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| Invoice # 578 Bath Complex (Feb 2012) | |
Tuesday (Feb 14, 2012) started a little slow but then Irina found the floor of the room in the bath complex we were working in (Square 15A1, locus 9) and up popped this beautiful Byzantine oil lamp fragment with a Greek inscription that dates to the 5th to 7th century AD. The oil lamp was identical to one published from the 2009 Temple Mount Salvage Operation in Jerusalem (Franz and Hernandez 2009, 8) and one we found in 2008 in the same building (RG30, square 11Y', Locus 3).
According to Alliata, these oil lamps are ‘recognized as a typical product of the Jerusalem area … considered to be eulogies or souvenirs that the pilgrims took back from Jerusalem to their home’ (1999, 123; Magness 1993, 176). These eulogae, from the holy places in Jerusalem, have been found at Abila, Jerash, Amman, Hesban, Madaba, Mount Nebo and as far south as Qorayat (Alliata 1999, 123). Based on the absence of soot on the lamps, Hirschfeld and Solar following Antoninus Placentius’s description of the ritual bathing practices at Hammat- Gader, suggest that the lepers used the lamps in some ritual healing ceremony carried out at the thermal springs (aquae calidae; 1981, 202, 206; see also Dvorjetski 2007, 230). The complete Greek inscription reads ‘The Light of Christ Shines for All’ and dates to the 5th to 7th century AD (Bailey 1972, 14a; Hoff et al. 1986, 172–76; Djuric 1995, c253; Wetzel 1997, 25; Loffreda 2001, 22–31; Adler 2005, 150–51). The oil lamp establishes a Christian presence at Tall el-Hammam during the period of the construction of the Madaba Map (AD 542 and 570) and lends credibility to the structure being a bath house and on the Roman road from Jerusalem.
Extract from David E. Graves and Scott Stripling “Re-Examination of the Location for the Ancient City of Livias.” Levant 43.2 (2011): 197.
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A fragment of a mould-made[i] Byzantine (4th to 7th cent. ad) terracotta slipper oil lamp (Magness form 3C), with a Greek inscription, was uncovered along the southwest Wall 219 of the Thermal Bath Complex in field LR in 2007–2008 (sq. 11Y′, Locus 3).[ii] The lamp is 10.7 cm. long (4.2 in.) and 7 cm. (2.76 in.) wide with a height of 3.7 cm. (1.46 in).
In 2012 another two pieces of a similar Byzantine oil lamp with the same inscription was uncovered (AN578) on the floor of the room adjacent to the bathing room (15A1, Locus 9; -161.59 m.).[iii] The complete Greek letters (WCΧΡ[ΦΕΝΧΑCΙΝΦ]) represent φῶς χριστοῦ φένιπᾶσιν (phōs christou phenipasin) and translate as “The light of Christ shines for all”.[iv] According to Alliata, these oil lamps are “recognized as a typical product of the Jerusalem area ... considered to be eulogies or souvenirs that the pilgrims took back from Jerusalem to their home.”[v]
Based on the absence of soot on the lamps, Hirschfeld and Solar following the ritual bathing practices at Hammat Gader, suggest that the lepers used the lamps in some ritual healing ceremony carried out at the thermal springs (aquae calidae).[vi]
The oil lamp establishes a Christian presence at TaH during the period of the construction of the Madaba Map (ad 542 and 570) and lends credibility to the structure being a Thermal Bath Complex and on the Roman road from Jerusalem to Esbus (Heshbon).[vii]
[i] The fingerprints of the craftsman are clearly seen on the reverse of both pieces. As Lichtenberger and Moran point out “The figurines and the oil lamps were mould-made; the fingerprints therefore resulted from the production process, during which the clay was pressed into the moulds.” Achim Lichtenberger and Kimberlee S. Moran, “Ancient Fingerprints from Beit Nattif: Studying Late Roman Clay Impressions on Oil Lamps and Figurines,” Antiquity 92, no. 361 (February 2018): e3.
[ii] RG30 was previously published in David E. Graves and D. Scott Stripling, “Re-Examination of the Location for the Ancient City of Livias,” Levant 43, no. 2 (2011): 197.
[iii] The locus for # 578 is incorrectly identified as locus 10 (sic 9) in the published record in Steven Collins, Carroll M. Kobs, and Michael C. Luddeni, The Tall Al-Hammam Excavations: An Introduction to Tall al-Hammam with Seven Seasons (2005–2011) of Ceramics and Eight Seasons (2005–2012) of Artifacts, vol. 1 (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2015), 342.
[iv] Donald Michael Bailey, Greek and Roman Pottery Lamps, Rev. ed. (London, U.K.: British Museum, 1972), 14a; Viviane Hoff, Catherine Metzger, and Christiane Lyon-Caen, Catalogue Des Lampes En Terre Cuite Grecques et Chrétiennes, Musée Du Louvre. Département Des Antiquités Grecques et Romaines (Paris: Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication, 1986), 172–76; Srdjan Djuric, Ancient Lamps from the Mediterranean (Toronto: Eika, 1995), c253; Henning Wetzel, Antike Tonlampen (Leipzig: Leipziger Universitätsverlag, 1997), 25; Stanislao Loffreda, Light and Life: Ancient Christian Oil Lamps of the Holy Land, Studium Biblicum (Jerusalem: Franciscan, 2001), 22–31; Adler, Oil Lamps of the Holy Land from the Adler Collection, 150–51.
[v] Eugenio Alliata, “The Pilgrimage Routes during the Byzantine Period in Transjordan,” in The Madaba Map Centenary: Travelling Through the Byzantine Umayyad Period. Proceedings of the International Conference Held in Amman 7–9 April 1997, ed. Michele Piccirillo and Eugenio Alliata, Studium Biblicum Franciscannum Collectio Maior 40 (Jerusalem: Studium Biblicum Franciscannum, 1999), 123; Magness, Jerusalem Ceramic Chronology, 176.
