Roman Lamps From Cemeteries in Gerulata (Rusoviec)

This catalogue documents Roman lamps from the cemeteries of Gerulata (modern-day Rusovce). It consists of 16 Bildlapmen, 89 Firmalampen, and one special shape. These lamps were found mainly in two large cemeteries, in both cremation and inhumation graves, dated from the last decades of the 1 st century AD to the dawn of the 3rd century. Of the Bildlampen, several lamps with angular voluted nozzles (Loeschcke type I) and one fragment of a circular lamp with a rounded nozzle (Loeschcke type VIII) are represented. Of the Firmalampen, both Loeschcke types IX and X are found, type X and its variations being the most numerous (67 lamps). The iconography of relief decorations shows a range of mythological and profane images. Twenty different makers' stamps in relief are found, two without parallels, with Fortis as most common. The production, transport and copying of Firmalampen is described; resulting endeavors to locate their point of origin are determined to be often unreliable without chemical analysis. Both the relationship of lamps to other grave goods as well as their purpose in graves are assessed; lamps are found to have been an available luxury, as appropriate in a Romanized society. Most lamps had worn bases, and some had blackened wickholes; most are burned by their inclusion in the funeral pyre. The..