Theban Ladies

Two noblewomen of Thebes, 1~2nd century CE, Roman Egypt

Despite being conquered by the Roman Empire in 30 BCE, ancient Egyptian culture persisted long afterwards. Mummification, in particular, continued as late as the third century CE. The so-called ‘mummy portraits’ and ‘mummy masks,’ which are made to resemble the dead and placed on their coffins, are valuable source for the period clothing of Roman Egypt.

This drawing is mostly inspired by mummy masks made in Middle Egypt, particularly in and around the ancient city of Thebes (Waset in Egyptian). It features an intriguing combination of Egyptian and Roman fashions of hairstyle, dress and jewelry.

The woman on the left is wearing an unusually colored diadem on her head. She wears a long Egyptian-style wig, a Roman-style red tunic with black clavi stripes, and jewelry that includes a lunula (crescent pendant). She is wearing a cloak made of exotic gauze-weave textile, based on one of the Fayum mummy portraits.

The woman on the right is closer to the traditional Egyptian attire. She wears a transparent yellow tunic, leaving her breasts exposed. A wide usekh collar and a winged scarab pendant are distinctively Egyptian. She placed a rose garland on her hair. Snake bracelets are thought to be of Hellenistic influence during the Ptolemaic period.

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Sources

· Cartonnage in the shape of a usekh collar, 1st century BCE, Brooklyn Museum

· Miniature usekh collar, 322~246 BCE, The Metropolitan Museum

· Mummy mask, Roman Egypt, 100~120, The British Museum

· Mummy mask, Roman Egypt, 1st century, Neues Museum Berlin

· Mummy mask, Roman Egypt, 6~70, The Metropolitan Museum

· Necklace with lunula pendant, 1st century, Walters Art Museum

· Portrait of a woman, Er-Rubayat, ca. 140, Antikensammlung Berlin

· Portrait of a woman, Hawara, ca. 110, Royal Ontario Museum

· Portrait of Isidora, Ankyronopolis, ca. 110, Getty Villa

· Usekh collar, 1353~1336 BCE, The Metropolitan Museum

· Winged scarab pendant brooch of Tutankhamun, 1323 BCE, Cairo Museum

· Nigel Strudwick, Masterpieces of Ancient Egypt, University of Texas Press, 2006