One of the largest museums in Russia - the State Historical Museum - has been undeservedly overlooked by specialists for many years. Meanwhile, the collections of the Historical Museum are a real treasure trove, far from being completely exhausted. Moreover, we note that today even specialists know only a small part of the magnificent collection, which was collected by the museum for more than a hundred years ^.1

I would like to focus only on one category of materials, namely-on lamps. Unfortunately, the lamps, which are widely represented on all the Northern Black Sea monuments and in museum collections, were "unlucky" in our country - after the exhaustive work of O. Waldhauer, there were no publications on this topic for 70 years ^.2 Only the monograph of T. M. Arsenyeva partially filled the gap in the study of antique lamps of the Northern Black Sea region, although Tanais lamps are very original and mainly represented by copies of local production ^.3 In addition, several articles were published, primarily by specialists from Kharkiv University4 . In recent years, only the catalog of lamps from the Odessa Museum ⁵ has been published, but not only the scientific level of this work, but also the printing quality of the publication make it impossible to even find analogies in this book, not to mention something more. The situation in the field of studying antique lamps is in sharp contrast to the West, where there are hundreds of magnificent catalogs of lamps from various collections.

Meanwhile, there is no need to remind once again about the importance of studying lamps not only as a great dating material, but also as a source for trade relations, ceramic production, and just a beautiful illustration of ancient art and mythology.

Due to the need to publish the catalog of the collection of antique lamps of the Historical Museum at a modern scientific level, an international project for publishing GIM lamps was launched, the first volume of which - lamps from Chersonesus - was already published in Rome ^.6

¹ For the history of the collection, see Sorokina N. P., Zhuravlev D. V. Collections of monuments from ancient centers of the Northern Black Sea region in the collection of the State Historical Museum (Moscow) // VDI. 1993. N 4. pp. 242-258 = Sorokina N. P., Zhuravlev D. V. Collections of Artefacts from Classical Centers on the North Coast of the Black Sea in the Collection of the State Historical Museum (Moscow) // Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to Siberia. V. 4.2. 1997. P. 158-186; Zhuravlev D. V. Collections from Chersonese in the collection of the State Historical Museum // VDI. 1997. N 3. pp. 194-207.

² Waldhauer O. F. The Imperial Hermitage. Antique clay lamps. St. Petersburg, 1914 = Waldhauer O. Kaiserliche Ermitage. Die antiken Tonlampen. SPb., 1914.

³ Arsenyeva T. M. Lamps of Tanais, Moscow, 1988.

⁴ Kadeev V. I. Import lamps of the I-IV centuries A.D. from Chersonesus / / SA. 1969. N 3; Sorochan S. B. Importni svitylniki yak dzherelo vivchennya torgovelnih zvyazkiv Chersonesus iz Skhidnim Meditr'yam u I-III art. n. e. / / Vestnik KhSU. 1978. N 167.Istoriya. Вип. Yu; Sorochan S. B.. Shevchenko A.V. West Pontic lamps of the II-IV centuries from Chersonesos // Bulletin of KHSU, 1983, issue 238 et al.

⁵ Levina E. A. Antique lamps of the Odessa Archaeological Museum (I-VI centuries AD). Odessa, 1992.

⁶ Chrzanovski L., Zhuravlev D. Lamps from Chersonesos in the Collection of the State Historical Museum, Moscow. Roma: L'ERMA di Bretschneider, 1998. See also Chrzanovski L., Zhuravlev D. The Corpus of Ancient Lamps in the State Historical Museum (Moscow). V. 1: Lamps from Chersonesos // Ancient Civilizations from

page 159

As is well known, the State Museum of Fine Arts houses a large collection of ancient centers of the Black Sea region (Olbia, Berezan, Chersonese, Panticapaeum, Phanagoria, Kepa, etc.). In addition, the museum presents in whole or in part the collections of A. S. Uvarov, I. E. Zabelin, S. I. Chizhov, P. O. Burachkov, M. Botkin and other famous artists. historians and collectors of the past.

