roman emperors for centuries, until the Fall of Constantinople in 1453 AD, and Egypt continued to be a part of the empire until 641 AD, the last Roman emperor to be conferred the title of pharaoh was Maximinus Daia (reigned 311–313 AD).[9]

Despite actual dynastic relationships (there were at least four distinct dynasties of Roman emperors between Augustus and Maximinus Daia), the period of Roman rule over Egypt in its entirety is sometimes referred to as the Thirty-fourth Dynasty.[2] Some nineteenth century Coptic scholars, such as Mikhail Sharubim and Rifa'a al-Tahtawi, split the Roman emperors into two dynasties, a Thirty-Fourth Dynasty for Pagan emperors and a Thirty-fifth Dynasty encompassing Christian emperors from Theodosius I to the Muslim conquest of Egypt in 641 AD, although no Christian Roman emperor was ever referred to as pharaoh by the population of ancient Egypt.[10]

The titulature (most of them incomplete) of all emperors, which keeps in line with pharaonic titles of previous periods, derives from Beckerath (1999).[8]

Julio-Claudian Dynasty (30 BC–68 AD)

Main article: Julio-Claudian dynasty

Depiction	Name & reign	Comments	Horus name	Golden Horus	Prenomen	Autokrator	Nomen/Kaisaros
	Augustus 30 BC–14 AD (44 years)	Egypt was incorporated by Augustus into the Roman Republic in 30 BC after the deaths of Cleopatra and Caesarion. In 27 BC, Augustus became the first Roman emperor.	Hor-Tjema wer pehty hunu bener merut heqa heqau setep en Ptah Nenu it netjeru "The sturdy-armed one with great strength, the youth sweet of love, ruler of rulers, chosen of Ptah and Nun, the father of the gods"	–	Heqa heqau setep en Ptah "Ruler of rulers, chosen by Ptah"	Autokrator Emperor	Kaisaros Caesar
	Tiberius 14–37 AD (22 years)	Adoptive son of Augustus.	Hor-Tjemaa wer pehty hunu nefer bener merut heqa heqau setep en Ptah nenu it netjeru "The sturdy-armed one with great strength, the perfect and popular youth, ruler of rulers, chosen of Ptah and Nun, the father of the gods"	–	–	–	Tyberys Tiberius
	Caligula 37–41 AD (3 years, 10 months)	Son of Germanicus, the adoptive son of Tiberius.	Hor-Kanakht iakhw setut Ra Iah "The strong bull, the light of the sun and the moon's rays"	–	–	Autokrator heqa heqau mery Ptah Aset "Emperor and ruler of rulers, beloved by Ptah and Isis"	Kyseres Kernykes ankh djet "Caesar Germanicus, living forever"
	Claudius 41–54 AD (13 years, 8 months)	Uncle of Caligula.	Hor-Kanakht djed iakh shu (em) Akhet "The strong bull of the stable moon on the horizon" (?)	–	–	Autokrator heqa heqau mery Aset Ptah "Emperor and ruler of rulers, beloved of Isis and Ptah"	Tiberios Klaudios Tiberius Claudius
	Nero 54–68 AD (13 years, 8 months)	Adoptive son of Claudius.	Hor-Tjemaa hui khasut, wer nakhtu Baqet, heqa heqau, setep en Nenu merur "The sturdy-armed one who struck the foreign lands, victorious for Egypt, ruler or rulers, chosen of Nun who loves him"	–	Heqa heqau setep en Ptah mery Aset "Ruler of rulers, chosen by Ptah, beloved of Isis"	Autokrator Neron Emperor Nero	Neron Nero

Depiction	Name & reign	Comments	Horus name	Golden Horus	Prenomen	Autokrator	Nomen/Kaisaros
	Galba 68–69 AD (7 months)	Non-dynastic Roman emperor, seized power after Nero's suicide.	–	–	–	Autokrator Servios Galbas Emperor Servius Galba	–
	Otho 69 AD (3 months)	Non-dynastic Roman emperor, appointed by the Praetorian Guard.	–	–	–	–	Markos Othon Marcus Otho
Roman emperor Vitellius, who ruled for eight months between Otho and Vespasian, is not accorded any Pharaonic titles in known Egyptian sources.

