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What is it?
This ornate bronze hanging oil lamp, 60cm in diameter and weighing 57.72kg, comes from the Etruscan civilisation. It is decorated with a unique combination of iconography that has been the subject of discussion since its discovery. In the centre of the lamp a Gorgon head is shown surrounded by snakes; around this are groups of fighting animals, followed by stylised waves with dolphins leaping over them. In the next ring are eight Sileni (hooved male demigods) alternating with eight winged female figures interpreted as Sirens. On the outside of the lamp are 16 bull-horned bearded heads, whose faces flank the nozzles into which oil was poured.
Where was it found, and when?
The object was discovered in 1840 in a ditch near the town of Cortona, in modern-day Tuscany, Italy. Unfortunately, this was not the lamp’s original context and the only other object found nearby was an inscribed bronze plaque believed to be several centuries later in date. Scholars have debated the precise age of the lamp and the significance of its iconography for almost two centuries, limited by the lack of contextual evidence, and by the absence of any known directly comparable objects from the ancient Mediterranean. Now a new study has drawn on a combination of literary sources and other iconographic evidence to reanalyse the lamp’s imagery.
Why does it matter?
The recent research presents a more coherent interpretation of this mysterious object, offering an opportunity better to understand the material culture and religious world of the ancient Etruscan civilisation.
First, the study compares the lamp’s iconography with that of other objects and ascertains that it is most likely to date to the Late Archaic period, c.480 BC. Next, the researchers offer a new perspective on the lamp’s enigmatic iconography. For decades, the widely accepted interpretation was that the 16 bull horned heads around the outside of the lamp depicted the Greek river god Achelous. However, this does not allow for a consistent narrative with the rest of the images on the lamp: there is no known association between Achelous, Sirens, and Sileni. Instead, the researchers propose a different explanation. If the horned faces in fact represent the god Dionysus – who was also frequently depicted with bull features – then the other images fall into place. Sileni and dolphins were closely associated with the god, while the other elements also have more logical explanations if considered in the context of Dionysus and his retinue. It is therefore believed that the lamp may have been used in a temple associated with the cult of Dionysus, although it could also have been part of burial for one of his high-status followers.
The study has wider implications, too: have any other images of Dionysus from the ancient world been misidentified as Achelous?
FIND OUT MORE: The recent research has been published in De Gruyter’s Etruscan and Italic Studies (https://doi.org/10.1515/etst-2023-0019). The lamp is in the collections of the MAEC Museum Cortona.
Text: Amy Brunskill / Photo: MAEC, Museo dell'Accademia Etrusca e della Città di Cortona
