2,000-Year-Old Tombs from Roman Period Found in Egypt

By Owen Jarus, Live Science Contributor | August 24, 2017

A series of tombs dating back about 2,000 years, to the time when the Romans controlled Egypt, has been discovered, the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities announced yesterday (Aug. 23).

Excavations at Bir esh-Shaghala in the Dakhla Oasis have uncovered tombs made of mudbrick and some are quite large containing multiple burial chambers. Some of the tombs have vaulted roofs and one tomb has a roof built in the shape of a pyramid.

Five of the tombs were recently discovered while eight more were found within the past six excavation seasons, ministry officials said in a statement. 

Artifacts were found in the tombs, including mummy masks and pieces of inscribed pottery known as ostraca. Giant containers were also found that may have held wine or olive oil, although chemical tests will need to be done to confirm this. The discovery of the tombs was made by a team of archaeologists from Egypt's Ministry of Antiquities. The excavations at Bir esh-Shaghala are scheduled to continue.

The Romans took over Egypt in 30 B.C., following Cleopatra VII's suicide after her navy was destroyed by the Roman Emperor Octavian at the Battle of Actium. While the Roman emperors ruled Egypt from Rome, the Egyptians revered the emperors as pharaohs. Their traditional Egyptian funerary customs (including mummification) and religious practices continued until the Roman Empire adopted Christianity as its official religion during the fourth century A.D.

Located in the Western Desert, about 217 miles (350 kilometers) west of Luxor, the Dakhla Oasis contains a vast amount of archaeological remains that date from prehistoric to modern times. A number of settlements from the Roman era flourished in the Dakhla Oasis. In 2014, Live Science reported that one of the Roman era settlements in the oasis had yielded the remains of an ancient school covered with writing that included references to drug use.

Source: https://www.livescience.com/60223-2000-year-old-egyptian-tombs-from-roman-period.html

One God to rule them all: Garry Shaw on Faith After the Pharaohs at the British Museum

The exhibition beautifully captures how religion shaped the region

by GARRY SHAW  |  17 December 2015

In the British Museum's latest exhibition, Egypt: Faith After the Pharaohs, there is a long fragment of papyrus, one of many on display, written in Greek and called the Gospel of Thomas. What is striking about this fragment is not its beauty or penmanship, but the era in which it was written. In Oxyrhynchus, an Egyptian city, the scroll’s Christian owner had copied the text less than 300 years after the death of Jesus, a time when the ancient Egyptian gods were still widely worshipped, before the acceptance of Christianity across the Roman Empire and before the appearance of Islam. To many of his contemporaries in Egypt, this ancient copyist—a man simply trying to preserve his messiah's sayings—would have been a rebel. He could not have predicted how Egypt, and the whole world, would change over the coming centuries, or that the church would forbid Christians from reading the very text he was copying once the contents of the New Testament had been agreed upon.

Religious development—its continuation and transformation—is at the heart of Egypt: Faith After the Pharaohs. It is what makes the show so fascinating and ambitious. Taking visitors from 30BC to AD1171, the exhibition is divided into three main sections, covering the Romans in Egypt and their interactions with the Jews and early Christians, the transition to Egypt as part of a Christian Empire and then, through the Byzantine Era, onwards into the Islamic Period. It is a millennium often ignored by museums in favour of Egypt's more ancient glories. Where most exhibitions end, this one begins.

“Window on a lost world”: rediscovered papyri at UBC shed light on ancient Egypt

A reminder for a dinner invitation and a touching letter from a young man to his mother offer a rare glimpse of daily life in ancient Egypt, thanks to a recent rediscovery at UBC Library.

Scan of a dinner invitation. Credit: UBC Library

It’s believed that the small papyrus scraps, which fit in the palm of an adult hand, are the first of their kind in Western Canada. Both were excavated in Egypt, and made their way to UBC in the 1930s via the University of Michigan.

“Together, they reveal intimate details of life in Roman Egypt,” said Toph Marshall, a professor at UBC’s department of classical, near eastern and religious studies (CNERS). “These documents are a window on a lost world, revealing the daily activities of ordinary people.”

