The Cave at Vari. VI.

The Terra-Cotta Lamps

Author(s): Samuel Eliot Bassett
Source: American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 7, No. 3 (Jul. - Sep., 1903), pp. 338-349
Published by: Archaeological Institute of America
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Rme rican Scool

of Classical ttubite

at attens

THE CAVE AT VARI

VI

THE TERRA-COTTA LAMPS

[PLATES XII-XIV]

THE lamps, nearly one thousand in number,

found in the cave at Vari1 are of the type com
"Roman," but are of late date.2

Like some of the lamps found in North Afric

trate the transition from the "Roman" to the "Christian"

lamp.3

The best and earliest specimens resemble in shape Dressel's

forma 25,4 but the clay is coarser and the workmanship much

inferior. Lamps of this form (cf. Fig. 1)5 are found in large
numbers in Greece, and the fact that they are rarely or never
found except in Greek lands seems to indicate that they repre1 For other considerable finds of lamps in one place, see Birch, Ancient Pot-

tery, 2d ed., pp. 132 f.; MIlanges Archeologiques de l'Ecole frangaise & Rome,
XII, 1892, p. 116; IIpaRKT-LK& 7^ 6v 'AO vact 'ApxatokoYLKS 'EEraGplas, 1900, p. 40;

Annual of the British School at Athens, 1902, p. 390; Am. J. Arch. VI, 1902,

Suppl. p. 21.
2 One wheel-made lamp, of the third century B.C., was found; cf. 2us"e de
St. Louis de Carthage, pl. xxiv, no. 24.
3 La Blanchere and Gauckler, Mushe d'Aloui, pl. xxxiv, nos. 38-55.
4 C. .L. XV, 2, fasc. 1, Tab. iii, no. 25.
5 The lamp in Fig. 1, together with fifty or sixty others, most of them in
fragments, was found in a conduit at Corinth, in May, 1902. Length, 0.106 mm.;
width, 0.084 mm.; height, exclusive of handle, 0.027 mm. On the bottom is incised

the name KAAAIC TOY, together with a heart-shaped leaf. The National

Museum at Athens has on exhibition about fifty lamps of a similar type, and
scarcely a museum in Europe is without a specimen.
338

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AMERICAM JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY, SECOND SERIES

N)-

Crlo

010
?I

LAMPS FROM VARI: TYPES (

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VOL. Vii (1903) PLATE XII

co ~

~>

ccc

tlIOl
a

wo

)F DEVICES ON BORDERS

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AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY, SECOND SERIES VOL. VII (1903) PLATE XIII

fi?3

9Z

( la= B

~97

LAMPS FROM VARI: DEVICES ON BORDER AND DISK

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AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY, SECOND SERIES VOL. VII (1903) PLATE XIV

7a

7b

7b

LAMPS FROM
VARI
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THE CAVE AT VARI: TERRA-COTTA LAMPS 339

sent one of the types which the Roman lamp assumed on Greek

soil.1 These lamps are of a fine, pale yellow, or pinkish clay,

very thin and delicate, and usually without a slip of any kind.

The handle (ansa), without which none of these lamps seem

to have been made, is straight and

perforated, and on its upper surface are two or three grooves. The
nozzle (myxa) is short and rounded,
and is without a trace of the ara-

besques which are a characteristic

of the Roman lamps of the first and
second centuries of our era.2 The

upper surface of the nozzle is plain,

and is raised a little above the bor-

der (margo). The border itself is

either left plain or is decorated with

a kind of ovolo pattern, or less fre-FIGURE

1.-TERRA-COTTA LAMP

FROM CORINTH.
quently with a vine. In most cases
two nobs of clay, 2 mm. to 3 mm.
in height and flat on top, rise, one on either side of the lamp,
from the centre of the border.3 The device on the centre of

