By Owen Jarus, Live Science
Archaeologists have discovered ancient mummies buried with stunning, lifelike portraits of the deceased. The mummies were interred in a cemetery at the ancient city of Philadelphia in Egypt, the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities has announced.
The city of Philadelphia, located about 75 miles (120 kilometers) southwest of Cairo in the Fayoum area of Egypt, was founded during the Ptolemaic period (304 B.C. to 30 B.C.), when Egypt was ruled by a dynasty of pharaohs descended from one of Alexander the Great’s generals. Philadelphia — Greek for the city of brotherly love — continued to flourish even after the dynasty fell and the Romans took control of Egypt.
During excavations at the ancient site’s necropolis, archaeologists unearthed two complete mummy portraits, along with semi-complete and incomplete portraits, Basem Gehad, director of the ancient Philadelphia necropolis excavation mission, told Live Science in an email.
The “people who were buried in such a context in Philadelphia are for sure upper-middle class or elite so that they could offer to their relatives [such] expensive portraits that are identical to the person,” Gehad said. The portraits were painted by artists who were likely from Alexandria, an Egyptian city on the Mediterranean coast, Gehad said.
Archaeologists rarely find mummy portraits. Prior to the new discoveries, the last mummy portraits found in archaeological excavations were unearthed in the 1880s. Grave robbers looted ancient cemeteries, including Philadelphia’s, for their mummy portraits during the 19th century. However, archaeologists did manage to analyze some of the Philadelphia graves.
The cemetery located near the ancient city of Philadelphia in Egypt dates back around 2,000 years and contains mummies buried with portraits of the deceased. (Image credit: Courtesy Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities)
https://www.livescience.com/fayum-mummy-portraits-discovered-ancient-egypt
AR #89
Legend of the Three Marys
by Steven Sora
