Fayum Portraits

Greco-Roman Egyptians

By: Charles Giuliano - Dec 21, 2016

Fayum Portraits

Cleopatra
Last of the Ptolemys
More Greek than Egyptian
Battle of Actium
With Marc Antony
Fell to Rome
Imperialists
Seduced by Osiris
Exotic rituals
Cult of Isis
Added to Pantheon
Colonists adapted
Ancient burials
Not cremated
But mummified
Going native
Uniquely modified
Portraits added
Stunning images
Facile encaustic
Masterful rendering
Facing eternity
Just as they were
Jeweled matron
Swarthy merchant
Tender child
Gazing back at us
Miscegenation
So reviled by
Juvenal who
Abhorred foreigners
Exiled on the Nile
Inferior even
To lowly Greeks
Pax as pox
On filial piety