Fayum Portraits as Ritual Portrait Painting of Ancient Egypt Hellenistic Period I-IV centuries BC
The paper deals with thee problem of the Fayum portraits style. The Fayum portraits are the most outstanding works of painting to have come down from the ancient world. The first problem is that these portraits cannot be attributed to named artists, even the name «Fayum portraits» has been objected to, since not all of them were fond in Fayum oasis. The Fayum portraits are what have been called «victims of anonymity». The second problem is the problem of origin of artists who created these works. The overwhelming majority of the portraits have Egyptian roots for they were connected with the traditions of funeral cult. In technique, some are painted in encaustic and some in tempera. The Fayum portraits made a great contribution to the development of Christian iconography. The traditions of ancient Egyptian ritual portraits greatly influenced the philosophical conception of Christian monuments.