roman period

Funerary Shroud of a Woman

With gentle elegance and silent dignity, a woman emerges from the linen folds of this Roman-period funerary shroud, painted in vibrant tempera nearly two thousand years ago. Hailing likely from Antinoöpolis or the Faiyum region, this remarkable textile, measuring over two metres in length, blends the funerary traditions of Pharaonic Egypt with the fashion sensibilities...

Hermanubis

Carved from luminous Parian marble, this statue embodies the elegant fusion of Egyptian and Roman divinity: Hermanubis, the jackal-headed Anubis recast in the guise of Mercury. Fashioned in the 1st–2nd centuries A.D., the figure rises a modest 1.55 metres, yet commands attention. A slender solar disc poised on a crescent moon nestles between alert ears,...

Mummy Portrait of a Man

This mummy portrait of a man, painted around 150–225 A.D., is a striking example of the Faiyum portrait tradition; an evocative fusion of Egyptian funerary practices and Greco-Roman artistic techniques. This particular portrait, rendered in encaustic (hot wax) paint on a panel of sycamore fig wood, comes from Antinoé in Middle Egypt, a city founded...

Silicified Sandstone Bull

Carved from resilient silicified sandstone and rising to a height of 17 cm, this finely sculpted bull statuette stands as a testament to the enduring reverence of bovine symbolism in Ancient Egyptian culture. With dimensions of 8 cm in width and 26.5 cm in depth, and a sturdy weight of 4.06 kg, the piece exudes...

Faiyum Portrait Mummy of a Young Child

This mummy from Hawara, dates from the 1st-2nd Century A.D., and is of a young child aged 2-3 years of age. Barbara Borg FSA (Professor of Classical Archaeology at the Scuola Normale Superiore) and German Egyptologist and Curator Dr. Cäcilia Fluck proposed that the idea of the mummy being a male was incorrect, based upon...

Coptic kohl vessel

This greystone square shape vessel was used to hold kohl. Along the sides, a design of what is said to be temples. This piece was sold at an auction by a Private East Coast collection, via the Palmyra Heritage Gallery in New York City, and dates from between the 2nd and 5th Century A.D. Kohl...

Green Gaius Julius Caesar

The Berlin Green Caesar Many archaeologists place this green schist bust of Gaius Julius Caesar from the first century BC, but the majority prefer the first century AD, in the early Imperial period. It is 41cm highs and posthumous portrait, the only known portraits made of Caesar from his lifetime are on coins. It was...

Priests of Isis perform a water ritual

White-robed priests of Isis perform a water ritual as chanting devotees line the steps of the goddess’s temple in this wall painting from Herculaneum. Herculaneum was an ancient Roman town, located in the modern-day commune of Ercolano, Campania, Italy. Herculaneum was buried under volcanic ash and pumice in the Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79...

gold medallion of Caracalla

Gold medallion of Caracalla

This gold medallion of the Roman Emperor Caracalla, was found in Abu Qir, Egypt, and dates from, c. 215-243 A.D. It is one of 20 medallions found within a hoard in Abu Qir, Egypt. One of the medallion’s is marked with “Olympic Games of the year 274”, which could mean that these were medallions given...

Coffin for young girl from Akhmim. British Museum. EA29587

Coffin for young girl from Akhmim

Wooden lid and base of a coffin for a young girl from Akhmim, Sohag, Egypt, c. 50 B.C.- 50 A.D. This coffin dates from the period of Greco-Roman rule and can be seen by the garment the young girl is seen depicted wearing. However, despite this she maintains her Egyptian religious belief, by being mummified...