Tucked in the Fayyoum basin area were human portraits that melded the Roman and Egyptian cultures into art: the Fayyoum Mummy Portraits. The portraits were some of the most arresting paintings in history, and later became case studies to art historians. The portraits are notably described as the oldest portrayal of the human face. The first person to discover the paintings was the Italian explorer, Pietro Della Valle in 1615 AD. The paintings; however, remained largely unknown until the 19th century when British archaeologist Flinders Petrie was excavating a cemetery in Fayyoum. During the Roman conquest of Egypt between 30 BCE and 641 AD, the Roman fashion for naturalistic portraits began to become more popular in the ancient practice of mummification. The style of Roman-era mummy portraits had been found across Egypt, but largely in the Fayyoum basin area around the rich Roman city of Antinoopolis. Antinoopolis had wealthy inhabitants who presumably would have been able to afford the expensive mummification. In 1887, Petrie found around 150 exquisite paintings on wooden panels attached to mummified bodies in the Hawara archaeological site. By the late 19th century, the portraits started to…
