Walters Art Museum (Egyptian) · papyrus

The Book of the Faiyum

Walters Art Museum (Egyptian), acc. W.738. Public domain (CC0). Copy archived by egyptianinscriptions.org with attribution; original at the holding institution.

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Accession: W.738
Dynasty: Ptolemaic Dynasty
Date: 1st century BCE-2nd century CE (Greco-Roman)
Date range: 100 BCE – 200 CE
Materials: ['red and black ink on papyrus']
Repository: Walters Art Museum
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Cite & export

Walters Art Museum (Egyptian), The Book of the Faiyum (W.738). Egyptian Inscriptions Database. https://egyptianinscriptions.org/object/220420

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Description

<p>The Book of the Faiyum is the modern name of a text that describes the Faiyum oasis as the mythical center of prosperity and ritual. The text was compiled during the Greco-Roman period, perhaps in the temple of the crocodile god Sobek in Shedet (Greek: Crocodilopolis; Arabic: Medinet el-Faiyum), but it may be based on precedents from earlier periods. The most famous copy of this text, known as the Boulaq/Hood/Amherst papyrus, consists of two papyrus scrolls with hieroglyphic text and illustrations. Portions of this papyrus are now in the Walters Art Museum (Baltimore), the Morgan Library & Museum (New York), and the Egyptian Museum (Cairo). Besides this and other hieroglyphic versions, there are also hieratic and Demotic copies on papyrus and an unillustrated hieroglyphic version inscribed on the walls of the Sobek temple in Kom Ombo (Upper Egypt).The focal point of the Walters Art Museum's section of the book of the Faiyum is a long oval representing the Faiyum lake itself. Inside the lake, images of mythological figures including the crocodile god Sobek-Re, Osiris, and the solar child allude to stories of the creation of the world as well as the nightly regeneration of the sun god. Around the lake, forty-two deities are depicted, each representing an important cult site in Egypt. In this way, the book functions as a map of a ceremonial landscape centered in the Faiyum.</p><p>For the latest information about this object, <cite><a href='https://purl.thewalters.org/art/W.738' rel='external'>The Book of the Faiyum</a></cite>, visit the Online Collection of the Walters Art Museum.</p>

AI image analysis GPT-5.4-nano

Machine-generated from the object's image on Jul 2026. Not curatorial; treat deities, names, and signs below as the model's best reading, not authority.

Egyptian papyrus fragment painted with black-ink vignette of a standing god/figure holding a long staff and a horizontal arm-satchet-like object, alongside columns of hieroglyphs in red and black ink.

The image shows a section of an ancient Egyptian papyrus with a black-ink outline of a human-like figure standing in profile facing right. The figure raises one arm holding a long staff/utensil and extends the other arm forward toward a small object. Behind/around the figure, a thick black vertical band suggests a framing element or adjacent text column. To the right are multiple vertical stacks of hieroglyphs within rectangular border lines; some glyphs are filled in black while others contain red pigment. The uppermost hieroglyphic register includes repeated sign groupings resembling offerings/ritual symbols; subsequent columns include rectangular and seated/standing sign forms and smaller strokes. No Greek, Coptic, or Arabic text is visible. No clear royal cartouche is identifiable at this resolution. Overall condition appears good with visible papyrus fibers and minor surface damage along the edges, but the main vignette and text blocks remain legible as hieroglyphic forms.

religious unclear (likely late Egyptian/Greco-Roman period papyrus tradition, but cannot be determined from the image alone) good

Deities unknown (human-like deity/ritual figure; specific identification not secure from this fragment)

Materials papyrusred inkblack ink

Signs Multiple vertical columns of Egyptian hieroglyphs ×30 Unidentified figure-associated hieroglyphic groups (rectangular/framed signs and offering-like repeated motifs) ×10

Visible text "Hieroglyphic text in vertical columns is present to the right of the vignette; specific transliteration is unclear at this resolution."

Inscriptions (1)

Inscription #1 AI reading of the photograph

Visible text (machine reading)

Hieroglyphic text in vertical columns is present to the right of the vignette; specific transliteration is unclear at this resolution.

Connections

Deities Osiris Ra Sobek

Materials Papyrus Black Ink Red Ink

Cross-references (2)

Walters-AccNum W.738 tier-2
Walters-id 24264 tier-2

About this record's data

From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Walters Art Museum (Egyptian).
AI-inferred — the image-analysis panel (deities, names, signs) is machine-generated and may be wrong.
Approximate location — most map points are plotted at the site centroid, not the exact findspot.
Inferred links — cross-references marked with a match method other than explicit-source-field were matched by us, not stated by the source.