1 00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:05,360 In this paper, I'm going to discuss the pottery oil lamps that were recovered from the Portus Magnus 2 00:00:05,360 --> 00:00:12,400 of Alexandria with a special emphasis on those coming from the debris of the Iseum. 3 00:00:12,400 --> 00:00:19,040 I will only briefly consider questions of chronology and typology and mainly focus 4 00:00:19,040 --> 00:00:27,680 on the lamps' function and significance in the specific context of the temple to Isis. 5 00:00:27,680 --> 00:00:35,920 Only as a reminder, we will note that the Iseum in red on the map was erected during the Ptolemaic 6 00:00:35,920 --> 00:00:43,760 Dynasty on the secondary branch of the island of Antirhodos, which according to Strabo was part of 7 00:00:43,760 --> 00:00:50,400 a private royal domain. Evidence suggests that Augustus maintained the temple after 8 00:00:50,400 --> 00:01:00,720 the fall of the dynasty in 31 BC, but made it accessible to the general population of the city. 9 00:01:00,720 --> 00:01:07,040 As indicated by both pottery and coins, the whole complex was destroyed by a natural 10 00:01:07,040 --> 00:01:14,400 catastrophe probably around the middle of the first century AD, leaving a thick destruction 11 00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:20,320 layer of accumulated limestone blocks and architectural remains, mainly on the 12 00:01:20,320 --> 00:01:27,120 western side of the island's branch, as seen on the bathymetric map above. 13 00:01:28,400 --> 00:01:36,160 This is where most excavation efforts concentrated over the years. However, in 2024, the eastern 14 00:01:36,160 --> 00:01:42,400 side of the island revealed a series of clear stratigraphical levels that could be followed over 15 00:01:42,400 --> 00:01:51,680 a surface of about 36 square meters. The deepest occupation, layer four on the little schema, 16 00:01:51,680 --> 00:01:58,160 dates from the early third to the mid second centuryBC, presumably corresponding to the earliest phase 17 00:01:58,160 --> 00:02:04,720 of the temple. In most squares, this stratum is separated from the destruction level by 18 00:02:04,720 --> 00:02:15,760 a sterile sand layer of varying thickness, which is layer three in the diagram. 19 00:02:15,760 --> 00:02:20,800 Now, one of the characteristics of the Iseum is the high quantity of lamps that were 20 00:02:20,800 --> 00:02:28,080 found there. According to the excavation's database a total of 151 ceramic oil lamps 21 00:02:28,080 --> 00:02:34,880 were recovered in the Portus Magnus. Of those 25 were distributed in various parts 22 00:02:34,880 --> 00:02:43,120 of the royal harbour, as indicated by the little crosses on the map. 23 00:02:45,200 --> 00:02:49,520 These finds range in date from the early 3rd century BC 24 00:02:49,520 --> 00:02:58,960 to the 4th or possibly early 5th century AD. 25 00:02:58,960 --> 00:03:07,040 The remaining 126 lamps were directly associated with the Iseum and the majority of them came from the 26 00:03:07,040 --> 00:03:13,840 western side of the island (84%). They were particularly concentrated over a surface 27 00:03:13,840 --> 00:03:18,800 of about 12 square meters, suggesting that they were stored together at the time 28 00:03:18,800 --> 00:03:26,720 of the building's collapse, probably in the pronaos or the front part of the cella. 29 00:03:26,720 --> 00:03:33,440 From this same area came the remains of the only bronze lamp that was found in the harbour. 30 00:03:33,440 --> 00:03:39,680 We may assume that other valuable metal lamps were also kept in the temple as well as candles 31 00:03:39,680 --> 00:03:45,360 and torches. While the former might have been salvaged after the building's destruction, 32 00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:54,640 the latter would have not left any trace in archaeological record. 