The invitation, similar to a calling or visiting card from Victorian England, summons guests “to dine at the couch of the lord Sarapis.” Meanwhile, the young man’s letter wishes his mother good health; he writes that he thinks of her daily and asks her to visit soon.

The letter is also notable due to some creative handiwork. Parts of it were cut and rearranged in the early 20th century to make it more appealing to the modern sensibilities of antiquities buyers.

Karanis Revealed: Discovering the Past and Present of a Michigan Excavation in Egypt - A Bryn Mawr Classical Review

Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2015.05.38

Terry G. Wilfong, Andrew W. S. Ferrara (ed.), Karanis Revealed: Discovering the Past and Present of a Michigan Excavation in Egypt. Kelsey Museum publications, 7.   Ann Arbor, MI:  Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, 2014.  Pp. viii, 192.  ISBN 9780974187396.

Reviewed by Bethany Simpson, University of California, Los Angeles

The volume under review was produced as the result of a two-part exhibition organized by the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology at the University of Michigan in 2011 and 2012. The exhibit focused not only on objects from ancient Karanis, a Greco-Roman settlement in the Egyptian Fayum, but also on the history of Michigan’s archaeological mission at the site from 1924 to 1935. The exhibit combined artifacts and papyri with archival evidence. The resulting volume thoroughly details not only the history of Karanis, but also the excavation: how it was recorded, archived, studied, and published.

The publication is divided into three chapters. The first introduces the reader to the Karanis materials housed in both the Kelsey Museum collections and in the archives. The second chapter contains the exhibit catalogue, and the third section comprises individual papers outlining current research that pertains to the Karanis materials. Finally, indices include the museum accession numbers and field numbers for Karanis artifacts, designations for buildings specifically referenced in the text, a complete list of illustrations, and a general subject index.

The first chapter, “Archives,” begins with an introduction by Sebastián Encina, Collections Manager at the Kelsey Museum. Encina outlines the history of Michigan’s project in Egypt as preserved through the archive’s materials. This includes a discussion of sources relevant to the development of ancient Karanis and the history of the dig itself, and gives considerable insight into the daily life of the excavators who worked at Karanis.

Papyri on display

A collection of papyri from the Fayoum has been put on display for the first time in nine decades at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, writes Nevine El-Aref

Some 80 km southeast of Cairo is the small village of Karanis, once one of the largest Graeco-Roman towns in Fayoum. It was established in antiquity by Ptolemy II Philadelphus, as part of a scheme to settle Greek mercenaries among indigenous Egyptians and exploit the fertile Fayoum basin.

Karanis flourished until the end of the 3rd century CE, when the town started to decline due to troubles in the wider Roman Empire. The town was abandoned by the beginning of the 5th century, as part of momentous socioeconomic, political and religious changes taking place throughout the Mediterranean region.

The site was forgotten, buried by the sands, until the early 19th century when farmers unearthed papyri among organic debris left by the ancient inhabitants. It is these papyri, suitably conserved and restored, that have now been put on display at the Egyptian Museum.

Archaeological excavation, led by British Egyptologist Bernard Pyne Grenfell and papyrologist Arthur Surridge Hunt, started in Karanis in 1895. However, they did not continue their work, deciding that the site had been too plundered in antiquity to produce anything of value. The few papyri and artefacts they stumbled upon were not considered important enough to lead to a better understanding of the history of the site during the Graeco-Roman period.

In 1924 the archaeological rescue of the site began, continuing for the next 12 years under the leadership of an American mission from Michigan University directed by Francis W Kelsey. Two temples, residential houses and urban districts were discovered, along with cisterns, public baths and a collection of household objects of different shapes, sizes and materials. A large collection of papyri, now exhibited at the Kelsey Museum in Michigan in the US, was also unearthed.

2000-year-old youth organization

In Roman Egypt, 14-year-old boys were enrolled in a youth organization in order to learn to be good citizens.

