The Lamps of Late Antiquity from Rhodes: 3rd–7th centuries AD

Description

The city of Rhodes was an important harbour in the Hellenistic period, and although its political role in the Roman period was significantly diminished, it never ceased to be a key hub for trade. The catastrophic earthquake of 515 AD marked the transition from the Late Roman to the Early Byzantine period in Rhodes. The glorious ancient city shrunk in size; its streets, which had been laid out according to the Hippodamian grid, were encroached upon and large basilicas were founded on the sites of ancient sanctuaries. A significant portion of the city has been uncovered over the past few years by rescue excavation, revealing houses, mansions, streets and extensive cemeteries, all yielding a large quantity of finds. This study focuses on the recording, study and publication of the corpus of the Late Antique lamps dating from the 3rd to the 7th centuries as found in these rescue excavations in the town of Rhodes. The lamps of this period from Rhodes and the other Dodecanesian islands are nearly unknown in the bibliography. The aim here is to present the diachronic changes in the artistic sensibility and preferences of this particular market. An integral component in this process are topographical observations regarding the Early Byzantine town of Rhodes, giving some details about the extent of the building remains. In addition, facets of the economic and commercial activities of the island during Late Antiquity are highlighted. Subjects such as the transformation/adaptation of the ancient city to new circumstances are also debated. For some lamps, analyses of the clay have been undertaken and the results are presented. Table of Contents A. 1. Introduction A. 2. The Historical Context B. THE LAMPS B. 1. The Corinthian Lamps B. 2. The Cypriot Lamps B.3. The Attic Lamps B. 4. The ‘Rhodian’ Lamps B. 5. The So-called Asia Minor and the Asia Minor-type Lamps B. 6. The Knidian Lamps B. 7. The ‘Samian-type’ Lamps B. 8. The ‘Aegean type’ Lamps B. 9. The North African Lamps B. 10. Unplaced: The Greek East Lamps B. 11. The Wheel-made Lamps B. 12. The Lamps of a Copper Alloy C. Epilogue – Conclusions D.1. Topographic map of Rhodes and location of excavation work (a list of the land-plots from which the lamps came) D.2. List of signatures, inscriptions and symbols D.3. List of plates (signatures, inscriptions and symbols) D.4. Plates D.5. List of Illustrations D.6. Illustrations D.7. Concordance of registration numbers and catalogue numbers D.8. Bibliography-Abbreviations E.1. NAA Analysis of Late Roman Lamps from Rhodes E.2. The Preparation of a Preliminary XRF Database and the Comparison of Provenanced and Unprovenanced Lamps from Rhodes: An XRF Study Conducted by the University of Hartford Research Group E.3. Some comments on the NAA and XRF analyses results