Roman Loeschcke Type IV Oil Lamp. Whanganui Regional Museum Collection ref: 1961.9.16
Roman Loeschcke Type IV Oil Lamp. Whanganui Regional Museum Collection ref: 1961.9.16
Before the first patented lightbulb in 1879, oil lamps were the main source of light for people throughout the ages.
The first manufactured pottery oil lamps appeared in the Chalcolithic Age (c.4500-3300 BCE) and later many ceramic oil lamps were manufactured around the world in various shapes and forms. Oillamps have been used for a wide variety of purposes including in the home, for religious purposes, and during the Industrial Age they were used as carriage lamps and even as lamp posts to light the roads at night.
Oil lamps and other forms of artificial lighting were commonplace in the Ancient Roman world. Candles were no doubt the cheapest form of light for Roman households as they were often made from beeswax or tallow. While these have seldom survived the ages, many Roman oil lamps have survived and been closely studied. Most Roman lamps were made from clay, but some were made from metal including precious metals such as gold, silver and bronze.
Most were simple in design with a chamber for fuel (most likely olive oil) and a nozzle for the wick, although some could have multiple nozzles. The name of the maker or workshop often appeared on the underside. The chambers were often decorated with pictorial designs in low relief and some more expensive lamps had statuettes mounted to them. The decorative scenes included pagan deities such as Jupiter or Apollo, mythical stories and characters, generic everyday life scenes, animals, hunting scenes, public entertainment such as gladiatorial fights, erotic scenes and, in later Roman times, symbols of Christianity began to appear. Lamps could also come in moulded shapes such as animals, human hands or feet, or other forms. These types of lamps were known as plastic lamps.
Roman Loeschcke Type IA Oil Lamp. Whanganui Regional Museum Collection ref: 1961.9.17
Most of the cheaper clay lamps were made from moulds in workshops, allowing for large numbers to be made en masse. Lamps made in Rome or the central region could be reproduced in the outer provinces through a process which involved using an existing lamp as the base for a mould.
The Whanganui Regional Museum is lucky to have a small collection of early oil lamps from the Roman Period. Two of the Roman oil lamps in the collection are good examples of mould-made lamps that could be found outside Rome. Both lamps were found on Cyprus, with one being slightly earlier in date than the other.
The first oil lamp dates from the Augustan-Tiberian Period (31BC-37AD) and has a raised flower petal motif around the central pouring hole. This lamp is an example of a Loeschcke Type IA oil lamp which is defined by the shallow V-shape channel between the nozzle and the discus.
The second oil lamp is from the later Tiberian-Early Trajanic Period (37AD-100AD). This oil lamp has a winged gryphon motif which is facing left while standing on a ground line. This is an example of a Loeschcke Type IV oil lamp which is characterised by the round nozzle.
