ACTA ACCLA, December 2006
(updated June 2009)
Holyland Oil Lamps
By Ken Baumheckel
Burning reproductions of 4-spout, 1-spout, and Herodian oil lamps
Introduction
Terra cotta oil
lamps provided portable light and fire for every household in Syria and
Palestine from the end of the Early Bronze Age. Oil lamps were used in the First
Temple, and their importance and familiarity to the people of the eastern
Mediterranean can be appreciated by their use in a number of metaphors in the
Bible. David, YHWH, the tribe of Judah, G-d's word, G-d's commands, man's
perspective on life, John the Baptist, and Jesus are all called "lamps". (See 2
Samuel 21:17, 2 Samuel 22:29, 1 Kings 11:36, Psalm 119:105, Proverbs 6:23,
Proverbs 21:4, Luke 11:34, John 5:35, Revelation 21:23.)
Most of the lamps illustrated are lamps of the "Holy Land," a place
that is very dear to adherents of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The oil
lamps are not for sale. They are in my private
collection. I purchased my first oil lamp, the Iron IIBC lamp with a short
foot, in 2000 after I learned that this lamp was widely used in the Southern
Kingdom (Judah) during the First Temple period. I was fascinated to be able to
see and hold an artifact from Israel that is older than any Biblical coin, and I
have since acquired many more lamps, including a few that are quite a bit older
than the earliest struck coinage. Although no coins existed during the time of
Abraham, Moses, or Elijah, these men all used oil lamps, and some of the lamps
in my collection would have been familiar to them.
Introductory note about the dating of the lamps
I have arranged the lamps in descending order beginning with the oldest,
according to the best information I have on their attribution. There is
considerable overlap of types, as older forms often continued to be made while
new forms were being developed.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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Two Early Bronze IV to Middle Bronze IIA 4-spout
lamps. 2350-1750 BCE. Lamp fabric of the first is reddish orange gritty
clay. The lamp measures 12.3 cm diagonally and stands 3.8 cm high. The walls of
the lamp are about 5 mm thick, and the lamp has a flat, unfinished bottom.
Traces of soot are visible in each of the four wick rests of this lamp, as they
also are in the second lamp, which is formed of brown clay and is covered with a
mineral patina including root marks. Amiran photo 82, plates 22.11, 23.9, 24.13,
plate 59.1; Adler 2, 3; Sussman 1985 p. 45, Sussman 2007, lamps 139, 143, 159.
Comment: Large numbers of four-spouted lamps were made in the MB I
period (2250-2000 BCE). These four-spouted lamps are among the earliest pottery
vessels specially made to serve as lamps. Older still are the simple bowls from
the Chalcolithic period (fourth millennium BCE) with telltale burn marks on
their rims (sometimes in depressions), which show that these bowls were used as
lamps. Four-spouted lamps continued to be made less frequently in the early MB
II period until about 1750 BCE. |
Photographs by Roy Iwata
click images for larger views |
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Photograph by Roy Iwata
click image for larger view
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Middle Bronze Age lamp, single spout, rim straight up like a
bowl. 2200-1550 BCE. Lamp fabric is gritty orange clay with large quartz
inclusions, and the lamp is 11.7 cm long, 9.5 cm wide, and 3.7 cm high. The
lamp has a slightly rounded, tool-scraped bottom, and the wick rest has a lot of
soot. Amiran plates 22.16, 24.14, 59.5-12; Djuric C1; Adler 7; Sussman
1985 p. 45.
