DOI issue:
Egypt
DOI article:Zych, Iwona: Marina el-Alamein: some ancient terrakotta lamps from Marina
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.41371#0087
MARINA EL-ALAMEIN
EGYPT
a floral (?) rosette. Attached to a ring
handle was a figurine of Isis nursing
Horus, rising from an acanthus base. The
other handle attachments (Fig. 4), pre-
served without the lamps, include three
busts of Sarapis (E 256-E 258) and one
figurine of Isis seated on a throne, suckling
the baby Horus (E 259). Bailey dates this
type to the Antonine to Severan period, at
least with regard to the pieces which are of
Italian manufacture; it stands to reason,
suggests Szentleleky, that these particular
lamps were produced in the second half of
the 1st century and in the 2nd century AD,
most likely in Alexandria in Egypt, where,
as he points out, the Serapeum was
renovated in the 2nd century AD.19) The
popularity of the Serapis cult in the ancient
world would explain the prolific occur-
rence of these figurines in widely separate
contexts.
An interesting example of a lamp
finding no exact parallels is E 280 (Fig. 6).
It is a round-bodied mould-made lamp
with pierced handle and rounded nozzle,
small deep discus, undecorated, with small
filling hole and air hole. The decoration
consists of relief bunches of grapes growing
on short stems from the moulding around
the discus edge, the grapevine branch
terminating in scrolling tendrils on either
side of the nozzle. The lamp is 9-7 cm
Fig. 6. Imported (?) 2nd century lamps
(Drawing A. Btaszczyk after I. Zych)
19) T. Szentleleky, Ancient Lamps (Budapest 1969), 138, cat. no. 272.
85
EGYPT
a floral (?) rosette. Attached to a ring
handle was a figurine of Isis nursing
Horus, rising from an acanthus base. The
other handle attachments (Fig. 4), pre-
served without the lamps, include three
busts of Sarapis (E 256-E 258) and one
figurine of Isis seated on a throne, suckling
the baby Horus (E 259). Bailey dates this
type to the Antonine to Severan period, at
least with regard to the pieces which are of
Italian manufacture; it stands to reason,
suggests Szentleleky, that these particular
lamps were produced in the second half of
the 1st century and in the 2nd century AD,
most likely in Alexandria in Egypt, where,
as he points out, the Serapeum was
renovated in the 2nd century AD.19) The
popularity of the Serapis cult in the ancient
world would explain the prolific occur-
rence of these figurines in widely separate
contexts.
An interesting example of a lamp
finding no exact parallels is E 280 (Fig. 6).
It is a round-bodied mould-made lamp
with pierced handle and rounded nozzle,
small deep discus, undecorated, with small
filling hole and air hole. The decoration
consists of relief bunches of grapes growing
on short stems from the moulding around
the discus edge, the grapevine branch
terminating in scrolling tendrils on either
side of the nozzle. The lamp is 9-7 cm
Fig. 6. Imported (?) 2nd century lamps
(Drawing A. Btaszczyk after I. Zych)
19) T. Szentleleky, Ancient Lamps (Budapest 1969), 138, cat. no. 272.
85