Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (15.2003(2004))

MARINA EL-ALAMEIN

EGYPT

CRETAN MOULD-MADE IVY LEAF LAMPS

This is a highly specific and characteristic
group of lamps featuring a round body and
big rounded nozzle with ledge around the
wick hole. The profile is roughly biconical,
the shoulders being usually deeper than
the base part. The bases are concave, either
round or oval (as in the case of the Marina
lamps) and there is a vertical ring handle
invariably with one or more deep grooves.
Handle attachments are encountered (a dis-
tinct possibility in the case of our two
dilychnoi lamps, counted among the most
splendid examples of the form) (Fig. 3).
Discuses are fairly deep and plain with
large filling holes in the center and outer
edges emphasized by more or less elaborate
concentric mouldings. The shoulders bear

relief ornaments consisting of a limited
series of patterns, but exhibiting much
creativity in their juxtaposition. The most
distinctive one is the relief ivy leaf,
resembling a heart-shaped device with
a deep vertical groove separating the two
halves, round circlets impressed into each
of the lobes, always point down on the
nozzle bridge and most often at right
angles to the handle and nozzle; round
bosses at four points around the shoulders
and alternating with the leaves; vertical
grooves in sets of two or three dividing the
motifs. Chevrons or herringbone patterns
are encountered on the nozzle.
Our lamp E 3923 is of a reddish-yellow
fabric with a typical red slip, worn off and


Fig. 3- Cretan ivy-leaf lamps
(Drawing M. Burdajewicz after I. Zych)

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