South Italian Lamp
Inv. No.: 66.006
Provenance: South Italy (Sicily)
Date: 5th-4th century BC
Diameter: 72mm
Length: 98mm
Ex Woite collection
A lamp with a low, rounded body and overhanging rim that slopes slightly down towards the centre. There is a wide, central opening and a central tube that is slightly higher than the rim. The purpose of the central tube is unclear, but a stick could perhaps have been wedged in it, providing a means of support for the lamp. A nozzle with a flat top and a large opening, used for holding a wick, protrudes from one side of the lamp. The clay is light orange in colour with some incrustation. Traces of red decoration remain on the rim and the undersurface of the nozzle. There is a chip missing from the inner edge of the rim.
Function:
Lamps were used to burn oil, to provide light for everyday or ceremonial purposes. They could also be given as votive or funerary offerings.
Manufacture:
A wheel-made lamp.
Bibliography:
Bailey, D. M., A Catalogue of the Lamps in the British Museum. I: Greek, Hellenistic, and Early Roman Pottery Lamps, London, British Museum, 1975, 2-10, 294-299.
Bailey, D. M., Greek and Roman Pottery Lamps, London, British Museum, 1972 (general introduction).
Kanowski, M.G., The Antiquities Collection, catalogue, Department of Classics and Ancient History, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, 1978, 53. , Princeton, New Jersey, American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 1963 (general).
Lamps from the Athenian Agora
Comparanda:
Bailey, D. M., A Catalogue of the Lamps in the British Museum. I: Greek, Hellenistic, and Early Roman Pottery Lamps, London, British Museum, 1975, Plates 6, Q 17-Q 19; 8, Q 23, Q 26, Q 27, Q 29, Q 30, Q 32-37; 10, Q 38- Q 44 (Attic versions of the same basic shape); and Plates 120, Q 639- Q 653; 122, Q 654-Q 660 (Sicilian examples; Q 646 is very similar).
Bailey, D. M., Greek and Roman Pottery Lamps, London, British Museum, 1972, Plates 3, e and 4, a (Sicilian, 4th century BC).
Genito, M. C. G., Lucerne Fittili delle Collezioni del Museo Civico Archeologico di Bologna, Bologna, Istituto per la Storia di Bologna, 1977, Tavola 9, 6-8 (Attic examples, 5th century BC).
Green, J. R., Antiquities: A description of the Classics Department Museum in The Australian National University, Canberra, Canberra, The Australian National University, 1981, Inv. Nos. 66.10-66.14, p. 80 (similar Sicilian lamps, especially 66.10).
Hayes, J. W., Ancient Lamps in the Royal Ontario Museum, I: Greek and Roman Clay Lamps. A Catalogue, Toronto, Royal Ontario Museum, 1980, Plate 2, 12 and 13 (Sicilian, 4th century). , Princeton, New Jersey, American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 1963, Fig. 5 (5th century Attic example).
Lamps from the Athenian Agora
Ruggiu, A. Z., Le Lucerne Fittili del Museo Civico di Treviso, Rome, Giorgio Bretschneider Editore, 1980, Figs. 2 (South Italian, 4th century BC), 3 and 4.