the upper surface (discus) consists of a rosette or a relief simi-

lar in subject and execution to the reliefs found on Roman

1 Cf. Birch, op. -cit. p. 132.

2 See J. Toutain, in Daremberg and Saglio, Dict. Ant. II, p. 1323; La Blanchbre and Gauckler, op. cit. pp. 149 ff., pl. xxxiv, nos. 23-31; Dressel, in C.IL.
XV, 2, fasc. 1, p. 783; J. Fink, Sitzungsber. d. kgl. bayer. Akad. 1900, phil.hist. Classe, p. 687.
8 Similar but taller nobs on lamps stamped with the name FORTIS, etc. (Dressel, op. cit. Tab. iii, no. 5; Fink, op. cit. Taf. iii), are explained by Fink (p. 688)
as means by which the two halves of the lamp were held together before the
firing. Dressel (p. 783) gives the more probable explanation that they were
made in imitation of similar projections on bronze lamps, to which were fastened

the suspension chains. In addition to the examples given by Dressel of clay

lamps in which these projections are actually pierced (unpublished lamps, sketches
of which are in the possession of Costa, Naples) might be added Passeri, Lucernae
Fictiles, I, Tab. prelim. no. iii, and Proleg. p. vii. Dressel, in RBm. JMitth. VII,
(1892), pp. 144-157, shows that most of the lamps shown in the work of Passeri
are spurious, but makes no mention of the Prolegomena.

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340 SAMUEL ELIQT BASSETT

lamps of the better period. The bottom (fund

scratched across it with a fine-pointed instrum
the genitive. This inscription, with a single e
as I have been able to learn,1 is in Greek letters.

It is from this type that the lamps from Vari w

But the best of them are far removed from the

fineness of clay and in the degree of art display

be fair to date the earliest of them as late as the end of the third

or the beginning of the fourth century. There are only half a

dozen lamps of the fully developed "1Christian" type of the

fifth century. We may therefore, with a considerable degree
of probability, say that nearly all the lamps from Vari are of
the fourth century of our era. This hypothesis is strengthened
by the testimony of the coins found together with the lamps,3
and by that of the monograms found on the lamps themselves

(see below, p. 345).4

The lamps from Vari, then, illustrate the later steps in the
development of the "Christian" type. The majority of them
are ornamented with devices symbolic of the Christian religion.

This, together with the fact that none of the earlier lamps
were found, indicates that they were brought there by the
Christians who used the cave as a gathering place in the
fourth century (see p. 284). The occurrence of heathen devices
on many of the lamps does not weaken this hypothesis.5

The lamps are of a coarse red clay, baked very hard. They
vary in length from 65 mm. to 120 mm.; and their length,
1 Muselli, Antiquitatis Reliquiae, no. 140, has c . CLU. sus; cf. Dressel, op.
cit. p. 810.
2 Cf. Birch, op. cit. p. 132.

S See also pp. 284 f., 335 ff.

4 According to Schultze, Katakomben, V, p. 123, the monograms, and

, are first dated at Rome 323 and 355 A.D., respectively. The lamps from
Vari on which these are found occur in about the middle of the series, chronologically considered.
5 The persistence with which heathen reliefs appear on " Christian " lamps is
illustrated by a lamp found at Carthage (P. Delattre, Rev. de l'Art Chritienne,
4ieme Sdr. III, 1892, no. 752), which bears on the disk a representation of Achilles
dragging the body of Hector around the walls of Troy.

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THE CAVE AT VA RI: TERRA-COTTA LAMPS 341

breadth, and height, exclusive of the handle, are to each

about as 3: 2: 1. With the exception of two trymyxi

which is shown in PLATE XIV, 7 a and 7 b), they are all
mononmyxi. Some of the earlier ones are covered with a red
slip. The nozzles all show signs of having been burned, and
in one a portion of a wick was found.1 Olive stones in many
bore testimony to the kind of fluid used.

In describing the lamps, the parts will be discussed in the

following order: 2
(1) The handle, (3) The border, (5) The reverse.
(2) The nozzle, (4) The disk,

(1) The Handle (Fig. 2). - This is a solid piece of

10 mm. to 12 Hmm. in height, at the back of the l

16b

cl

?c

4i

IC

FIGURE 2.- TYPES OF LAMP HANDLES FROM VARI.

upper surface is either left plain (a), or is ornamented

one, two, or three longitudinal grooves (b, c, d), with

hatching (e, f, g, h), with a row of concentric circles (i), or

1 For other cases of wicks found in lamps, see Becker-Gill, Gallus, III, p
Cosmos, November 24, 1900, p. 695.
2 A, handle.
B, disk.
C, oil aperture.
D, border.
E, small aperture.
F, nozzle;
wick aperture.