33 00:03:59,840 --> 00:04:05,360 Whether all these lamps, ceramic or otherwise, had been purchased by the temple or were gifts 34 00:04:05,360 --> 00:04:12,080 from visitors remains unknown. But a number of Ptolemaic and Roman papyrological sources make it 35 00:04:12,080 --> 00:04:19,600 clear that the lighting of the temples was managed, from allocated supplies, by priests. For example, 36 00:04:19,600 --> 00:04:25,600 a priest in charge of the lamp of the god Ptah is mentioned in a land plot register from the late 37 00:04:25,600 --> 00:04:34,320 2nd century BC in Memphis. Another most pertinent example in the context of the Alexandrian Iseum is an 38 00:04:34,320 --> 00:04:41,440 Oxyrhynchus papyrus dated to the first year of Octavian's rule over Egypt, of which you have 39 00:04:41,440 --> 00:04:49,520 the translation on the screen. It records an oath given by the priests Thonis and Heraclides, both 40 00:04:49,520 --> 00:04:57,280 lamp lighters to the temple of Serapis and shrine of Isis in Oxyrhynchus. They swear by Caesar, god 41 00:04:57,280 --> 00:05:04,880 and son of a god, that they will superintendent the lamps of the above-mentioned temples. 42 00:05:04,880 --> 00:05:10,240 Beside those reserved to the daily running of the temple, lamps, together with torches 43 00:05:10,240 --> 00:05:16,960 and candles, were essential to the lamp lighting festivals and processions that were characteristic 44 00:05:16,960 --> 00:05:24,240 of ancient Egyptian cults and later influenced Graeco-Egyptian and Roman religious practices. 45 00:05:25,280 --> 00:05:32,000 Most prominent among those linked to Isis was the festival of the Navigium Isidis which marked the 46 00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:37,440 opening of the navigation season in early March and serves as the background to the 47 00:05:37,440 --> 00:05:45,040 final chapter of the adventures of Lucius in Apuleius Metamorphoses written in the 2 century AD. 48 00:05:45,040 --> 00:05:51,120 Taking place in Kenchreai, the eastern harbour of Corinth. The celebration described in 49 00:05:51,120 --> 00:05:58,000 this book included a procession by a large group of both sexes with lamps, torches, 50 00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:09,120 candles, and every kind of man-made light to honour the source of the heavenly stars. 51 00:06:09,120 --> 00:06:14,800 The high number of lamps discovered in the ruins of the Isis sanctuary on Antirhodos 52 00:06:14,800 --> 00:06:22,480 confirms the importance of light in the cult of the goddess. For a great majority, 53 00:06:22,480 --> 00:06:29,520 so 93%, these belong to mould-made types of the early Roman period, with wheel-made examples 54 00:06:29,520 --> 00:06:38,640 representing only 7% of the total lamp finds, that is only nine individuals. 55 00:06:38,640 --> 00:06:46,560 Of those wheel-made lamps, five were found in 2024 in the Ptolemaic level of the eastern 56 00:06:46,560 --> 00:06:53,200 side of the island. One, the first one here, is of local manufacture and bears 57 00:06:53,200 --> 00:07:01,760 a pre-firing undeciphered inscription under its base. The other four wheel-made lamps 58 00:07:01,760 --> 00:07:08,800 are of Greek origin and correspond to early Hellenistic Attic types, as early as the second 59 00:07:08,800 --> 00:07:16,640 half of the fourth but continuing into the first half of the 3rd century BC. 60 00:07:16,640 --> 00:07:22,400 The other wheel-made lamps are later in date. They all come from the temple's destruction 61 00:07:22,400 --> 00:07:27,200 level on the western side of the islands secondary branch and belong to the later 62 00:07:27,200 --> 00:07:34,640 Ptolemaic or even early Roman period. Two are Cnidian, of a type that is commonly found in the eastern 63 00:07:34,640 --> 00:07:43,760 Mediterranean between the late second and mid 1st century BC(the first two on the top), 64 00:07:43,760 --> 00:07:50,560 and which is also known from land excavations at Alexandria. The last one [illustrated here] is a parallel from 65 00:07:50,560 --> 00:07:58,400 the temple of Demeter on Cnidos. The first in the bottom row is a Palestinian Herodian 66 00:07:58,400 --> 00:08:04,560 lamp -so-called because the types appearance coincides with the reign of Herod- and 67 00:08:04,560 --> 00:08:12,480 the last one is a small lamp with a central tube of uncertain but presumed local origin. 