The purposes for which lamps were used by the Romans were various, but fall under three main heads: (1) for purposes of illumination in private houses, in public buildings, or on occasions of rejoicing; (2) as offerings in temples; (3) as funerary furniture.

In small houses they were placed either in niches in the walls or on brackets, or were suspended by chains, or even in some cases hung by the handle from a nail. An Etruscan terracotta lamp bears evidence of having been suspended in the last-named manner,^[2732] but there is no doubt that this was more usual with lamps of bronze, there being few in terracotta which would have admitted of such a use. Sometimes the lamps were made resting on a kind of support, as is the case with two in the British Museum, and others found in Africa.^[2733] On the support a figure of a deity was usually modelled in relief.^[2734] Combinations of a lamp and altar are not uncommon, especially at Rome and Naples.^[2735] There are numerous examples from Pompeii and Herculaneum illustrating their use in private life, although lamps of clay are confined to the poorer houses or to domestic service. For their use in the bedchamber at night evidence is afforded by Martial and other writers.^[2736] A rough classification of the existing terracotta lamps might be made by dividing them into—(1) those with knobs for hanging, (2) those with handles for carrying, (3) those without handles for placing on tables or brackets.

Many passages in Latin writers afford evidence for the use of lamps in processions or for illuminations at times of public rejoicings, such as triumphs. They were thus used by Cleopatra, at the triumph of Julius Caesar, at the return of Nero, and so on.^[2737] Caligula had theatrical representations performed by lamp-light at night, and Domitian arranged hunts and gladiatoral combats ad lychnuchos.^[2738] Severus Alexander lighted up the baths with oil-lamps,^[2739] and Tertullian speaks of assisting in political triumphs by defrauding the day with the light of lamps.^[2740] Juvenal also speaks of their use in illuminations.^[2741] Many lamps, especially those with subjects relating to the circus or games, are inscribed with the word SAECVL(ares), and it is possible that they were used in connection with the Ludi Saeculares, at which illuminations took place. But lamps with this inscription are not exclusively ornamented with such subjects.^[2742]

Lamps were used for burning in temples, and were also the subject of votive offerings to the gods, in Greece as well as in Italy. One found at Oenoanda in Lycia was offered “to the most high God”^[2743]; and those which Sir Charles Newton found in such large numbers at Knidos (Vol. I. p. 108) were also votive offerings in the temenos of Demeter. Votive lamps are recorded from Selinus,^[2744] and at Carthage numbers were found round the altar of Saturnus Balcaranensis.^[2745] To their use in the worship of Isis, as referred to by Apuleius, we allude below.

Nearly all lamps have been found in tombs, the custom of placing them there being one of Asiatic, not of Greek, origin; it became quite general under the Roman dominion. Christian lamps are found in the catacombs, but not in cemeteries, showing that the practice came to be regarded as pagan. At Avisford in Sussex they were found placed in open bowls with handles, on brackets along the side of a tomb.^[2746] The Roman lamps found in tombs were placed there, like the Greek vases and the later glass, for the use of the dead, sometimes, though not necessarily, with the idea of their burning perpetually.^[2747] An inscription on a sepulchral cippus in the British Museum^[2748] directs the heirs of the deceased to place a lighted lamp in his tomb on the Kalends, Nones, and Ides of each month, and similarly L. Granius Pudens of the seventh cohort requests that his family should place oil in a lamp on his birthday.^[2749] Another inscription in an elegiac couplet says: “Whosoever places a lighted lamp in this tomb, may golden earth cover his ashes.”^[2750] A fourth inscription directs the daily offering of a lamp at the public expense to the manes of a deceased person.^[2751] In the story of the matron of Ephesus, told by Petronius, a servant-maid is described as replenishing the lamp in a tomb as often as was required.^[2752] Two lamps in the Athens Museum have the subject of a bear, and over it the inscription ΦΟΒΟC, “Fear”; being found in tombs, they must have been placed there with some significance, and as, on the evidence of a Cilician inscription, Phobos was regarded as a guardian of tombs who frightened off robbers and other evilly-disposed persons, it may be that the terrible bear was placed on the lamp as a symbol of this protector of the dead.^[2753]

