Egypt plays a special role in offering (a) a considerable amount of economic data from the Roman Period and (b) a deep-time perspective, stretching well beyond the world of Classical Antiquity. The country remains an agricultural economy even today, but there is probably little left of the institutions of the ancient world. On the other hand, however, it is clear that there was some continuity between the Late Bronze Age (i.e., New Kingdom) and the Roman / Byzantine world – and this is clear in the land holdings. Although obviously related to subsistence, land tenure was also part of a world dominated by taxation and financial investment. In this paper, we will try to look at bits of change and continuity as well as the strategies.