By comparing two portraits of the same person, John Prag was able to find both differences and similarities in the way various painters approached their jobs (56).įayum portraits predominantly depict young men, young women, and children. In addition, there is a question about whether the physical characteristics depicted in the portraits were important to customers, or painters themselves. 8).īecause the painters of Fayum portraits possessed different sets of skills, the manner in which the portraits were painted varied significantly. Apart from showing the hairstyles and jewellery worn by people in the Roman-Egypt times, Fayum portraits give an idea about the popular fashion of that time, a fashion that was significantly influenced by the Romans, since portraits show no correlation to the style inherent to the Pharaonic times of Egypt (The Met par. The diverse population of Egyptians and Romans offered a stable framework for the development of new phenomena in art. Thus, if the body is gone, the spirit of a person will also be gone. It was believed that after the death the soul of a person would be alive for as long as the body stays preserved. Mummification was used by Egyptians to support their beliefs that the body of a person was the “house for the soul” (Ancient History Encyclopedia par. With the practice constantly changing, more and more people were able to afford it despite the fact that the initial mummifications were only intended for the population with a wealthy status. The Egyptians used the practice of mummification for almost two thousand years, further extending it to the Roman period. They called the process used to preserve their bodies was mummification. Mummies were dead body that have been saved after death, because in the old age Egyptians believed in after life after death. Therefore, the Fayum portraits are the real-life representations of a deceased person (Dash par. Typically, a portrait depicts a face and shoulders of a person, painted on a twelve by six inches piece of wood. These paintings can be regarded as the product of a society that combined several cultures, they link together traditional imagery of religious Egyptian and Roman ideas furthermore, their appearance can be connected to the process of Christianization of the Roman Empire since Fayum portraits are very similar to the style of religious paintings inherent to Christianity. The last part of the book consists of a selected bibliography of all Banks' publications over his forty-year career, as a source of further reading on each of these pivotal ideas.Learn More Historical Response Cultural Representation

Drawing out the major themes that have shaped the field of multicultural education as well as outlining the development of Banks' own career, these articles, chapters and papers focus on eight key issues: black studies and the teaching of history research and research issues teaching ethnic studies teaching social studies for decision-making and citizen action multiethnic education and school reform multicultural education and knowledge construction the global dimensions of multicultural education democracy, diversity and citizenship education. Banks has collected here twenty-one of his most important and best works from across the span of his career.

The archaeological evidence suggests that these portraits were products of a single workshop and, correspondingly, they are found to be made using similar techniques and materials: wax-based and lead white–rich paint combined with a variety of iron-based pigments (including hematite, goethite and jarosite), as well as Egyptian blue, minium, indigo and madder lake to create subtle variations and tones.Ĭonsidered the father of multicultural education in the US and known throughout the world as one of the field's most important founder, theorist and researcher, James A.

Here, one of the largest assemblages of mummy portraits to remain intact since their excavation from the site of Tebtunis in Egypt was examined using multiple analytical techniques to address how they were made. Analytical study of the pigments as well as the binding materials helps to address questions on what aspects of the painting practices originate from Pharaonic and/or Graeco-Roman traditions, and can aid in determining the provenance of the raw materials from potential locations across the ancient Mediterranean and European worlds. However, the techniques and materials used in their manufacture are not thoroughly understood. Roman-period mummy portraits are considered to be ancient antecedents of modern portraiture.

Fayum mummy portraits