68 00:08:13,600 --> 00:08:20,080 The remaining 117 lamps are all mould-made and come from the building's destruction levels 69 00:08:20,080 --> 00:08:27,040 on both sides of the island. Without going into intricate typological considerations, 70 00:08:27,040 --> 00:08:34,400 this diagram summarizes the type's occurrence and their frequency in a broadly chronological order. 71 00:08:35,200 --> 00:08:44,000 We can see that the great majority of the lamps belong to types Loeschcke I, IV and Broneer XXI. Some of 72 00:08:44,000 --> 00:08:51,200 them have long chronological ranges. But most of the examples here date to between the Augustan 73 00:08:51,200 --> 00:08:57,040 period and the mid 1st century AD hinting at the intense activity of the temple at that 74 00:08:57,040 --> 00:09:06,320 time. Five lamps are earlier (at the beginning of the graph), potentially, like the wheel-made types 75 00:09:06,320 --> 00:09:14,000 just considered, dating back to the late Ptolemaic period and only eight belonging to Loeschcke V and 76 00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:21,760 VIII (at the end of the graph) are probably later than 50 AD, thus confirming the proposed dating of the 77 00:09:21,760 --> 00:09:32,320 destruction of the temple. Three are unica in the present context and will be discussed separately. 78 00:09:32,320 --> 00:09:38,400 Like for the wheel-made examples, only few are of Egyptian manufacture and even fewer, 79 00:09:38,400 --> 00:09:45,920 namely two (the first ones above) correspond to the typical locally-made late Ptolemaic models that 80 00:09:45,920 --> 00:09:52,640 are otherwise well known in Alexandria or from sites such as Memphis, 81 00:09:52,640 --> 00:09:59,840 Heracleopolis Magna, and areas of the Fayum. Chronologically consistent with these types 82 00:09:59,840 --> 00:10:06,240 are three Ephesian moulded lamps. Though they appear as early as the 2nd century BC 83 00:10:06,240 --> 00:10:15,040 in some places, it is significant that they only occur at Kenchreai in context post-dating 44 BC. 84 00:10:15,040 --> 00:10:25,920 In this respect their chronology fits well with the post-Ptolemaic phase of use of the Antirhodos Iseum. 85 00:10:25,920 --> 00:10:32,320 The first of the unica lamps with a side handle and angular nozzle belongs 86 00:10:32,320 --> 00:10:39,600 to a very distinctive type dated to the Augustan period. It is usually ascribed an Egyptian origin 87 00:10:39,600 --> 00:10:46,640 because with one exception from Delos all examples with known proveniences come from Egypt whether 88 00:10:46,640 --> 00:10:52,720 purchased on the antiquity market or found on excavations. However, I have great doubts 89 00:10:52,720 --> 00:10:59,200 that our example is of local manufacture because neither its fabric nor its surface treatment look 90 00:10:59,200 --> 00:11:07,360 Egyptian. The second is an (old) early Augustan Vgelkopf lamp, a type that is very rare, if not 91 00:11:07,360 --> 00:11:16,320 unheard of in Egypt, but more prevalent in central Italy and the western Mediterranean. Finally, 92 00:11:16,320 --> 00:11:25,520 the third is a boat-shaped lamp (the first one on the slide), possibly of local manufacture 93 00:11:25,520 --> 00:11:33,120 and most likely dating to the mid or second half of the