Flavian Dynasty (69–96 AD)

Main article: Flavian dynasty

Depiction	Name & reign	Comments	Horus name	Golden Horus	Prenomen	Autokrator	Nomen/Kaisaros
	Vespasian 69–79 AD (9 years, 6 months)	Seized power of the Roman Empire with the eastern legions.	–	–	–	–	Vespasianos Vespasianus
	Titus 79–81 AD (2 years, 2 months)	Son of Vespasian.	Hor-Hunu nefer bener merut "The perfect and popular youth"	–	–	Autokrator Titos Kaisaros Emperor Titus Caesar	Titos Titus
	Domitian 81–96 AD (15 years)	Son of Vespasian.	Hor-Hunu nekhet itj em sekhemef "The mighty youth, his power will be stronger" (?)	User renput Aa nakhtu "Rich in years and great of victories"	Hor sa Aset mery netjeru nebu "Horus, son of Isis, beloved of the gods" (?)	–	Dominitianos Sebastos Kaisaros "The Venerable Dominitianus Caesar"

Nerva-Antonine Dynasty (96–192 AD)

Depiction	Name & reign	Comments	Horus name	Golden Horus	Prenomen	Autokrator	Nomen/Kaisaros
	Nerva 96–98 AD (1 year, 4 months)	Appointed by the Roman Senate.	–	–	–	–	Nervas netikhu Nerva Augustus
	Trajan 98–117 AD (19 years, 6 months)	Adoptive son of Nerva. Under Trajan, the Roman Empire reached its greatest extent.	–	–	–	Autokrator Kaisaros Nerouas Emperor Caesar Nerva	Germanikos Dakikos ankh djet "Germanicus Dacian, who lives forever"
	Hadrian 117–138 AD (20 years, 10 months)	Adoptive son of Trajan.	–	–	–	–	Hadrianos Kaisaros Hadrianus Caesar
	Antoninus Pius 138–161 AD (22 years, 6 months)	Adoptive son of Hadrian.	Incomplete Hor-Nefer...	–	–	Autokrator Kaisaros Titos Ailitos Adrianos Emperor Caesar Titus Aelius Hadrianus	Antoninos netikhu ankh djet "Antoninus Augustus, living forever"
	Lucius Verus 161–169 AD (8 years)	Adoptive son of Antoninus Pius, co-ruler with Marcus Aurelius.	–	–	–	–	Loukio(s) Aurelio(s) wer aa ankh djet "Lucius Aurelius, great life forever"
	Marcus Aurelius 161–180 AD (19 years)	Adoptive son of Antoninus Pius, co-ruler with Lucius Verus until 169 AD.	–	–	–	Autokrator Kaisaros Mark(os) Aurelio(s) Antonin(os) Emperor Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus	Antonino(s) Antoninus
	Commodus 180–192 AD (12 years)	Son of Marcus Aurelius.	–	–	–		Markos Aure(l)ios Komodos Antoninos Marcus Aurelius Commodus Antoninus
The non-dynastic Roman emperors Pertinax and Didius Julianus, who ruled for two months each between Commodus and Septimius Severus, are not accorded any Pharaonic titles in known Egyptian sources.

Severan Dynasty (193–235 AD)

Main article: Severan dynasty

Depiction	Name & reign	Comments	Horus name	Golden Horus	Prenomen	Autokrator	Nomen/Kaisaros
	Septimius Severus 193–211 AD (17 years, 9 months)	Seized power with the support of the Pannonian legions.	–	–	–	–	Seoueros netikhu Severus Augustus
	Caracalla 211–217 AD (6 years)	Son of Septimius Severus.	–	–	–	–	Antoninos netikhu Antoninus Augustus
	Geta 211 AD (10 months)	Son of Septimius Severus, co-ruler with Caracalla.	–	–	–	–	Geta(s) netikhu Geta Augustus
	Macrinus 217–218 AD (1 year, 1 month)	Usurped power, unrelated to the Severan dynasty.	–	–	–	–	Makrino(s) netikhu Macrinus Augustus
	Diadumenian 218 AD (1 month)	Son of, and co-ruler with, Macrinus.	–	–	–	–	Diadoumenianos Diadumenianus
The Severan emperors Elagabalus and Severus Alexander, who ruled respectively for three and thirteen years after Macrinus, are not accorded any Pharaonic titles in known Egyptian sources.