Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (15.2003(2004))

MARINA EL-ALAMEIN

EGYPT

century and may even reach into the 4th;
the parallel from the British Museum
collection is dated by Bailey to AD 200-
300. While the fabric, at least viewed
macroscopically, demonstrates affinity to
Cypriot examples, Oziol exercises caution
in assigning a Cypriot origin to these
lamps. However, the scallop-shell design is
specific and different from other variants of
the same motif.
Objects E 251 and E 394 represent
round mouldmade lamps of Loeschcke
Type VIII, near shoulder form VUIb, fur-
nished with an Egyptian ring handle,
about 9 cm long and 6.4-6.6 cm wide.
Their distinctive feature is a relief pattern
of alternating circles and leaves on the
shoulder surrounding a small shallow
discus, and a heart-shaped nozzle. Both also
have a raised base with an incuse wheat-
head mark in the center. E 251 (Fig. 7),
which is in a dark brown fabric with
a semi-glossy self-slip, bears a represen-
tation in crisp relief of Eros on a small
pedestal, stepping to right, holding a but-
terfly in upraised left hand, and a torch in
his lowered right hand. The other lamp
(E 394, not illustrated), of a reddish-brown
fabric with red surface, is decorated with
a slightly blurred but still distinct impres-
sion of a floral garland, suspended from
four points on the shoulder with dotted
circles (=rosettes ?) above each loop. Paral-
lels are all dated to the 2nd century.2
A sizable group of 13 lamps falls into
what is the wide field of Loeschcke Type
VIII (a selection illustrated in Fig. 7): round
moulded lamps, handleless or with handles,
with varying shoulder forms and a whole
spectrum of rounded nozzle types, identi-
fied as either specifically Cnidian or spec-

ifically Ephesian in form.22) It does not
mean that the lamps themselves are im-
ports, because the local Egyptian lamp-
making tradition frequently availed itself
of these popular products to create sur-
moulage copies. On the average, the
handleless variety of lamps is about 9 cm in
length and about 7 cm in width. All are of
2nd-century date apparently. The fabrics
are generally reddish-yellow to reddish-
brown, the slip mostly glossy or semi-
glossy, red and red-brown. Discus-scenes
include a deity (?) on a throne seated to
front, heavily blurred (GRM study
material without number); gladiator
(E 393 = British Museum lamp Q 3083);
deer (E 222 = British Museum lamp
Q 3052); bull, blurred (E 3933); cock
(E 249); crater, heavily blurred (E 265 -
British Museum lamp Q 2800); and
single- and double-petal rosettes (E 250;
E 266; E 252; E 3949; E 3943). One lamp
is entirely plain (E 292) while another is
plain except for a band of impressed circles
on the shoulder and two large impressed
circles flanking the nozzle (E 3942).
Eight of the 13 lamps presented under
this section have marks on the bases; one is
a Romanesis inscription, two represent
plain zigzags, one a zigzag between impres-
sed circles at top and bottom; the remaining
are either very blurred zigzags or heavily
corrupt inscriptions, in one case between
impressed circles at top and bottom. One
lamp bears a faint possibly delta-shaped
mark (?)
The Romanesis inscription and the de-
rivative zigzag mark refer to lamps original-
ly produced in Cnidus (or Miletus) work-
shop(s) starting in the 70s AD and
stretching to the reign of Hadrian. The eco-

21) Bailey III, Q 2022 EA and Q 2023 EA (from Damanhur), with further references.
22) Bailey iii, op. cit., for Cnidian nozzle-forms, fig. 160 and comments on pages 330-331; for Ephesian nozzle-forms,
fig. 369 and comments on pages 369-370.

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