Explore Mummy Portrait of Isidora

Read About an Ancient Egyptian Portrait Made for a Mummy

This portrait shows a wealthy woman named Isidora who lived in Egypt around 100 CE, when the region was part of the Roman Empire. Her curly hairstyle with braids and a bun was trendy during the rule of Roman emperor Trajan. Her name, “Isidora,” is painted in ancient Greek on her right shoulder.

At the time of this portrait, Egypt had a rich mix of cultures. The Greeks had ruled for 300 years before the Romans took over, and by Isidora’s time, Romans had been in charge for over a century. Isidora might have thought of herself as Egyptian, Roman, and Greek all at once! People from different backgrounds in Egypt shared social customs, art styles, and religious practices—including the ancient tradition of mummification.

When Isidora died, her body was mummified and wrapped in linen strips. This portrait was painted on a wooden panel and placed over her face. Her body was then wrapped in a red burial shroud, leaving only the portrait visible. Her clothing was painted on the shroud, but most of it has broken away over time. Faint color traces above the break suggest her arms were crossed and she held a rose petal wreath in her right hand—a common practice for wealthy women buried in red shrouds.

Many details show Isidora’s wealth and high status. The portrait itself is top quality, carefully painted with tinted wax on imported wood. Her jewelry includes gold, amethyst, emeralds, and pearls. She wears expensive Roman clothing, including a lavender cloak with stripes that symbolize high rank. Parts of her jewelry, clothing, and shroud were gilded (covered with gold), including her wreath, earrings, necklace, the edges of her cloak stripes, and the designs around her face. Even the red shroud was colored with red lead, an expensive mineral imported from Spain.

Sadly, Egyptian tombs were often robbed and disturbed in the past. Thieves and excavators damaged mummified bodies while searching for valuable items like portraits, amulets, and jewelry—often throwing away the bodies themselves. At some point, Isidora’s portrait was removed from her wrappings with pieces of the shroud still attached. Her body was lost.

Questions

Write or discuss your responses.

• What is a portrait?
• What details do you notice in this portrait?
• What does this portrait suggest about Isidora’s social status? List at least four details that give clues, citing evidence from the passage.
• Why do you think this portrait was created?

Listen and Learn More

Listen to the audio clip to discover even more about Isidora’s portrait. Then write down four new pieces of information you learned from reading and listening.

The art of covering a surface with thin metal leaf to create the appearance of solid gold.

The process of preserving a body by drying it.

Artworks showing what a specific person looks like. A portrait may look a lot like a person or show idealized characteristics.