G, body of lamp.

?f -

-?B

i''

~4P

--I
---?

H, reverse.
I, trade-mark.
J, relief.

For

the

nomencla

pp. 12 ff.

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342 SAMUEL ELIOT BASSETT

dots (j). It is seldom entirely --more

forated, but most frequently is unpier
of the under portion of the handle, w
the back of the body (crater) of the
mented in the same way as the upper
end, where the handle approaches the

is often an imitation in clay of the mean

lamps the handle was riveted to the

lamp was found without a handle.

(2) The Nozzle. - This calls for little c

rounded, and plain, like that of its prot

but its upper surface, instead of

being raised abbve that of the
border, is merely separated from
it by one or two lines (cf. PLATE
XIV, 4). In the later lamps the
transition from the body to the
nozzle is so gradual that it is

ii i':

i:i:- iiiiii?:

difficult to say where the former

FIGURE 3.-TERRA-COTTA LAMP

FROM VARI.

ends and the latter begins. In

these lamps a broad shallow
groove is often found connecting
the disk with the wick aperture

(cf. PLATE XIV, 4), as in the

"Christian" lamp.

(3) The Border (PLATE XII). - In the earlier specimens

this shows, better than any other part, the relation between
these lamps and the one mentioned above (p. 339). The nobs
have disappeared, but are indicated, as in the case of the nozzles, by lines (Nos. 1-7, 10, 18). Between these lines are seen
a palm leaf (Nos. 3, 4) or dotted rings (No. 7). Dotted rings

are also found on the outer side of these lines and near tlhe

handle and nozzle (Nos. 4, 5, 18). Some borders show also

scrolls (No. 6), palm leaves (Nos. 7, 10), or squares of dots
(No. 18). As time went on, the lines indicating the nobs were

abandoned. The chief ornaments from this time on are the

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THE CAVE AT VARI: TERRA-COTTA LAMPS 343

palm leaf, very much conventionalized (Nos. 8, 9), which occur

on about one-half of all the lamps; wavy lines, which are ne

to the palm leaf in frequency (Nos. 15, 16); vine leaves (N

13) with grapes (No. 11) or berries (No. 12); oak leaves
(No. 14); and a rude ovolo pattern (No. 17). Many show
dots, dotted lines, and small rosettes (Nos. 19-22). Thes

are probably but little earlier than the conventional orna

ments on the borders of "Christian" lamps (cf. No. 23, on

a fully developed "Christian" lamp). Later still are the tri
angles (Nos. 25, 26; cf. No. 24),
pyramids of dots (Nos. 26, 27),
----

-------------

rude letters and meaningless signs

(Nos. 28-30). None of the borders are entirely plain.

(4) The Disk. - In about twothirds of the lamps the disk is

entirely plain. It is pierced by
from one to seven holes, which
served as means for introducing

the oil into the lamp. Between

the nozzle and the disk was also,

in most cases, a small aperture,

through which the wick might be

FIGUR
raised or lowered.1
FROM
On the disks of about two hundred

lamps

shell

(pect

tional

sort.
her

type

The

hound

and

aegis

1
Fink,
op.
C
passed
to
hol

from

the

received
a
pe
spent,
if
a
pe
2

lamp

fou

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344 SAMUEL ELIOT BASSETT

spear, standing with her face to the lef

bust of Isis, with an uncertain object at her

3); Eros, playing Pan's pipes, reading from
pulpit (PLATE XIII, 7), walking with invert

ing with uplifted hands. Pan is represen

(PLATE XIII, 5). The only scene from th

heroes is the contest of Heracles with the N

XIV, 2). There is one scene from the am

fighting with a bear (PLATE XIV, 1). As
be classed: an acrobat turning a somersault

bear (PLATE XIV, 6);2 a man with a long

front of his horse; a man mounted on ho
in his right hand; and a figure seated astrid

whip(?) in his right hand (PLATE XIV, 5

As symbols appear: the dolphin with t
footnote 2); the crescent and the bucran
numerous. We find the bear, boar, lion,

One lamp shows an animal like a bear, with

1 Ch. Bigot, Bulletin de l'Ftcole franC. ' Athines, Ao

tions a similar lamp in the National Museum at Athen
2 In Ath. -Mitth. XXVII (1902), p. 260, Abb. 5, the r
very much better copy of this type of relief.

