Beyond the Baths

Wednesday 6 September 2017

Shining a Light on Ancient Greece

Είναι όλα Ελληνικά για ‘μένα. It’s all Greek to me… Not something I imagined myself saying while on placement here at The Roman Baths. Yet here I was, tasked with putting together a handling session for my Tuesday Times Table and being drawn to my Greek heritage. Some of the Greek pottery was brought to my attention, and it immediately peaked my interest. I decided to bring out the Baths’ small collection of ancient Greek oil lamps.

Hilariously (and embarrassingly), at first glance and having only seen photographs of the top of the lamps, I thought they were some form of ancient tea pots! With a bit of research into the collections database, I was happily surprised to discover they were oil lamps, or lihnaria (λυχνάρια, sin. λυχνάρι). Thus, my session became all about how the Ancient Greeks used these tiny pieces of pottery to illuminate their lives.

Tori with her Tuesday Times Table

I picked four lamps that could be handled, and had various replicas to show the difference between styles of lamps and the difference between Roman and Greek lamps. All of the Greek lamps that were displayed are mould made. The first two lamps are anthropomorphic, and date possibly between late 3^rd and late 2^nd century B.C. These two were the most interesting to me because they had human-like faces.

Anthropomorphic lamps

The next lamp is possibly from the 3^rd- late 2^nd century B.C., and has two distinctive Corinthian heads on either side. The last lamp has been a little bit trickier to date and understand, because it is missing its nozzle. It seems that it comes from Athens, but it could possibly be Roman dating from when the Romans invaded Greece.

Lamp with Corinthian Heads and Possibly Roman Lamp

The way the lamps were used was to pour oil in the centre hole, and then grab some material for the wick and place into the spout until it touches the oil. Then it could be lit, and could stay lit for a few hours. Through my research, I discovered that there were many types of lamps and some lamps even had multiple spouts to provide more light. However, these lamps used up a lot of oil and burned much faster.

Overall, this was a really fun experience and I am really happy I got the chance to bring out these ancient Greek oil lamps. This was an excellent way to bring out parts of the Baths’ collections for everyone to see. I cannot wait to see what future Tuesday Times Tables are in store!