Comment: Single-spouted lamps with a slight pinch for the
wick and an incurved rim first appeared along with the four-spouted lamps in the
MB I period and continued to be made through about 1400 BCE, the middle of the
Late Bronze Age, after which rims on lamps began to be turned outward to form a
ledge. Incidentally, broken vessels (bowls, jugs) could find a second life as
oil lamps, as indicated by their blackened rims; according to Sussman, this was
only done during the Middle Bronze Age. |
Photograph Courtesy of Zuzim Judaea
click image for larger view |
Middle Bronze I lamp. 2200-2000 BCE. Formed of
pinkish clay, with a single spout with moderate pinching, an incurving rim, a
deep bowl and a flat bottom. 12.7 cm long X 12.5 cm wide X 4.5 cm high. The lamp
has not a trace of soot, so it may never have been used. It was burnished on the
potter's wheel. In the few places where the inner clay is exposed, it has coarse
grits.. Very few coarse grits appear on the surface because the wheel burnishing
eliminated them. Aharoni Plate 14.8; Sussman 2007, lamp 186. |
Photograph by Roy Iwata
click image for larger view |
Late Bronze Age Oil Lamp. 1550-1200 BCE. 14.4 cm
across. Amiran Plate 59.11; Kenyon (1970) Fig. 51.13; Yadin (1975), p. 66;
Sussman 2007, lamp 695. This lamp has a round base and a wick rest pushed up in
the front so that the edge of the lamp has a uniform height. The wick rest is
sooty and a mineral patina covers the lamp. The pink clay of this lamp had an
organic temper, which burned to ash and left lacunae when the lamp was fired in
a kiln. There are also a large number of large sand grits in the clay.
Comment: As is characteristic of many Late Bronze Age lamps, the
bowl of this lamp is deep, the wall profile curves like a cross-section of a
sphere, and the rim is not even slightly out-turned. |
Photograph by Robert Baumheckel
click image for larger view |
 Late Bronze IIBC lamp of gritty orange clay with a narrow ledge formed by the subtle outturning of the rim. 1400-1200 BCE. The wick rest is small and the bowl is shallow. The lamp measures 12.2 cm long, 12.6 cm wide, and 3.0 cm high. Djuric C2, Amiran plate 59.18;
Sussman 1985 p. 46.
Comment: This example has root marks from a plant that grew down toward the lamp while it was
buried. These root marks are visible in the bottom half of the close-up photo,
and a wavy pattern of sediment from long burial can be seen around the rim of
the lamp in the other photo.
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Photographs by Robert Baumheckel
click images for larger views |
Late Bronze II or Iron Age I lamp with gritty
orange clay, deep bowl, flattened rim,
small wick rest and backward tilt. 1400 - 1000 BCE. Amiran plate 100.7; Kennedy
467 (1).
Comment: This lamp is encrusted with calcite crystals over much of its surface. These
crystals formed from long burial in a wet environment, and they are beautiful
under 16X magnification.
Kennedy notes that toward the end of the Late Bronze and continuing into the
early Iron Age, there was a series of markedly larger lamps, which did not
continue into the Iron II period. His photo 467 (1) shows a lamp with a deep
bowl that could accommodate a large supply of oil. The gritty orange clay fabric
of my lamp leads me to believe it to be an early lamp (i.e., end of Late Bronze
II). |
Photograph by Roy Iwata
click image for larger view |
Iron I large lamp with nozzle pinched
shut, 15.6 cm long X 14.5 cm wide X 4.9 cm high, of coarse brown clay with large
limestone grits, covered with dendritic calcium deposits. 1200-1000 BCE. Sussman
1985 pp.46, 47; Adler 19, 20.
Comment: This lamp is poorly balanced; when placed on a flat
surface it tends to tip backward, and since the wall of the lamp is nearly flat,
the lamp could not have retained a pool of oil in this position. Smith notes
this problem common to many Iron I lamps and believes that an upright bowl was
likely placed beneath the lamp as a supporting stand so that the lamp could be
balanced correctly.
