The story of Roman Egypt is a sad record of shortsighted exploitation leading to economic and social decline.

Like the Ptolemies, Rome treats Egypt as a mere estate to be exploited for the benefit of the rulers, but however incompetently some of the later Ptolemies had managed their estate, much of the wealth they derived from it had remained in the country itself.

Rome, however, is an absentee landlord, and a large part of the grain delivered as rent by the royal tenants or as tax by the landowners as well as the numerous money-taxes are sent to Rome and represent a complete loss to Egypt.