Lamps with "temple facade" decoration: witness to urban vitality in the northern and western Black Sea and the ties with Constantinople

• Authors: Chrzanovski, Laurent , Zhuravlev, Denis , Topoleanu, Florin

Abstracts

EN

The architectural motif in the form of an arch-on-columns, the titular “temple facade”, decorating the discus of late antique lamps, has been the subject of debate and various interpretations of the meaning without reference to the rendering or the lamp type. An examination of known examples of lamps with this particular motif has identified four different lamp type variants and two main renderings of the decoration. Ovoid lamps bearing a representation of an arch-on-columns, the most numerous among the finds, come mostly from Constantinople and nearby cities, the Black Sea coast and the Danubian sites, the sole exceptions being Egypt (where they appear also in a late variant), Cyprus and Byblos. Reconstructing the distribution of these types and renderings has introduced some “order” into the existing hypotheses and highlighted issues connected with understanding the booming economy of the Pontic area as well as the recently rebuilt Danubian limes fortresses, during their apex, in the 5th and 6th centuries AD. It has also contributed to the discussion aimed at ending the widespread use of the term “Balkan lamps” for products that represent the output of Pontic and Danubian workshops influenced by the Imperial capital in Constantinople.

Keywords

EN

late antique lamps; arch-on-columns motif; geographic repartition; typology; trade; economic floruit; Black Sea; Dobrogea Danubian limes

• Publisher: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
• Journal: Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean
• Year: 2019
• Volume: 28(1)
• Pages: 125-159

Dates

published

2020-01-04

Contributors

author

Chrzanovski, Laurent

author

Zhuravlev, Denis

author

Topoleanu, Florin

Identifiers

DOI

10.31338/uw.2083-537x.pam28.1.09