THE LANDSCAPES CULTURAL NATURAL AND

NATURAL AND CULTURAL LANDSCAPES IN THE FAYOUM

The Safeguarding and Management of Archaeological Sites

an d N atu ral E nvi ron m ents

Proceedings of the lnternational Colloquium 31"'October ^-

2nd

November 2010

Edited by

Hosanna Pirelli

Published by

UNESCO - Cairo 2011

,r)

Unlve§ltà degl Studidi Napoli, L'orenlale

FAYOUM PAINTED PORTRAITS

l\,,lummy portraits

in'Roman stye',

known as Fayoum portraits, were painted in the

lrst

centuries CE. As is weLlknown, many

olthese

porlraits preserved in museums abroad lacktheir orig

na

lunerarycontext, the lombs and necropoleis that housed them, whose

globa

analysis would have offered invaluab e c ues for teading' them.l We have therelore no other cholce butto analysethis bodyof evidence tryingto Ieconstruct 'Jrom lhe inside' whaì these images may have been meanl lo express. ln do ng so, I

wil

use the methodo"

loglcalapproach usually app ied in classical archaeology to ^inle rprel the 'langage des images', an especially rewarding methodoogy when we are confronted with a coherent body ol evidence leaturlng recurring signs;

and indeed, these porlra

ls

display a consstent figuralive language, whose meanlng we can lry

lo under

sland through a global

anayss

of the whole dossier (reperto re, person depicted, d lferent painling slyle§

and

lechniqles...).

I hope to demonslrale here

that,lollowing

this path, we can try to overcome the lack of an archaeologi- cal context and understand the

funclon

these portraits, a med at enhancing the image

oi

part cu ar social groups in Egypt, may have expressed. To achìeve this end, we are lorlunate enough to be able to draw on

a

number of recenì studies on th s subjecl, which have already observed the Fayoum porlraits 'undel the

lens'of

ditferent methodological approaches, and most

notabythe

work oflvlontserrat, Borg, Corcoran and Riggs, who have ascribed a deeper meanlng to

these

mages, shunning

the'descriptve

approach'common to so many old or new books, or exhibition calalogues.'? lndeed, under the spell

oithe

sk ll exhibiied by

lhe

artists in so many

olthese

painlings, one runs the risk of consldering them as physiognomic and psycho-

ogica

lkenesses of a

specfic

indivdual, and thus complelely missing the

socal

stereotypes

lhe

^painled mummy

portraits-

as so many podrails in d lferent med a

ofthe period aclua

y express and convey.

I wish to stress lhat l'm not an Egyptologisli what I am setting lorth here is the perspective

ol

a cassical archaeologisl wlshlng to analyse these portraits combining their observation wilh

lhe

problem of lhe rnean- ing of the portrat in Roman society, with specialregard to the

ìmperialpe

od.

Archaeological practices lhal were wdespread belween the end

olthe

nineleenth century and the begin' ning of the twentielh (when the bu k

olthe

^portra

ls

were found and

in

arge part conveyed to the antiques markei) has dlsmantled the archaeologica evldence, divid ng what was orginally

a'b

lingual' unity: a body treated accord ^ng to Egyptian lunerary praclices in a carapace with Egyptian lunerary iconography, and

alace

'painìed in Boman slyle'. By 'bllingual unity' I mean a coherent way ol switching bet\,leen different modes of expression, to be dstinguished from a'mixed style', which mingles languages, styes, and iconographies.3

A number oi schoars maintain that lhe reason this evdence has been preserved only here is the peculìar

A welcome exceplion islhe recerl discovery of a monumeila lomb conlaiiing six mummies wilh palnled porlG ls at l,lar na El'

A amein. The besl preserved porlral, wlh a gold-leal crov,n ls daled on sly slic grounds to the beginn ng ol Ìhe second cenlury CE: Daszewski(1993) esp. p.409.412 Figs.6'7;

d

⁽¹⁹⁹⁷⁾

Anìong lhe many contributons ol D. Monserralon lhese lopìcs, cl., e g , I'ilonlserrat (1993):

d

^{(1996), pp.48_55. Corcoran}

(1995)tBorg(1996);Riggs(2002)ìEad.(2004)iBorg(2009).AmorelraditionalviewsolieredbyLehmann(2010).

