DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.898#0127
36 LAMPS.
teristics of those which illuminated the gloom of the cham-
bers of the tomb, is an attempt which, however specious in
theory, facts directly oppose: for the lamps which.have been
found in the houses of Herculaneum and Pompeii resemble
in their general character those which have by some writers
been supposed to have been set apart for the service of re-
ligion, or appropriated to the sepulchral chamber.
The most ancient lamps were made of clay, and then
hardened by fire; and as this was a material manufactured
with facility, and at little expense, lamps of this kind al-
ways continued to be in considerable demand. Those made
of bronze were in the next degree most common. They
were made also of iron and of glass ; but few remains of
the former kind, and still fewer of the latter, exist in the
cabinets of the curious. Pausanias* and Arhenasusf speak
of lamps of gold and of silver. In the cabinet of the Na-
tional Library at Paris is a magnificent antique lamp of
marble made to receive ten wicks. Lamps with one wick
were principally used by the poor. Their lights were more
or less numerous according to the circumstances of those
who used them, or the purposes to which they were applied.
In the Museum at Portici are lamps made to receive
five, nine, ten, twelve, and fourteen wicks. Callimachus J
speaks of a votive lamp in the temple of Serapis which
had twenty wicks; and Athenseus§ makes mention of an-
* Pausanias, lib. i. 26. f Athenasus, torn. iv. p. 130.
J Callim. Epig. xxiii. in Antholog. Brunckii. t. i. p. 466.
§ Atheriams, xv. 19.
teristics of those which illuminated the gloom of the cham-
bers of the tomb, is an attempt which, however specious in
theory, facts directly oppose: for the lamps which.have been
found in the houses of Herculaneum and Pompeii resemble
in their general character those which have by some writers
been supposed to have been set apart for the service of re-
ligion, or appropriated to the sepulchral chamber.
The most ancient lamps were made of clay, and then
hardened by fire; and as this was a material manufactured
with facility, and at little expense, lamps of this kind al-
ways continued to be in considerable demand. Those made
of bronze were in the next degree most common. They
were made also of iron and of glass ; but few remains of
the former kind, and still fewer of the latter, exist in the
cabinets of the curious. Pausanias* and Arhenasusf speak
of lamps of gold and of silver. In the cabinet of the Na-
tional Library at Paris is a magnificent antique lamp of
marble made to receive ten wicks. Lamps with one wick
were principally used by the poor. Their lights were more
or less numerous according to the circumstances of those
who used them, or the purposes to which they were applied.
In the Museum at Portici are lamps made to receive
five, nine, ten, twelve, and fourteen wicks. Callimachus J
speaks of a votive lamp in the temple of Serapis which
had twenty wicks; and Athenseus§ makes mention of an-
* Pausanias, lib. i. 26. f Athenasus, torn. iv. p. 130.
J Callim. Epig. xxiii. in Antholog. Brunckii. t. i. p. 466.
§ Atheriams, xv. 19.