So says social historian and historian of ideas Ville Vuolanto, University of Oslo, who has joined forces with Dr April Pudsey of the University of Newcastle to dive deep into a mass of material of around 7,500 ancient documents written on papyrus. The texts comprise literary texts, personal letters and administrative documents. Never before has childhood been researched so systematically in this type of material.

The documents originate from Oxyrhynchos in Egypt, which in the first five hundred years CE was a large town of more than 25,000 inhabitants. Oxyrhynchos had Egypt’s most important weaving industry, and was also the Roman administrative centre for the area. Researchers possess a great deal of documentation precisely from this area because archaeologists digging one hundred years ago discovered thousands of papyri in what had once been the town’s rubbish dumps.

Free-born citizens only

Only boys born to free-born citizens were entitled to be members of the town’s youth organization, which was called a ‘gymnasium’.  These boys were the children of local Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. Their families would necessarily have been quite prosperous, and have had an income that placed them in the ‘12 drachma tax class’. It is uncertain how large a proportion of the population would have qualified, probably somewhere between 10 and 25 per cent, Vuolanto explains.

Roman city located near Rosetta

Remains of ancient city discovered 25km south of Rashid (Rosetta) in the Nile Delta

by Nevine El-Aref , Monday 30 Jun 2014

During a magnetic archaeological survey under the Nile, 25km south of Rashid (Rosetta), a complete Roman city has been located.

The survey revealed that the city includes several structures including a huge rectangular building which archaeologists suggest could have been used for administrative or religious activities.

Part of the city is dated to the Hellenistic period and others to the late Hellenistic period and the beginning of the Roman era.

“It is a very important discovery that explores daily life in the Nile Delta during the Roman period,” said Antiquities Minister Mamdouh El-Damaty.

He explained that it also reveals the architecture style of buildings and the mechanisms of urban planning in the Hellenistic era.

The international team includes archaeologists and scientists from the United States, Italy and other European countries.

Mohamed Qenawi, the head of the Egyptian research team, explained that early studies show that the discovered city was constructed during the Late Pharaonic period and lasted into the Roman era. He asserted that further studies would reveal more details of this buried city.

Source: http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/9/41/105138/Heritage/GrecoRoman/Roman-city-located-near-Rosetta.aspx

Remains of 'End of the World' Epidemic Found in Ancient Egypt

By Owen Jarus, Live Science Contributor   |   June 16, 2014

Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of an epidemic in Egypt so terrible that one ancient writer believed the world was coming to an end.

Working at the Funerary Complex of Harwa and Akhimenru in the west bank of the ancient city of Thebes (modern-day Luxor) in Egypt, the team of the Italian Archaeological Mission to Luxor (MAIL) found bodies covered with a thick layer of lime (historically used as a disinfectant). The researchers also found three kilns where the lime was produced, as well as a giant bonfire containing human remains, where many of the plague victims were incinerated.

Pottery remains found in the kilns allowed researchers to date the grisly operation to the third century A.D., a time when a series of epidemics now dubbed the "Plague of Cyprian" ravaged the Roman Empire, which included Egypt. Saint Cyprian was a bishop of Carthage (a city in Tunisia) who described the plague as signaling the end of the world.

Occurring between roughly A.D. 250-271, the plague "according to some sources killed more than 5,000 people a day in Rome alone," wrote Francesco Tiradritti, director of the MAIL, in the latest issue of Egyptian Archaeology, a magazine published by the Egypt Exploration Society.

Tiradritti's team uncovered the remains of this body-disposal operation between 1997 and 2012. The monument his team is excavating was originally built in the seventh century B.C. for a grand steward named Harwa. After Harwa's death, the Egyptians continuously used the monument for burial (Akhimenru was a successor who built his own tomb there). However, after its use for body disposal during the plague, the monument was abandoned and never used again.

The use of the complex "for the disposal of infected corpses gave the monument a lasting bad reputation and doomed it to centuries of oblivion until tomb robbers entered the complex in the early 19th century," Tiradritti writes.