This is the first lamp with two holes in the top of the lamp, the large one for
the reservoir of oil, the smaller one for the wick. Why this lamp type was
discontinued is unclear. Bailey remarks on the inherent benefits to a closed
nozzle, noting that it allowed for greater control of the wick and the ability
to create a smokeless flame, since the wick could be tamped down. In my own
experiments, I have seen that unless the nozzle is closed, there is no way to
prevent the flame from crawling down into the lamp and becoming larger and
smokier as the reserve of oil in the bottom of the lamp begins to get depleted. |
Photographs by Allan White & Michael J. Connor
click images for larger
views |
Iron Age I lamp of brown clay, 14.8 cm long X 14.8 cm wide X 4.5 cm high. This lamp shares two features with the Iron Age I lamp illustrated in Amiran Plate 100.7: 1) a large-capacity round bowl with a smoothly curving wall lacking in carination (which will be a feature of Iron Age II lamps), and 2) a rim with a triangular profile imparted by a tool, which flattened the rim and formed a crisp scarp with the wall of the lamp. 1200-1000 BCE. Similar: Yoqne’am II p. 79, lamp 10; Lachish III, Fig. 19.31.2 and Fig. 19.51.4.
Comment: This lamp was poorly fired in the kiln, so that some of the surface clay has caked, delaminated and eroded away. The close-up reveals the tool-flattened rim and dark pock marks where poorly fired clay has eroded away. |
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Photograph by Roy Iwata
click image for larger view | Iron Age II lamp with seven spouts, 10.3 cm in diameter, flat bottom, of
light brown clay with patchy remains of reddish-orange burnish. 1000-800 BCE.
Adler 23, Smith Fig. 6; Sussman 2007, lamp 1451.
Comment: Seven-spouted oil lamps have been found in Syro-Palestine
in Middle and Late Bronze Age contexts but are more common in the Iron Age.
This type of oil lamp may have been placed on each of the ten lampstands of
the tenth century BCE First Temple, which Solomon built. As Sussman explains,
"In Zechariah 4, the prophet [in his vision of a future temple] describes a
gold lamp stand. The lamps on it are seven in number, and the lamps
above it have seven spouts. The word used for spouts, mutzakot (mutzakah,
singular) is the noun form of the verb ytzq" (1985, p. 44). |
Photograph by Roy Iwata
click image for larger view |
Iron IIAB
large heavy lamp of red clay with a round bottom and tool-shaped rim. 1000-800
BCE. Djuric C4; Sussman 1985 p. 46; Smith (1964) fig. 2; Lachish IV, Fig. 25.43.25; Yoqne’am II Fig. 11.12, cf. Fig. I.9:6 = lamp family L I.
Comment: When this lamp was being formed by the potter on the
wheel, he used a tool to cut a groove on the outside of the lamp just beneath
the rim, creating a distinct demarcation of the rim from the wall of the lamp.
The wall of the lamp is not as carinated (angled) as in later lamps (Iron II B
and C), nor is the bowl of the lamp as shallow as it is in those lamps. |
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Photographs by Robert Baumheckel
click images for larger views
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Photographs by Roy Iwata
click images for larger views
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Two Iron IIBC lamps, 900-525 BCE. The left one is made of pink clay
with a slightly rounded bottom, with a wide rim and a deeply pinched wick rest
bearing heavy soot. Firing was uneven, so that the lamp appears orange in a few
small patchy areas where the surface clay has eroded. This lamp measures 12.0 cm
long, 12.0 cm wide, and 3.4 cm high. The other lamp measures 13.2 cm across, has
a flat base, leans backward when it rests on a flat surface, has a sooty wick
rest, has an edge that was cut squarely with a sharp tool, and is covered with a
mineral patina that includes mineralized root marks. Djuric C6; Amiran plate
100.16 & 17; Sussman 1985 p. 46; Kenyon 1967, plate xvii; Yoqne’am II Fig.
11.12, cf. Fig. I.62:33 = lamp family L II.
Comment: These lamps have the wide, flattened rim characteristic of
lamps throughout Israel in the later period of the divided monarchy.
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Photographs by Roy Iwata
click images for larger views |
On the left, an Iron IIB or IIC smaller
southern lamp with a short foot. 900-525 BCE. Amiran plate 100.20; Kenyon fig.
7.3; Aharoni plate 30; Smith (1964) fig. 9. On the right, an Iron IIC larger
southern lamp with high foot, 800-525 BCE. Amiran plate 100.19; Kenyon fig. 7.4;
Aharoni plate 31; Sussman 1985 p. 47; Smith (1964) fig. 10.