Other superstitious uses of lamps, not connected with the tomb, were not uncommon. Omens were drawn from the way in which the flame burned,^[2754] and Chrysostom describes a method of naming children by giving names to lamps, which were then lighted, and the name of the child was taken from that last extinguished.^[2755]

There are also a few other exceptional uses of lamps, as for instance when they were given as strenae, or New Year’s presents. Such lamps usually have a figure of Victory holding a shield, on which are the words ANNVM NOVVM FAVSTVM FELICEM, “A happy and prosperous New Year!”^[2756] In the field are heads of Janus, or cakes, wreaths, and other objects also probably intended for presents. These all appear to date from the beginning of the first century after Christ.^[2757] A lamp of the same class in the Guildhall Museum has on the shield FIILICTII, Felic(i)t(as).^[2758] It is interesting to note that the New Year lamps are found in tombs^[2759]; they may, of course, have been preserved and buried as mementoes; but at the same time, it is not essential that the subject on a lamp should have any relation to its purpose, as we have seen in the case of those inscribed Saeculares.^[2760] The Helioserapis lamp (see p. 403) and those with Phobos as a bear may, indeed, be instances to the contrary, but on the whole it would seem that the same rule would apply as in the case of the terracottas (see Vol. I. p. 122).

The earliest Roman lamps are of rude shape, undecorated, with a long projecting nozzle and circular reservoir; they are not always provided with handles, but are often covered with black glaze, like the Greek examples. Lamps of this type are found on the Esquiline, in North Africa, as at Carthage, and in Sicily.^[2761] One of the Esquiline examples, dating from the second century, has the engraved inscription VEVCADIA (Fig. 202).^[2762] Like the Greek lamps, these are made on the wheel (τροχήλατοι), not, as later ones, in a mould. Names in graffito seem to imply a reference to the person in whose tomb the lamp was found, and such formulae as AVE, NOLI ME TANGERE, NII ATTIGAS NON SVM TVA M · SVM, PONE FVR (“Drop it, thief!”), which occur on the Esquiline lamps, also clearly refer to funeral usage.^[2763]

In the first century B.C. the lamps, still mostly of black ware, and devoid of subjects, are distinguished by the straight-ended, concave-sided nozzle 2026nozzle with a shallow groove leading to the centre, small grooved ring-handle, and sometimes a lateral projection like a fin, from which some varieties are known as “delphiniform” (Fig. 203).^[2764] These are often found in North Africa, but are also imported into Italy, and some have Greek stamps. The top is sometimes covered with globules, or with patterns of vine and ivy, and in the later examples figure-subjects are introduced.^[2765] The earlier ones have large single letters or monograms underneath for potters’ marks; the later, the name of the potter or superintendent of the pottery.

We now come to the Roman lamps of the Imperial period, of which such large numbers exist in museums all over Europe and the basin of the Mediterranean. They have not as yet been very systematically studied and classified; but so far as the subject has been treated at all, those who have investigated the development of the forms are fairly unanimous in their general conclusions.^[2766] The last writer on the subject, Herr Fink, of Munich, has advanced a step further, and by comparison of forms with potters’ signatures has arrived at some interesting results, which we need not hesitate to accept in the main.^[2767] He adopted as the basis of his classification the form of the nozzle in each case, for the obvious reason that it is more essential to the character of a lamp than the handle; if the latter is removed, the form is in no way affected, as it would be by the absence of the nozzle.

Following, then, on the lines of Fink and the other writers, we may establish—apart from abnormal forms and lamps modelled in the shape of figures—four main classes, which are sufficient to include practically all the lamps with which we have to deal. They may be summarised as follows:

(1) Lamps with rounded nozzle or nozzles, flanked on each side by a kind of double volute, as in Fig. 204 and B.M. 167-352. The usual number of nozzles is one, but two are not infrequently found. These belong to the first century B.C., and, being convenient forms for a decorated top, are ornamented with all kinds of subjects^[2768]; the handle when present is often ornamented as in the cut.

