D.M. Bailey, Greek and Roman Pottery Lamps (London, 1972).

D.M. Bailey, Catalogue of the Lamps in the British Museum,  vol. 1 - Greek, Hellenistic and Early Roman Pottery Lamps (London, 1975).

H. Jackson, “Terracotta Lamps of a Hellenistic Housing Insula at Jebel Khalid, North Syria”, RCRF Acta 36, 2000, 11-17.

H. Jackson, “The Jebel Khalid Lamps”, in: G.W. Clarke, H. Jackson, C.E.V. Nixon et al., Jebel Khalid on the Euphrates, vol. 5 - Report on Excavations 2000-2010 (Sydney, 2016).

2012.06 

Hellenistic Lamp

Purchased in Syria and on loan from Emeritus Professor Graeme Clarke 

Length 9cm; width 6cm; height 2.5 cm

Intact, in fair condition; some horizontal cracking at sides, nozzle charred from use. Lentoid mould-made lamp, four-petalled relief rosette to left. Rayed shoulders, obscured decoration on a flat-topped nozzle with vertical line of chevrons either side. Circular groove around filling hole, knob handle, low ovoid base.  

This lamp is remarkably similar in shape and decoration to some distinctive lamps, classified as Type 9, unearthed at the Jebel Khalid excavations in north Syria (H. Jackson, “The Jebel Khalid Lamps”, in: G.W. Clarke, H. Jackson, C.E.V. Nixon et al., Jebel Khalid on the Euphrates, vol. 5 (Sydney, 2016) 335-341, particularly no. 211; see also H. Jackson, “Terracotta Lamps of a Hellenistic Housing Insula at Jebel Khalid, North Syria”, RCRF Acta 36, 2000, 12-14). Inexpensive lamps intended for common household use, such as the present lamp, were probably manufactured relatively close to where they were sold, rather than being imported over long distances (D.M. Bailey, Catalogue of the Lamps in the British Museum, vol. 1 (London, 1975) 2).

The obscured decoration on the nozzle of this lamp may have been a relief rosette similar to that on the side, as this is typical of similar lamps found at Jebel Khalid. Solid knob handles were perhaps more resistant to breaking off than the ring handles found on some other ancient lamps (see, for example, 1978.08). For a useful introduction to ancient lamps and their manufacture, see D.M. Bailey, Greek and Roman Pottery Lamps (London, 1972).