0n lhese topics Casligionel96liGumi€Fsorbets(1997):Rggs(2002),pp.96.97 cl asoWallaceHad _{2008), esp ^pp 337

lhlunl and Cù1tuft| Landscapes in the Fayam Ih"" Salesùatlins antl Managenent at Archaeatoglcat Stes and Natotal Envianneng

THE FAYOUIII IN THE

PASI

Un vers tà deglÌ sludi di Napo i, L'Orienla e

c imale ol Egypt.4

0n

the conlrary,

lwish

to stress lhat the archaeologÌcal conìext

oflhese

portraits, with the mummified body and the visual imagery they display, are urlba,lacking paralets in the resl ol the Roman em- pire, and we cannol considerthis uniqueness as a mere by-producl ol an exceptional state ol preservalÌon.5 Another _important consideration is that these objects place a strong emphasis on religious/ funerary as- pects and belief in lhe

afte

ife.6 All this does not match with what we know aboul the funerary jdeotogy of Roman society:judging from the evidence from the city of Bome and its subudium in ìhe

l

rst centuries CE, we could even say that religlous beliefs play a definitely minor role ln images and, generally speaking, that tombs

funclon

here more as honorary monuments than as'containers

ofthe

dead body'.7

The

figurative system ol the

Fayoum

poriraits

lhe

archeological debale about the Fayoum corpus has ma nly locused on issues of chronology, on lhe one hand, and Ìhe primarylunction

oflhe

portraits, on the other. The issues oi chronology are quite solved by now,swhereas lhe same cannot be sald as regards our understand ng

ofthe

primary lunction

olthe por

trails., Here the melhodology I referred to above (in-depth analysis ol repertolre, person depicted, ditferent painting styles and techniques) may help, suggesting that the system ot the painted portraits, the figurative language lhal informs them, points to!4ards a primarily lunerary destination.

As regards iconography, the depicted person oflen holds garlands and beakers.'o The same objecls can be found on funerary sculpture, as weli as on shrouds, objects of clearly funerary desUnation, underscoring the funerary destination

ofthe

portraits.rr This hypothesis mightf nd an objection in the

leal

sUc, appearance of the portraits: how could the painter convey such a 'lrue' image of ìhe person, if the portrait was painted when lhe person was dead? Here studies on portraitsirom otherareas in the Roman ernpire can be of greal usefuln-ass

I

Painted personae,

social norms

and

slereotypes

ln so many painted podraitsr3 - no doubì to meet the demand and social requirements of the clients ^- the

41wi

sulliceherelocleBanchiBandinel(1970),pp.282-291;Biggs(2005),p.140ìSlewan(2008),p79.

5

occasora Indings lrom orher conlexls lorexampte _Kirchhof, flehorovics (2010) do nol aÌter this slale ot thirgs.

6

0n these ssues,

cl

especalyCorcoran (1995)i Bòrner(2000).

7

Funerary evidence from Rome can also erplain ihe pooacondilions n wh ch lhe mummies are _usually jound, oli€n contrasl ng

wlh the r costly decoration. Actually, buil tombs rema ned in use over a long perod ol

tfie,

sometime changing owners As a consequence, due to ack oi space, older corpses were ollen disp aced lo make roonr to new bura s. On these issues, cf.

Baldassarre (1983), esp.

p

159iEad (1987).

8

0n lhis pointcf. especialy gorg (t996), pp.19-88

9

Parlasca considers lhe funerary dest nai on ol lhe poriralsassecondary:see e.O, id., (t966), pp.59-90 and, more recenÙy, /d.

{1997). Conlrary ^v ews are expressed by Borg (1996), pp 191-195;Monrserral(1997a),p.37.

l0

Cl,eg.,Paiasca(1980) p.53 n.618,p|.t47 1(&ooktynMuseum nv 41 848 fion er-Rubayat); ,bid., p. 54, n. 620 pt 147, 3 (Brookyn l\,luseum, inv.54 I97, lom eÈBubayat).

ll

CI. Brema ^(]926), pp. 64-65 pl. XXX, Fig. 1 (from Abukn);Pa asca 11977),p.74,n_ ^{422, pt.} i0S (shroud frorn Antnoe, now Louvre P2l5)i Wrede (1977)

12 The socialcharacterof Homan portrailure has beer rcpeatedly slressed by Zanker:ct., e.g.ld ^(1981)i id. (iS95).

13 The pori rails lrom er- B u bayat ^re present an importanl anomaty' (see ,11/14.

SESSIoN

ll.