Comment: Footed lamps reflect the political division of
Israel into the Northern Kingdom and Southern Kingdom that followed the death of
Solomon, circa 928 BCE. Although lamps without a foot are common throughout
Israel, footed lamps are extremely rare north of Megiddo. (Footed lamps are
however found in Cyprus and Transjordan.) Late in Iron II, there was a tendency
toward a smaller bowl and a larger and heavier foot. Some of the footed bases
were cut from the wheel with a string while the lamp was being turned on the
potter's wheel, as can be seen in the photo of the bottom of my lamp with the
shorter foot. String marks do not appear on the bottom of my lamp with the
higher foot. This foot may have been added (or added to) after the lamp was
removed from the potter's wheel. By the way, just as broken bowls and jugs were
recycled into oil lamps during Middle Bronze, the thick round foot on these
Southern Kingdom lamps often found a second life as a stopper for a jug (to keep
the contents sealed from insects or dirt), according to Ussishkin. Though the
First Temple was destroyed in 586 BCE, footed lamps continued in use. Stern
reports that they were found by G. E. Wright among other objects in a tomb at
Beth Shemesh that dates to the late sixth centuy BCE. |
Photographs courtesy of Barakat Gallery
click images for larger views |
Iron Age IIC to Persian Period Lamp. 720 – 333 BCE.
13 centimeters in diameter. Stern's (1982) Type A2; Tel Yoqne'am II p. 420,
Photo IV.3 (left lamp); Sussman 2007, lamps 1160-1162.
Comment: This lamp is made of hard-fired coarse pink clay with a
light yellow burnish on the surface. It was crudely made and has a warped rim
which bends downward on one side. Some pink dirt adheres to the surface on the
top of the lamp, and there is mineralization from long burial on the spout,
along the rim, and especially on the underside of the lamp. It has a wide ledge
rim sharply scarped from the bowl, and the sides of the relatively small
U-shaped wick rest are pressed inward and downward toward the bowl until they
almost touch it. |
Photographs by Roy Iwata
click images for larger view |
Large Persian period open lamp of finely levigated pink clay with a shallow
bowl, wide tool-shaped rim, a knife-shaved bottom, and a very deeply pinched
wick rest bearing soot. 600-332 BCE. Uneven firing temperatures or presence of oxygen
affected the color of the lamp; color varies from pink to pale orange as a
result. The lamp measures 16.1 cm long, 14.3 cm wide, and 4.0 cm high.
Adler 30, Djuric C7; Stern p. 128; Sussman 1985 p. 48; Yoqne’am II Fig. 11.12, cf.
Fig. I.86.1 = lamp family L III.
Comment: Stern reports these lamps in the same late 6th century
BCE tomb where the footed lamp was found. He writes that the majority of examples date
to the fifth and fourth centuries BCE and were thus in use during the entire
Persian period. One lamp of this type was found with a hollow tube attached to
its base for insertion into a pole, apparently serving the same purpose as the
hollow socket in the center of my archaic/classical Greek lamp. |
Photographs by Allan Anawati
click images for larger view |
Two-spout Open Lamp. 7th to 4th century BCE. 8.3 cm
in diameter from rim to either spout. Although the clay of this lamp is coarse,
the bottom of the lamp was wet-smoothed to close the pores. From Cyprus, North
Africa, Phoenicia, or northern Palstine. Reisner pl. 187, lamp 2a; Moscati lamps
367, 368, 494, 766, 767, and 898.