3 The meaning of the device on the lamp represen

uncertain. It seems to be a struggle between the huma

an animal to the right, while to the left, behind the

kid. If it could be proved that scenes from the Bi

early a date, one might see in this relief an attemp
in the life of David (I Sam. xvii, 35).

SLudwig Deubner, Ath. Mitth. XXVII (1902), pp

lamps similar to this one, which are now in the Na

as grave offerings. " Dass sie (the lamps) aus einem
n~ichstliegenden Annahme. ... Der kilikische Insch
helm, Denkschr. d. Wiener Akad. 1896, phil.-hist.
Phobos als Wi'chter des Grabes gezeigt: ... der daem
Lampen ausdrticklich als Phobos bezeichnet ist, soll

selbst uber des Grabes Frieden wachen und alles Unheil von dem Toten fern-

halten auf dem dunkeln Wege der zum Jenseits fuihrt " (p. 264). But the lamp
from Vari was certainly not used as a grave offering; and a similar lamp, found
in May, 1902, in the ruins of a Roman shop near the Agora in Corinth, was
evidently not intended for this purpose. Would not the ordinary purpose of
the lamp--to dispel the darkness of night, together with its horrors - explain

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THE CAVE AT VARI: TERRA-COTTA LAMPS 345

Of emblems which are surely Christian the following

the cross; the monograms, * (see als

the border and on the reverse of the trymnyxus (P

7 a and 7 b)); the cock, alone and with the palm branch
two fishes; the dove; the eucharistic chalice; and the chalice
with the dove brooding over it (the symbol of the Holy Spirit)

(PLATE XIV, 4).1 Only one obscene subject is represented,

and this is on one of the earliest lamps.2

(5) The Reverse. - The bottom of the lamp is rarely left

entirely plain. A few lamps show only the shape of the bot-

SO

MINglo

f. IN

......

..........

FIGURE 5. - THREE INSCRIBED LAMPS FROM VARI: REVERSE.

tom, outlined in one or more rings or heart-shaped o

lines, made by means of a blunt instrument in the soft

Nearly all have some device as a trade-mark within these l

sufficiently the apotropaic use, on the disk of the lamp, of the " dae
terror " ?

I should like to offer, as a suggestion, the reading X PY (xp6[Eov]) ()

instead of XFY, for the: inscription on the reverse of the lamp figured by
Deubner, 1.c. Abb. 3 and 4 (p. 259). A careful examination of this inscription, two years ago, with the aid of a magnifying glass seemed to show the

second letter as P rather than as F.

1 See P. Delattre, Revue de l'Art Chritienne, 4ieme Sdr. I, 1890, pp. 129 ff.;
II, 1891, pp. 39 ff., 296 ff.; III, 1892, pp. 133 ff., 224 ff.; IV, 1893, pp. 34 ff.;
Missions Catholiques, Annie 12, 1880, pp. 278 ff., 290 ff., 302 ff., 326 ff., 338
ff., for a systematic classification and explanation of devices found on "Christian " lamps.

2 It is an interesting fact that no obscene relief has ever been found on a

" Christian " lamp.

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346 SAMUEL ELIOT BASSETT

In two-thirds of the lamps this consists

with small dotted circles on either side.

recurring device is a number of small ring

mids, squares, or circles.1 Other device

cross gemm&e, + , + ; the monogram, ; a palm tree, t;

a fish, 0; and the eucharistic chalice, , all incised; and a

heart-shaped leaf in relievo.

About two hundred of the lamps have on the reverse side a

letter or letters, or a name in the genitive. These are, without exception, in Greek, and are incised. Sometimes with the
inscription is a palm leaf or a pyramid of dots.1 The following
is a brief summary of the inscriptions :2

1. A -A Shape II, longitudinally (4 examples); device, rosette

1 A e-zAA (2 examples).3

2. AE Shape I; device, pecten. 3. /y Shape II.

4. E I Shape II; device, rosette.

5 a. E Shape I; device, b. y Shape I; device, bust of

E o rosette. . Athena. (Fig. 3.)

