Between Life and Afterlife: Mummy Portraits in Roman Egypt

When thinking of Egyptian mummy portraits, King Tut’s famous mask in all its golden glory usually comes to mind. Lesser known but equally intriguing are the Fayum panel portraits created almost 1,500 years later, when Egypt was a province of the Roman Empire.¹ Gone are the idealized features and severe brow-line of a traditional Egyptian pharaoh. Instead, we find naturalistic funerary portraits combining Hellenistic (Greek) and Roman art traditions with the Egyptian practice of mummification.²

Let’s examine the portrait of a Young Woman with a Gilded Wreath, 120–140 CE, to learn more about these beautiful paintings and peek into the life of a woman from this time period. But first, a word about Roman Egyptian culture.³

Mummification and Portraiture in Roman Egypt

Traditional Egyptian funerary customs of mummification and burial continued during Roman control of Egypt. There were, however, significant modifications in imagery, particularly wrappings, coverings, and portraiture. While images of the dead in Pharaonic Egypt were all about an idealized and timeless aesthetic, in Roman Egypt, capturing a person’s likeness was more desirable.⁴

Roman Egyptians preferred naturalistic portraits with a Graeco-Roman influence, meaning they were inspired by Greek and Roman art.⁵ In particular, artists used shading and highlighting for a more realistic and 3D effect. The fact that this Hellenistic style of painting was popular tells us that the diverse population of Roman Egypt influenced visual culture. In addition to native Egyptians, Greeks and Romans lived in Egypt during this time period.⁶

Mummy portraits are prime examples of this translation of Hellenistic art forms into an Egyptian tradition. But we can also see the integration of Roman customs. Ancient Romans were really into funerary portraiture and valued being on trend. As a result, they styled their deceased loved ones in the latest imperial fashions through clothing, hair, and jewelry. Egyptian panel portraits display these fashions, allowing us to date them to a specific Roman emperor’s reign. A win for fashion trends!

Mummy Portraits: Techniques & Use in Burial

Artists painted Fayum mummy portraits using the encaustic technique, which originated in Greece in the 5^th and 4^th centuries BCE. Encaustic means that artists mixed beeswax with powdered pigments. This mixture was then applied to a surface to create a realistic painting.⁷ See…we’ve even got Greek influence in the painting technique. In addition to encaustic painting, other mummy portraits were created using egg-based tempera.

The portraits—created at or near death—were fitted into the wrappings of mummified remains. So, although Egypt was no longer under the reign of its mighty pharaohs and its culture was changing with the influx of Greeks and Romans, preservation of the body through mummification was still essential in Roman Egyptian religion.

In general, the mummy portraits date from 30 to 300 CE, and most of them originate from the Fayum, a region in Egypt. There are about 900 in total, most of which are on wooden panels. Mummy portraits are the only surviving examples of panel painting from the Roman world. They’re so well preserved because their burial in Egypt’s dry sand prevented their organic materials (wood, pigments, wax) from decaying.⁸

Fayum Mummy Portrait of a Young Woman

Let’s take a look at the panel portrait, Young Woman with a Gilded Wreath, to get a glimpse into the past. While the woman’s identity is unknown, her death sheds light on what her life may have been like in the Egyptian Fayum under Roman rule. Examining her funerary portrait reveals the social status, ethnicity, personal style, and even religious beliefs of an Egyptian woman in the first centuries CE. Let’s get into it.

The funerary portrait depicts the youthfulness and beauty of a woman with rosy cheeks, plump lips, and wide, round eyes. She’s decked out in sparkling jewelry, fine clothes, and a gilded backdrop, making her an elite. The fact that she even had a portrait done at all is evidence of her high status, because in this period, mummification was still reserved for the elite class. Are we surprised? No, we are not.

Funerary portraits were expensive as hell, as evidenced by a Roman Egyptian papyrus fragment written in Greek. It reveals that a death mask, which served a similar function to the mummy portraits, cost 64 drachmas alone. Furthermore, the total cost of the burial (440 drachmas and 16 chalkoi) was double the amount of annual income for most people.⁹

And really, have things changed today? If you want to bury your loved one in a cemetery, you’ve got to pay for a casket, the funeral service, and the plot. It’s expensive AF. Anyway, the papyrus document demonstrates that mummification and capturing the deceased through portraiture were only affordable for the wealthy, such as the young woman with the gilded wreath.

Jewels Galore

If you didn’t already know about our lady’s high social status and wealth, then her sumptuous jewelry would’ve clued you in. Only women of affluence could afford to adorn themselves with gold chains, necklaces of precious stones, and pearl earrings. The British Museum owns a close match of the gold chain with a crescent pendant from the portrait. The pendant, called a lunula, was an amulet worn by women. Therefore, in addition to being a luxury item owned by a rich girl, the necklace also reveals the owner’s religious belief in the protective and magical qualities of amulets.

Our lady wears a second necklace that looks like one in the Royal Ontario Museum. It has alternating emeralds and gold foil balls. The use of emeralds reveals the mixed ethnicity of the Roman Egyptian population because the gemstone came from the Graeco-Roman world, not Egypt. During Ptolemaic rule, Greeks settled in areas like the Fayum, resulting in later generations of mixed Hellenic and Egyptian heritage.¹⁰ Therefore, the young woman in the portrait, like most elites, was likely of mixed ethnicity and lived in a multicultural society.