The foundation of the Historical Museum's collection of lamps was laid during the Polytechnic Exhibition of 1872, in which materials devoted to the defense of Sevastopol during the Crimean War played an important role, and in connection with this, objects from the excavations of ancient Chersonesos played an important role. Mostly they were antiquities from the collection of Count A. S. Uvarov. After this exhibition, the decision was made to create the Imperial Russian Historical Museum named after Tsarevich (later Emperor) Alexander III in Moscow - ROME. Part of the exhibition materials formed the basis of the collections of a number of future departments of the Historical Museum, including the Chersonesus collection of the Archaeological Department. In 1883, the first ten halls of the museum were opened to the public. The exhibition also featured several lamps, primarily with Christian symbols.

Some of the lamps come from depasportized collections - not only from private collections, but also, for example, from the excavations of K. K. Kosciuszko-Valiuzhinich; others, on the contrary, are well connected with archaeological complexes (excavations of V. V. Shkorpil from Pantikapey, materials from the excavations of N. I. Sokolsky, etc.). some bronze lamps from the collection of the former Rumyantsev Museum do not have such a passport. Without abusing the reader's attention with a long story about the history of the collection, we only note that the collection of GIM lamps has about a thousand whole copies. Here you can find almost all the main forms of lamps that existed in ancient and early Byzantine times. Many lamps from the museum's collection are simply unique - they know no more than one or two analogies around the world. All this makes the publication of the collection extremely important and timely.

Greek lamps of the archaic and classical period are mainly represented by open forms with one or two horns, both Ionian and local, Northern Black Sea production ⁷ . The earliest specimens come from Berezan (excavations by E. von Stern). Speaking about the Greek lamps, we should mention a group of lamps from Chersonesos (excavations by K. K. Kosciuszko-Valiuzhinich), which date from the end of the VI - first half of the V century BC (Figs. 1, 1-4), which serves as an excellent illustration of the concept of early Chersonesos developed by M. I. Zolotarev and Yu. G. Vinogradov ⁸ .

Hellenistic lamps are represented by products of Cnidus, Ephesus, Pergamum and other centers (Figs. 1, 5-7), as well as numerous products of local Black Sea workshops, among which we note a large series of multi-track lamps from Panticapaeum (Figs. 1,9).

The largest number of lamps from the GIM collection dates back to Roman times. Among them, first of all, I would like to highlight a series of lamps with so-called "volutes", the shield of which is decorated with various subjects-from images of deities to erotic scenes (Fig. 1, 10-11; 2, 3-6, 8). These lamps are generally characterized by a round shape, a large round shield and, above all, a long, wide horn decorated with volutes on both sides. Depending on the shape of the horn, they were divided into three large groups and accordingly described in numerous classification works:

1. Wide horn with curved or obtuse end (Bailey A type, Broneer

Scythia to Siberia. V. 4.3. 1997. P. 245-249; Zhuravlev D. V., Hrshanovsky L. To the publication of the Corpus of lamps of the State Historical Museum / / RA. 1997. N 4. pp. 218-223.

⁷ We cannot reasonably establish production centers without having a series of clay tests available at the moment. Therefore, for most luminaires, one can only assume the origin from one or another center with varying degrees of probability.

⁸ See the last article with a detailed bibliography: Vinogradov Yu. G., Zolotarev M. I. Year of birth of the Tauric Chersonese / / Chersonese collection. IX. Sevastopol, 1998, pp. 36-46.

page 160

1. Greek,Hellenistic, and Early Roman luminaries: 1-4, 6, 7, 10 - Chersonese; 5, 11 - Southern Russia; 8 - Romanian; 9-Panticapaeum (?)

page 161

XXII, Deneauve IV, Dressel 9, Leibundgut V-VII, Loeschcke I, etc.) ⁹ : This type dates from the reign of Augustus-Flavius in Italy.

2. Wide horn with rounded finish (Bailey B, Broneer XXIII, Deneauve VA and VC; Dressel 11 and 14. Leibundgut XII, Loeschcke IV, etc.): this type is dated in Italy to the reign of Augustus - Trajan.

3. Wide horn with rounded finish, but with simplified volutes extending from the lamp hangers (Bailey C, Broneer XXIV, Deneauve VD, Dressel 15 and 16, Leibundgut XIV-XV, Loeschcke V, etc.): this type dates in Italy from the end of the reign of Claudius to Hadrian.

