Glass, Wax and Metal: Lighting Technologies in Late Antique, Byzantine and Medieval Times

Ioannis Motsianos, Karen S. Garnett, Ioannis Motsianos, Karen S. Garnett

• Publisher: Archaeopress Archaeology
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN:
  9781789692167
• eBook ISBN:
  9781789692174
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Archaeology
• Index: Social Sciences

Presenting papers from two International Lychnological Association (ILA) Round Tables, this volume provides an extensive look at the technological development of lighting and lighting devices during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages in Western Europe and Byzantium. A time of major economic, geopolitical and social changes, there were also radical modifications in lighting devices, as terracotta mold-made lamps, very common throughout the earlier days of the Roman Empire, were replaced by devices that used glass containers to hold oil, candles made of beeswax, and metals to create a wide variety of holders for the newer glass lamp vessels and candles. Discussions included such diverse subjects as lighting devices used in medieval times in Scandinavian mines, the Byzantine use of light for long-distance signaling, castle illumination, polykandela designs and the spiritual significance of light. The scholars used as their source material not only artifacts from museums and excavated contexts, but also written sources and depictions of lighting devices on mosaics, frescos, icons, textiles and manuscripts to help complete their notions about lighting in these eras. The majority of the twenty-nine papers published in this volume were presented at the third International Round Table under the title 'Dark Ages? History and archaeology of lighting devices in Continental Europe, from late Antiquity to late Medieval Ages' in Olten, Switzerland in September 2007 and at the fourth International Round Table under the title 'Lighting in Byzantium' in Thessaloniki, Greece in October 2011. In many cases the length of each paper is a clear reflection of how little or well-studied the presented topic is. A few discussions on some artifacts dated after 1500 AD are included because they represent and reflect the technological evolution of lighting related to the Middle Ages. Both ILA Round Tables considered the use of lighting devices in everyday and ecclesiastical life and discussed their many aspects, including their terminology, typology, chronology, manufacturing techniques, and symbolic functions. The great breadth of lighting technologies available in those 'Dark Ages' becomes apparent through the diversity of the discussions, which reflect the great variety of materials used to create lighting devices.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright page
• Contents Page
• Glass, Wax and Metal: Lighting Technologies in Late Antique, Byzantine and Medieval Times: an Introduction
• A Highly Important ‘Half-volume’ as Acta of two Pioneer Congresses: some Explanations
• Acknowledgements
• An Overview of Late Antique Oil Lamps and Lighting Devices from Slovenia
• A Light is On in the Hut. Light and Lighting Equipment in Medieval Everyday Life
• Medieval Lighting Devices from the Collection of the State Historical Museum of Russia
• Lumière et luminaires dans la vie religieuse en Occident au Moyen Âge
• Olaus Magnus the Goth on Fire, Light and Lighting Devices of the Northern People
• Mines Illuminated – Reflections upon Lighting in Medieval Mining
• Lighthouses in the Tabula Peutingeriana and their Importance in Late Antiquity
• Lighting Devices in Byzantium: Comparisons in Time and Space
• Lamps from the Excavation at 45 Basileus Heracleiou Street, Thessaloniki
• Lighting Artifacts from the Episcopal Complex at Louloudies Pierias
• Bottoms Up! Bases and Handles on Attic KY Shop Lamps from Corinth’s Fountain of the Lamps
• Athenian Lamps in the Early Byzantine Period – Export, Import and Imitation
• Aspects of Typology, Chronology and Iconography in the Regional Lamp Production in the Area of Present-day Israel (4th-7th centuries AD)
• Argos and its Lamps from the Late 4th to 7th Century AD
• A Three-Handled, Calyx-Shaped Glass Lamp from Thessaloniki and its Archaeological Context
• Some Remarks on a Category of Wheel-Made Lamps: A ‘Koinè’ in the 6th and the 7th Centuries AD?
• Lighting Devices found at Byzantine Amorium (Turkey)
• Church Lighting in Byzantine Cherson
• Problems of Methodology in the Dating of Byzantine Polykandela: The Benaki Museum Examples
• Byzantine Metal Support Fittings for a Candlestick from the Monastery of Chilandar on Mount Athos
• Once again on the ‘Byzantine-Mediterranean Limoges’?
• Considerations on the Function and Usage of Pottery Lamps, Inspired by Finds from the Forum of Thessaloniki
• Difficulties and Preconditions for the Utilitization of Glass in Lighting in Byzantium
• A Linen Wick from the Northern Church at Shivta, Israel
• Some Thoughts About the Use and the Making of Beeswax Candles in Byzantium
• The Virtual Lighting of the Rotunda’s Mosaics
• Light and Lighting Devices in Wall Paintings of Byzantine Churches in Thessaloniki
• A Beacon from the Castle of Kitros, Pieria, Greece
• Lessons of Modernity from the Past: Some Amazing Parallels Drawn from Antique and Medieval Lychnological Economics
• Short Biographies
• Back cover