Roman Emperor Dressed As Egyptian Pharaoh in Newfound Carving

By Owen Jarus, Live Science Contributor   |   March 25, 2014

An ancient stone carving on the walls of an Egyptian temple depicts the Roman emperor Claudius dressed as an Egyptian pharaoh, wearing an elaborate crown, a team of researchers has discovered.

In the carving, Emperor Claudius, who reigned from A.D. 41 to 54, is shown erecting a giant pole with a lunar crescent at the top. Eight men, each wearing two feathers, are shown climbing the supporting poles, with their legs dangling in midair.

Egyptian hieroglyphs in the carving call Claudius the "Son of Ra, Lord of the Crowns," and say he is "King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Lord of the Two Lands." The hieroglyphs say he is raising the pole of the tent (or cult chapel) of Min (an ancient Egyptian god of fertility and power) and notes a date indicating a ritual like this took place around the summertime researchers say. It would have taken place even though Claudius never visited Egypt. A cult chapel is a place of worship and a tent could also be used for this purpose.

The elaborate crown on Claudius consists of three rushes (plants) set on ram horns with three falcons sitting on top. Three solar discs representing the sun (one for each plant) are shown in front of the rushes. Egyptian rulers are shown wearing crowns like this relatively late in ancient Egyptian history, mainly after 332 B.C., and they were worn only in Egypt. The Roman Empire took over Egypt in 30 B.C., and while the Roman emperors were not Egyptian, they were still depicted as pharaohs Egyptologists have noted.

Museum Pieces - Painted funerary shroud

(Photocredit: The Global Egyptian Museum)

The decoration of the shroud combines both traditional Pharaonic and classical elements. The amuletic collar at the top is flanked by Isis and Nephthys, and the lateral scenes in the lower section include the mummy on a bier, the presentation of the deceased to Osiris, and a range of Egyptian deities. In the centre is a figure of the deceased, bearded and wearing Roman dress, but flanked by Egyptian architectural features on which perch two falcons wearing the double crown of Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt.

Present location: NATIONAL MUSEUM OF IRELAND [30/002] DUBLIN
Inventory number: 1911:442
Dating: ROMAN PERIOD
Archaeological Site: HAWWARA
Category: CLOTH/SHROUD
Material: LINEN; GOLD
Technique: PAINTED; WOVEN; GILDED
Width: 52 cm

Bibliography
W.M.F. Petrie, Roman Portraits and Memphis IV, London 1911, pl. 12.1-2, p. 15.

(Photocredit: The Global Egyptian Museum)

(Photocredit: The Global Egyptian Museum)

(Photocredit: The Global Egyptian Museum)

(Photocredit: The Global Egyptian Museum)

Source: http://www.globalegyptianmuseum.org/detail.aspx?id=2470

Egyptian Dog Mummy Infested with Bloodsucking Parasites

By Jeremy Hsu, LiveScience Contributor   |   September 23, 2013

A dog mummy has revealed the first archaeological evidence of bloodsucking parasites plaguing Fido's ancestors in Egypt during the classical era of Roman rule.

The preserved parasites discovered in the mummified young dog's right ear and coat include the common brown tick and louse fly — tiny nuisances that may have carried diseases leading to the puppy's early demise. French archaeologists found the infested dog mummy while studying hundreds of mummified dogs at the excavation site of El Deir in Egypt, during expeditions in 2010 and 2011.

"Although the presence of parasites, as well as ectoparasite-borne diseases, in ancient times was already suspected from the writings of the major Greek and Latin scholars, these facts were not archaeologically proven until now," said Jean-Bernard Huchet, an archaeoentomologist at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris.

Mentions of dog pests appear in the writings of ancient Greeks and Romans such as Homer, Aristotle and Pliny the Elder, and a painting of a hyenalike animal in an ancient Egyptian tomb dated to the 15th century B.C. shows what is likely the oldest known depiction of ticks. But evidence of ticks, flies and other ectoparasites that infest the outside of the body has been scarce in the archaeological record — until now. (The only other known archaeological evidence of ticks comes from fossilized human feces in Arizona.)

