Etruscan Oil Lamp

Archaeology Magazine ^ | July/August 2024 | Jarrett A. Lobell

[SunkenCiv]

For the nearly two centuries since this Etruscan oil lamp was found near the city of Cortona, Italy, it has confounded scholars. It was unearthed in a ditch, so its original context is unknown. And its combination of imagery is unique in the ancient Mediterranean world, leaving nothing to compare it with that might hint at how it was used. On the bottom of the lamp, at the center, is an image of a fearsome Gorgon surrounded by snakes. This Gorgon is encircled by a frieze of animals, including dolphins, in combat. In the next ring, crouching male demigods known as Sileni playing musical instruments alternate with winged female Sirens. Finally, there are images of faces flanking the nozzles into which oil was poured, which scholars have traditionally interpreted as representing the river god Achelous.

But the key to understanding the lamp may lie in a case of mistaken identity. "When I looked at the lamp, something wasn't quite right," says archaeologist Ronak Alburz of the University of Melbourne. "I couldn't understand why Achelous would be depicted because there's no meaningful relationship between the god, Sileni, and Sirens." Instead, Alburz believes the faces—shown here as separate details—depict Dionysus as an orbiting sun god. In the cosmology of the Etruscans, who flourished in central Italy between the eighth and third centuries B.C., the sky was divided into 16 regions. Alburz believes that the lamp's 16 images of Dionysus in combination with its other figures, who are often associated with the god, provide evidence that it depicts Dionysus' thiasus, or retinue, performing an ecstatic ritual. She thinks the lamp likely once decorated a temple where rites associated with the Dionysian mysteries were performed. "There's sparse knowledge of Dionysus' place in Etruria," says Alburz, "so any new evidence is very valuable."

[SunkenCiv]

Courtesy Museo dell'Accademia Etrusca e della Città di Cortona.

© DeA Picture Library/Art Resource, NY

[SunkenCiv]

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[SunkenCiv]

[Larry Lucido]

Never mind all that. Did they rub the lamp to see if there was a genie in it?

[SunkenCiv]

Must have skipped that, otherwise they’d be sipping umbrella drinks on the beach of some private island instead of writing papers about this.

[Red Badger]

Such intricate art/metalwork!

It must have belonged to a very wealthy Etruscan...............

[Larry Lucido]

I like the joke about the boss and two workers who each get granted one wish. The two workers’ wishes are granted and they each get sent to a paradise with lovely girls. The boss then says “I want those two back in the office right after lunchtime.”

[Redcitizen]

That’s a good one. :)

[Liz]

Oceanus was the Primordial Titan god of the great, earth-encircling, River Oceanos, font of all of the earth's fresh-water - rivers, wells, springs and rain-clouds. He was also the legendary father of the river gods; he regulated the heavenly bodies which rose from, and set, into his waters.

Oceanus, center, depicted in the Trevi Fountain, Rome.

[HYPOCRACY]

[SunkenCiv]

[another dissociated punchline] "How old is your husband?" "42." "Wow. 42, and he still believes in genies."

[SunkenCiv]

They just don’t make movies like that anymore. Probably because movies have gotten even worse. :^)

[HYPOCRACY]

The “dolphins in battle” reminded me of it. Will watch now...

[Buttons12]

Well...it’s a big old chandelier about 2’ in diameter with the usual archaic Mediterranean symbolism — winged persons, bulls, serpents. The more or less human characters are riding dolphins (being seated above them) and the dolphins are riding waves, as waves were depicted in Greece, Egypt, etc. The male figures show ithyphallic representations, also a common motif. And if I’m not mistaken the central face shows tusk-like canines (teeth) which is not typically a representation of Dionysus, so I’d say this object comes from a temple dedicated to Silenus, who was a sort of precursor to Dionysus. Ritual at such a temple would have been the usual carrying on, bacchanalian, ecstatic, advancing and celebrating fertility.
And not to read too much into it, but the dolphins and waves completely encircling the grimacing central figure suggest an island is depicted.
Until someone unearths a good standard Etruscan-Latin Dictionary, it’s all guesswork. Unfortunately they put everything in the tombs, for the enjoyment of the deceased, except the reading material. :(

[logi_cal869]

If you desire some actual details on the artifact (including a cogent image)

https://www.teachercurator.com/art/the-etruscan-bronze-chandelier-of-cortona/

[SunkenCiv]

The problem with Etruscan writing is they are largely short inscriptions, mostly on burial monuments. They left no archives as far as is known. The Lemnian Stele and a couple of old linen wrappings pulled off Egyptian mummies in modern times are the longest, and remain poorly understood.

They had their own version of Apollo. Their having a version of Dionysus isn’t surprising.

There are some ruins of temples that have been degraded by a couple thousand years of weather.

Their tombs were durable and have been found to contain nice cremation containers and other ceramic art, as well as some wall paintings.

When the excavation of one of the large sites was done, so much ceramic art was found that the excavator (some relative of Napoleon III if memory serves) figured it would be a drag on the market when he tried to sell it, so he had most of it destroyed. No telling what was lost.

[Red Badger]

...the intricacy is astounding for the age!...It would be difficult to reproduce even today!................