Mummy Portrait of Hermione Grammatike
Mummy portraits became popular in Roman Egypt in the first century BCE. They were painted on wooden panels and attached to the mummies. This mummy portrait was inscribed with the name of its subject, Hermione Grammatike. Grammatike means grammarian or teacher of classics. The portrait is the only known portrait or other remains of a learned woman from the ancient world.
Hermione’s mummy portrait was discovered by Flinders Petrie in the Fayum Cemetery of Hawara, Egypt, in 1911. It is currently housed in the Lawrence Room of Girton College, Cambridge University.