first century AD. Only the top part of 94 00:11:33,120 --> 00:11:40,560 the lamp is preserved. It represents a boat's deck with a figure sitting at its bow holding a pair of 95 00:11:40,560 --> 00:11:48,640 rowing blades. The image of a boat in the context of a temple to Isis inevitably evokes the feast 96 00:11:48,640 --> 00:11:57,360 of the Navigium Isidis as mentioned earlier and its description in Apuleius Metamorphoses. In particular, 97 00:11:57,360 --> 00:12:04,080 it draws attention to a passage where Lucius still in his donkey form witnesses the arrival of the 98 00:12:04,080 --> 00:12:12,080 priests of Isis who follow in the steps of the initiates. He describes how the first priest 99 00:12:12,080 --> 00:12:19,440 held a glittering lamp shaped like a golden boat, or boat cup depending on translations, with a tall 100 00:12:19,440 --> 00:12:26,640 flame flaring from its central vent. It is not clear which material this sacred lamp was made of, 101 00:12:26,640 --> 00:12:33,040 perhaps gold, but certainly not ceramic. In spite of its relatively coarse workmanship and small 102 00:12:33,040 --> 00:12:41,280 size, the boat-shaped lamp may have been a token left by a dedicant alluding to the boat lamp of the 103 00:12:41,280 --> 00:12:49,360 Isis mysteries. As it is, in the same spirit, other boat-shaped lamps clearly bear connections to the 104 00:12:49,360 --> 00:12:58,480 cult of Isis-Aphrodite. The one illustrated here, kept in the British Museum and dated to 70 to 120 105 00:12:58,480 --> 00:13:09,760 AD, is 63 cm long. Its iconography associates Dionysiac imagery with the couple Isis/Serapis and a 106 00:13:09,760 --> 00:13:19,120 Tabella ansata placed on the centre of its deck mentions the epithet for the Cnidian Aphrodite. 107 00:13:22,400 --> 00:13:26,800 The remaining of the moulded lamps, that is 109 objects, 108 00:13:26,800 --> 00:13:34,320 refer to the Italian lamp types of the first century AD, also called medallion lamps because 109 00:13:34,320 --> 00:13:41,360 of the decoration they bear on their top. Most of them have dimensions 110 00:13:41,360 --> 00:13:48,560 varying between 6 and 8 cm in diameter, so fitting very nicely into the palm of a hand. 111 00:13:48,560 --> 00:13:53,440 This suggests that they were not intended as fixed objects, but were often carried around 112 00:13:53,440 --> 00:14:01,360 when lighted in or around the temple, perhaps a bit like a modern torch light. 113 00:14:01,360 --> 00:14:05,840 The only ones that tend to be larger, sometimes considerably larger, 114 00:14:05,840 --> 00:14:13,440 are the Loeschcke III Broneer XXI types, whose diameters often exceed 12 cm. According to 115 00:14:13,440 --> 00:14:19,680 its reconstruction based on the size of its reflector, the largest of all probably had 116 00:14:19,680 --> 00:14:27,280 a diameter of about 21 cm and could hold close to a litre of oil. Its reflector is elaborately 117 00:14:27,280 --> 00:14:35,520 decorated with a bucolic scene representing Dionysos on Naxos (here set aside other lamps 118 00:14:35,520 --> 00:14:42,720 at the same scale to see the difference in size). When filled up with oil, this object was 119 00:14:42,720 --> 00:14:48,640 probably quite heavy and bulky. And it is more likely that it was used either the fixed light 120 00:14:48,640 --> 00:14:59,200 or like the boat-shaped lamps of Apuleius in the framework of special ceremonies. 121 00:14:59,200 --> 00:15:04,640 This large lamp offers a good example of the sometimes complex iconography that may 122 00:15:04,640 --> 00:15:11,760 be found on the medallions of these objects. If we divide them by theme of representation, 123 00:15:11,760 --> 00:15:19,520 we see that 27 have no decoration or no extent decoration. This relatively high 124 00:15:19,520 --> 00:15:24,480 number can be explained by the presence of fragmentary lamps whose decoration 125 00:15:24,480 --> 00:15:31,120 was not preserved, as well as by the fact that early Broneer XXI lamps of 126 00:15:31,120 --> 00:15:40,000 the late 1st century BC and early 1st century AD generally had plain undecorated medallions. 