(2) Lamps of the same type as the last, except that the nozzle ends in an obtuse-angled termination, as Fig. 205 and B.M. 94-166. It is a form not adapted for more than one nozzle, and usually has no handle.^[2769]

(3) A small but distinct class, almost devoid of figured decoration (Fig. 206 and B.M. 379-392), but usually with a potter’s name underneath; the form is elegant, and probably copied from bronze.^[2770] The chief feature is the sunk centre, in which is usually placed a Bacchic or comic mask; round it runs a raised rim, through which a shallow groove passes to the somewhat elongated nozzle. This dates from the first century of the Empire or earlier, some being found with coins of Augustus, others at Pompeii; these lamps are of red clay, unglazed, and have no handle. On the sides are projecting knobs, either concealing the joins of the moulds (see p. 405), or for the attachment of chains. The names of the makers, Strobilus, Communis, Fortis, etc., are in good raised letters, impressed in the mould (see Fig. 210). They are found in all parts, but rarely south of Rome; most of them are from Gallia Cispadana,^[2771] and they may have been made at Mutina.

(4) In this class (Fig. 207 and B.M. 393-567) the nozzle is small, and hardly projects beyond the rim of the lamp; it is semicircular or heart-shaped in form, and sometimes has an incised line or circles at the base. Fig. 208 represents a late development with the heart-shaped nozzle, in which the design is always surrounded by a wreath or ornamental pattern. Many of these lamps, especially those found in Greece (see Vol. I. p. 108), have no handle; there is also a somewhat late variety, described on the same page, which is confined to Greece and marked by potters’ signatures in Greek letters (B.M. 604-629). These lamps date from the time of Trajan onwards; the signatures are usually abbreviated, and are stamped hollow, or sometimes scratched in the wet clay; raised letters are rare. The subjects are very varied.

Some of the larger lamps in the first class, especially those with more than one nozzle, have a flat vertical projection attached to the top of the handle, triangular in form or crescent-shaped (as in Fig. 204), and this is often ornamented with figures in relief, either whole subjects or busts of deities, or such simple motives as a pair of dolphins, a leaf, or a palmette. The figure-subjects are often quasi-Egyptian, such as Harpocrates and Safekh on a British Museum example (No. 337 = Plate LXIII. fig. 3), or a lectisternium of Sarapis, Isis, Helios, and Selene.^[2772] In a few cases this projection is replaced by a bust or even a seated figure of Sarapis enthroned in a niche. But in most cases the handle, when present, is of a simple form, either a ring with shallow parallel grooves or a solid projecting piece through which a hole is pierced.

Lamps of terracotta often assume, like those in bronze,^[2773] a more ornamental form, being modelled partly or wholly in the form of figures, heads, animals, and so on. In some cases the upper part or discus only is modelled, assuming the form of a mask—Satyric, theatrical, or grotesque.^[2774] Among the entire-figures which form lamps occur Artemis,^[2775] Eros,^[2776] Victory slaying a bull,^[2777] and various animals; more common are heads of Zeus Ammon,^[2778] Pan, Seilenos,^[2779] negroes,^[2780] and animals such as oxen, birds, snails, frogs, or tortoises.^[2781] A favourite shape is a lamp in the form of a foot or a pair of feet, shod in sandals or boots,^[2782] and there are two lamps in the British Museum, one of enamelled ware, in the form of a gladiator’s helmet^[2783]; others form fruit, pine-cones or crescents.^[2784] In the lamps which are modelled in the form of a head, the chin usually forms the nozzle, and the orifice for filling is on the forehead; in those in the shape of a foot the nozzle is formed by the great toe. Occasionally lamps are found in the form of a ship, recalling that which, according to Apuleius, was used in the worship of Isis: a golden boat or cup (cymbium, see Vol. I. p. 186), which shone with a clear light and sent forth a long flame.^[2785] An interesting commentary on this use of lamps is formed by a remarkable example in the British Museum (Plate LXIII. fig. 1),^[2786] which is not only in the shape of a boat, but is decorated with subjects referring to the pseudo-Egyptian cults characteristic of Rome in the late republican and early imperial period. This lamp, which is no less than twenty inches long and has numerous holes for wicks along the sides, was dredged up from the sea at Pozzuoli, where it may originally have been in the temple of Isis and Sarapis. On it is the inscription ΕΥΠΛΟΙΑ, signifying “a prosperous voyage,” perhaps as a prayer on behalf of the donor, and underneath are the words ΛΑΒΕ ΜΕ ΤΟΝ ΗΛΙΟΣΕΡΑΠΙΝ, “Receive me, Helioserapis,” by which the name of the vessel may be intended.

