[MR] Egyptian Personas in the SCA

[Garth G. Groff]

M'Lady Rhoesia, Greetings.

Such a task you have set. I am no expert on Egyptian culture, but do 
take an interest in it. Like most folks, my interest is in the high 
pharonic culture like King Tut. The Roman period and later gets sadly 
overlooked in favor of the more spectacular earlier times, Cleopatra 
excepted.

My best guess is that middle and upper class Egyptians would still have 
dressed and followed the lifestyle of Rome/Byzantium up until the 
conquest by the Muslims in 642. How soon after that Muslim orthodoxy 
would have been imposed on what was left of Egyptian secular society is 
unknown to me.

So I recall cataloging a book of Roman-period mummies a few years back. 
It may have been EGYPTIAN MUMMIES: PEOPLE FROM THE PAST by Delia 
Pemberton (San Diego: Harcourt, 2001; ISBN 0152026002). I'm sure this is 
out of print, but you can no doubt have your library get it for you. The 
book of which I'm thinking had lovely Roman-period mummy masks. The 
people in those images looked pretty much like Romans seen on murals 
from Pompeii and other places in the northern part of the empire. I'm 
sure you are interested in clothing, hair styles, jewelry, etc. These 
mummy masks are one of your best sources.

I also found an interesting little illustrated book on Coptic Egypt: 
COPTIC EGYPT, THE CHRISTIANS OF THE NILE by Christian Cannuyer (London: 
Thames & Hudson, 2001; ISBN 0500301042). It has lots of pictures from 
the late Roman/Early Islamic period, many from textiles, murals or 
illuminations. Anything about the early Coptic Christians would probably 
be a good source.

Good luck with your interesting quest.

Kind regards,


Lord Mungo Napier (Shire of Isenfir's unofficial librarian)
(aka Garth Groff, Cataloger, UVA Libraries)

On 6/3/2011 1:24 PM, Sandra Rangel wrote:
> Greetings to the Tavern,
>
> I have recently been curious about Egyptian culture (mostly as it
> would've related to the time of the Romans and earlier) but really in
> any way it could relate to SCA timeline. I am having trouble finding
> any resources for people who would like to create a persona or finding
> someone who has an Egyptian persona. Ive tried some online searching
> but to no avail. Anyone know of someone I can chat with about the
> subject?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Rohesia Anven of Thessalonica
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