Museum Pieces - Mummy portrait of a young girl

Photocredit: Allard Pierson Museum (UvA)

Mummy portrait of a young girl

Painted on wood with laurel of gold leaf in her hair
Hight 302 mm
Roman Period, 50 - 75 AD
Inventory nr: APM00724

Allard Pierson Museum

Source: http://allardpiersonmuseum.nl/english/


Current exhibition at the Allard Pierson Museum:

Eternal Egypt Experience

Discover the vast history of Ancient Egypt in an unexpected way
12 July 2013 to 5 January 2014 

Eternal Egypt Experience. Discover the vast history of Ancient Egypt in an unexpected way. The heart of the experience is Culturama, a large multimedia show with nine, metre-high screens and a 180° view. In just 20 minutes a guide will take you through the highlights of Ancient Egypt - from prehistory, pharaohs and the great pyramids to the early-Christian Coptic era.

This exciting show is combined with a review of current Dutch and Flemish archaeological research in Egypt. Seven presentations allow visitors to experience work behind the scenes. What factors play a role in these archaeological excavations? How do the archaeologists go about their job, have their findings confirmed existing ideas and what new insights have these discoveries produced? A unique aspect of these excavation presentations is the overview they provide of the chronology of Ancient Egypt, reinforcing the narrative of the experience. Top pieces from the museum's own Egyptian collection, including a mummy, beautifully painted sarcophagi, crisp reliefs and sophisticated bronzes, illustrate the presentations.

Eternal Egypt Experience can be seen in the Allard Pierson Museum from 12 July 2013 to 5 January 2014.

Address
Visiting address: Oude Turfmarkt 127, Amsterdam
Postal address: P.O.box 94057, 1090GB Amsterdam
Telephone: + 31 (0)20 52 52 556
Fax: + 31 (0)20 52 52 561
E-mail: allard.pierson.museum@uva.nl

Andrew Monson, From the Ptolemies to the Romans: Political and Economic Change in Egypt - A Bryn Mawr Classical Review

Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2013.06.03

Andrew Monson, From the Ptolemies to the Romans: Political and Economic Change in Egypt.   Cambridge; New York:  Cambridge University Press, 2012.  Pp. xvii, 343.  ISBN 9781107014411.

Reviewed by Peter Nadig, Friedrich-Meinecke-Institut, Freie Universität Berlin

It is now widely understood that the establishment of Egypt as a Roman province radically changed many aspects of its land tenure and taxation. Monson’s thought-provoking contribution – in four parts with two chapters each – is the first structured assessment of this transition of power. It includes an examination of key issues like ecology, land tenure and ownership, taxation, administration and politics. In dealing with these matters Monson draws information from Greek and Demotic papyri and considers theoretical perspectives as well as models from social sciences. 1

Part I offers an introduction to the political economy of Egypt and its transfer to Roman rule. A major focus is on property rights and privatization, with critical assessment of sources (few if any papyri in the Nile Delta and most parts of the Nile valley as well as practically none from Alexandria) and relevant scholarship on population and property issues in Egypt. The next chapter is on geography and population. Egypt’s demography is particularly tricky since safe estimates cannot be established continuously for the whole country. Several land surveys allow some estimates for some towns and communities at certain times, but there is no sure way to give exact figures. Because of this Monson turns to recent scholarly publications of ancient land surveys and modern censuses of Egypt, as well surveys and theoretical models from outside Egypt during other periods. One focus is on the question of population density, which has always varied in Egypt depending on the region. Census figures from 1895-1910 confirm a stable estimate for a low density in most areas of the Nile delta and the Fayyum and a high density in the Nile valley; a similar contrast may have existed in ancient times. Yet judging from the ancient sources on Roman Egypt its population seems to have been lower by at least 30% (68). Monson takes a thorough look at many other data available from censuses and surveys from the 19th century as far as back as the Napoleonic expedition. He also deals with the question on how far environmental or climatic change may have affected the demography. 

