Artifact Stories — The red-shroud mummy of Herakleides
Afterlives of Ancient Egypt with Kara Cooney · Kara Cooney and Amber Myers
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Show Notes
CW// Human remains
The red-shroud mummy of a young man named Herakleides—don’t ask us how he died so young; we don’t know—presents some tantalizing insights into certain religious practices of the first century CE in Egypt. On view at the Getty Villa in Malibu, the mummy of Herakleides is unprovenanced, but archaeological evidence suggests it probably comes from el-Hibeh (near the Fayum). The mummified remains of Herakleides are wrapped in a linen shroud painted from head to toe in a red pigment derived from red lead imported from Spain, making it part of a group of portrait mummies known as “red-shroud mummies.”
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