One of the earliest and most interesting lamps with volutes from the GIM collection is a lamp with the image of Venus and Eros (Figs. 1, 10). The lamp was made in a form, its body slightly elongated. The shield is separated by three low rollers, smoothly turning into volutes. The shield shows Venus naked, except for the draped left arm, from the back. In her right hand, Venus holds a sword with the hilt facing away from her. Venus presses the shield against her left leg, leaning on it with her left hand. Eros stands to the right of Venus, handing her a helmet with a plume. The round loop handle of the lamp is decorated with two grooves, the bottom is slightly concave, and one shallow groove is made on it. The lamp is missing most of the horn. This makes it somewhat difficult to date it, but we can assume that the lamp was made in the last decades of the first century BC. ¹⁰

We know only a small number of lamps with similar iconography, originating from all over the ancient world11 . K. Farka showed that this plot was connected with the symbol of the political program of Julius Caesar, who always represented Venus as the founder of the Julius family, and therefore with the cult of Caesar in the August and early Imperial times ^.12 Of course, it should be borne in mind that Roman themes and symbols reached the Northern Black Sea coast with some delay compared, for example, with Italy. However, we must not forget the important role played by Julius Caesar in the region, especially given the success of Gaius Julius Satyrus ' embassy to Rome to grant eleutheria to the Chersonese (IOSPE. I (2). N 691) ¹³ .

Obviously, it is possible to assume with some degree of probability that this lamp was purchased by someone from the Chersonesites specifically, given the significance of the image of Venus for Caesar, and accordingly for his cult, most likely after the return of the Chersonese embassy from Rome. It is no secret that the images on the lamps of the Roman period, along with

⁹ Bailey О.М. Catalogue of the Lamps in the British Museum, London, II. Roman Lamps Made in Italy. L., 1980; Broneer O. Corinth, IV, 2. Terracotta Lamps. Cambr., 1930; Deneauve, 1. Lamps de Carthage. P., 1974; Dressel N. Lucemarum Formae, CIL, XV, II, 1. V., 1899. Leihundgut A. Die Romischen Lampen in der Schweiz. Bern, 1977; Loeschcke S. Lampen aus Vindonissa. Zurich, 1919.

¹⁰ For more information, see: Chrzanovski, Zhuravlev. Lamps from Chersonesos... P. 58 f.

ⁿ Leiden-lamp from Tunis (I century BC, type Dressel 3), with the brand AIMILI ERONIS-Brants J. Antieke Terra-cotta Lampen uit het Rijksmuseum van oudheden te Leiden. Leiden, 1913. N 151. S. 14. PI. I; Magdalensberg-fragmentary lamp type Dressel 3. belonging to the Early Augustan period, as well as a small fragment of the shield-Farka C. Die Romische Lampen vom Magdalensberg. Klagenfurt, 1977. N 119. S. 104 f., 190 f. Taf. 11, 27, 59; N 1284. S. 307 f. Taf. 59; British Museum - Walters N. V. Catalog of the Greek and Roman Lamps in the British Museum. L., 1914. N 514. P. 77. PI. 96; Bailey O. M. Catalog of the Lamps in the British Museum, London. I. Greek, Hellenistic and Early Roman Pottery Lamps. Oxf., 1975. Q 739. P. 350. PI. 137, 149 (late 1st century BC); Warsaw (type Dressel 3, dated early 1st century BC) - Eros is missing, but the image of Venus seems very close-Bernhard M. L. Lampki starozytne. Warszawa, 1955. N 214. P. 298. PI. XLII. See also a small fragment of the shield from Berlin, which shows a winged Erot feeding a helmet (Heres G. Die romischen Bildlampen der Berliner Antiken-Sammlung. V., 1972. N 597. P. 89. PI. 62). Another shield found in Benghazi, Libya, depicts a winged Eros holding a helmet and part of the hand of Venus (Bailey O. M. Excavations at Sidi Khrebish Benghazi (Berenice). V. III. Pt. 2: The Lamps. Tripoli, 1985. N 147. P. 27. PI. 4. Italy, the first third of the first century AD)

¹² Farka. Op. cit. S. 104 f., which contains parallels for this story on gems, coins, ceramics and sculpture.

