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) 299-438.

2012.07

Hellenistic Lamp

Purchased in Syria and on loan from Emeritus Professor Graeme Clarke

Length 7.5cm; width 5cm; height 3cm

Intact, in fair condition; horizontal cracking at sides, nozzle chipped. Biconvex mould-made lamp with rayed shoulders, obscured design on flat-topped nozzle, low ring base. Evidence of red slip.

This comparatively small lamp would have held little oil and thus had a relatively short burn time, giving off limited light. The lamp shares a number of similarities, such as its small size, rayed design and globular shape, with some distinctive lamps, classified as Type 10, found 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) 349-359, particularly no. 243; see also H. Jackson, “Terracotta Lamps of a Hellenistic Housing Insula at Jebel Khalid, North Syria”, RCRF Acta 36, 2000, 14). Common household lamps, such as the present litem, were probably manufactured locally rather than imported (D.M. Bailey, Catalogue of the Lamps in the British Museum, vol. 1 (London, 1975) 2).

The obscured design on the nozzle of this lamp may have been a relief rosette, or a depiction of an amphora in relief, as these are typical decorations on the lamps of a similar type found at Jebel Khalid. The slips (thin washes of clay) often applied to ancient lamps, traces of which are evident on the present item, were largely functional rather than decorative, as they helped prevent oil seepage (D. M. Bailey, Greek and Roman Pottery Lamps (London, 1972) 15).