Egypt came under Greek rule after the conquest of Alexander the Great in 332 B.C.; the Ptolemaic dynasty ruled until the conquest by Octavian in 30 B.C. Egypt was then a province of the Roman Empire until the Arabs conquered it in 641 A.D. After the Greek conquest, an important migration of Macedonians, Greeks, and other groups took place from Greece and the surrounding areas of the Mediterranean. These groups then settled either in Greek poleis, such as old Naucratis, or in the newly founded cities of Alexandria and Ptolemais, but by far the majority settled all over the flatland of the chora (countryside).

In keeping with their ancient customs, the immigrants brought their own law and lived according to it. The resulting questions about the continuity and development of law, the possibility of mutual influence between Greek and native Egyptian law, as well as questions about the practice of law, are of general legal-historical interest. In this chapter, these questions will be examined primarily for the Ptolemaic period. The problematic nature of the relationship of Roman law (“Reichsrecht”) to native law, or better, to native laws (“Volksrechte”) developed in different ways after the Roman conquest, and the question of provincial law will only be sketched here.