Fayoum inlhe Pa§

pa nters sk llfully convey a sense

ol

llle

-

I would _even speak of a sense

ol

,resemblance,

,, which largely expla ns the appeal

olthese

images lor the modern observer. Nevertheless, a g obal analysis oi the whoÌe corcus reveals the amounÌ of stereotypes built inlo these images. Through the consistenl representation of d fferent groups

ol

personas, in diflerent age groups, these portraits do convey social norms and stete- otypes: a function, it is important

io

note, that palnted portraits from Egypt share with sculpled

porlrals

n the whole Boman world.ra

Among lhe subjects the portraits represent we iind a very large n umbe r of

ch

d ren and you ng people. This circumstance is not al all common Ìn the rest oJ the empire, where

porlrats

featuring young people ma nly occurin

lhecaseol

^princes ofboth genders, and menbers oflamilies

olthe

highest rank.r5ln thiscase, too, I would suggest lhat the

fguralve

system informing the painted portraits in Boman.perod Egypt po nts to a

primailylunelary

deslination. lndeed,

llind

it hard to undersland how the same obiecl (a portrait pa nted using the same technique and d splaying

lhe

same figurative language) could pÌay such ditferent roles: a iunerary one in case ol children; a 'domestlc' one in case of adu ts.

Observing Fayoum portraits

olyoung

males, D. I\,,lontse(at has dentiied two diflerentage groups, stress- ing the

socia

significance of the porlraitst adolescent young males can be represented

wth

a lock of hair, alluding to the mal/okoula or

lhe

cutUng

ol

a lock of ha r, the

tite

de passage'

lhal

\aill mark their ^,social birth', whereas young,

sexlally

ripe males are represented with th n moustaches.r6 Among examples of this kind of podrait,lT we can recall

lhe

murnmy of Arlemidoros, whose age of death has been lixed belween his 19'h and 21.rb dhdays,13 or the Herakle des murnmy Ìn lhe Getty I\,4useum, whose age at death has also been eslimaied at around 20 years.r, I regard these data as

an

mporlant confirmalion lhat,

al

easl to some extent, the 'young' Ìook ol the deceased aclua ly corresponds to h s or her age at death and should not be inlerpreìed as an idealized representalion.?0

ln lhe case olfemales, we can dislinguish belween ' nfants' and 'gir s'. Female children are usually recog- nizable by lheirjewelry, as in lhe case of a portrait ln Berlin,à bul we lack the d sUnct on lnto two age groups observed lor young males, and

whatwe

m ghl ca l'sexually ripe gjrls,(Ìn the sense proposed by l!,,lontserrat for young males)are mosty characlerzed as such only by jewels and

dress

n iancy,

costy

colors. So, the

14 Cf. supra, note 12

15 Examples lrom the midd e mpe alperodcanbetound e.g inthe.mpe atgatery otlheVlaotChragan.now n th€ t\,tuseu.rl

0lTououse(Cazes(19S9),p.122,nv.30162 140.142, inv.30i63 30i69). or in the nymphaeu,rì blitt by Herodes Altcus n olyrnp aiBol(1984);c1 also Fllschen (1999).

l6Legras(1993)ilMonlserral(1993)ì /d(1996) pp.st _53.

lTAboulfltyare known accordÌng to Montserrai (1996), p.52.

lSPa asca(1969) p.71, n.162 p1.39.1 (Britsh Museum EA2lSl0) Moniserral (1996), p.52 (with biblography) 19 Corcoran, Svoboda (2011)lnon _vidi).

20Elsner(ISSB) pp 115-117,envisag€slhepossibiitythallheyoulhlut _ook sachoce,theway thermournerschosetoreme berlhemlhoughlheyperishedinodage',whereasFter(1997)oifersevdencelhal,inmostcasestheageotanindvduaas indicated byan accompanyÌng podrail v,as confrmed'. the head covered bythe poirait ot a young ma e jrom Hawara (partasca 11969), p.80, n.198 p|.48 4 now London, Brlstr Museum EA 74704), has reveat€d an age otdeath al around 20 years (Borg (2009),p.307,V| 11).TheageollheederlymanpantedinlhepodrailoundbyFt.p€tri€arHawara(parasca(t969),pp _67- 68 n.148,

p

35.3, Brlish l\,4useum EA 74708), has beenlixed at around 60 years: Borg (2009), p.305