Comment: The small size of this lamp is typical of the trend toward
smaller lamps from the middle of the first millennium BCE and onward. Regarding
two-spout open lamps, Smith remarks (1964), "Bicorn [i.e., two-spouted] lamps
had been popular for a long time in Phoenicia, whence they were subsequently
transmitted to Phoenician colonies in Cyprus and North Africa—particularly the
latter, where from the 7th century to Hellenistic times they were standard
design. In northern Palestine bicorn lamps were never so popular, but they
continued to be made into the Persian period." |
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Photograph by Robert Baumheckel
click image for larger view |
Wheel-made archaic/classical Greek lamp of fine pale
yellowish clay with vertical slightly rounded sides. The flat, slightly downward
sloping rim over hangs the interior of the lamp, and there is a knife-pared
hollow socket (apparently to accept the point of a pole or stand). A short
nozzle was formed separately and attached to the shoulder of the lamp. Traces of
red burnish and black glaze still adhere to the lamp. The lamp measures 10 cm
long, 7.7 cm wide, and 2.4 cm high. 6th-5th cent. BCE. QEDEM 8.3, BMC I Q639
(Sicily).
Comment: According to Bailey, no lamps survive in the Aegean
area from the end of the Bronze Age to the first quarter of the 7th century
BCE. Negev and Gibson note that Greek lamps were introduced into Israel/
Palestine in the 7th and 6th centuries BCE through coastal trade. In the
photograph of my lamp, note that the central cone bears a dark slip while the
rest of the interior of the lamp is light, and that the inside of the nozzle is
divided into light and dark portions as well. Bailey explains that the dark slip
was utilitarian, intended to minimize seepage of oil through the pores of the
clay. The cone was brushed with slip while the lamp was turning on a wheel, and
the nozzle received its coating of slip by being dipped into the slip mixture. |
Photographs by Michael J. Connor
click images for larger views |
Hellenistic wheel-made lamp of fine orange
clay with a brown glaze, a globular body 6.2 cm long X 4.3 cm high, a concave
raised base, a sunken filling-hole surrounded by a groove, and a horizontally
pierced side lug on the upper left half. 3rd century BCE. QEDEM 8.17; Sussman
1985 p. 48;
BMC I Q 443 (Calymna) and Q 254 (Cnidus); Hayes 30 (similar).
Comment: According to
Bailey, pierced side-lugs first appeared on lamps during the second half of the
fourth century BCE. He says that the lug served the user of the lamp as an
additional grip on a slippery lamp body, but that the primary purpose of the
pierced lug was to allow the lamp to be suspended by a cord when not in use. He
further states that side-lugs soon lost their original purpose and became merely
decorative and usually unpierced, as is the case on my Hellenistic mold-made
lamp. |
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click image for larger view
Photograph by Ernie Krumbein |
Hellenistic mold-made lamp of red clay and a dark grey slip, 7.9 cm
long X 4.7 cm. wide, with a long nozzle, small branches around the shoulders, and an "S" shaped lug on the
right shoulder. 4th-1st century BCE. Adler 44. |
| Punic wheel-made saucer lamp with two
nozzles, 8.5 cm long X 4.0 cm high, of poorly levigated red clay with coarse grits, covered with a buff slip. 2nd century BCE. The base is string-cut, and after the nozzles were formed by pinching, patches of clay were added to the resulting seams by hand; QEDEM 8.274 and 275; Hayes 2.
Comment: The two-nozzled
and three-nozzled Punic lamps descend from earlier Palestinian saucer lamps and
are related to the pinched-bowl "Hasmonaean" lamp, which is also found in North
Africa. |
Hasmonaean pinched bowl lamp of fine
pinkish orange clay, with a flat base and the sides folded over, closing in the
middle of the lamp to form a small nozzle and a larger filling hole. 2nd-1st century BCE. The lamp
measures 7.0 cm long, 2.6 cm wide, and 3.2 cm high. Kennedy
481 (1); Smith vol. 27, no. 4, fig.
16; Adler 37-40; QEDEM 8.329 & 330; Israeli & Avida 4 & 5; Hayes 4 & 5; Negev &
Gibson, p. 400. (*Note: this lamp is half as long as the Iron I lamp with the
closed nozzle, and this reflects the size reduction in lamps that took place
during the course of the first millennium BCE.)
