An Introduction to the Faiyum Mummy Portraits

The Faiyum (Fayum) mummy portraits were unearthed by the Egyptologist Flinders Petrie (though others had been found elsewhere earlier) and they were so impressive, expressive and life-like that Flinders Petrie thought that the subjects must have been alive when they were painted, however, it is clear now that this was not so; they were all painted after the person’s death. The Fayum Mummy portraits are images of people painted on wood in the Greek style of the person being depicted in three-quarter view. The region of Fayum in ancient Egypt was a fertile oasis that was home to abundant plant and animal life. This lush oasis around one hundred km south of the ancient city of Memphis (near modern-day Cairo) wasn’t always so full of plant and animal life, but was once an arid desert basin until a branch of the Nile river silted up and water was diverted to it. — SUPPORT US VIA OUR PATREON— https://www.patreon.com/join/whencyclopedia — BUY OUR MERCH — https://www.worldhistory.store​/​ — CHAPTERS — 0:00​ Introduction 1:08 Introduction to Fayum 2:24 The Fayum Mummy Portraits 5:50 Outro — WANT TO KNOW MORE? — Fayum https://member.worldhistory.org/Fayum/ Fayum Mummy Portraits https://member.worldhistory.org/collection/134/fayum-mummy-portraits/ Roman Egypt https://member.worldhistory.org/Roman_Egypt/ Ptolemaic Dynasty https://member.worldhistory.org/Ptolemaic_Dynasty/ Ancient Egyptian Art https://member.worldhistory.org/Egyptian_Art/ — WATCH NEXT — The Ancient Egyptian Practice and Process of Mummification https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pVHSwSlfuI Shabti Dolls of Ancient Egypt - Helpers in the Afterlife https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ef2K3BRwU0M Akhenaten, the Sun Disk and the Amarna Period of Egypt https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rb9pHlwj-p4 The Ptolemaic Dynasty of Ancient Egypt: From Ptolemy I to Cleopatra VII https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Qi_yw5-qCg — ATTRIBUTIONS — You can find all attribution and credits for images, animations, graphics and music here - https://worldhistory.typehut.com/an-introduction-to-the-faiyum-mummy-portraits-images-and-attributions-11080 The music used in this recording is the intellectual copyright of Michael Levy, a prolific composer for the recreated lyres of antiquity, and used with the creator's permission. Michael Levy's music is available to stream at all the major digital music platforms. Find out more on: https://www.ancientlyre.com https://open.spotify.com/artist/7Dx2vFEg8DmOJ5YCRm4A5v?si=emacIH9CRieFNGXRUyJ9 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ1X6F7lGMEadnNETSzTv8A — THUMBNAIL IMAGE — https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/547861?ao=on&showOnly=openAccess&ft=mummy+portrait&offset=0&rpp=40&pos=10 The Metropolitan Museum of Art Open Access https://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-met/policies-and-documents/open-access CC0 https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en World History Encyclopedia www.worldhistory.org #faiyummummy #fayummummy #fayumportraits