V

6

21 Parlasca (1969) pp-26-27,n-5,p 2.1

Natùal and Cullunl Landscapes in the F ayaun lhe Saleguading and Managenent at Archaeataqeat Sites and N atont Enarcnnents

THE FAYOUII4IN THE PAST Llniversilàdeqli slud di Napoli, L'0ienlale

'socal

personae'the portraits represent mirror the differenl social roles of males and Jemales. While males are represenled so as to stress age groups and their diflerenl social ^positÌon,

the

Ìack of a correspond- ing soclal dist

nclon

lor lemales ls expressed by the r less specific representation.r?'Brides'and mothers, grown"upfemales who have accomplished lheir

roe

and

socialfuncion

through marriage and chidbearing, are insiead

ceary

recognizable.a

Although no precise

ldentilcalion

seems to be possible

for

portraits leaturing persons in mililary habit, Ìhese stand out lor general adistic quality and consistent iconographicalleatures. Ivlen are ail around the same age, their hair and beard are

styed

according to the Zeilgesichl (period lace) principle, the \,l/hite tu"

,ica

contrast ng wilh the datk paludanenlum on one shoulder, and they often wear a sword.belt.r4 Another group

ol

portrails, featurng young men wilh bare torsos, does not appear easy to understand, although lhey have often been identilied as young athletes, and connected with the meaning ol athleticism as 'an important parl oi

civic

dentily in Egypt'.,s

Through archaeo ogicaÌ analysis, we can show thaì

lhe

portraits do not reproduce the physiognomy of a specilic individual, but rather represenl 'social types' (male and lemale children, young _males in diilerent age groups, young

girls,

brides and mothers'). These types can be reconstructed by analyzing the system

oi

the

iguraìive

language used to represent them

ir

Roman-perod Egypt. I\,4y

contention

s that the llle- keness exhibled bythese

podratsshould

actually be regarded

asthe

resLlltofable craltsmanshlp. lndeed, the stereotypy

oi this

language becomes very clear when

we

compare portraits

thal 'ook

sim

lal,

even though they are clearlyworks by diflerent painterc.,6 Thus, the objections raised by scholars maintain ng that the lile- ikeness

ol

lhe portraits should be regarded as prool that they were pa nled _during the deceased's liietime for a primary domeslic lunction can be reluted.

The liie-likeness of the Fayoum portraits should lherefore be regarded as an intended goal, the resull of

h gh skill on the parl _of the pa nters, who _{are able} 10 grant these images an 'aura

oi

lile'. This is especially evident in the portlaits' intense gaze. Forexample, in awell-known portrailfrom Hawara, now in London, the pecular quality of the gaze is obtained by carelul dislortlon in the

rende

ng

olthe

eyes. ^,7

22 Bagna l(1997)slresses lhallhe difierenl lìngulstc rcots oJ mosl ol lhe names irnderscore the d liereni soc a posilofs of males and fema es and d lfer€nces n'declining _elhn c ly'between lhe publc _sphere oflhe mae component and lhe dornestc sphe€

ol th€ jemale componenl

23Cf.,eg.,lhefamousA/ire'nBerin,Bodernus€umnv.11411:Parlasca(1969),p.25,n.1,pt.,1iBorg(1996) p.1e4,sadlo have been found logelher,À,lh ihe child portra l, supra note 21 (Borg (1996), p. 184, n.9).

24 Borg (1996), pp.lS6159.Seealsolhelalershroudlromlhebes,nowin Luxor, Museum ol Ancient Elypl an An, J. i 94/0 1512i Pa asca, Frenz (2003), n 763 pl.171,1iRiggs (2005), pp .222.232t 293.294, n.117,p.12.

25 Monsleral (1996), p.53 Borg (1996), p. 159.

26Borg(1969),pp.97100.Ci,e.g,Parasca(1969),pp.2526,n

2,p.

, 2 (Carro, CG 33268) and rbrd, p 26,n

4,p. _,4(Be

n, Bodemuseurn, nv. 17073)

ld

(1963)p 59, n. 1t9, p 29, 1 (Wien,

osF

e chisch€ Natonatbib iolhet papyrussammung, _p.

Vindob. G 808), ard /d (1980), p.32 n.536, pl.130,1 (Cano CG 33246;Borg (1969), p. Sg). Partasca(1969), pp.29-30

..15

p . 4, 3 (Ber in, Antikensammlung Ìnv. 3t 161 . 16 da er.Fubayal), and lbd, ^p. 85, n. 218, pt 54, 2 (Bril sh Museum, EA M706 daNawara).Parasca(1980),p31,n.531,p|.129,1(PhiadephÌa,tlniverslytr4useurn,nv.E462,fromHawara) and ibid., ^p.