Comment: The Hasmonaean pinched bowl lamp is the final form of
the saucer lamps that began in the Middle Bronze Age. Rosenthal and Sivan note
that this lamp type is known not only in Palestine but also in Cyprus and Punic
North Africa, where double and triple-nozzled lamps of closely related design
were also used. |
Photographs by Robert Baumheckel
click images for larger views |
Herodian lamp of pink clay with a soot-blackened nozzle, prominent rim, and medium ledge around the filling hole. Measures 9.2 cm
long, 6.7 cm wide, and 2.8 cm high. Herodian lamps all have a wide filling hole, a spatulated
nozzle and a flat bottom. Sussman 1985 p. 49.
Comment: Herodian lamps were
made on a potter's wheel, so with careful inspection one can usually
see circular striations in the clay. The potter obliterated most
of the striations when he rubbed the bottom and sides of the lamp to
burnish it and close the pores. However, the potter could not
burnish the interior of the lamp, so a spiral design can often be seen
in the floor of the lamp as viewed through the filling hole. More
minute circular striations can be found on the shoulders and on the rim
and ledge around the filling hole of Herodian lamps.
Nautical archaeologist Shelley Wachsmann found a Herodian oil lamp in
association with the 1st century Sea of Galilee fishing boat that he excavated
in 1986. Negev and Gibson remark, "This find is important because it indicates
that clay lamps were a part of working on the Sea of Galilee. It further
suggests that fishermen had worked in the early morning and in the evenings when
lighting would have been necessary." See Matthew 5:4-5 and John 21:3 for gospel
accounts of night fishing. |
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Daroma mold-made lamp with triangles and lines around filling hole, a ring base, and a knob
handle. Adler 305.
Comment: Daroma lamps were
manufactured in Judaea after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, when
the urban population, including artists and craftsmen, fled Jerusalem. These are
the first decorated lamps made by Jews and intended for Jewish use. The sides of
the triangles in the motif on my lamp bow outward and probably represent flower
petals or leaves of some sort. According to Adler, floral motifs are common on
Daroma lamps. Other motifs include agricultural tools, craftsmen's tools,
geometric designs, Jewish symbols, and jewelry. |
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click image for larger view |
This mold-made Roman lamp of pink to orange clay
originally had a rosette on
a large discus with a small filling hole, but the discus was broken out by the
lamp's user, as was commonly done in Israel. Israeli and Avida suggest that
the reason this was done may have been the preference in Israel for lamps with
a large filling hole, or that the users wished to obliterate pagan designs.
The lamp has a large, round, knife-pared and soot-covered spout, volutes at the
join of spout and main body, an ovolo pattern around the shoulder, and a ring
base. As is typical of early Roman lamps, this lamp was fashioned without a
handle. The lamp measures 8.4 cm long, 6.7 cm wide, and 2.3 cm high. 1st -
3rd century CE. Israeli & Avida 43-47; Sussman 1985 p. 49.
Comment: Fingerprints, one very wide and sharp, are preserved in
the clay on the inside of this lamp. These were made when the clay of the lamp was
pressed into the mold by hand. |
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Photograph courtesy of CJ Martin Coins
click image for larger view |
Two Beit Natif Oil Lamps, fourth to fifth century CE.
The single-spouted lamp is Adler 516, Israeli & Avida 363. Large peacock tail
with two circles above it, on nozzle. Plain wide rim around filling hole,
encircled by line. Shoulder has a wreath of chevrons ending with encircled
pellets; line of dots below. Pyramidal handle, triple ring base. The
double-spouted lamp is Adler 563, QEDEM 8.442. Two sooty wick holes. Quatrefoil
loop with raised dots (gold necklace?) on nozzle, voids filled with raised dots.
Shoulder has a wreath of chevrons ending with encircled pellets. Pyramidal
handle, flat base. Bottom repaired.
Comment: Israeli and Avida explain (p. 116) that two cisterns in
the village of Beit Natif in the Judaean lowland were excavated in the 1930s.
The cisterns contained coins dating to the second half of the third century CE
at the latest, statuettes of women and horsemen, stone molds for making lamps,
and many oil lamps, some of which have distinctive Jewish patterns.
