1977.216.3219: Lamp with Warrior on Discus

Identification and Creation

Object Number

1977.216.3219

Title

Lamp with Warrior on Discus

Classification

Lighting Devices

Work Type

lighting device

Date

late 1st-2nd century CE

Places

Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe

Period

Roman Imperial period

Culture

Roman

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/289617

Physical Descriptions

Medium

Terracotta

Technique

Mold-made

Dimensions

2.1 x 6.5 cm (13/16 x 2 9/16 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History

Rome or North Africa

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Transfer from the Department of the Classics, Harvard University, Gift of Oric Bates

Accession Year

1977

Object Number

1977.216.3219

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Contact

am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

Permissions

The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request.

Descriptions

Description

Red varnished terracotta lamp most likely from the late 1st century to 2nd century CE. It is similar to types found in Roman North Africa. The lamp is almost completely circular and features a gladiator/warrior in its basin. The filling hole is towards the nozzle, located between the gladiator's legs. He is standing facing his left, with his back towards the viewer. He is wearing a Roman helmet, loincloth, armband, and greaves. He appears to be barefoot, although there are lines on his left foot that suggest the presence of a sandal. In his left hand, he holds a shield extending from his waist to the ground. His right hand holds a dagger that is obscured by his right leg. Though his feet seem ready to move, he is not actively engaged in a battle at this moment.

Around the figure are three incised concentric circles running the entire circumference of the lamp. Above the gladiator's head are the remains of a handle that has now been broken off. The nozzle has a flared base, but the rest of the nozzle has been broken off. The underside of the lamp has an incised circle around the base and what appears to be a foot-shaped stamp in the center.

Commentary

LIVE LIKE A ROMAN: DAILY LIFE OBJECT COLLECTION

Artificial lighting in the Roman Empire was accomplished with torches, candles and lamps. Torches were used outdoors, while candles made of wax were used mainly in areas that did not have olive oil. Lamps were the most common means of light, used all over the Empire, but especially where oil was produced or imported.

Lamps range from decorative to functional, though all utilize the same basic features. The oil chamber inside holds the fuel, while the hole at the top is for filling. There is usually a nozzle and a wick-hole for wicks that were made of fibrous materials, most often linen. Lamps themselves could be made in bronze, lead, iron, gold, silver, glass, or stone. However, the most common construction material for lamps was pottery. Though they could be made by hand or on a potter's wheel, they were most often constructed in molds.

First, the maker would construct a clay archetype of the lamp that would be solid, not hollow. Then a plaster mold would be made of the archetype. The mold would often be two parts, an upper and lower part, that wet clay could be pressed into to make a new lamp. When the clay was leather-hard, additional decorations, stamps, or handles could be added, and the wick and filling holes were pierced. A coat of slip was put on before the lamp would be fired in a kiln.

Lamps were distributed both by local workshops and by export from specialty workshops. There is some archaeological evidence for specific names of workshops and their trade routes, but still much is unknown about these factories. Sometimes makers left marks on the bottom of their lamps, which can help archaeologists in determining where the lamp was originally from.

This lamp is decorated with a gladiator's figure instead of simple patterns, as with some other lamps in this collectoin. This shows the importance of gladiators in Roman everyday life; the image is recognizable and significant enough to take time inscribing on an object as ordinary as a lamp. It is most similar to lamps found around Rome and in North Africa, as opposed to the eastern or western provinces.
[Jessica Pesce 8/5/10]

Publication History

• Sidney Goldstein, "A Terracotta Lamp in the McDaniel Collection", Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA, 1968), Vol. 73, pp. 291-303, p. 297, pl. V:2

Subjects and Contexts

• Roman Domestic Art

Verification Level