127 00:15:41,440 --> 00:15:47,040 36 lamps of our assemblage have non-figurative 128 00:15:47,040 --> 00:15:57,840 or floral motifs like rays, oves, acanthus leaves, petals. 129 00:15:57,840 --> 00:16:05,600 16 lamps bear animal representations, either real or mythological animals. Here we have lions, 130 00:16:05,600 --> 00:16:16,480 eagles, a dog, a cockerel, and a frieze of mythological (terrestrial and marine) animals. 131 00:16:16,480 --> 00:16:23,520 Only two lamps are erotica and one is a fragment of daily scene. 132 00:16:25,440 --> 00:16:32,960 14 have religious themes often like the large reflector mentioned earlier linked with the Dionysiac 133 00:16:32,960 --> 00:16:47,120 circle like panthers with cantharoi, satyres, an Erotes, a figure of possibly Isis 134 00:16:47,120 --> 00:16:58,240 and 15 have gladiatorial subjects, generally a single gladiator or combat scenes. Some of these 135 00:16:58,240 --> 00:17:05,040 categories have obvious connections with the cult of Isis, but for others the link is more tenuous 136 00:17:05,040 --> 00:17:12,560 to say the least. This is particularly the case for the last of my categories, 137 00:17:12,560 --> 00:17:19,680 which is a small group of five objects that seem to convey a political or ideological 138 00:17:19,680 --> 00:17:26,000 message emphasizing the power of Rome. In spite of their presence in a temple to Isis, 139 00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:32,640 these lamps have no regards whatsoever for either Egyptian or Graeco-Egyptian sensibilities or 140 00:17:32,640 --> 00:17:41,600 religious notions, quite on the contrary. The first three are all related to Victoria who like 141 00:17:41,600 --> 00:17:48,320 the gladiators is a very common subject on lamps throughout the Mediterranean. One representation 142 00:17:48,320 --> 00:17:56,000 shows the goddess' attributes and the other two her personification. On the first, an Augustan Loeschcke I 143 00:17:56,000 --> 00:18:02,080 lamp, the goddess is standing on a globe and on the other which is a large Broneer XXI reflector 144 00:18:02,080 --> 00:18:09,360 of the mid 1st century AD or later, she is holding a shield that bears the remain of an inscription 145 00:18:09,360 --> 00:18:18,080 reading OB CIVES SERVATOS for "having saved the citizens". This phrase goes back to Augustus. It 146 00:18:18,080 --> 00:18:25,760 is found on his coinage and was recycled on coins of Vitellius and Vespasian. Parallels to the image 147 00:18:25,760 --> 00:18:31,600 of Victoria with the inscribed shield are known elsewhere on lamps of the Augustan period. 148 00:18:31,600 --> 00:18:38,320 It was suggested that such images of Victoria, in particular the ones standing on the globe are 149 00:18:38,320 --> 00:18:45,200 allusions, if not reproductions, of the statue that was erected by Augustus in the Roman Curia 150 00:18:45,200 --> 00:18:56,320 after his victory at Actium. The next image is on a small-sized Loeschcke I lamp. It 151 00:18:56,320 --> 00:19:04,160 illustrates the patriotic tale of Marcus Curtius' sacrifice known to us from Livy's book VII. As 152 00:19:04,160 --> 00:19:13,120 the story goes, in 362 BC in the early Republican period, a large sinkhole opened in the Roman forum 153 00:19:13,120 --> 00:19:20,560 and the gods demanded that Rome sacrificed her most precious possession to save the city. A young 154 00:19:20,560 --> 00:19:29,200 warrior named Marcus Curtius declared that nothing was most precious to Rome than arms and valour. 