#FindsFriday Picture lamps

Today, for #FindsFriday we will be looking at two lovely picture lamps from the Garrison Area E excavations in 2013 (see yesterday’s post for more information about the site)

These were both found within a bustum (burial) and their presence, along with a coin of Vespasian, suggests that the bustum dates to late 70s or early 80s AD💭

Images survive on both lamps, both of which would have been chosen for their funerary meaning. The first depicts a mask of Silenus who is a companion of Dionysus-Bacchus, the saviour god who promised rebirth. His image has been found on other Roman-period tombs in Italy.

The second lamp shows a bust of Jupiter behind an eagle with outspread wings, which refers to both imperial power and Jupiter as the god of the sky. There is also a relationship to the Roman practice of placing within a pyre a caged bird that when released would fly upwards as if bearing the soul to the heavens🌠

The presence of lamps in the bustum suggest some degree of wealth, as the process of lamps creating light involved the burning of oil which was an important resource, normally used as a foodstuff.

Other interesting finds in the bustum include 2,364g of pottery, and parts of five pottery tazza. Tazze are usually considered to be associated with the burning of incense and some at least have ritual associations🪔

For more information about the Garrison Area E excavations check out CAT Report 778 at: cat.essex.ac.uk