Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (15.2003(2004))

MARINA EL-ALAMEIN

EGYPT

nomic success of this producer resulted in
lamps with these inscriptions within the
bases (mostly on Cnidian Loeschcke Type
VIII lamps, such as ours) being found in
ample quantities in the Eastern provinces
also later, especially in the 2nd century.23^
However, as W.V. Harris points out in an
instructive article on the organization of the

lamp industry in Roman times,24* successful
manufacturing ‘firms’ were likely to estab-
lish branch workshops at strategic places far
away from the original sites of production,
and it is more than probable that our lamps
are in the majority the product of local
Egyptian subsidiary enterprises, if not
simply unauthorized copies.

FROG LAMPS

Both examples of frog lamps from our
assemblage are signed. E 221 (Fig. 8) seems
to be somewhat earlier, judging by the
nozzle form. The legs are still evident, if
distorted; the pattern of braids distinct and
fleshy. The top of the nozzle is decorated
with arched ridges between a frame of relief
ridges. The signature impressed on the
bottom is a wheat-head.25)

The other lamp of this type (E 3928,
Fig. 8) represents Shier’s type A.5.2.C, with
grooved palm branches springing from
a boss at the back of the lamp; the nozzle
plain except for a small groove at the base.
Parallels (from Karanis) are dated to the
early 2nd-mid 3rd century. The lamp also
bears a signature in the form of an incised
alpha.2®

BYZANTINE LAMPS

The late period (6th-7th century) is repre-
sented in this assemblage by a statistically
larger number of lamps than recorded in
the regular excavations, which is probably
due to archaeological investigations and
current restoration work failing to include
the latest, Christian settlement known to
have existed in the eastern part of the site.
Two lamps (E 268 and E 269, Fig. 8)
represent a type typically referred to in
Egypt as ‘Coptic’. It is characterized by
a piriform or almond shape of the body,
small open discus with channel opening
onto the nozzle, which is one with the
body, small conical lugs as handles, pulled

up from the clay of the body. The feature
that always makes it easy to distinguish
these lamps is the rich floral pattern
rendered in relief on the shoulder and
discus (scrolling branches, berries, dots and
bars). The fabric of these two lamps, as
well as of an open almond-shaped lamp
(E 295) seems to be of local origin.
The bottom of a round mouldmade
lamp (E 288), made of a light brown clay
with self-slip(?), has a fine mark in the
form of a Solomon's knot on the base and
a crisp relief cross with dots between the
arms under the handle. The mark identifies
it possibly as a product of a local Abu

23) Bailey iii, op. cit., 100, fig. 128 (inscription), 115, fig. 148 (zigzag) and further references; also the discussion on pages
331-332. For a discussion of the Cnidian factory of Romanesis, cf. G. Heres, “Die Werkstatt des Lampentopfers Romanesis”,
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (Forschungen und Berichte) X (1968), 185-211; for a synthesis, cf. H. Williams, Kenchreai, Eastern
Port of Corinth V, The Lamps (Leiden 1981), esp. 27-30.
24) W.V. Harris, “Roman terracotta lamps: The organization of an industry”,JRS 70 (1980), 126-145, esp. 130.
25) The wheat-head mark is frequently lumped together with branches and palm branches, while it is definitely not either
one and should be considered separately.
26) L.A. Shier, Terracotta Lamps from Karanis, Egypt (Ann Arbor 1978), cat. no. 158, pi. 22.

88