There survive from the Roman province of Egypt a large corpus of anthropoid mummy cases that were equipped with brilliantly vivid portrait faces painted in encaustic (colored wax).  About 1000 such portraits survive, and of these about 100 still possess their original mummy cases.  These include some of the finest and most enigmatic works of painting that have come down to us from the ancient world.  This class will seek to analyze and interpret the evidence of these portraits—to understand why these images were made, and what such portraits attempt to communicate about the men, women, and children who are represented.

This course fulfills the following Major requirements: Geographical area (E) and Chronological period (I).