Detail View: The AMICA Library: Personification of Luna, the Moon, or Head of Diana, Goddess of the Hunt

The golden medallion within its beautifully worked face successfully evokes the association of a woman with the moon. The crescent-shaped ornament in her curly brown hair identifies the woman as a personification of Luna, the moon, or perhaps of Diana, goddess of the hunt, who often wears such a symbol. While large fabric fragments like this one were discovered as burial wrappings, their original use is uncertain. Domestic wall hangings were often worked in the woven woolen pile used for the decorations on this textile.

Vividly colored woolen yarns replaced the linen threads to create a dramatic image suggestive of wall paintings and floor mosaics. Such designs are part of the cultural mainstream of the Late Roman/Early Byzantine world, and are not themes or styles restricted to Egypt. The Museum's head, a finely worked illusionistic image in three-quarter view, is typical of the Hellenistic traditions of the late third or early fourth century, and it is often associated with three similar heads of the same date on two fabric fragments now in the Museum of Popular Art, Athens. This textile is from the collection of Dr. Chauncey Murch (Luxor).