[vi] Estee Dvorjetski, Leisure, Pleasure, and Healing: Spa Culture and Medicine in Ancient Eastern Mediterranean, JSJSup 116 (Leiden: Brill, 2007), 230; Yizhar Hirschfeld and G. Solar, “The Roman Thermae at Hammat-Gader: Preliminary Report of Three Seasons of Excavations,” IEJ 31, no. 3/4 (1981): 202, 206.
[vii] Graves and Stripling, “Re-Examination of the Location for the Ancient City of Livias,” 197.
Bibliography
Adler, N. (2005) Oil Lamps of the Holy Land from the Adler Collection. Jerusalem: Old City.
Alliata, E. (1999) "The pilgrimage routes during the Byzantine period in
Transjordan." Pp. 121–24 in Alliata and Piccirillo, M. (eds.) (1999) The
Madaba Map centenary: Travelling through the Byzantine Umayyad period.
Proceedings of the International Conference held in Amman 7–9 April
1997. Jerusalem: Studium Biblicum Franciscannum.1999.
Bailey, D. M. (1972) Greek and Roman Pottery Lamps. London: British Museum.
Djuric, S. (1995) Ancient Lamps from the Mediterranean. Toronto: Eika.
Dvorjetski, E. (2007) Leisure, Pleasure, and Healing: Spa Culture and Medicine in Ancient Eastern Mediterranean. Leiden: Brill.
Franz, G. and Hernandez, S. (2009) "The most important discovery was the people: An interview with Dr. Gabriel Barkay." Bible and Spade 22/1, 3–8.
Hirschfeld, Y. and Solar, G. (1981) "The Roman thermae at Hammat-Gader: Preliminary report of three seasons of excavations." Israel Exploration Journal 31, 197–219.
Hoff, V., Metzger, C. and Lyon-Caen, C. (1986) Catalogue des lampes en terre cuite grecques et chre´tiennes. Paris: Ministe`re de la Culture et de la Communication.
Loffreda, S. (2001) Light and Life: Ancient Christian Oil Lamps of the Holy Land. Jerusalem: Franciscan.
Magness, J. (1993) Jerusalem Ceramic Chronology: Circa 200–800 CE. Sheffield: JSOT.
Placentinus, Antoninus (1892) Kritische und sprachliche Erla¨uterungen zu Antonini Placentini Itinerarium, St Anna in Augsburg fu¨r des Schuljahr. Ed. P. Geyer. Augsburg: Pfeiffer.
Wetzel, H. (1997) Antike Tonlampen. Leipzig: Leipziger Universitatsverlag.
Parallels
|
Author |
Year |
Call |
Site |
Source |
|
Magen |
2015 |
Byzantine |
Monastery of Martyrius |
p. 331, pl. 35.2.[i] |
|
Barkay |
2009 |
Byzantine |
Jerusalem, Temple Mount |
p. 8.[ii] |
|
Adler |
2005 |
Byzantine (second half of the 4th–5th cent. ad) |
Jerusalem |
p. 150, no. 935.[iii] |
|
Alliata |
1999 |
Byzantine |
Mount Nebo, Madaba, Abila, Jerash, Amman, and Qorayat |
p. 123.[iv] |
|
Magness |
1993 |
Byzantine |
Jerusalem |
pp. 173–77; 253–254, form 3C, no. 1.[v] |
|
Loffreda |
1990 |
Byzantine |
Jerusalem |
pp. 475–500.[vi] |
|
Nitowski |
1971 |
Byzantine (early 5th–early 8th cent. ad) |
Tell Hesban |
p. 21, lamp no. 6, fig. 1.6.[vii] |
[i] Magen, Christians and Christianity (2015), 339, Pl. 33.3.
[ii] Gordon Franz and Stephanie Hernandez, “The Most Important Discovery Was the People: An Interview with Dr. Gabriel Barkay,” BS 22, no. 1 (2009): 8.
[iii] Adler, Oil Lamps of the Holy Land (2005), 150, no. 935.
[iv] Alliata, “Pilgrimage Routes,” 1999, 123.
[v] Magness, Jerusalem Ceramic Chronology, 173–77; 253–254, form 3C, no. 1; “The Late Roman and Byzantine Pottery from the City of David,” 181, fig. 10:8.
[vi] For the corpus of these forms cf. Stanislao Loffreda, “The Greek Inscriptions on the Byzantine Lamps from the Holy Land,” in Christian Archaeology in the Holy Land. New Discoveries. Archaeological Essays in Honour of Virgilio C. Corbo, ed. Giovanni Claudio Bottini, Leah Di Segni, and Eugenio Alliata, SBFCM 36 (Jerusalem: Franciscan Press, 1990), 475–500.
[vii] Eugenia Nitowski, “Inscribed and Radiated-Type Byzantine Lamps,” AUSS 12, no. 1 (January 1, 1974): 21, lamp no. 6, fig. 1.6.
Bathing room in the Bath complex.
All our lamps are published in the following work.
A Preliminary Report on the Tall al-Hammam Excavation Project: Roman, Byzantine, and Islamic Remains: Field LR (2005–2014). Edited by Steven Collins, Gary Byers and D. Scott Stripling. 2021.
Field LR stands for the Lower Roman area and consists of ceramics and artifacts from the Roman, Byzantine and Islamic periods. Includes square drawings, 65 ceramic plates, maps, color photographs and illustrations.
8.25 X 11 format, ca. 235 pages
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1 comment:
Thanks for the great and interesting post....
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