Charles Ede Ltd (London), Catalogue 110 (July 1978) no. 24a (ill.); J.R. Green with B. Rawson, Catalogue of Antiquities in the Australian National University, A.N.U. (Canberra, 1981) 81; E. Minchin, ACollection of Classics: From the Holdings of the Australian National University Classics Department Collection (Canberra 1996) 17 (ill.).

1978.08

Roman Lamp

Purchased. Length 10.5cm; diam. 7cm.

Intact and in good condition. Pink-buff clay. Rounded wick projection, outlined and with two impressed dots at the junction with the body. Double grooved ring handle, outlined at the junction below and the grooves terminating in dots at the shoulder of the lamp. The air-hole is to the left of the central disc.

The disc has a bust of Africa in relief with incised detail. The base is offset by a groove. In the centre of the underside is the stamped inscription

MNOVIVSTI

(of Marcus Novius Iustus). The whole was dipped in red glaze.

The earliest representations of Africa as a personification go back to the beginning of the Hellenistic period. Whatever other attribute she may have, she is always characterized by the headdress in the form of an elephant head with trunk and horns. It seems to be Alexandrian in origin. During the Republic the personification was not infrequent on Roman coins, especially those issued by figures associated with African activity such as Pompey.

A very close parallel is Jerusalem, Hebrew University, Inst. of Archaeology, inv. 6093, R. Rosenthal and R. Sivan, Ancient Lamps in the Schloessinger Collection (Qedem 8, 1978) 37 no. 143. For further parallels, see H. Brants, Antieke Terra Cotta Lampen ... Leiden (Leiden 1913) no. 821, pl. 5; M. Ponsich, Les lampes romaines en terre cuite de la Maurétanie Tingitaine (Rabat 1961) nos 270 and 292, pl. 21; J. Deneauve, Lampes de Carthage (Paris 1969) 169-170 nos 727-728, pl. 69, and 193 no. 908, pl. 83; M.Bonifay, Etudes sur la céramique romaine tardive d’Afrique (BAR Int. Series 1301, Oxford 2004) 317-322 no. 5, fig. 177.

For the maker, M. Novius Iustus, see for example D.M. Bailey, A Catalogue of the Lamps in the British Museum, iii, Roman Provincial Lamps (London 1988) 99. His workshop operated in North Africa in the middle years of the second century AD, perhaps between about AD 120 and 180. He is also discussed briefly by E. Joly, Lucerne del Museo di Sabratha (Monografie di Archeologia Libica XI, Rome 1974) 93, who suggests that he was based at El-Djem, although he points out that his work had a very wide distribution to areas like Sicily, Sardinia, Spain, Gaul and Palestine as well as North Africa. See also the doctoral dissertation by A. Manzoni, The Workshop of M. Novius Justus, a North African Lampmaker of the Roman Period (University of Southern California, 1985), esp. 40ff. for this type; and then Anna Manzoni Macdonnell, “An Egotistical Lamp Maker from El Djem”, J. Paul Getty Museum Journal 12, 1984, 141-144. (Note that the pieces discussed there have now been dealt with also in J. Bussière and B. Lindros Wohl, Ancient Lamps in the J. Paul Getty Museum [Los Angeles 2017])

It is worth noting that his lamps are remarkably similar to those signed CIVNDRAC (Gaius Junius Draco).

North African production seems to have begun in the latter part of the first century AD in close imitation of Italian types, and the local product steadily supplanted the imported versions. It did not, however, take on a particularly local character until the later part of the fourth century. For a well-based discussion of North African production in general, see D.M. Bailey, A Catalogue of the Lamps in the British Museum, iii, Roman Provincial Lamps (London 1988) 178ff.; also L. Anselmino and C. Pavolini, “Ceramica Africana. Terra Sigillata: Lucerne”, in: Atlante delle forme ceramiche. I. Ceramica fine romana nel bacino mediterraneo (Medio e Tardo Impero). Enciclopedia dell’Arte Antica (1981) 184-207, with pll. 94-104. Note also the studies by Deneauve and by Ponsich mentioned above, and now the fine publication by M. Bonifay mentioned above as well as his important overview “Observations sur la typologie des lampes africaines (IIe - VIIe siècle)”, in: L. Chrzanovski (ed.), Lychnological Acts 1 (Montagnac 2005) 31-38.

There is another (unpublished) example in the Nicholson Museum, Sydney. For the use of the elephant as a symbol of North Africa, see M.T. Grassi, “L’Africa e gli elefanti. Appunti sull’iconografia della provincia”, in: M. Castaldi (ed.), Κοινά. Miscellanea di studi archeologici in onore di Piero Orlandini (Milan 1999) 481-490. There is a good overview of personifications of Africa by M. Le Glay in Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae I, sv Africa (and for the lamps no. 16*). I. Domes, Darstellungen der Africa. Typologie und Ikonographie einer römischen Provinzpersonification (Internationale Archäologie, 100, Rahden/Westf. 2007) gives an exhaustive description of the figure’s iconography and attempts to link its developments to historical situations, but she gives little discussion to the lamps whose manufacture and distribution is potentially interesting.

For the depictions of elephants on coins, see T. Ganschow, “Munificentia und Aeternitas: Elefantendarstellungen auf römischen Münzen”, in: Agathos daimon. Mythes et cultes. Études d'iconographie en l'honneur de Lilly Kahil (Paris 2000) 147-153.

Charles Ede Ltd (London), Catalogue 110 (July 1978) no. 24a (ill.); J.R. Green with B. Rawson, Catalogue of Antiquities in the Australian National University, A.N.U. (Canberra, 1981) 81; E. Minchin, ACollection of Classics: From the Holdings of the Australian National University Classics Department Collection (Canberra 1996) 17 (ill.).