Most lamps had only one wick, but the light which they afforded must have been feeble, and consequently the number was often increased. When the number is not large, or when the body is circular (as in Plate LXIII. fig. 4), they project beyond the rim of the lamp, as in Class I. already described, but the lamps which have a large number are usually boat-shaped or rectangular in form (see Plate LXIII.), and the nozzles do not then project, but are ranged along the sides, merely indicated by separate moulding underneath.^[2787] Occasionally a conglomeration of small lamps was made in a row or group, but even in these cases the illumination given must still have been feeble. The average size of a lamp is from three to four inches in diameter across the body, the length depending on the form of the handle and nozzle, but averaging about an inch over the diameter, and they are mostly about an inch in height. The top of the lamp is almost always circular in form, occasionally oval, and rarely rectangular,^[2788] and is usually slightly depressed, being thus shaped to enable any overflow of oil to run down through the filling-hole. Many Greek lamps, and Roman lamps from Greek sites, such as Cyprus, are convex above, with a small moulded disc on the raised centre, in which is the hole. These are either devoid of decoration, or only have an ornamental pattern or a frieze of figures on a small scale. Usually the subject is enclosed within a plain moulded rim, but in the later examples (Class IV.) especially it is more contracted in extent, and surrounded with a border of ornament, such as the egg-pattern or a wreath of some kind (see Fig. 208).

Christian lamps, which hardly come within the scope of this work, vary very little in form; they have ovoid instead of circular bodies, a plain rounded nozzle, and a small solid handle, and the design is always encircled by a band of ornamental pattern or symbolical devices.^[2789]

The clay of which the lamps are made is usually of a red colour, due to the presence of red ochre (rubrica), but it varies both in quality and tone according to localities; those from Greek sites, such as Athens and Corfu, are often of a pale buff colour, those from Cyprus a light reddish brown, and so on. Martial refers to the red clay of Cumae,^[2790] a place where lamps are sometimes found, and those from Naples are usually of a dull brown or yellow colour. Lamps found in France and England are often imported from Italy, and therefore of the ordinary red clay, but those of local manufacture are of a white or yellowish tone.

The earliest undecorated examples are made on the wheel, as are those from the Esquiline and from Carthage, in which the decoration is only incised; but subjects in relief required a different technique. Occasionally they are modelled by hand, but we find that from the first century B.C. onwards they are almost invariably made in moulds, modelled from a pattern lamp, in a harder and finer clay than the pattern.^[2791] The mould was divided into two parts, adjusted by mortices and tenons, which, in the opinion of some writers, explains the lateral projections visible on certain varieties; the lower part formed the body of the lamp, the upper the decorated discus. The two parts seem to have been marked by corresponding letters to avoid errors, and there are two or three lower lamp-moulds in the British Museum from Ephesos and elsewhere, marked with an A on the under side for this purpose.^[2792] Other examples of moulds have been found in Greece, Italy, and Africa,^[2793] and there are also specimens both for the upper and lower half in the Guildhall Museum.^[2794] They were either of terracotta or plaster.

The clay was impressed into the mould with the fingers, the figured decoration being applied by means of models or stamps, as with the Arretine ware (see below, p. 439), and the ornamental patterns probably produced with a kind of wheel or running instrument, as in Roman pottery (p. 441). Signatures in relief were taken from the mould, those in hollow letters were impressed in the lamp itself from a stamp before baking. Important potteries must have possessed a large number of moulds; for instance, at Rome alone ninety-one different subjects are found on the lamps of one potter (L. Caecilius Saevus), eighty-four on those of C. Oppius Restitutus, fifty-one on those of Florentius, and there must of course have been many more now lost. It is clear that the same types were used by different potters; the models must, therefore, have been handed about from one to another, each potter merely adding his own name.

