Dr Louise O'Brien
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egypto-lou-gist.bsky.social
Dr Louise O'Brien
@egypto-lou-gist.bsky.social
2.3K followers 550 following 490 posts
Egyptologist @livuni | CA Expert-in-Residence | Mummy Portraits, Hybridity & Identity in Graeco-Roman Egypt | Personal Account
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egypto-lou-gist.bsky.social
Call for Papers 👇 Consider sending an abstract in for our TRAC 2025 session panel 'Beyond Binaries'! Deadline August 31st
Call For Papers Beyond Binaries: Exploring New Conceptual Approaches to Cross-Cultural Interactions in the Roman Empire The Roman Empire was immersed in cross-cultural interactions which led to the influence and integration of diverse cultures within the empire and beyond. This cultural diversity has been studied through the application of various theoretical models and methodologies, including cultural entanglement (first proposed by Stockhammer, 2012), hybridity and third space (theorised by Bhabha, 1994, explored in archaeology by Steel, 2023), or the middle-ground (progressed by Richard White, 1991) to name but a few. However, such approaches have often been binary in nature, focusing on the classical (or Graeco-Roman) perspective of such assimilation and ignoring the reception or resistance of indigenous groups for a more nuanced and balanced perspective. This session panel, therefore, welcomes papers that propose or discuss the application of new interdisciplinary concepts that decolonise and go beyond such binary methods to approach the study of cultural interactions, shared identity and syncretic material evidence between indigenous groups and the Roman empire. Papers must consider not only the Roman perspective, but also the reception or impact of indigenous peoples, or their role in cultivating or resisting cultural assimilation within the Roman state, as well as colonies and provinces and other empires Rome had contact with. This work will reconsider previous binary approaches to cultural contact, considering the introduction of Roman rule or culture not solely as a form of conquest but as a form of emulation. Such interactions, whether they be through art, religion, politics, or language, indicate that indigenous communities were active participants in the assimilation process, whether this be through the integration of Roman material into native culture or the cultivation of shared cultural identity in an environment which cannot be defined solely by cu…
July 29, 2025 at 8:08 PM
egypto-lou-gist.bsky.social
I'm a baker with a PhD, naturally I had to get my thesis turned into a cake 🤷🏻‍♀️
July 20, 2025 at 9:01 AM
egypto-lou-gist.bsky.social
And so my 9 years at Liverpool come to an end! From undergrad to postgrad, I'm so glad I chose here to figure out who I am. This isn't a full goodbye, just farewell. This PhD has been the best experience of my life, and I'm so grateful I was able to do it, and meet so many friends for life ❤️
A white woman with dark hair and glasses stands on a path lined with a canopy of trees. She wears black and red academic robes, and a mortarboard cap, over a black and white dress.
July 15, 2025 at 9:39 PM
egypto-lou-gist.bsky.social
Excited to be joining the Classical Association as their Expert-in-Residence for the season! 😁
July 11, 2025 at 12:01 PM
egypto-lou-gist.bsky.social
Highlights from our recent MSI workshop at Liverpool - exciting to see how these methods can provide increased legibility and pigment analysis on a budget and in the field!
June 18, 2025 at 6:33 PM
egypto-lou-gist.bsky.social
Finally time to use this one 🤣
May 8, 2025 at 8:56 AM
egypto-lou-gist.bsky.social
Yesterday I successfully defended my PhD thesis with minor corrections! My research has evolved so much over the past 4 years and I'm so grateful to my examiners for taking the time to read it and engage with it. And thank you of course to my wonderful supervisor @hypatiaheuresis.bsky.social !
A white woman with dark hair, standing in an office, wearing a grey jumper, white shirt, and black trousers, attempts (key word) to open a bottle of champagne.
March 26, 2025 at 7:36 PM
egypto-lou-gist.bsky.social
Yesterday was seemingly an exercise in how many museums I could visit in one day trip 😁
February 26, 2025 at 10:15 AM
egypto-lou-gist.bsky.social
Most recently at the Allard Pierson, in collaboration with the APPEAR Project, 'Face to Face' displayed the portraits in cases with silhouettes behind them, directly showing the viewer that the portraits represent real humans, who had wishes and desires for the afterlife..
A museum case from the Allard Pierson, displaying three female mummy portraits. Behind the case, a panel is illustrated with three silhouettes, matching the portraits and giving the impression that each portrait casts a shadow of a complete person.
February 21, 2025 at 1:28 PM
egypto-lou-gist.bsky.social
how the portraits have often been sold on the antiquities market.

