Ancient Coloring Pages

Colouring in papyrus motifs yourself

It is hardly likely that Romans 2000 years ago gave their children papyri to colour. Papyrus was a valuable material that was not only produced at great expense, but also had a long journey behind it.

Rome was a world power and had extensive trade routes to all its colonies.
Papyri came from Egypt, and to reach this country, a sea route of more than 2000 km had to be covered. At that time, ships needed about 10 days to travel from Ostia (the seaport of Rome) to Alexandria. The crossing was dangerous and expensive, yet many goods were transported this way.
The overland route was long. It ran along the coast of Egypt to the west through what is now Libya, with its Roman cities of Cyrene, Apollonia and Benghazi (the then coveted plant Sylphion grew here). Trade goods were also shipped from here and transported further across the sea, through the Strait of Messina to the home port of Ostia.
The papyrus scroll was the material for scribes and scholars, children used wax tablets, which was more economical because the carved letters could be removed and the tablets used again and again.

Colouring pictures with funny motifs from Roman times and Egypt

The fun Roman colouring pictures for children from the present century are made of papyrus.
Modern means of transport make a lot of things possible and the production and regular purchase of papyrus for colouring pictures of Romans is a source of income for some Egyptian families, which they are very happy about.
And so we are delighted when children make use of the various Roman colouring pictures on offer. On this page, we present some Roman gods and citizens that can be coloured in as fun motifs on the papyri.
Here, children can choose the colours they like best according to their mood.
At the same time, they get a taste of Roman mythology and history as they colour in the colouring pictures, which makes them curious about stories from a time that we don't yet know fully, but which had such a significant influence on our own culture.

Roman colouring pictures:

The Roman Senator

He was a powerful man and belonged to the highest council of the Roman Empire. He determined policy with other senators and made laws. He was held in high esteem.

The patrician

Patricians were members of the old-established upper class of Rome. They were wealthy and set themselves apart from the rest of the people. For a long time they determined politics; Gaius Julius Caesar also came from this class. The noble patrician had many servants and slaves and differed considerably in her standard of living from that of a common woman.

Gladiators Retiarius and Murmillo

Gladiator fights initially had a religious background and were part of the celebrations of the dead. There is evidence of this in grave paintings of Etruscan origin from the 6th century BC.
Later, they were held at games to show off the greatness of the Roman Empire. The gladiators had to prove their fighting spirit, courage, skill and will to win. They competed in different disciplines with different weapons.
For example, the gladiator Retiarius often fought against the gladiator Murmillo, who was one of the strongest and best armed of the gladiators.
Retiarius fought with a short dagger, trident and net and had to prove himself against Murmillo, who was equipped with a helmet and short sword.
The people of Rome demanded the games and Rome's rulers used them to gain recognition before the people.

God Mercury

The messenger of the gods (Greek Hermes), was the god of merchants and thieves, of profit and wealth. He is depicted with the staff of Hermes, a winged helmet, winged shoes and a purse.

Goddess Venus

Ancestress of the Romans, mother of Aeneas, known to all as the goddess of love and grace, she wore her love charm in a belt around her body, which Hera borrowed to beguile Zeus. As with many gods, her image changed over time, so she was also goddess of gardens and the evening star.

Roman colouring pictures for lessons and leisure time

The pretty Roman colouring pictures are a meaningful, varied activity for children.
Papyrus can be coloured with all common coloured pencils, watercolours and ink. The motifs of the Roman colouring pictures look particularly good when using the tempera paint set.

Colouring pictures Egypt

Egypt is a country with a fascinating, well-told history. That this is so, we owe to the great artists that this culture has produced. They have left us writings and works of art of unparalleled beauty and diversity. They were true masters in the use of colours, all of which had to be made by their own hands.

For example, the black paint used to write hieroglyphics but also for paintings on pillars, rock and temple walls was prepared from soot, which was even scraped off cooking pots. Stones such as malachite and lime were processed into green and white paint, lapis lazuli provided the famous, beautiful blue, ochre, which was available in desert areas, was used to produce red, brown and orange tones.

