Lamps from the temenos of Allat in Palmyra

Abstract

Excavation in the temenos of Allat in Palmyra in the 1970s uncovered a deposit of clay lamps with a few vessels and coins. Inside the cella, the lamps were clustered in two groups, a few examples were found also in the temenos outside the cella. All in all, there were 191 complete and fragmentary lamps, the bulk of them made locally in Palmyra. The assemblage reveals two trends in oil lamp production: wheel-made lamps with different numbers of nozzles and imitation of imported lamps moulded from archetypes. The assemblage from the temenos is of 4th century date, but many of the moulded lamps copy Greek and Roman types from the 3rd century, with Antioch-on-the-Orontes being a highly probable source of inspiration for Palmyrean lampmakers. Special in this context are rectangular multi-nozzled lamps with relief decoration, in one case menorahs framing a scallop shell and a figural fieze, most likely a Dionysiac thiasos.

Keywords

• oil lamps
• clay
• local production
• wheel-made
• iconography
• temenos of Allat