Roman Lamps

In this article the author presents the analysis of two marble mortars noted during the cataloging activity of the archaeological material preserved at the Antonianum Pontifical University on behalf of the Archaeological Superintendence of Rome. The features of the two artifacts  are interesting because they let a reflection about this category of objects, its dating and types, lacking of specific studies,  and its connections with the production of marble hanging chandeliers and terracotta lamps.

The paper is devoted to the publication of the elaborately worked bronze acanthus leaf with the signs of ancient repair, which most probably belonged to a candelabrum. The leaf was found during the excavations of the citadel of the Artezian fortified site in the Eastern Crimea, which was destroyed during the Bosporan-Roman war in 47/46 AD. The leaf discussed is compared with the finds from Ephesos, from the shipwreck near Mahdia and from Pompei, being not the first find of the fragmentary and intact bronze candelabra of the 1st century BC - 1st century AD in the Bosporan Kingdom.

GREEK, ROMAN AND BYZANTINE LAMPS FROM THE MEDITERRANEAN TO THE BLACK SEA. Acts of the 5th International Lychnological Congress. In memory of Dorin Alicu. L. CHRZANOVSKI (ed.) 2019, 314 p., ill. coul. (ISBN : 978-2-35518-095-8). Collection dirigée par M. Feugère

In the excavations conducted in 1960 a very rare form of glass lamp was found in a sarcophagus excavated in the
eastern necropolis of Thessaloniki, very close to the city walls. It is a relatively large, calyx-shaped, three-handled vase and its shape is reminiscent of the mosque lamps of the second millennium AD. The finds from the sarcophagus along with those from the neighboring burials are published here in order to ascertain the date of the glass lamp. These include forms wellknown in late 3rd-early 4th century Thessaloniki of clay and glass vessels, jewels and clothing implements. Along with a few coins, these forms are compared to finds from other parts of the Roman world and they are presented in the context of their contemporaneous findings.

The importance of the Arles harbor's garbage which "sealed" the Arles-Rhône 3 shipwreck, shortly depicted hereafter, is so huge in archaeological materials, quantitatively and qualitatively, that it will give birth in the next decade to more than twenty monographs devoted each one to a specific type of artifact. This lamp-focused article aims to propose, in "avant-première" and in "globish" (the recently accepted expression designated for non-native very poor English), to highlight only one of the many important results of the final study of the more than 816 intact lamps and +5'000 fragments discovered during the underwater excavations of the Arles-Rhône 3 shipwreck, to be published next year. As a matter of fact, never in lychnological history a single small excavation delivered so many motifs from so many different manufactures and adorning productions framed in only 60 years of history (70 to 130 AD), and the different social, economic, productive and merely lychnological topics to be covered in the monograph abound. Here, we would like to propose a discussion on the micro-and macro-regional trade roads and their influences on lamp iconography. As a matter of fact, the corpus is made of artifacts brought to Arles from the most remote parts of the Mediterranean as well as from the nearest Gallic workshops, exactly during the apex of creativity of the Roman workshops in terms of quantity and variety of discus themes. This flourishing lamp decoration vogue started with Tiberius' reign and will slowly end with Trajan's one, our garbage is hence covering the second half of this momentum. Arles, a major multimodal platform as we would say today, transferring goods from the sea to the river Rhône as well as to the consular road network and vice-versa, is certainly one the most perfect observation points possible towards the whole Western Roman Empire. There we can guess some partial answers on important questions such as: which motifs remained at the level of individual imports? Which ones seduced the local manufactures? Which ones were also produced by the flourishing manufactures of one or both ends of the Western Empire (the Rhine Valley and Africa)? Which ones belong to Gallic lamp-makers' own creativity? The short comparison tables will indicate that there are a lot of hypothesis to study further in this domain. Further, an in-depth immersion on each motif will be proposed through an "illustrated dictionary" of the 290 more relevant motifs with the most relevant lists of parallels and the intact/context-dated lamps *

During the Polish excavations in Ptolemais (Libya), a unique terracotta lamp top of the Cretan Ivy Leaf type was found. It is one of only few known specimens of that kind found on the site. The article provides a brief discussion on the Cretan influences seen in the lychnological material found in Ptolemais. It also draws attention to the problem of studying the relations between the two parts of the Roman province Crete and Cyrenaica.

New data on the wreck cargo of oil lamps Aleria 1 (more than 300 m deep, Hadrian era ) from the photogrammetry 2015 Campaign. The wreck was discovered in 2012 more than 300 m deep and studied by the Drassm from 2013 as part of the project: Archaeological map of Corsica (Cibecchini 2015). This wreck has been studied more extensively than the other sites discovered by deep seabed between 2012 and 2014 because of the richness and the exceptional character of its cargo, composed of oil lamps, fine ceramics, pelves and amphorae of different origins. In addition, a portion of the cargo of lamps is still in its original load position, having been spared by trawler dragging that have partially dispersed the wreck.