Pearl Earrings

Finally, the ensemble would not be complete without fancy earrings. Pearls were highly prized in ancient Rome, so it’s no surprise that the young woman mimics this fashion trend with a set of pearl earrings. Her pair is similar to the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s S-hoop earrings with pearls, although crotalia earrings were also very popular. The word crotalia is Greek for “rattle” or “castanets” and refers to the dangly pearl pendants that jingle when worn.

Beauty Standards in Roman Egypt

Fayum mummy portraits also provide a window into the personal style and beauty standards of ladies in this period. Our girl is gorgeous, to be sure, but what’s with the fleshy folds across her neck? Well, they’re called “Venus rings” and were a desirable beauty trait among women. They were a sign of the upper classes because they meant you had good health and nutrition. AKA you weren’t starving.  

Let’s talk about the hair for a second, because it’s another sign that our girl was of high status and invested in her physical appearance. She’s donning a hairstyle in fashion at the imperial court of the Roman Emperor Hadrian. This means that although she lived in Egypt, she had access to and kept up with the latest Roman fashion trends as a privileged woman. She even modeled herself after the Roman ruling class. A Roman sculpture, Portrait Head of a Young Woman, dated 130–140 CE, clearly illustrates this imitation because it depicts the same braided up-do as Young Woman with a Gilded Wreath.

Accessorizing with Gold Wreaths

Finally, let’s not forget about the beautiful gilded wreath in her hair. This style made a comeback in the 2010s, with women accessorizing golden wreath headbands to look cute. I was one of them…don’t judge me. Anyway, unlike the 2010s headbands, the ancient Roman Egyptian wreaths were made of real gold. One example is the Gold funerary wreath from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which contains oak leaves and acorns.

The wreaths were not all about style, though. Gold wreaths were associated with Greek funerary rituals and the worship of Orpheus, a musician who travelled to the underworld for his wife’s soul. Followers of Orpheus were often buried with gold wreaths, so perhaps our girl believed in the myth and life after death.¹¹

Women in Funerary Portraiture

How does the young woman in the funerary portrait compare with other elite women in the Egyptian Fayum? Let’s take a look at the panel painting Mummy Portrait of a Woman at the Getty Museum for a direct geographical and chronological comparison. Although this woman is quite older than our gilded wreath girl, she also wears gold and emerald jewelry, a gilded wreath, and bold pearl crotalia earrings. She proudly displays her “Venus neck rings” and braided Roman imperial hairdo. Her clothing reveals her desire to mimic Roman imperial women, because she’s wearing a purple cyclamen tunic and mantle, a staple of Roman dress. Unlike our young woman, who has remained nameless, this older lady is identified by an inscription as “Isidora.”

Although we don’t know the names of many of the subjects of Fayum mummy portraits, these paintings are rather personal in nature. They depict realistic likenesses of deceased loved ones, and through their deaths, we get a glimpse of their lives. The portraits also demonstrate that Egypt’s funerary tradition of mummification spanned thousands of years, even when its rulers changed.  

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Footnotes

1. The Fayum is a region in Egypt. ↩︎
2. Hellenistic refers to the period when Greek culture spread throughout the Mediterranean and Near East, between the Macedonian conquest of Greece and the rise of Rome. ↩︎
3. A brief rundown of how Egypt became a Roman province: The millennia-long rule of Egyptian pharaohs came to an end in 30 BCE. The beginning of the end came in 31 BCE at the Battle of Actium. Cleopatra VII, Queen of Egypt, teamed up with Mark Antony to kick Octavian’s butt and prevent his grubby paws from taking over Egypt. Unfortunately, the dynamic duo lost spectacularly and fled. In 30 BCE, Octavian took control of Egypt after the lovers Cleo and Mark each committed suicide in the face of overwhelming defeat. Octavian became the ruler of the Roman world and the first Emperor, Augustus. ↩︎
4. Pharaonic Egypt refers to the period of Egyptian history when the pharaohs ruled, before Queen Cleo died in 30 BCE. ↩︎
5. Graeco-Roman means ancient Greece and Rome. Duh. ↩︎
6. Tuck, A History, 268-269. ↩︎
7. Tuck, A History, 269; Metropolitan Museum of Art, “Portrait of a thin-faced bearded man.” ↩︎
8. Tuck, A History, 268. ↩︎
9. Gessler-Löhr, “Mummies,” 677. ↩︎
10. The Ptolemaic period refers to when the Macedonian dynasty founded by Ptolemy I Soter, a general of Alexander the Great, ruled Ancient Egypt. The Ptolemaic dynasty ran from 305 to 30 BCE. It ended when Cleopatra VII was defeated by Octavian (Augustus). ↩︎
11. Tuck, A History, 270. ↩︎

Bibliography

*Several of the following links are Amazon affiliate links, which means I earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no cost to you.

Borg, Barbara E. “Portraits.” The Oxford Handbook of Roman Egypt, edited by Christina Riggs, Oxford University Press, 2012, pp. 613-29.

Gessler-Löhr, Beatrix. “Mummies and Mummification.” The Oxford Handbook of Roman Egypt, edited by Christina Riggs, Oxford University Press, 2012, pp. 664-683.

“Portrait of a thin-faced, bearded man.” Metropolitan Museum of Art. Accessed 31 Oct. 2025.

Tuck, Steven L. A History of Roman Art. Wiley Blackwell, 2015.