Multiple-wick-hole lamps were not discovered in the cisterns but rather in
another excavation in the village and were clearly produced in the same
workshop. Other workshops copied the Beit Natif style. The necklaces, pendants,
dots and braids on some of the lamps are reminiscent of jewelry, and the peacock
tail element on Adler 516 may have had symbolic importance. |
Photograph courtesy of CJ Martin Coins
click image for
larger view |
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click image for larger view |
Byzantine "candlestick" lamp of salmon-pink clay with a
rim around the wick hole, two rims around the filling hole, and a central ridge on the nozzle
connecting the rim of the (sooty) wick hole with the outer rim of the filling
hole. There is a candlestick design on the nozzle and a band of dashes around the
shoulders, and the ring base has a central omphalos dot. The lamp measures
9.0 cm long, 5.8 cm wide, and 3.3 cm high. 5th-7th century CE. QEDEM
8.476-479; Adler 923 (similar); Sussman 1985 p. 49.
Comment: Fingerprints in the clay can be seen in the floor of this lamp. The candlestick pattern has been interpreted as representing a menorah, a palm branch, or even a stylized flame. |
Photograph by Michael J. Connor
click image for larger view |
Inscribed Byzantine "Candlestick" Lamp. Similar to the previous lamp, but with a Greek inscription in place of the band of dashes reading: "The light of Christ enlightens all." 8.9 cm long, 6.2 cm wide, and 3.0 cm high. End of 5th to early 8th century CE. Loffreda 18; Adler 936.
Comment: To either side of the stylized palm tree(?) are two devices which Loffreda considers symbols representing flights of steps descending into and ascending out of a baptismal pool. The inscription runs clockwise around the lamp.
 It begins facing the shoulders, then switches to facing the center of the lamp, and reads: ΦΩΣ (= "Light", with a lunate sigma) ΧΥ (abbreviation of ΧΡΙΣΤΟΥ, = "of Christ") ΦΕΝ (abbreviation and dialect-influenced spelling of ΦΑΙΝΕΙ, = "enlightens") ΠΑΑΣΙΝ (spelling variation of ΠΑΣΙΝ, with an extra alpha and lunate sigma fused with iota, = "to all"). |
Photograph courtesy of Morris Khouli
click image for larger view |
Inscribed Byzantine "Candlestick" Lamp. Variation
similar to the previous lamp, but with a Greek inscription reading: "Christ the
Lord is My Light" (a variation on Psalm 27:1). 10.2 cm long. End of 5th to early
8th century CE. Loffreda lamps 32-35 (similar).
Comment: There is no exact match in Loffreda. The inscription
runs counterclockwise around the lamp. I believe
the much-abbreviated text begins with the X to the left of the nozzle and reads:
X /// KC T E (on side) O (open) F O (instead of omega)
C M (defective) Y . In full, I believe the text is XRISTOC
KYRIOC TO EINAI O FOC MOY. [ Xristos = Christ, Kurios To = the Lord, Einai = is, O Fws Mou = the light of me (my light).] |
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Early Samaritan lamp of orange clay, having a bow-shaped
nozzle with concave sides. In the Samaritan tradition of "horror vacui", the entire lamp is lavishly
decorated with ladder designs, concentric circles, and semicircles with lines
inside. The discus was broken by the user. The lamp has a ring base with a
central omphalos dot, and at the rear of the lamp there is a small pyramid-shaped
handle. The lamp measures 9.5 cm long, 6.5 cm wide, and 3.0 cm high. 4th - 5th
century CE. Israeli & Av. 399, Adler 656 (similar).
Comment: Dry (carbonized?) plant roots are extant inside this
lamp and can be seen in the photo (inside the filling hole). Adler suggests that the
Samaritans made lamps with closed discuses to be broken by the user because of
their purity traditions. (A closed lamp did not receive impurity). |
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Byzantine lamp of buff clay with an inner rim encircling
the filling hole and
an outer rim that forms a hand-mirror ridge. The ridge connects the filling
hole and sooty wick hole and forms a channel between them. The shoulders are
decorated with a laurel pattern, and five dots form a cross on the nozzle. A
high conical handle rises from the rear of the lamp. The lamp measures 7.8 cm
long, 6.0 cm wide, and 2.8 cm high. 5th-7th cent. CE. Israeli & Avida 481,
486 (similar).