The two portions of the mould were joined while the clay was moist, and pared with a tool, and the orifice for filling was then pierced. Glaze, when used, was applied before the baking, for which only a moderate temperature seems to have been required; this process followed as soon as the clay was dry. In some lamps a small hole or slit may be observed, which some have thought to be for the pin with which the wick was extracted,^[2795] but it is more probable that it was for a piece of wood which held the top and bottom of the mould together until the clay was united; it was usually covered over before the baking, and may have taken the place of the knobs already spoken of which occur in other forms. The lamps were baked in batches, placed closely together or superimposed,^[2796] and it sometimes happens that a number are found united together which had coalesced firmly in the furnace, as in Sir Charles Newton’s excavations at Knidos.

Subjects are first found on lamps in the second century B.C., though these are quite of a simple character. Lamps of this date from North Africa^[2797] have such designs as an altar and fruit, a vase, or a caduceus, a head of an ibis, or a nude incised figure of Tanit; others have merely a wreath round the centre, and these apparently belong to the first century B.C.^[2798] The number of figures is generally small, it being contrary to the principles of ancient art to crowd a work with minute figures and details. The majority of lamps have only one figure, and few beyond those of exceptional size have more than three. As a rule the treatment is careless and the figures very indistinct, but the lamps with Greek signatures (see Vol. 1. p. 108) form a notable exception.

It may be imagined that the lamp-maker sought to gratify the taste of his customers by ornamenting his ware with familiar subjects. Purchasers of terracotta lamps were, as has been noted, generally persons of inferior condition, and the subjects on the lamps are in many cases a popularising of well-known myths or even of works of art, such as the Venus types (p. 410) or the Maenads of the “new-Attic” reliefs (p. 411). The types of Victory and Fortune are reflections of statues of the period, and are repeated in many bronze statuettes. There are also, as we shall see, occasional references to literature. In Rome the stage exerted little influence, and subjects are rarely taken from the drama (masks are an exception); but the games of the circus and gladiatorial contests found a ready market, and form a large proportion of the designs. The subjects on the lamps, in fact, represent not so much the great masterpieces of art, as do coins or gems, but, like the Greek vases, the popular art of the day, and may be compared with the illustrations of the popular journals and magazines of our own time. On the whole, they are of great value to us as illustrating Roman life and religion, just as subsequently those on the Christian lamps are of inestimable importance for the light they throw on the early ages of our own religion.

As the number of published lamps and catalogues of collections is so very small, the subjects included in the following list are mostly confined to the collections in the British Museum, which are quite sufficiently comprehensive for the purpose.^[2799] A few additional examples are given from the Guildhall, Vienna, and other collections, from the Antichità di Ercolano, Bartoli’s Lucernae veterum sepulcrales, the Musée Alaoui, and other isolated sources.^[2800] References to Passeri’s work, Lucernae fictiles Musei Passerii, have been avoided, as it has been shown by Dr. Dressel^[2801] that nearly all those published by him are false.

We proceed to note the principal subjects in detail, observing practically the same order that was adopted in describing the subjects on Greek vases. They may be roughly divided into eight classes:—

