The earliest oil lamps made from clay can be dated back to the Bronze Age, to around the sixteenth century BC and by the Roman period, oil lamps, or lychnus, from the Greek λυχνος, were commonplace throughout the Empire. They were used for domestic, public, and religious purposes, including funeral ceremonies, lighting up businesses, and creating ‘special effects’ at the theatre. The oldest Roman lamps date back to the third century BC, and it is thought that they were influenced by the Southern Italic style. These were more enclosed than their predecessors, allowing for further decoration on the discus. The vast trade networks set with the expansion of the Roman Empire allowed this item to be spread across Europe, Eastern Asia and Northern Africa, which led to the development of several provincial variations.
This style of oil lamp originated in North Africa, specifically Tunisia, but was broadly exported and then imitated all over the Roman Empire. The Chi-Rho motif here is one of the earliest forms of a Christogram, consisting of the first two capitalised letters in the Greek word for Christ (Christos or ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ). This monogram was used frequently throughout the Late Roman Empire, found on everything from mosaics to signet rings.
To discover more about oil lamps in Antiquity, please visit our relevant blog post: Lighting The Way.