31,n.533,p|.129.3(Hamburg,MuseumfùrKufslundcewerbe,inv.l92S42,fromer-Fubayal) _Borg (i996), pp. 93-97 ^isls porlra ls 1o be relerred to the sa me 'We rkslall' or lhe same palnler.

27 Parlasca (1969) p 29, f.13,

p.4,1

(Briltsh ]\/useurn EA74716)

"Formal" podraits?

lf we consider lhe evidence Fayoum portraits presenl, _we

wil

obserue a prevalence of certain groups of individuals (chidren and young peop e of both genders, ol d lferent age groups, young 'br des', soldiers...).

lan lvlorris colned lhe concept of 'formal burial' to descr be seleclve lunerary customs in Ati ca, where'from c. 1 050. . . to the lale sixth centu ry' b! ^ria s such as lo leave lraces in the archeo og

ca

record were reserved only 10 certaln soclal groups.'?8 Paraphraslng this concepl, we could characterize the Fayoum portraits as 'formalpodrails', where foremosl among the portrayed are young people whose unumey dealh is slressed, em phasìzing the loss of the family or the

socia group."

Although a diflerent inlerprelat on cannot be ru ed out, as maintained by scholars who regard the youthfu ness oi portrayed people as an idea ized

porlrats

(or not a lealislic one, anyway),

ihe

high number

ol

^podrayed children forces

the

nterpreter

lo

envisage also oìher, diflerent possib

lities.'fhrough

specific

sgns

I have described above, the portraits slress the socia condition of the dead,lhe r

lar.

lies and lhe r soc algroups. We can inler thal, as ln olher per ods, here funer- ary

rtuals

act as occasions of dispLay ng and slresslng socialas

wellas iamly

bonds.3l

A'declining'identity? An identily'under conslruction'?

^An

archaeological perspective

ln their emphasis on signs of socialslatus, the Fayoum images might even revealan aclive

roe,

compa- rable with

otheractons

airned al slressing and promoling the role and

socalposilion

ofspecific personae or soc al figu

res

n the Boman Empire. The consistency of the repertolre lhey exhib I invites a compar son w lh ireedman lunerary reliets

ol

first-cenlury-BoE Rome, whose

liguratve

language is cenlered on the newly acquired social

slalus

represenled through family bondsi marriage and

lhe

leg timale

coupe, wth

veiled heads and wearing togas, the children and lhe

rfree

status, expressed especialy through the image of the son as a

soldier.}

What remains hard

lo

define from an archaeoog

cal perspectve is lhe way

the portrails might

act

in delinlng identities: do lhey emphasize and reinlorce identilies that especially need

lo

be emphaszed and re niorced (as in the case of'declin ng' ideni lies)?;

or-

like lhe freedmen reliefs trom Bome ^- are they aimed

al'promotlng'

identilies?

Ths

poinl might be of speclal interesl

here,

n the context

of

Egypt in

lhe

Bornan empire. Here

Mlten

sources te

lus

of a rigid divlsion

ollhe

^popu alion

ofthe

country inlo three dillerenl groups.33ltwe compare

lhese

assertions

wth

the statements made by

lhese

portraiis,

lor

example those d splay ng military im- ages relerred to above,g we cou d lollow Corcoran in her highlight ng ol 'a shill toward locaL recruilment

oi

soldiels, irom the middle

ol lhe ll

c. veterans setlling in Egypl tended more and more to be men lrom the country lowns making theil way lhrough enlislr.enl and military serv ce into the wor d of Roman pt vilege...

