On the defeat of Mark Antony by Augustus, B. C. 30, Egypt became a
province of Rome. It was still a Greek state, and Alexandria was the
chief seat of Greek learning and science. On the spread of Christianity
the old Egyptian doctrines lost their sway. Now arose in Alexandria the
Christian catechetical school, which produced Clemens and Origen. The
sects of Gnostics united astrology and magic with religion. The school
of Alexandrian Platonics produced Plotinus and Proclus. Monasteries were
built all over Egypt; Christian monks took the place of the pagan
hermits, and the Bible was translated into Coptic.