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As we know, Augustus proclaimed Egypt to be his personal estate. Effectively, the most important facet of this was that the entirety of the Egyptian revenue was his and his alone. In fact, it was the economic superiority that the Roman emperors had during the principate that form the bedrock of their power.

So, what if Egypt had been annexed to the Roman Republic prior to the establishment of the principate? It is my understanding that one of the early Ptolemies had willed the kingdom to Rome (I want to say Ptolemy XI), but Rome never followed up on that. So, what if they did. What if during the period of Caesars rise to power, Egypt was already formally incorporated into the republic?

Even assuming the devolution of the strict separation of powers with in the Republic into the semi monarchical principate still occurs, how might the economics of the new government play out? Or might this one change present such a development?
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