The Olympian deities are not often represented, some not at all, except on a lamp in the Kestner collection at Göttingen, which has busts of all the twelve^[2802]; they are not, however, clearly distinguished by attributes. Zeus is represented with Hera and Athena, the three Capitoline deities of Rome, whom the Etruscans knew as Tinia, Thalna, and Menerfa, the Romans as Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva.^[2803] He also appears alone, seated on his throne,^[2804] but more commonly his bust only is represented (Plate LXIV. fig. 4), accompanied by his eagle, which perches on a thunderbolt, sometimes conventionally rendered.^[2805] The eagle and the thunderbolt also appear alone,^[2806] or the former with Ganymede.^[2807] A bearded horned mask may be intended for Dionysos, but is more probably Zeus Ammon.^[2808] Sarapis is sometimes enthroned, with Cerberus at his side^[2809]; sometimes only his bust occurs, surmounted by the usual kalathos^[2810]; Cerberus is also found alone.^[2811] Hera, except in the instance mentioned, does not occur. A very interesting lamp from Salamis, Cyprus, now in the British Museum, represents the contest of Athena and Poseidon for the possession of Attica^[2812]; it is doubtless a reminiscence of the Parthenon west pediment, though rough and indistinct in execution. Athena is also seen as a single figure,^[2813] seated, or standing in the usual Promachos attitude, or before an altar, or pursuing a panther^[2814]; her head or bust are not uncommon.^[2815] Apollo is usually represented seated, playing on his lyre, or with the Gryphon at his side^[2816]; Artemis appears as a huntress, accompanied by her hound, or drawing an arrow from her quiver.^[2817] A lyre or a crescent appearing alone may be the symbols of these two deities.^[2818] There are one or two possible instances of Hephaistos and Poseidon,^[2819] and Demeter may be indicated by a pair of torches^[2820]; the latter also appears in her chariot, seeking for Persephone.^[2821] Ares or Mars is found either as a single figure,^[2822] in a chariot,^[2823] or playing with Eros, who steals his armour.^[2824] Hermes appears as a single figure, or accompanied by a sheep, goat, or cock^[2825]; in one instance he presents a purse to Fortune, who is accompanied by Herakles.^[2826] A common subject is his bust, along with his attributes of the purse and caduceus^[2827]; the latter attribute, accompanied by two hands joined, may also have reference to this deity.^[2828] Aphrodite occurs but rarely; she is either represented accompanied by lions,^[2829] or riding on a goat,^[2830] or at the bath or toilet,^[2831] or in the Cnidian type,^[2832] all these types being probably reproductions of known works of art. She is also accompanied by Eros, who assists in arming her; this type is known as Venus Victrix, and is seen in a group of Aphrodite and Eros in the Louvre.^[2833]

More common than all the Olympian deities put together is Eros or Cupid, who appears in all sorts of attitudes and actions, besides those already mentioned.^[2834] He sits on a chair or reclines on a couch,^[2835] or is represented in motion, carrying a hare^[2836] or a bird, a dish of fruit or a branch of vine or palm, a cup, situla, or torch^[2837]; or plays on the lyre, flutes, or Pan-pipes^[2838]; or sacrifices a pig, or pours wine into a krater.^[2839] He rides on a donkey,^[2840] a dolphin, or a crocodile,^[2841] or sails in a boat^[2842]; plays with a chained lion,^[2843] or is himself tied to a tree.^[2844] He is represented in the character of Ares, armed with spear and shield; or in that of Dionysos, with cup and thyrsos; or of Herakles, whose club he carries; also, probably in the character of Herakles, he shoots at a serpent.^[2845] He is also associated with Psyche,^[2846] and two Erotes sometimes appear together, in one instance in the character of gladiators fighting, in another of boxers.^[2847] One of the most remarkable lamps in the Museum collection (No. 168) represents a number of diminutive Erotes playing with the club and cup of Herakles; it is unfortunately fragmentary, but another example in Dresden gives the complete design.^[2848] One plunges head-foremost into the cup; three others raise the club with difficulty from the ground, one supporting it with his back, and a fifth, hovering in the air, pulls at it with his hands. In front of the last-named are the words ADIVATE SODALES, “Help, comrades!”

Dionysos is another surprisingly rare figure on the lamps, though his followers, the Satyrs and Maenads, have their full share of representation. He occurs as a single figure of youthful appearance,^[2849] and also with his panther, to which he offers his kantharos to drink from^[2850]; his mask or head may also be recognised.^[2851] Pan is occasionally found,^[2852] in one case in the form known as Aegipan (see p. 60) in company with Echo,^[2853] in another as a grotesque bust.^[2854] There is also an instance of Marsyas hung up for his punishment to the branch of a tree.^[2855] A pastoral deity playing flutes on the handle of a lamp in the B.M. (No. 366) may be either Pan or Marsyas. Satyrs are represented seizing Maenads,^[2856] dancing, drinking, and playing on the Pan-pipes,^[2857] or carrying cups and wine-skins,^[2858] or with a goat^[2859]; both the bearded and beardless types are found, and their masks or busts are also common.^[2860] The shaggy-haired Papposeilenos is occasionally represented.^[2861] Maenads are depicted dancing, in frenzied attitudes, or sacrificing kids; the type is often that of the “new-Attic” reliefs, derived originally from Scopas, of the Maenad Χιμαιροφόνος.^[2862] Their heads and masks also occur.^[2863]