The purpose of this research has been to reassess the dating and iconography of a Roman period mummy shroud entitled, Mummy Portrait of a Young Man from the Fayum, in the collection of the North Carolina Museum of Art. This reevaluation benefited greatly from the recent international scholarship and museum exhibitions done on mummy portraits from Roman Egypt in the past few years. The research for the North Carolina shroud involved analyzing, in detail, the unique symbolic arrangement depicted on the shroud by evaluating each of the object?s four registers individually as well as assessing the composition as a whole. This research found that the symbolic content of the shroud, as a whole, possesses a cohesive iconographical message. The registers of the shroud depict the individual, his mummification, revivification, and subsequent rebirth into an afterlife, if read from top to bottom. Further, this research has concluded that the numerous symbols on the shroud support this ritual transformation as well as point to its relationship with the Isiac or Serapion mystery cult. The fourth century date of this shroud has been redated to the third century and the stylistic features of the shroud?s design point to an Er-Rubayat provenance. It is hoped that this research will benefit the North Carolina Museum of Art, and enter this mummy shroud into the on-going international scholarship on mummy portraits from Roman Egypt.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NCSU/oai:NCSU:etd-04122004-163107 |
| Date | 20 April 2004 |
| Creators | Dopko, Cynthia Hogan |
| Contributors | S. Thomas Parker |
| Publisher | NCSU |
| Source Sets | North Carolina State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/theses/available/etd-04122004-163107/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to NC State University or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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