Posted on 12/05/2008 7:43:05 PM PST by SunkenCiv
Evidence of the pottery workshops emerged in Modena, in central-northern Italy, during construction work to build a residential complex near the ancient walls of the city... Firmalampen, or "factory lamps," were one of the first mass-produced goods in Roman times and they carried brand names clearly stamped on their clay bottoms. The ancient dumping in Modena contained lamps by the most famous brands of the time: Strobili, Communis, Phoetaspi, Eucarpi and Fortis. All these manufacturers had their products sold on the markets of three continents. Fortis was the trendiest of all pottery brands and its products were used up to the end of the second century A.D... Scholars have long thought that the fashionable Fortis originated from Modena -- then called Mutina -- but until now no evidence had been found for that claim... Labate added that kilns were located outside the city walls to prevent fires from breaking out in the city. The ancient dumping contained other important objects, such as a fine terracotta statuette depicting Hercules as he captures the Erymanthian Boar, and 14 lead bullets which were probably used in the Battle of Mutina in 43 B.C. During that battle, Decimus Brutus, one of Julius Caesar's assassins, defeated the besieging Mark Antony with the help of Octavian, the future Roman Emperor Augustus... The oil lamps and the other newly discovered objects will be displayed in a permanent show at the Archaeological and Ethnological Museum in Modena at the end of the month.
(Excerpt) Read more at dsc.discovery.com ...
Huh. Learn something new every day. I suppose I should reread my castor and pollux.
*choke*
Er...I think I hear my mother calling.
(What were we talking about?)
Hiya!
Wassup in the state of perpetual spudniks?
Those will be useful again soon — after OBamBam puts the coal industry out of business, and we have regular blackouts.
It’s always fun to find out these bits and pieces...one of my fav things...
Hubby been in PA all week, but he’s coming in in about an hour...yay!....besides that, it’s been quiet, and cool, with the usual pretty and boring Boise weather....I love it.
That’ll only work until there’s no more oil to burn in the lamps. ;’)
They are in superb condition.
Now I’m thinkin’ that I’ve slipped up a bit — usually I pile on links to past related topics, and it’s just possible that we had one on ancient sling technology... or maybe that was in this magazine (rustles through the piles) ah, here it is, in the special issue from Military History mag, “Bronze, Brains, and Blood” (hmm, good ping list title there), an article called “Giant Slayer” (reference to Goliath). I wish I could post it, but alas, forbidden source. :’(
Haven’t kerosene any lately?
Okay, I’ll be the one to ask the stupid question:
Why do all of these oil lamps look exactly alike, except for the names? And why are all the names in the same typeface? (Or whatever you would call that.) I thought these were by different companies, so why don’t they have different models and different appearances?
(Anyone? Buehler?)
It looks to be an ancient version of an OEM. :’)
Just wondering if those folks ever got a bailout when times were tough.
Yes, weird you should mention it. When the empire crumbled and the barbarians were sacking every town in Italy, these oil lamp manufacturers appealed to Emperor Romulus Augustulus for a bailout, and he had them bailed into the colosseum. ;’)
It was the Etruscan in them. Now THEY were a can-do breed. :)
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