Step 2 of 5

Not quite Egyptian

Fig. 1 - Elaborately decorated and wrapped Roman mummy of a child - the British Museum - [EA21809](https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/Y_EA21809) — Fig. 1 - Elaborately decorated and wrapped Roman mummy of a child - the British Museum - EA21809

The square pattern in the linen wrappings probably catches your eye when you see this mummy. The intricate pattern is an indicator that this particular mummy probably dates to the period in Egyptian history when the country was under Roman rule.S. Ikram, A. Dodson, The mummy in ancient Egypt: equipping the dead for eternity (London, 1998), 164-165.

After the death of Cleopatra VII, Egypt fell into the hands of the Roman emperor Augustus. These events mark the end of Egypt’s independence. From here on, Egypt existed as a province of the Roman empire, with a Roman emperor who lived far away in Italy instead of an Egyptian king or pharaoh.

The Roman Period saw some striking innovations in Egyptian funerary and burial customs. The focus of decoration seemed to have shifted to the body of the deceased (human or animal) itself. We find, for example, realistic mummy portraits, elaborately decorated shrouds, painted cartonnage masks and complex wrapping techniques (see i. e. fig. 1). C. Riggs, The beautiful burial in Roman Egypt : art, identity, and funerary religion (Oxford, 2005) . The intricate square pattern visible on our mummy, even alternating strips of dark and lighter linen, is a beautiful example of one of these innovations.

Now, let’s find out what is inside these beautiful wrappings.