The Beautiful Burial in Roman Egypt: Art, Identity, and Funerary Religion

This important new study looks at coffins, masks, shrouds, and tombs from the Roman Period in Egypt, when naturalistic Greek art forms, like portraits, were combined with traditional Egyptian art. The book presents more than 150 objects and tombs, many for the first time, and reveals how they created a 'beautiful burial' to glorify the dead in the changing cultural landscape of Roman Egypt.
This important new study looks at the intersection of Greek and Egyptian art forms in the funerary sphere of Roman Egypt. A discussion of artistic change, cultural identity, and religious belief foregrounds the detailed analysis of more than 150 objects and tombs, many of which are presented here for the first time. In addition to the information it provides about individual works of art, supported by catalogue entries, the study explores fundamental questions such
as how artists combine the iconographies and representational forms of different visual traditions, and why two distinct visual traditions were employed in Roman Egypt.