¹³ Rostovtsev M. I. Tsezar i Chersonesos / / IAK. 1917. 63. Vinogradov Yu. G. Tsezar, Chersonesos and Bosporus // Chersonesos in the ancient world. Istoriko-arkheologicheskiy aspekt [Historical and archaeological aspect]. Tez. dokl. mezhdunar. nauchnoy konf. Sevastopol, 1997.

page 162

coins, gems and tesserae were often used as a means of visual propaganda of imperial power, official cults, etc. ¹⁴ A number of researchers suggest the existence of an official cult of Aphrodite in the Roman Chersonesus ¹⁵ .

A series of luminaires called Firmalampen ¹⁶ is of great interest (Fig. 2, 1-2). All lamps have a round body, a long horn, and no handle; often they are devoid of images on the shield (on some lamps, images of relief heads are known). The shield is separated from the shoulders by a high side that passes into the channel along the horn. Along the edges of the shoulders, two or three rectangular projections are often made. All lamps of this group have in the center of the donets relief brands of manufacturers in the form of several letters or an entire name. The beginning of production in the works of various researchers dates from the beginning of the first century AD17 to the time of Vespasian18 . They were originally made in Northern Italy; subsequently, their production began not only throughout Italy, but also in many provinces of the Empire and continued for many years. As a rule, they are of the worst quality and often lack brands, or the latter are presented in the form of a random set of letters. In this regard, it is not always possible to determine the chronology and production centers of these lamps.

Firmalampen is not widely distributed in the Northern Black Sea region. Their findings are known only in the centers where the Roman influence was strongest - Chersonesos, Olbia, and Tyre [¹⁹]; two specimens from the Hermitage collection come from "Southern Russia" [²⁰]. As far as we know, no such lamps have yet been found on the territory of the Bosporan Kingdom. The lamps from the GIM collection come from Chersonesos and have the brands CASSI, CRESCES, QGC, STROBILI ²¹ .

Among the Roman lamps, the largest number belongs to the round-shaped lamps of the II-III centuries AD (the so-called Loeschcke VIII type). Most of them had various decorations on the shield (Fig. 2, 9-11; 3, 2). Let us briefly focus on the scene, which is interpreted by many researchers as the image of the Good Shepherd (Fig. 3, 2) ²² . The motif of a shepherd carrying a sheep on his shoulders, often defined as "The Good Shepherd" from the standpoint of Christian symbolism, is still the subject of numerous disputes about the interpretation of this plot on lamps of the III century AD. Note that this motif dates back to the archaic Greek sculpture of the VII century BC, and to the end of Roman time it was widespread throughout the entire Greco-Roman world. In Roman times, many deities of Eastern origin were depicted as the "Good Shepherd", such as Attis - Cryophorus ^.23 Undoubtedly, without a precise context, it is still impossible to definitively resolve the question of the religious affiliation of these symbols, in particular for Italy, where many different religions and cults coexisted simultaneously.

¹⁴ See, for example: Korobkov D. S. Plots of three lamps from Chersonesos and religious and state symbols of the Roman time // Chersonesos in the ancient world ... pp. 57-62; See also Abramzon M. G. Roman Army and its leader according to numismatics. Chelyabinsk, 1994.

¹⁵ Meshcheryakov V. F. Religion and cults of Tauric Chersonesus in the I-IV centuries AD. .. Candidate of Historical Sciences, Moscow, 1980, p. 9; Kadeev V. I. Tauric Chersonesus. Byt i kul'tura (I-III vv. n. e.). Kharkiv, 1996. p. 151. Saprykin S. Yu. Aphrodite with two Eros from the Tauric Chersonese / / Chersonese collection. IX. 1998. p. 68.

¹⁶ Zhuravlev D. V., Hrshanovsky L. Firmalampen from Chersonesos / / Nikoniy i antic'nyi mir Severnogo Prichernomorya. Odessa, 1998. pp. 288-291.

¹⁷ Buchi Е. Lucerne del museo di Aquileia. V. 1. Lucerne Romane con marchio di fabbrica. Aquileia, 1975.

^18< Loeschcke. Op. with it.

^{19 Waldhauer. Uk. soch. N 461-463; Son N. A., Sorochin S. B. Antique lamps from Tira / / Antique antiquities of the Northern Black Sea region. Kiev, 1988. p. 123 p.; Kadeev V. I., Sorochin S. B. Economic relations of ancient cities of the Northern Black Sea region in the I century BC-V century AD (based on the materials of Chersonesus). Kharkiv, 1989. p. 43 et al.}

²⁰ Wildhauer. Uk. op. N 555-556.

