Lamps from the Athenian Agora
by Judith Perlzweig
Agora Picture Book 9
32 pp, b/w figs
5.5" x 8.5"
Paper, ISBN: 978-0-87661-609-3
Publication Date: Nov 1964
Status: Active
Retail Price $5
At night, the darkness of the ancient Agora would have been pierced by the lights of oil lamps, and thousands of fragments of these distinctive objects have been found. This booklet presents the development of different styles of lamps and includes a very useful identification guide. The author discusses the manufacture of lamps in Athens, a major industry with over 50 known workshops in the 3rd and 4th centuries A.D. She also provides illustrations of particularly fine examples, including ornate festival lamps with many nozzles and bizarre shapes.