The Mummy of Herakleides – Roman Egypt at the Getty Villa

Posted by: HeritageDaily, May 28, 2013

Written by Londyn Lamar

The Getty Villa in Malibu, California is the beautiful educational center dedicated to housing the artifacts and antiques from the ancient Etruscan, Greek, and Roman periods.

Although their busts and statues are remarkable, while I went to visit this beautiful museum on the cliffs of the Pacific Coast Highway, an acquisition that combined Roman and Egyptian culture snagged my interest. The Mummy of Herakleides, which is a Romano-Egyptian mummy found in Egypt about 150 A.D, emphasizes the traditions of both the Roman art style and the Egyptian tradition of life after death and their practices of caring for the dead and protecting them in the afterlife. The Roman style of individual portraiture, with the emphasis on the upper body and expression of the face and gestures, is evident in this depiction of Herakleides.

While the upper exterior of the dead permeates with the ideals and styles of the Roman Empire’s control Egypt, the body’s exterior as a whole demonstrates the ideals and practices of the Egyptians.

Herakleides went through the mummification process, and is not placed in a sarcophagus, similar to Etruscan tombs such as the Cerveteri Sarcophagus. Also, the designs on the body of the mummy are in the Egyptian style of depicting hieroglyphics and pictorial images, similar to the innermost coffin of Tutankhamen. Herakleides’s usage of the Egyptian processes illustrates his influence and fascination with the Egyptian traditions of the dead. The Mummy of Herakleides shows that Herakleides desired to portray his exterior portrait in the Roman style to demonstrate his lineage, but also wanted to illustrate his connection to the Egyptians through their mummification process and hieroglyphical designs.

Egyptian Mummy's Elaborate Hairstyle Revealed in 3D

by Owen Jarus


Nearly 2,000 years ago, at a time when Egypt was under the control of the Roman Empire, a young woman with an elaborate hairstyle was laid to rest only yards away from a king's pyramid, researchers report.

She was 5 feet 2 inches in height, around age 20 when she died, and was buried in a decorated coffin whose face is gilded with gold. A nearby pyramid, at a site called Hawara, was built about 2 millennia before her lifetime. The location of her burial is known from archival notes.  

High-resolution CT scans reveal that, before she was buried, her hair was dressed in an elaborate hairstyle. "The mummy's hair is readily appreciable, with longer strands at the middle of the scalp drawn back into twists or plaits that were then wound into a tutulus, or chignon at the vertex (crown) of the head," writes a research team in a paper published recently in the journal RSNA RadioGraphics. They note that it was a popular hairstyle at the time, which may have been inspired by a Roman empress, Faustina I, who lived in the second century. 

Credit: Courtesy Victoria Lywood

Ancient Poem Praises Murderous Roman Emperor Nero

by Owen Jarus

A just-deciphered ancient Greek poem discovered in Egypt, deifies Poppaea Sabina, the wife of the infamous Roman emperor Nero, showing her ascending to the stars.

Based on the lettering styles and other factors, scholars think the poem was written nearly 200 years after Nero died (about 1,800 years ago), leaving them puzzled as to why someone so far away from Rome, would bother composing or copying it at such a late date.

In the poem, Poppaea ascends to heaven and  becomes a goddess. The ancient goddess Aphrodite says to Poppaea, "my child, stop crying and hurry up: with all their heart Zeus' stars welcome you and establish you on the moon..."

Nero was one of the most infamous rulers who ever lived. Ancient writers say that he killed his own mother, Agrippina, and his first wife Octavia. He is also said to have killed Poppaea herself with a kick to her stomach while she was pregnant. If that wasn't enough, the well-known line — "Nero fiddles while Rome burns" — is an apocryphal phrase related to a great fire that ravaged Rome for six days during his reign. 

Poppaea herself is also depicted in a less-than-positive light by ancient writers. When Octavia was killed, Poppaea was said to have been presented with her head. Some sources also speculate that she was the power behind the throne that encouraged Nero to murder his mother.