The colours of the Egyptian colour scale are known by name: for example, the word "Wadj" refers to the habitat of water, which also includes green, as vegetation is only possible through water. Wadj, by the way, is still the Arabic word for a dry river that carries water in springtime.
"Kek" denotes darkness, the dark colours blue and black.

Egypt owes its fertility to the annually recurring floods of the Nile.
The word "Kem" includes the shades of the earth, i.e. all shades of brown, but also grey and black. "Descher" refers to the colours of the sand and its shades, which can be very different, even red, depending on the daylight.
"Hedj" is the brightness - silver and gold and the opposite of black.
The colours had symbolic meaning and were used accordingly. Osiris, for example, was depicted green as a youth, but black as the god of the dead.

The colouring pictures of Egypt show the eye of Horus, Anubis, the ancient Egyptian god of the rites of the dead, who is usually depicted as a lying black dog or as a man with a jackal's head. His task was to embalm the dead, he led the soul to the "field of heavenly offerings". His judgement at the court of the dead was of decisive importance.

Tut anch amun, the son of Akhenaten and his wife Nefertiti, also a motif of the Egyptian colouring pictures, ruled the country for only a few years from 1332 to 1323, he did not die a natural death. His death mask is probably the best known and most magnificent, and is exhibited again and again in major museums around the world together with valuable grave goods. Pure gold and lapis lazuli adorn the beautiful face.
The mother goddess Isis and her son Horus are as much a part of the Egypt colouring pictures as the famous pharaoh Cleopatra, a descendant of Alexander the Great from the Ptolemaic dynasty. Caesar, the Roman ruler, loved her and brought her to Rome with him. Marcus Antonius was her lover and chose suicide with her, one year after his last lost battle.

Colouring pictures of Egypt also show Nefertiti. She occupied a very special position in Egyptian history. Together with her husband, the pharaoh Akhenaten, the beautiful woman from Mitanni introduced the belief in a god, Aton, who was embodied by the solar disc. He built the city of Achetaton in his honour, but it was destroyed to the ground after his death. The priests regained their original influence and the Egyptian people returned to the old polytheism.

Egypt colouring pictures - a colourful reminder of ancient history

In modern design, funny and suitable for children, the colouring pictures Egypt show the old deities and pharaohs of the long gone culture.
Children will have fun with the Egypt colouring pictures, spice it up with interesting stories from that time!

Egypt colouring pictures for preschoolers and schoolchildren

There are few activities in which children are as deeply absorbed as when they are painting. This activity seems to trigger something very essential in the soul of a child, because the degree of his concentration, the forgetting of the environment and the exclusive attention to his work, which is created under his hands, amazes and fascinates every observer.

Painting is beneficial for a child's development in many ways, as visual perception, writing development, fine motor skills and cognitive abilities are trained in equal measure. The joy of one's own creativity is awakened, the play with colours and the handling of painting tools such as coloured pencils, watercolours or felt-tip pens is learned and practised.

People have created pictures in all cultures and thousands of years ago. We are still amazed today at rock paintings whose origin and exact age we don't even know and marvel at the quality of the colours and the precision of the images.
The ability and enthusiasm to paint pictures must be awakened and encouraged in children, taking into account the different stages of development. A three-year-old is still doodling; shapes are not yet recognisable in his creations. At pre-school age, the child observes in a more differentiated way and is able to perceive anatomical differences and to reproduce them to a certain extent. Only at school age do the representations become more precise and correspond more and more to reality. Now children can also colour in precisely.

With its series Historicals and Colouring Egypt, the Roman Shop offers the opportunity to try out and train the craft of painting. Once the first beginnings have been made, children will continue to develop under guidance and on their own.

Colouring pictures Egypt - first steps of painting

The colouring pictures Egypt are lovely templates for children to take their first steps in painting. They are ideal as teaching material in schools as well as for working with colours at home. The motifs of the Egypt colouring pictures are largely taken from the world of the gods at that time and depict pharaohs such as Cleopatra, Nefertiti and the legendary pharaoh Tut anch amon.