T
wo papyrus rolls, together measuring nearly twenty feet, form the centerpiece of this fall’s special exhibition. Looking closely at the elaborate detail in black, and occasionally red, ink, it is hard to imagine that lines that appear fresh to our eyes were inscribed nearly 2,000 years ago. Ancient Egyptian scribes covered the surfaces of these long rolls with a copy of the Book of the Faiyum, a mysterious text that describes Egypt’s Faiyum region as a center of prosperity and religious ritual. The book celebrates the ancient Egyptian crocodile god Sobek and his special relationship with the Faiyum. Divided and sold in the 19th century, sections of the Book of the Faiyum currently reside at the Walters Art Museum, the Morgan Library & Museum in New York, and the Egyptian Antiquities Museum in Cairo. Egypt’s Mysterious Book of the Faiyum reunites the Morgan and Walters sections for the first time in 150 years. This exhibition offers a new look at ancient Egypt. First, it goes beyond the usual exhibition subject matter of mummies and tombs, preparations for the afterlife, and the famous pharaohs. Egypt’s Mysterious Book of the Faiyum explores ancient Egyptian artistry, mythology, and religious iconography. Second, the exhibition focuses on a period thousands of years after the Pyramids at Giza or Tutankhamun’s rule. The Book of the Faiyum dates to some time between the late 1st century BCE and the second century CE, when the Romans ruled Egypt. The exhibition, centers on the Faiyum, an oasis in the desert to the West of the Nile. This region is most famous among scholars of ancient art for the so-called Faiyum portraits, which are some of the only panel paintings surviving from the ancient Roman tradition (see page 8). Lake Moeris, the centerpiece of the Faiyum, was also the source of its prosperity. The modern name Faiyum, derived from the ancient Egyptian word “Pa-yom,” meaning “the sea,” is a testament to Lake Moeris’s great size. In satellite images of Egypt, THEWALTERS.ORG × 5