The Oxford Handbook Of Roman Egypt

Roman Egypt is a critical area of interdisciplinary research, which has steadily expanded since the 1970s and continues to grow. Egypt played a pivotal role in the Roman empire, not only in terms of political, economic, and military strategies, but also as part of an intricate cultural discourse involving themes that resonate today - east and west, old world and new, acculturation and shifting identities, patterns of language use and religious belief, and the management of agriculture and trade. Roman Egypt was a literal and figurative crossroads shaped by the movement of people, goods, and ideas, and framed by permeable boundaries of self and space. This handbook is unique in drawing together many different strands of research on Roman Egypt, in order to suggest both the state of knowledge in the field and the possibilities for collaborative, synthetic, and interpretive research. Arranged in seven thematic sections, each of which includes essays from a variety of disciplinary vantage points and multiple sources of information, it offers new perspectives from both established and younger scholars, featuring individual essay topics, themes, and intellectual juxtapositions.


Author: Christina Riggs
Publisher: Oxford University Press (2012)

Faces of Egyptian mummies on show in Manchester

The faces of ancient Egyptians have gone on show in Manchester.

The portraits painted on to panels that covered the heads of mummies form part of an exhibition at the city's John Rylands Library.

Photo Credit: University of Manchester

The panels, which have rarely been shown in public, were bequeathed to Manchester Museum by cotton magnate Jesse Haworth in 1921.

The museum's Egyptology curator Campbell Price said they depicted people who looked "strikingly modern".

The paintings, known as Fayum portraits after the region near Cairo where they were found, were discovered on archaeological digs in 1888 and 1911 by William Flinders Petrie.

They date back to about AD 150, when Egypt was part of the Roman Empire.

Egypt: The End of a Civilisation

By Dr Aidan Dodson

Defining the end point

The civilisation of ancient Egypt can be traced back in recognisable form to around 3000 BC. It was to endure for over three millennia and it is perhaps the most instantly recognisable of all ancient cultures today. The question of how it came to an end is a perennially popular one, but actually quite difficult to answer, as it is by no means agreed as to what constitutes 'the end' of Egypt as an ancient civilisation.

...the demise of the hieroglyphs was a manifestation of the decline and fall of the ancient religion...

Is it the definitive end of native Egyptian rule (at least until the 20th century)? In this case the answer would be the flight of King Nectanebo II in 342 BC. Is it Egypt's absorption into the Roman Empire in 30 BC? Or the last appearance of the ancient hieroglyphic script just before AD 400? Or the closure of the last pagan temples in the sixth century?

In many ways the last suggestion is perhaps the most appropriate, as in all the other cases, the core religious and artistic values of the country continued on, albeit increasingly debased and under pressure. However, the demise of the hieroglyphs was a manifestation of the decline and fall of the ancient religion in the face of Christianity, itself ultimately to be supplanted by Islam.

From the Sands of Egypt

By Michael Gordon   Fri, Apr 13, 2012

The discovery of the world's largest trove of ancient writings has opened an unparalleled window on a vanished world.

El-Behnesa, Egypt, 1896. There was little to see. It was a landscape of windblown sand surrounding a sleepy arab village. But for Bernard P. Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt, young English scholars of classicism from the Queen's College in Oxford, there was something about the place that screamed at them. Set astride a small river that anciently served as a canal of the Nile, they knew it was the location of two ancient cities, the more ancient called Per-Medjed, a capital of the Egyptian 19th Dynasty, and the younger called Oxyrhynchus Polis (meaning "City of the Sharp-Nosed Fish"), a Greco-Roman town initially under the Ptolemaic rulership of 3rd-1st century B.C. Egypt. Now, only a lone well-weathered Greek column, a few traces of stone and banks of sand hinted at an ancient presence. This place was nothing like the visual splendor that greeted explorers and adventurers at sites like Luxor, Giza, and Abu Simbel.

  

But Grenfell and Hunt were not interested in architecture. They were interested in researching ancient papyri, and having recently excavated in the Fayum area, the region surrounding the well-known ancient Egyptian site of Crocodilios, they had hopes that this new, relatively obscure site might yield something significant.