6. EY Shape II; device, figure seated astride a dolphi

, E'4So[pov]. (PLATE XIV, 5.)

7 a. EY Shape II (2exam- b. EY( Shape II (2 exa

ples); device, p ples); devices,

P rosette (1 INVP rosette, pect

A\ P example). yjOy EYKap7TOV.

1 See Dressel, in C.I.L. XV, 2, fasc. 1, p. 860, for an explanation of these.

2 The shapes I, II, and III are shown in Fig. 5. Shape IV (PLATE XIII, 2)

is almost never inscribed. Shape V is the conventional " Christian " lamp.

a Most of the inscriptions are written across the bottom of the lamp, with the
tops of the letters toward the handle. The inscriptions which run longitudinally

across the bottom, beginning at the handle, are so indicated. The number of
instances of each inscription is given and, when one exists, the device on the disk.

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THE CAVE AT VARI: TERRA-COTTA LAMPS 347

KA P
KAT
(cf.KaprnrjjL
C.LG.4208
8. .4 Shape II. 9. Shape
II;
THtHKaprL
y)P e,

HC

10. K 0 Y Shape I; device, ram facing left.

11 a. Shape I (16 examples); devices, rosette (15 examples), bust
K Y of Athena (1 example). Shape II, longitudinally (2 examples). Shape III (1 example).

b KY Shape II; device, dolphin.

c. KY Shape II. d. V Shape II.

12. K \( P K Shape I; device, obscene; K1paKO; (cf. Aesch.
O C Frag. 354, Kipa', a dog's name). See Fig. 5, 1.

13. 4 Shape II; Map- 14. Shape I; device,

r ptov. O N A Pan with

pipes.
(PLATE XIII,

TYPI . II

oY

15 a. TTr Shape II, longitudinally (4 examples); device, rose

II (4 examples).

b. TT~ Shape II. c. TT ShapeII.

o

d.

16.

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348 SAMUEL ELIOT BASSETT

17 a. T Shape I (2 examples); device, rosett

b. ~ Shape I (2 examples); devices, lion (1 example), Heracles
and the Nemean lion (1 example); Trp. (PLATE XIV, 2.)

CTP

c. Shape I; device, rosette; 2pa.

18 a. Shape I; device, Eros reading from a scroll. (PLATE XIII, 7.}

b. Shape III (44 examples); device, cock and palm branch.

L[ J Shape sheep
II (6 (1examples);
devices, rosette (5 examples),
example). See Fig. 5, 3.

LW

19. Shape I; device, cock and palm branch.

TYA

LW

20 a. E Shape II. b. Shape II; device, cock

TH

T H P I facing right; Y4Owr7

Ptas

21. E Shape II.

22 a. H Shape II. b.q Shape II.

Xlo
23 a.NH
' " " Shape V (1 example).

X1o

N-iN [

b. IX 1 Shape V (1 example). c. N H Shape V.

d. X) Shape II (34 examples); de

monogram (2 examples), figu

N H E Xt'vys. See Fig. 5, 2.

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THE CAVE AT VARI: TERRA-COTTA LAMPS 349

24 a. , Shape I (5 examples). Shape II (7 examples); devices

/V (6 examples), monogram, bucranium.
b. h Shape I (4 examples). Shape II (1 example); devices,
(2 examples), mounted man (1 example).

c. Shape II. d. Shape I; device, bust of

A woman.

e. Shape II (2 examples); f. In relief.

/ device, monogram (1
example).

25 a. Shape 1; device, rosette.

b. ~ Shape II (2 examples); c. Shape II.

A ? device, rosette (1 exo.* ample).

26. S2
' Shape
Shapes I and II; device,
. I.
K27.rosette.
28. ,. Shape III.
29. ' Shape I (5 examples); devices, rosette (3 examples), crescent,
I dolphin with trident. See p. 341, note 2.

SAMUEL ELIOT BASSETT.

NEw HAVEN.

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