Delphiniform Lamps of the Late Roman Republic

This paper discusses the lamps I created for my capstone project at Portland State University in 2018.

Classical era Romans built on the idea and form of the Greek terracotta lamp, becoming so prolific nearly every household had at least one. Early Roman-made lamps were little more than a bowl with a deformed edge for the wick to lay. Greek lamps were exported around the Mediterranean and influenced local potters from Egypt to Spain.  One of the first widely popular lamps in Rome was the Greco-Sicilian made delphiniform lamp during the late republic, ending around 35 BCE with Octavian’s defeat of Pompey as punishment for supporting the latter in the war. The examination of delphiniform lamps found in Rome, as well as learning how they were made, tells us a lot about Greek influence over Rome from the view of the everyday Roman.

Delphiniform lamps are mould-made lamps with a slightly spatulated spout, squat, wide bodies and the characteristic ear erupting from the left side. The top has a central filling hole, and the wick hole is in-line with the center. Unlike most other lamps, delphiniform lamps rarely, if ever, have extra air holes. When they have handles, they are often simple strap handles, made from a strip of clay. They are decorated with images of vines, leaves and flowers, but some late models have images of people and gods. They were fired twice, applying slip or glaze between the firings.

Greco-Roman molds were made of either plaster/stucco or of clay (see Figure 1 for some examples of bisque moulds). Clay molds were more highly regarded as they operated better over multiple uses, whereas plaster molds could not make good impressions over many uses, but could be used the same day they were made. Clay molds for lamps were likely built up around an original, and then fired to a porous state so the mold could wick the water away from the moist clay in the mold. This differed from how molds were made for other vessels, such as bowls and pitchers which were made on the wheel.The Greek influence on Roman civil life is linked to these lamps intrinsically. The clay these lamps are made of can be matched to the chemical composition of clays around the Mediterranean and Europe. This method is how historians like Rickman Fitch know the delphinian lamps found in Cosa (in northern Italy) came from Sicily. The shapes of the Greek lamps mirror those made in later times when Roman potters gained the skills to match and outpace their Greek counterparts. Late Republic to early Principate time lamps looked a great deal like the old Greek lamps, only after Augustus do the Roman lamps begin to take on their own life. The conquest of Greece in 142 BCE could have led to the ultimate loss of Greek influence over Roman ceramics, as well as moulded glass techniques being imported from Anatolia coming into vogue.

Rickman Fitch, Cleo, and Noma Wynick Goldman. “Cosa: The Lamps.” Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome 39 (1994). Accessed April 22, 2018. JSTOR.

Robins, F. W. “Graeco-Roman Lamps from Egypt.” The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 25, no. 1 (1939): 48-51. 

Henry Beauchamp Walters Catalogue of the Greek and Roman lamps in the British museum (London, The British Museum, 1914) p. 45

John Hayes, Handbook of Mediterranean Pottery (US, University of Oklahoma Press, 1997)

“Roman Pottery Lamps” Craven Museum and Gallery, 9 May 2018, http://www.cravenmuseum.org/archaeology/fact-sheets/roman-pottery-lamps/

 Slane, Kathleen Warner. “The Sanctuary of Demeter and Kore: The Roman Pottery and Lamps.” Corinth 18, no. 2 (1990)