2nd or 3rd Century AD - Authentic Oil Lamp

For several millennia oil lamps were used to light homes, temples, tombs etc. Initially a flax, linen or even papyrus wick was put in oil ( usually olive or vegetable, but many subsititutes were available including even animal fat ) . One early innovation was glaze, which prevented the seepage of oil into the pouros clay used in the manufacture of the lamp body itself ( either molded or thrown ).

These were often an inexpensive household art form, often copied and one that could be executed by less skilled craftsmen.

In the Holy Land, where these examples are from, it was the practice to avoid human or animal representations, for religious reasons ( "Thou Shalt not Make a Graven Image" ). And so, some plain shell or floral designs were common .The Herodian lamp as these are reffered to extended beyond the rule of Herod the Great all the way past the time of Jesus and well into the 3rd Century.

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