²¹ Chrzanovski, Zhuravlev. Lamps from Chersonesos... N 28-31.

²² The GIM collection presents three examples of lamps with this story.

²³ See, for example: Kobylina M. M. Images of Eastern deities in the Northern Black Sea region in the first centuries AD Moscow, 1978. N 19, 19a. For more information, see Chrzanovski, Zhuravlev. Lamps from Chersonesos... P. 114-116. The authors of the book also intend to publish a special study on this topic.

page 163

2. Lamps of Roman types: 1,2,6, 10-Chersonesos; 3-Panticapaeum; 4. 5, 7-9-Kerch (?), Botkin's collection; 11-Belbek IV burial ground

page 164

3. Late Roman lamps: 1, 3-5, 8, 10 - Chersonesos; 2, 6, 7, 9-Chersonesos or Italy (from the collection of the Rumyantsev Museum)

page 165

Obviously, this motif on the lamps was created by a workshop headed by Annius Serapiodorus (late II-first half of the III century AD) ^.24 It is difficult to suspect this man of special sympathies for Christians - all the other lamps that came out of his workshop have either bucolic themes, or depict Eastern deities-Isis, Serapis, etc.In addition, even the name of the master is derived from the name of Serapis.

Of course, it cannot be ruled out that lamps with a similar plot could have been bought by Christians who gave this plot the appropriate semantics (for the third century AD, images of the "Good Shepherd" in the Roman catacombs have already been recorded). However, in our opinion, there is no reason to consider these lamps as one of the earliest evidences of the penetration of Christianity in the Black Sea region.

Lamps of late Roman and early Byzantine times are very interesting. One of the most characteristic forms was the so-called ribbed lamps, including those with XPY/COY stamps (Fig. 3, 1). These brands, despite several hypotheses that exist, have not been fully solved ^.25 On the territory of Moesia in the VI-VII centuries AD, lamps with shaped handles were produced, which most often depict a cross (Fig. 3, 10). Among the North African lamps, we can single out a very interesting lamp where the biblical story - the image of Jonah in the mouth of a fish - is presented rather unconventionally (Figs. 3, 6).

Interesting examples are stucco lamps from various monuments of the Northern Black Sea region (Figs. 1, 8). The collection of bronze lamps consists of only a few copies. Among them are a lamp from the Klimenkovsky farm and several bronze lamps from the former collection of the Rumyantsev Museum, as well as lamps from Transcaucasia. In addition, the GIM collection contains several lamps that are later forgeries and come from private collections of the XIX century. ²⁶

Thus, even a cursory review of the collection of lamps from the collection of the Historical Museum gives an idea of the opportunities that await researchers of this collection. We hope that the earliest publication of the complete catalog of lamps from the State Museum of Fine Arts (including in Russian) will encourage the study of lamps from numerous museums in Russia and Ukraine.

THE STATE HISTORICAL MUSEUM COLLECTION OF ANCIENT LAMPS D.V. Zhuravlev, L. Chrzanovski

The article describes the collection of ancient and early Byzantine lamps of the State Historical Museum. The collection is still insufficiently known to scholars, though it contains almost all the main types of lamps of these periods. The greatest pan of the collection is composed of the North Black Sea Region lamps, the rest comes from former private collections acquired in Mediterranean countries. The authors of the article are now preparing a full corpus of the lamps of the collection, and the 1st volume of the work has already been published.

²⁴ Most of the brands on lamps with this subject are ANNISER; Paleani M. T. Le lucerne paleocristiane (Monumenti, Musei e Gallerie Pontificie, Antiquarium Romanum). Roma, 1993. P. 7.

²⁵ Shcheglov A. N. Lamps branded with XPYCOY // Messages from the Chersonesus Museum. Issue No. 2. Симферополь, 1961; Сорочин С.Б. Про так званi рубчастi свiтильники з Херсонеса // Археологiя. 1982. 38; Zilesskaya V. N. Dva rannesrednevekovykh klinyanykh svazhnika iz Severnogo Prichernomorya [Two Early Medieval clay lamps from the Northern Black Sea region].

²⁶ Chrzanovksi, Zhuravlev. Lamps from Chersonesos... N 112.

Permanent link to this publication: