Arcadia, Egypt

Abstract Arcadia is the name of one of the Roman provinces located in Egypt in Late Antiquity. Created not long before 398 ce , Arcadia's territory encompassed Middle Egypt from the top of the Nile Delta at Memphis to the border of the Thebaid near Hermopolis. Oxyrhynchos, the capital of Arcadia, and other major towns like Herakleopolis and Arsinoiton Polis are the main sites of papyrus finds. Consequently, Arcadia is among the best documented areas of the later Roman Empire. After the Arab conquest of Egypt in 640/1, Arcadia remained an administrative unit well into the eighth century.