Alba Regia. Annales Musei Stephani Regis. – Alba Regia. Az István Király Múzeum Évkönyve. 25. – Szent István Király Múzeum közleményei: C sorozat (1995)

Rei Cretariae Romanae Fautorum Acta XXXIV - Pongrácz Zsuzsanna: Glazed lamps from Gorsium and Intercisa. p. 89–93.

Alba Regia, XXV, 1994 ZS. PONGRÁCZ GLAZED LAMPS FROM GORSIUM AND INTERCISA The article is concerned with the glazed lamp-finds of two provenances in country Fejér, from Tác (Gorsium) and Dunaújváros (Intercisa). It is a pity that both groups have been published only in part but never in total, till today. The excavations in Gorsium have been published regularly in the Journal of Alba Regia, year by year, while the excavations in Intercisa mainly in the Intercisa monographs (Póczy 1957). When in connection with a research a glazed lamp is mentioned it means the type which had been characteristic in the Late Roman period. In connection with it I would like to let you know some conceptions of mine. Just for good measure some early and earlier finds have to be mentioned herewith. It is accepted in archeological research of the Roman period that the glazed vessels and other ceramic articles in Pannónia in the period of the early empire were imported products (Bonis 1990, 24). The lamp which was found in grave No. 1678 in the great necropolis of Intercisa (Zentralfriedhof) (fig. I. I) has to be considered to be the same. This form has been indicated by many experts: Loeschcke (1919) indicates it by VIII, Broneer (1930) by XXV, both Iványi (1935) and AlicuN erne s (1977) by VII and Bailey (1980) by O-Q within their systems. This form had by the end of the first century permeated the whole Empire. It is more likely that it had remained alive even till the fourth century in the provinces but the find of Intercisa is dated to the period of the early empire not only because of the caracteristics of the preparing and the decoration but also because of the grass-green glaze-points which are visible in marks on the discus of the lamp. On the upper part of the lamp, on the discus which is enwreathed by vegetable ornaments the figure of Diana shooting with bow and arrow can be seen. The find from Gorsium is a bit later in time than the above mentioned lamp. It is definitely a fragment of a Firmalampe on the lower part of which a stamp beginning CA can be seen (fig. 1.2). These two letters are not sufficient for an identification but according to all indications it can be dated to the end of the second century. At any rate it can be said that this find belongs to the last group of the early glazed imported wares. That cannot be said about two glazed lamps from Intercisa (Póczy 1957, 127, Nr.7; 128, Nr.ll? Taf. XXIII, 13, 14) which are especially attractive. Póczy by whom the glazed wares which had been found in Intercisa had first been published - considers them to be from the fourth century and she estimated that they had been made in a local workshop (ibid., 90). Both lamps are decorated with a horse. The horse on one of the lamps joins the well-known form of Loeschcke X as a handle, the horse on the other lamp joins as a small sculpture keeping the body of the lamp. Similar lamps are known from Carnuntum. It is interesting that from Intercisa we know a late lamp with a support on which two little horses are standing on both sides of the hole for the oil (fig. 2.3), Most of the late glazed lamps are just like this last one. When Iványi wrote her summary about the lamps from Pannónia in 1935 an undecorated form which is charasteristic of this area was separated and described by her and she indicated it by the number XXII. In research works it is generally called today by a German name "Runde Lampe" or simply - after its material - "Runde Tonlampe". First the shape is formed on a potter's wheel then the nozzle and the handle are shaped, the ear (if present) is fitted before baking to the body of the lamp. It happens very often that it is covered by green-brown, yellow-brown, brown blistered leadglaze or metalglaze. It can be that the body of the lamp is put on a high, conical tubular support which had been formed on the potter's wheel (fig. 2.4). This type of lamp arrives to the Danube area from South and it reaches Pannónia in the period of the Late Empire. 89