Descriptive Paper:

Funerary face mask, gold, Hellenistic-Roman Period, 330 BCE-3rd c. CE

Yara Hassan Jaafar

Student ID #: 202305421

Ümit Fırat Açıkgöz, Bettina Fischer-Genz

ARCH 121: History of Art and Architecture

November 8th,2022
 Inside the nationally acclaimed museum of the American University of Beirut, a

museum filled with invaluable treasures and

ancient artifacts coming from the oldest chapter

of the history of our human species. ------------ is

a diamond shaped sheet of golden sunshine, a

wrinkled old face, a mask made of gold. It was

found during an excavation of the Late Roman

Necropolis of Baalbek – Douris in the Bekaa

valley of Lebanon. The mask is of Phoenician

region, going back to one of the oldest

Figure 1 : Golden face mask, front view civilizations to have inhabited Lebanon.
 The mask was carefully crafted from a thin

gold sheet and was masterfully hammered on a back

mold. It is around the size of an actual human face,

around 14.2cm in width and13,6cm in length.

It showcases an abstract way of representation

in which we know that a face is what’s

represented due to the depth of the gold

surrounding the eye, nose, and mouth area in

differentiation to the rest of the mask. The

facial structure represented resembles that of a

man, (compare figure 1 and figure 2) as the

Figure 2 : Comparison between masculine and
shape of the brows and nose is similar to the feminine female facial bone structure
Figure 3 : Gold mask from Nineveh, BM 123895. Photograph
bone structure and features of a masculine courtesy trustees of the British Museum

face. In fact, the brow ridge or supraorbital torus is clearly protruding, which is a facial

feature that is most apparent in males that have developed past puberty 1. Taking into

consideration both the detail that has been put in the representation of the brow ridge, it is

arguable that the Phoenician artist behind the mask would have wanted to showcase a virile,

young masculine face, an interesting approach to a facial ornament that would have been

used for funerary purposes. The oxymoronic contrast the representation of youth on the face

of a dead corps tells a lot about the culture of time and its outlook on death and the other

world, a topic to be discussed further below. The nose is a straight protrusion in the gold

sheet set in between the two spaces dedicated for the eyes. There is a noticeable lack of an

1
“Browridge.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. Accessed November 8, 2022.
https://www.britannica.com/science/browridge.
oral cavity on the mask, a feature that was common among similar masks of the time 2(figure

3).

Having addressed the physical properties, it is important to take a look at the cultural

significance of the golden face mask, by first addressing the Phoenician’s religious beliefs on

death and the afterlife, as well as the significance of the golden masks in the funerary journey

towards said afterlife. In Phoenician mythology, the afterlife was imagined as a city of the

deceased, a place only reached after an arduous

and long journey in the other world, partly

accompanied by some divine figure, to whom it

was necessary to pay some donation in form of a

reward. The journey to this city of the dead did

not start immediately after the earthly death,

however, the bodily corps would remain for

some time in the grave, in suspension between

this world and the thereafter, prior to departing

for his permanent peace. It is arguably for this Figure 4 : Mot, the Phoenician God of Death

reason that the tomb contained many items concerning one’s daily life, be it food or other

tools. Objects of magical and/or religious significance were also placed in proximity to the

deceased person in order to help face the obstacles of his long journey, amulets which could

defend against evil spirits, golden or silver foils with prays of the judgement of the dead and

finally and most important to our case, apotropaic golden masks, which possessed the power

to fight out evil spirits and daemons that one was expected to face when battling his way

down to the eternal city of the dead. Those traditions that the Phoenicians and other eastern

2
J. Curtis, Gold face-masks in the ancient Near East, in: The Archaeology of Death in the Ancient Near East, S.
Campbell and A. Green (eds.), 1995, 227-231
Mediterranean civilizations utilized can be traced back to the Egyptians who had immense

influence on the peoples of the region. The most commonly accepted explanation for gilding

the face refers to the conservational virtues of gold. A different interpretation may concern

the psychological effects of having to watch one’s own kin being burned at the altar,

therefore most families in the region were accustomed to hide the faces of their deceased as

to make the mourning period a little easier.

As important as studying the mask itself, it is of the same importance to address the

archaeological site where it was found. The mask was discovered in the Baalbek region in the

Bekaa valley of Lebanon, in the Town of Douris. The town’s geographic location (figure5) is

at a strategic crossroad between the city of Baalbek, home of the temple of Bacchus, and the

neighboring towns of the

region, therefore making it

a transit hub for ancient

populations. town is

located at the southern

entrance to the city of

Baalbek and is bordered to

the south by Taybeh and

Figure 5 : The Geographic Location of the Town of Douris
Al-Ansar, to the north by

Baalbek, to the east by Ain Burzai, and to the west by Majdaloun and Hosh Barada. It is

considered one of the most prominent Bekaa towns because it is located on the southern edge

of the northern Bekaa. It also serves as a wide gateway to the city of the sun, Baalbek and is
affiliated to it. Due to the geographic qualities that the town enjoys, several civilizations

passed through the town of Douris: Roman, Byzantine, Phoenician and the Mamluk state.

Many other archaeological findings have been made in the town and such as the Douris

Roman Altar.
 It is intriguing to see how a small golden mask could be the holder of such a story.

The story of a people, of man’s experience with life and death and the everlasting questions

that still haunt us to this day: where do we go when we die? What can we do in this life to

have an edge in the other? And will the gold that we saw in our earthly life be useful in the

one thereafter? Be it in the details of the mask, or the important religious and cultural

significance, this small diamond shaped piece of gold showing a frowning man is a little

window into the great story that is the history of mankind.

 Table of Figures

Figure 1 : Golden face mask, front view....................................................................................2

Figure 2 : Comparison between masculine and feminine female facial bone structure.............2

Figure 3 : Gold mask from Nineveh, BM 123895. Photograph courtesy trustees of the British

Museum......................................................................................................................................3

Figure 4 : Mot, the Phoenician God of Death............................................................................4

Figure 5 : The Geographic Location of the Town of Douris.....................................................5

Figure 6 : The town of Douris in 1881, Harry Fenn or J.D. Woodward - Picturesque

Palestine, Sinai, and Egypt, Division II, p. 452. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1881.............5
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