Comment: Fingerprints are visible inside the lamp. |
Photographs by Michael J. Connor
click images for larger views |
Early Islamic mold-made lamp of buff clay with a large filling hole surrounded by a triple molding. On the shoulders around the filling hole are two ladder-patterns formed of dashes. The elongated nozzle is sooty and bears a channel framed by high ridges. The channel is ornamented with a symmetrical pattern of lines and has three dots at either end (one dot missing). A high conical handle rises from the rear of the lamp. On the bottom of the lamp, a keel-ridge runs from the ring base with central omphalos to the end of the nozzle. The lamp measures 10.5 cm long, 7.0 cm wide, and 4.2 cm high (not including the handle). Israeli & Avida 436, 446-452 (similar). 7th to 9th Century CE.
Comment: According to Israeli & Avida, the production and distribution of this lamp type included Syria and Eretz Israel. |
Photograph Courtesy of Zuzim Judaea
click image for larger view |
Late Byzantine wheel-made "boot" style oil lamp with a circular reservoir and a high ribbed body tapering toward the top. 8.5 cm long X 5.0 cm high X 6.3 cm wide. Loop handle (broken) and thick pointed nozzle (sooty) hand-formed and added. QEDEM 8.506, 507; Israeli & Avida 500; Adler 950, 951; Sussman 1982, p. 12; Kennedy 630 (16). 6th - 7th Century CE.
Comment: The handle of the Byzantine "boot" lamp broke in ancient times. A thick layer of minerals overlies the break, so that the sharp edges of the actual break are well-hidden. This lamp was made from coarse clay and though it was decorated with grooves, it was given no surface treatment whatsoever. This lamp type is more common in southern Israel than in the north (per Adler). Incidentally, after wheel-made lamps were abandoned in early Roman times as mold-made lamps swept them from the market, they now make a comeback and will continue to be made through the Islamic period and into the Middle Ages. |
|
Islamic unglazed wheel-made lamp with high, flaring sides
folded to make a long triangular wick rest. There is a strap handle connecting
the rim at the rear of the lamp to a small, sharp-edged pan in the bottom of the
lamp. Crusades Period (12th to
13th century CE), Djuric C353; Kennedy 799 (26) is similar.
Comment: According to Kennedy, although Crusader lamps from
other locations may have a
green or brown glaze, Palestinian examples are never glazed. |
Photograph by Roy Iwata
click image for larger view |
Photographs by Robert Baumheckel
click images for larger views |
Islamic Wheel-made Lamp. Mamluk to Ottoman Periods
(1250 - 1918 CE). QEDEM Reports 4, Type 51 (lamp 499). 9.5 cm long X 9.0 cm wide
X 3.8 cm high. Thin walls of dark brown clay, pinched nozzle, string-cut base.
Comment: This lamp resembles Iron Age lamps but the profile of the
wall is very different, rising from the floor at a 45 degree angle and with only
a slight S-shaped carination from floor to rim. The lamp is also much smaller
and is made of thinner fabric than most Iron Age lamps are. |
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OIL LAMP REFERENCES
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OTHER REFERENCES
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Stern, Ephraim. The Material Culture of the Land of the Bible in
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Ussishkin, David. The Renewed Archaeological Excavations at Lachish
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Yadin, Yigael et al. Hazor I: An Account of the First Season of
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--. Hazor: The Rediscovery of a Great Citadel of the Bible. New York:
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Acknowledgments
Ken Baumheckel is a member of ACCLA and a founding member of OCACC. This article is an updated version of that posted by Jean Philippe Fontanille on his menorahcoinproject site. Ken Buamheckel invites your questions or comments at
kenbaumheckel@aol.com. Updated December 18, 2006
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