155 00:19:29,200 --> 00:19:35,840 Mounted on his horse and dressed for battle, he plunged into the chasm, thus saving the city. 156 00:19:36,400 --> 00:19:41,760 The image of the warrior raising his spear with his cape flapping in the wind and his 157 00:19:41,760 --> 00:19:49,840 horse bending his right front leg and his fall was a popular iconographical motif 158 00:19:49,840 --> 00:19:58,880 in early imperial Rome here on a relief from the Roman Forum. Finally, the last lamp which 159 00:19:58,880 --> 00:20:09,280 I placed in this category is a larger Broneer XXI type that bears a very enigmatic scene. We see a 160 00:20:09,280 --> 00:20:16,640 naked and unkept bearded man, armed with a sword and cowing away behind his round shield. Facing 161 00:20:16,640 --> 00:20:24,960 him is a god-like figure of a clean-shaven young man with short hair, also naked but for a folded 162 00:20:24,960 --> 00:20:33,280 drapery over his shoulder. He repels or moves the shield but without showing any aggression. So far 163 00:20:33,280 --> 00:20:39,440 I have not found a good parallel for this image whether on lamps or elsewhere. In the absence of 164 00:20:39,440 --> 00:20:46,080 a more suitable interpretation, we may understand this scene as an allegory of the emperor pacifying 165 00:20:46,080 --> 00:20:55,840 the barbarians and it may thus be considered together with the pro-Roman ideological subjects. 166 00:20:55,840 --> 00:21:02,640 Now to conclude, the lamp finds from the Antirhodos Iseum span from the still 167 00:21:02,640 --> 00:21:08,720 mysterious earliest phase of the temple in the mid 3rd and 2nd century BC to its 168 00:21:08,720 --> 00:21:15,600 destruction around the mid 1st century AD. The dense concentration of lamps within a 169 00:21:15,600 --> 00:21:21,920 single context is exceptional in an Egyptian setting, even from an Alexandrian perspective, 170 00:21:21,920 --> 00:21:27,680 and further supports the religious character of the site. The dominance of Italian type 171 00:21:27,680 --> 00:21:33,760 lamps in the early imperial period, most of which were imports from Italy or East Greece, 172 00:21:33,760 --> 00:21:41,280 is also significant. While some, often east Greek in origin, allude to the Graeco-Egyptian notion of 173 00:21:41,280 --> 00:21:48,640 Isis and Osiris in his Dionysiac form, others bear typical Roman motifs such as animals, 174 00:21:48,640 --> 00:21:56,480 gladiators or themes glorifying the new ruling power. Our picture is partial because we only have 175 00:21:56,480 --> 00:22:02,640 clay lamps remaining, which is a cheapest kind of lighting implements and we miss the more expensive 176 00:22:02,640 --> 00:22:09,440 metal models which may have been more directly related to the cult of Isis. Nevertheless, the 177 00:22:09,440 --> 00:22:15,840 small clay lamps probably dedicated by individuals also translate the political realities of the 178 00:22:15,840 --> 00:22:21,920 time. They are not only important chronological markers for the temple and its history but 179 00:22:21,920 --> 00:22:29,760 through their origin and iconography are also the reflection of diverse traditions and ideologies 180 00:22:29,760 --> 00:22:36,160 that allow us to evoke the long-gone individuals who used them and the world they belonged to. 181 00:22:36,160 --> 00:22:42,560 In their own ways, they illustrate some aspects of the assimilation of traditional Ptolemaic cults 182 00:22:42,560 --> 00:22:49,600 into the Roman world and echo the Oxyrhynchus papyrus mentioned earlier where the two lamp lighters of 183 00:22:49,600 --> 00:22:56,160 Isis and Serapis do not only swear their oath of service to the overseer of the temple, 184 00:22:56,160 --> 00:23:03,360 but first and foremost to Caesar himself, thus acknowledging him from the very start as a new 185 00:23:03,360 --> 00:23:11,440 supreme ruler of the country for both secular and religious matters. Thank you for your attention.