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Bronze lamp in form of lion. (Courtesy of the Vedat Nedim Tör Museum, Istanbul)
Bronze lamp in form of lion
The Lydians and their World
(2010)
Cat. 223
- Date
- 5th to 7th c, Late Roman
- Museum
- Manisa, Archaeological and Ethnographic Museum, 4342
- Museum Inventory No.
- 4342
- Sardis or Museum Inv. No.
- M67.004
- Material
- Bronze/Copper Alloy
- Object Type
- Metalwork, Lamp
- Metalwork Type
- Liturgical Object, Metal Vessel
- Site
- Sardis
- Sector
- BS
- Trench
- BS 67
- Locus
- BS Locus BS-E 5 (Area of)
- B-Grid Coordinates
- E36.45 - E36.50 / S0.91 *97.19
- Description
- Lamp in the form of a lion, striding forward and holding a shell-shaped spout in his open mouth. A hole at the top of the mane, covered by a separately made hinged lid, allowed the lamp to be filled. A ring and loop just in front of the filling hole held a chain running back to the tail, which was used to suspend the lamp. A horizontal bar on the left side of the lion must be a means of attaching it to some kind of socket, on a lampstand or other fixture; the modeling on this side is sketchier than on the right, indicating that it was meant to be seen from the side. Patches on the sides mended flaws left when the lamp was cast. Length 0.164 m, height 0.083 m, width 0.04 m.
- Comments
- From the “Byzantine Shops,” shop E5, the same shop that held flask No. 221. The lion was the best known attribute of the ancient Kingdom of Lydia, and remained popular throughout Roman times (Hanfmann and Ramage 1978, 20-23; Ratté 1989, 379-81). Analysis of the metal revealed that it was made of brass, an alloy of copper and zinc.
- See Also
- Greenewalt, “Introduction”; Byzantine Shops..
- Bibliography
- Hanfmann 1968, 17-18, fig. 19; Crawford 1974; Waldbaum 1983a, no. 618.
- Author
- NDC, MLR