28 Morris (1987), pp.97109.

29 0n premalure dealh, cl. Biggs (2005), p. 131ì Borg {2009), p.68

30 CI. supra nole 20.

31 Bussi(2008) pp. 129-130.

32 Kocke (1993).

33 Sarlr€ (1991), pp.423-430i Legras (2004), pp.66 75.

34 See p _73.

Natual and Cultunl Landscapes in the Fayaun. The Saleguarlng and Managenent ot Archaeatogtcat Sites and Natunt Enarcnnents

N

--€

Un vels 1à

deg

studi di Napoli, L'Orienta e

lhe date

forthe

Fioruil

olthe

soldier portraits corresponds precisely lo

lhe

induclÌon

ol

Hellenized Egyptians into the m lilary service during the

Had

anic period', and in her conclusion that

tather

than being pa ntings of Boman soldiers, the soldier portraits could

wellhave

been commissioned by lhe nat ve ofl ceI class'.61n the llghl ol these cons deral

ons,

t w ^Ll be clear how lhese images could possess an active role in the proc- ess of'negot ating identities'.36

As

n olher fie

ds

n the study ol ancienl sociel es, here archaeoiogy might ofier clues shedding a diflerent light on situations delined by law and administrative rules. ln many provincjal areas ol the Boman Empire, prvileges granted to persons or groups of persons can overcome and bypass

what

s defined by law. As re.

gards Egypl, we could wonder ii the str ct division ol people inìo three c asses known lrom written sources did not

a

ow exceptions, promoì ng socialstatus as a personal privi ege granted by the imperial administral on.

G ven the use Boman

socety

makes of the Greek figurative language, il seems ditficult to me to accept the idea ol scholars regarding the way deceased people are often dressed, wearing the himaton instead

ol

the toga, as a way oi expressing their 'opposilion' to being portrayed as Boman cilizens.3r

lfthe

wayspecial groups of Greek people are represented n

lhe

mperial period stresses their perlaining to the cu tural world

oi

Greek

paideia,ss ind

it ditficult

to

use

ths

point as evidence thal these portraits express 'oppos tion' agalnst an

'impeialstic'

power, as we m ght consider it today.

A good point can be made here

lrom lhe

observation

oi

the famous wooden aed cu

e

in the Ca ro mu.

seumi the youna rnale head

is

nscribed in a c/ipeus; above the head, in the roof of the struclu re, is pa nted an

a/abaslro,

(oil boltle) belween lwo pair oJ

st

gils; a papyrus roll and wooden tablets flank the head of the young ma e

(Fig.l).

Th s is cerlainly a way of referring to Greek pardela and

la beirg'apo

^gymnasiou'

with the partcular meaning this can

have

n the sociely of Flor.an Egypt.3'But we should not forget that in

frslcentury-BCE toi

rsì-century-CE houses from Roman ltaly, the same signs express notan opposlion to belng Roman'or acting as one, but an adherencelo a Greek lilestyle as a sign of luxury.40ln lact, as a long trad tion of study has by now made clear, the use the society of Roman period _makes of Greek

lguratve

anguage ollen makes a distinction between

'whal

s Greek' and 'what is Boman' nonsensical.

The fact that so rnany of the Fayoum podrails come lrom the Egyplian chora should be regarded as a strong lnd calion

oflhe

soclalidenlity

ofthe

portrayed lndividuals. As

iorthe

pa nters themselves, an impor- tant c ue regarding lheir cullure ^(as well as how the painlings were produced) are the soliclations

iol lhe

35 Corcoran (1995) p.70.

36 Rggs (2002), p. Sg

37 Rggs (2002) p. 98t Ead ^(2005), pp. 160-165t c{. also Borg (1996), pp. 161.167i corta Buss (2008)

p

119, slresses lhe Irequence 01 pa nted c/avi

38 CI. the kosr,leles ponraits lrom Alhenian g/mnasiaj Krumeich (2004).

39 Carro CG 33269. |he objecls shown n lhe pa ntng cleary ndicate thal pace Parasca th€ head is ma e: Pa asca (1969), p.

3l

n.l9,pl.52Corcoran(1995),pp.75-76(wlhthereviewolllonse(al(1997b)iBorg(1996),pp.181-182iTòròk(2005) p.54nole22ìBuss(2008)p.1l7.Asluorlserral(1997c)hasdemonslraled,lhsisasoiherneanng(paide,àasasignof socialid€ntly)otthenscripiongrannìall/@onlheHermoneporlralfromHav/aÉ,nowirCambridge,GirlonColege,Parlasca (1963), p.25 _n

3

pl. ,3.