At Manchester Museum, 'Golden Mummies' took the decision to remove all images of human remains and CT scans/x-rays from its graphics, focusing on the mummies and their portraits as individuals, and discussing their lived experience.
Photo of the display of Golden Mummies at Manchester Museum. Each mummy is placed in its own case, as if lying on a bier, and the gallery is dark, with graphics quoting the cultural/ethnic assumptions made by archaeologists about the mummies.
February 21, 2025 at 1:28 PM
egypto-lou-gist.bsky.social
them in museums. For example, Harvard Art Museums 'Facing Forward' exhibit began with a curators' statement highlighting the issues of disinternment and dislocation, placing the portraits alongside shrouds and contextual information, along with detailed provenance that went some way to highlight...
Harvard Art Museums composite portrait of a man - a panel made up of at least six different portrait fragments, likely put together by a 20th century collector for the purpose of sale or display.
February 21, 2025 at 1:28 PM
egypto-lou-gist.bsky.social
portraits has continued to innovate, with the APPEAR Project at the Getty Museum leading the way on scientific research of the panels. The analysis has evolved over the past 30 years and now we can pinpoint the specific pigments used, their origins, and the wood they were applied to, which all...
Back of an effaced portrait from Tebtunis, showing a sketch of a young woman, annotated in Greek.
February 21, 2025 at 1:28 PM
egypto-lou-gist.bsky.social
of a group of mummies from Thebes, c. 3rd century AD, showing how the style of portraiture changed into the later Roman Period. The exhibit sparked discussion regarding how the portraits existed both as works of 'classical' portraiture but also Egyptian funerary culture.

Since 1997, the study of...
BM EA6709, a linen shroud of an adolescent male.
February 21, 2025 at 1:28 PM
egypto-lou-gist.bsky.social
which would have been costly to source. Two reconstructions of portrait subjects based on their human remains were also displayed.

Other types of portraiture, such as stucco masks and linen shrouds, were also displayed, showing visitors how practices changed. The exhibit culminated with a display..
BM EA69020, stucco mask of a woman named Aphrodite, depicted wearing a shroud and holding a rose garland. Her tunic has a red clavi stripe and the stucco is completely gilded, depicting her head, upper chest and shoulders, and arms.
February 21, 2025 at 1:28 PM
egypto-lou-gist.bsky.social
time, recontextualising them with both Roman and Egyptian items like tunics seen worn in the portraits, jewellery matching that adorning the women, and even pigment bowls from Hawara which matched the colours used. Complete portrait mummies were displayed alongside portraits, allowing viewers to...
BM EA72491. A white linen tunic from Roman Egypt, c. 5th - 6th century AD. The tunic has black/dark purple clavi stripes. BM 1917,0601.2749 and others - several gold and precious stone necklaces, arranged with a pair of emerald earrings. BM 1888,0920.27 and others - pigment bowls from Hawara.
February 21, 2025 at 1:28 PM
egypto-lou-gist.bsky.social
My poster, 'Ancient Faces, New Perspectives: Mummy Portrait Panels on Display at the British Museum' focuses on the 1997 exhibition of mummy portrait panels which for all intents and purposes changed how we understand these artefacts. It displayed them alongside comparative archaeological evidence..
Book cover of 'Ancient Faces: Mummy Portraits from Roman Egypt'. The cover image is of a mummy portrait of a woman, with dark curly hair, wearing gold ball earrings.
February 21, 2025 at 1:28 PM
egypto-lou-gist.bsky.social
Two mummy portrait panels, shown here on display in the BM's 'Legion' exhibit last year. The mummy portraits were interpreted as 'siblings or spouses' but likely come from separate contexts.

