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Illuminating with Style: Mould-made Lamps from the Hellenistic Workshops

of Ephesos-new project

Poster · June 2017

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Marina Ugarković
Institut za arheologiju u Zagrebu
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 ILLUMINATING WITH STYLE
MOULD-MADE LAMPS FROM THE HELLENISTIC
WORKSHOPS OF EPHESOS
- new project-
Marina Ugarković
Institute of Archaeology in Zagreb

INTRODUCTION
During the advanced Hellenistic times, the city of Ephesos (Fig.1, 2)
became increasingly important and grew into one of the most vivid hubs
in the Mediterranean seascape. At the same time, it was developing into
a notable pottery production centre, whose workshops created their
own distinctive traits. Recent studies, performed in the frameworks of
the OEAI research focus on ceramic crafts, have cast new light on many
aspects of Ephesian pottery production and related socio-cultural
developments. As a part of the same framework, the aim of this
contribution is to introduce a new study, currently being conducted, an
investigation of Hellenistic mould-made lamps, the so-called Ephesos
lamps, from Ephesian ceramic ateliers.

Fig. 1 Position of Ephesos in the Mediterranean

Map by: Ch. Kurtze, OeAW-OeAI Fig. 2 The city of Ephesos
Map by: Ch. Kurtze, OeAW-OeAI

STATE OF RESEARCH AIMS OF THE PROJECT

The term Ephesos-lamp was first introduced by H. B.
Walters in 1914, in his catalogue about Greek and
Roman Lamps in the British Museum, and has since
then been extensively used for Hellenistic mould-
made lamps from Ephesos and their immitations
(Walters 1914). These artefacts are among the most
widely distributed products of Ephesian ceramic
ateliers, whose manufacture commenced
conceivably around the middle of the 2nd c. BCE and
continued until the first decades of the 1st c. CE
(Giuliani 2001; 2005). Ephesos lamps are made in
greyware, with typically micaceous grey fabric and
dark grey to grey coating, distinguished
morphological traits and eye-catching relief
decoration (Fig. 3- 11). The latter was applied along
the shoulder and towards the nozzle of the lamp,
and consisted of various geometric, floral and figural
motives, and their numerous combination therein
(Figs 12-14). A great number of Ephesos lamps, along
with several moulds for their manufacture have been
discovered within this ancient metropolis (see Bailey
1975; Mitsopoulos–Leon 1985; 2007; Ladstätter,
Waldner 2014 and therein cited bibliography), but
also dispersed throughout the Mediterranean and
beyond, with reported probable imitations on several
localities (see Broneer 1930; Howland 1958; Bruneau
1965; Kajzer 2013; Žuravlev, Žuravleva 2014;
Ugarković 2016 and therein cited bibliography).
Consequently, these artefacts can be taken as
archaeological markers of the upsurge in mobility
that took place during the 2nd and 1st c. BCE, but
also as an indicator of cultural transferal that was
performed therein. And yet, their basic up-to-date
study is currently lacking.
The commenced project is a study of Ephesos lamps that originate from the Ephesos
ceramic workshops. Complementary methodology encompasses comparative
investigation of morphological, stylistic and technological traits of the studied
artefacts, including potter's marks and signatures (Fig. 15, 16) and lamp moulds (Fig.
17, 18), as well as contextual analysis in order to:
1. define products of various Ephesian ceramic ateliers as well as set the criteria by
which these can be differentiated from their imitations,
2. establish their typo-chronological development,
3.investigate the cultural dispersal of Ephesos lamps, in terms of their distribution
and consumption in the cross-Mediterranean trade and exchange, but also of their
Fig. 17 and 18 Moulds from Ephesos
imitations as well as acculturated meaning in the wider Mediterranean context.
Photo by: Niki Gail, OeAW-OeAI
Fig. 3-11 Some types of mould-made lamps from Ephesos ateliers
Photo by: Niki Gail, OeAW-OeAI
Crafts and systems of trade and exchange are deeply rooted in the socio-
political-cultural structures and agency. Therefore, by illuminating aspects of
the development of Ephesian craft production through facets of its 2nd and
1st c. BCE ceramic workshops, as well the upsurge in mobility of people and
goods in the context of globalizing economic trends and dynamics of cultural
interaction within the Hellenistic world, the project will aspire to infer more
towards understanding how such cultural developments, that are an integral
part of the ongoing process of local identity formation, were affected by
political upheavals that took place in Ephesos during the advanced Hellenistic
period.

Fig. 15, 16 Examples of

signatures
and marker’s marks on
Ephesos-lamps
Photo by: Niki Gail, OeAW-
Fig. 12-14 Examples of decoration patterns. Drawing by: Anita Giuliani. OeAI; Drawing by: Anita
Giuliani.

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bailey, D. M. 1975, A Catalogue of the Lamps in the British Museum I: Greek, Hellenistic, and Early Roman Pottery Lamps, London.
Broneer, O. 1930, Teracotta Lamps, Corinth IV, 2, Cambridge Mass.
Bruneau, P. 1965, Les Lampes, Exploration archéologique de Délos, Vol. XXVI, Paris.
Giuliani, A. 2001, Untersuchungen zu Ephesos-Lampen an Beispielen aus der Werkstatt des Asklepiades, in: F. Krinzinger (Hrsg.), Studien zur hellenistischen Keramik in Ephesos, ErghÖJh 2, Wien, 45–49.
Giuliani, A. 2005, Hellenistische Matrizenlampen aus Ephesos, in: Lychnological Acts 1, Actes du 1er congrès international d'études sur le luminaire antique, L. Chrzanovski (ed.), Montagnac, 139-143.
Howland, R. H. 1958, Greek Lamps and their Survivals, The Athenian Agora, Vol. IV, New Jersey.
Kajzer, M. 2013, The ‘Ephesian’ terracotta oil lamps from the Agora of NeaPaphos, in: I. Bodzek (ed.), Studies in Ancient Art and Civilisation 17Jagiellonian University, Kraków, 249-255.
Ladstätter, S., Waldner, A. 2014, Keramik, in: H. Thür, E. Rathmayr (eds.), Hanghaus 2 in Ephesos. Die Wohneinheit 6, Baubefund, Ausstattung, Funde, Forschungen in Ephesos VIII/9, Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien, 435-588.
Mitsopoulos-Leon, V. 1985, Töpferateliers in Ephesos, in: Pro Arte Antiqua. Festschrift Hedwig Kenner II, SoSchrÖAI 18, 2, Wien 1985, 247–251.
Mitsopoulos-Leon, V. 2007, Die Lampen, in: V. Mitsopouls-Leon, C. Lang-Auinger (eds.), Die Basilika am Staatsmarkt in Ephesos, Forschungen in Ephesos IX/2/3, Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien, 64-11.
Ugarkovic, M. 2016, Light from the East. Hellenistic Relief Lamps of Eastern Mediterranean
provenance in Dalmatia, in: Lipovac Vrkljan, G., Ozanic Roguljic, I. Ugarkovic, M. (eds.), Roman and Late Antique Lamps: Production and Distribution, contacts on the Mediterranean, Abstract book of the Round Table, Institute of Archaeology Zagreb, e-ZIA 1, 5-18.
Walters, H. B. 1914, Catalogue of the Greek and Roman Lamps in the British Museum, London.
Žuravlev, D., Žuravleva, N., 2014, Late Hellenistic pottery and lamps from Pantikapaion: Recent Finds, in: Pottery, Peoples and Places. Study and Interpretation of Late Hellenistic Pottery, Black Sea Studies 16, P. Guldager Bilde, M. L. Lawall (eds.), Aarhus University Press, Aarhus, 255-286.
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