40Cf. e.g.,Lng Lng(2005) ^pp. 56-63, p . 55 (Pompeli Hous€ojlheMenader,

l0

4:mosaic wllh slrig sandaabaslron).This s a so lhe m€an no ol the many pahlinqs w lh insirumenla sciptorla lrom Pompeil:

cl

Cava Lo (1989), Flgs.3l4

painler to complete the job written in Greek on an unfinlshed portraitfrom Tebtunis.4l

The

painted portraits aÌtesì

to

different traditions

ol

craftsmanship

in

Roman Egypt, differenl ways of

'lookng at'

and representing people. lf we consider the so ca led 'Go den Gir!' in Ca ro,a, we

wil

^nolice a face characterized by big eyes, far from

lhe

language usually d splayed in the 'classic' Fayoum portraits, more in iine

wlh

an 'internationa ' tradiUon shaped by the Greek naturalism lnherited by Boman art

(Fig.2).

The iniluence

ol

strong figurative traditions llke the Egyptan one, with its long, 'aulonomous' hislory, can misleadingly result in expressive iorms appear ng as an 'announcement ol late anìiquity'.43

The

portraits from er-Bubayal

Let us now look

al

some

evidence'a cantruio'

n the corpus of the panted portraiìs frorn Roman Egypt (and aclually notonly in lhese). I am relerring lo a group

olportraits

with sim lar characterist cs,

mostlylem-

pera palnted _on sycomore boards,

sad

to have been found

al B!bayaì.4

Notwithstandlng the sirn ^lar ty of the medium and technique with olher portraits,lhey are easily disì nguishab e from the resl;indeed, they are so alike that they are probab y all by the same painter.45 Their consistency lrom one specimen

lo

lhe other seems to indicate thai their peculiar characterisUcs are nol due to

a

ack of skl I by the pa nter; raiher, they reflect

a

particular communicalve intent. The faces lack any hint of idealzation, age signs are especially slressed (although _{I do not} thlnk thal the wh te streaks somet mes lound in

lhe

hair are actually meant to depict salt'and-pepper

hairi I

regard lhem instead as

a

means

to

represenì and stylize curls),46

jewelery

and costly dresses are often absenl, and the necks,

trapezodal

in shape, appear 'inserted' above the tu- nic. These porlraiìs

aclualy

display a completey dillerent artisìic language, and, accordingly, a completely dilferenl communicative intent. Are they intended

lo

represent competely different lhemes, on behali of a ditferenl socialgroup? (Fig. 3).

To sum up, images do

not'translale

reality', but set forth a'constructed reallly', a product of the ideology and social constraints

oi their'visua audlence'ol buye6,

craftsmen and

vewers,

each of lhem playing a dilterenl

roé

in this conshuclon

41 Parasca (1977), n.432

42CG33216,Paasca(1969),pp4849,n.83,rav.20,2(tomHawaÉ)iCorcoran(1995),pp.171-180

{3 The resulis of a'longue durée'analys s app ied io the way dilferent arlistc trad lions are relecled

ir

mperiat porlra

lije

can be lound nZanker(1983)

44CLespecialyporlraitsWlen,Kurshistorisches[4useum,inv.ASX300|Paasca(]980),p.23,n499,pt.121,3,zurÌchUnve- sly,nv.3S0lrParasca(1980),pp.27-28,n.518,tab.1262;BrilishMuseumPST:Partasca(1980),p.27,n.517,tab.126,1ì

S1. Louis, CilyAd Museum, inv.12851 Parlasca(1980),p.28,n.520 lab. 126, 4; Moscow, Puschkin Museum, inv.4297lt1a 5783:Parasca (1980) p.28, n.519, tab.126,3. On y lor porlralls Ediiburgh 1902.70, (Parlasca (1980)p.53, n.619 ^pt.147 2)andDublinlS02.4(Parlasca(1980)p.54,n621,p.1474)canpovenancefromer-Fubayalbeacluaydernonstrated:

BierbrÌer (1997 b)pp. 1617, p. 1S, 1-2.

45 Borg (1996), p. 108, n.47.

46 Nole lhe legularway the while sirokes Ìn lhe haù are arranged,Io lowing ndividualcurs, in the ponrats sup,?, n 44 CI. aLso Parasca (1980), p.24 n.500,

p

121,4. Thatlhe slokes should be undersìood as a way o, styizing harseems cleargiven lhe yoLrng ook ol the s ubject of pon rail Camb rid ge, Fogg An Museunr, nv 1939.111 Parasca (1980) p 27, n.516, p.125,4) corra Boro (1996), p.57.

Nalual and CultunlLantlscapes in the Fayoùn- The SaleguaÉing and tanagenent al ArchaealagtcalSites and Natuut Envircnnents

THE FAYOUM IN

IHE

PAST universÌtà degÌ sludidi Napol, L'orienlaÌe

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