🏺 Eton College, c. Mid 2nd century AD, and BM EA65346 c. AD 160-70, Kom el-Kharaba el-Kabir.

📸 mine
February 8, 2025 at 10:58 AM
egypto-lou-gist.bsky.social
It's here! @workingclassicists.bsky.social

It's so cool seeing my own work in print, and I'm so excited to read everyone's contributions - Miri did such an amazing job! 😍
A Periodic Table of Greek Mythology, Working Classicists. Edited by Miri Teixeira.
February 7, 2025 at 3:10 PM
egypto-lou-gist.bsky.social
This tablet is the earliest record of Alexander's victory over Darius III in 331 BC. It dates to c. 330 BC, and was written in Gaugamela by priests of Marduk. It records astronomical details that coincide with the battle, such as a lunar eclipse that foreshadowed Darius' defeat.

🏺 BM 1880,0617.496
Fragment of a cuneiform tablet on a stand.
February 5, 2025 at 11:55 PM
egypto-lou-gist.bsky.social
Bust of a woman from Palmyra. She wears an elaborate headdress with an embroidered hairnet with veil, and a similarly embroidered robe with leaf detailing. Her jewellery is Roman in style, including pearl earrings and lunula pendant.

🏺 Vatican Museums inv. 56603, c. 3rd century AD

#AncientBlueSky
Stone bust of a woman with hair pulled back from her face, kept in place by an embroidered hair net, with a veil covering her head. She wears pearl earrings and a crescent pendant necklace, and a draped robe that has detailed embroidery.
February 2, 2025 at 11:12 AM
egypto-lou-gist.bsky.social
This New Kingdom enshrined statue depicts Hathor with a cow head. Originally detailed with gold leaf, it dates to the reign of Ramesses IV (20th Dynasty, 1155-1149 BC), and was found at Esna, in tomb chambers which may have belonged to a priestess.

🏺 Garstang Museum, E.66

#egyptology
A large limestone statue in Egyptian style, displayed as if it is coming out of a wall. The statue is of a cow head, with the head and ears protruding from the flat background rock. The cow wears a feathered crown with a sundisc, and the background has relief of hieroglyphs including a cartouche of Ramesses IV, and relief of two women drinking water which flows from the cow.
January 31, 2025 at 7:53 PM
egypto-lou-gist.bsky.social
This is what they meant when they said to make good use of your PhD, right?
A laptop is balanced precariously on a stack of two thick books. The books are labelled as a PhD thesis in two volumes.
January 31, 2025 at 12:48 PM
egypto-lou-gist.bsky.social
Wooden models from the tomb of Khety at Beni Hasan. The models depict the butchering of a cow, bread baking and pottery making, and a fully staffed granary. They date to the Middle Kingdom, Dynasty 11-12, c. 1985-1950 BC, and were found atop Khety's coffin in Tomb 366.

🏺 Fitzwilliam Museum
📸 mine
A wooden model of three male figures slaughtering a cow. A wooden model of several men and women (men with painted red skin, women with white) making bread and pottery. A wooden model granary, in a box shape, with several male wooden figures doing work. Two wooden boats, staffed with wooden oarsmen with tiny oars. One of the boats has a linen sail.
January 31, 2025 at 10:17 AM
egypto-lou-gist.bsky.social
Some highlights from Ely cathedral last weekend
January 30, 2025 at 1:54 PM
egypto-lou-gist.bsky.social
The outer coffin is much more detailed in comparison, providing well-preserved offering formulae and invocations of the four sons of Horus. The colour remains incredibly vivid.

🏺 (Inner) Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge, E.88.1903

🏺 (Outer) Garstang Museum, Liverpool, E.512
An Egyptian box coffin, wood, with incredibly bright colours surviving, showing geometric patterns of red, blue, green, and yellow. Hieroglyphic text runs across the top row and in four equidistant columns down the sides, and there is a pair of wadjet eyes painted on the right hand section.
January 28, 2025 at 10:29 AM