FIRE AS AN AGENT IN HUMAN CULTURE 241 



the candle, filled every requirement. The cup lamp like a footlight 

 throwing its illumination upward and aided by reflections from the 

 surface of the oil on water, would be ideal for the wall decorator. 

 The taper, candle, or torch of waxed cords held close to the work 

 would furnish sufficient light. Maspero illustrates an Egyptian bronze 

 crusie (locaUty not given) . The body of the lamp represents a gazelle 

 bound for sacrifice lying on its back in the bowl of the crusie. The 

 crusie has three feet. The support is cyhndrical and terminates 

 in a duck's-head hook.^^ Maspero describes this object as a ''ladle 

 for dipping wine." 



Petrie found at Tanis in the house of Bak-akhuin of the Ptolemaic 

 period in Egypt, about 174 A. D., "A bronze lamp, 15 inches high, 

 with a long handle ending in a goose's head, was found lying in the 

 comer of the landing, halfway down the cellar stau-s, probably kept 

 there for lightmg the way down to the cellar; the spout was wide, 

 as in some terra-cotta lamps, the top is a lid fitting on tight to the 

 body, with a ring on the top, and it has three legs to stand on the 

 ground when not required to be carried or hung up." ^^ Petrie writes 

 that nothing from Greece or Italy was found in this house, the only 

 foreign influence being S\Tian. 



With the entr}^ of the Ptolemaic and Roman periods the charac- 

 teristic clay lamp becomes common in Egypt. These lamps show 

 little changes in art or form which would indicate that they were 

 adopted by the Egyptians. 



In the Moslem period the lighting apparatus became more varied 

 by a number of introductions, some of which remain in use to the 

 present day. These were mainly forms of Persian and other art 

 assimilated by the Mohammedans. Of interest are the punched 

 saucer Arabic-Egyptian lamps recovered at Fostat, near Cairo. 

 Fostat, "Leather Tent," was foimded by x'lmir ebn As in 638 after 

 he burned Egyptian Bab3^1on, where Peter wrote his First Epistle. 

 Fostat was burned in 1168 to prevent it from falling into the hands 

 of the Crusaders. Some of the spout lamps found in the ruins of 

 Fostat have a fine greenish-blue glaze. Lamps found here of the 

 Phenician type are not unlike the style of the metal dish lamps still 

 used by the Arabs. 



JEWISH-ASSYRO-BABYLONIA 



Lamps found in Palestine date from Roman times and are among 

 the numerous landmarks of Roman denomination. They have no 

 particular characteristics separating them from the Roman terra-cotta 

 lamps except in decoration, which embraces Jewish symbols, as the 

 seven-branch candlestick, shield of David, etc." 



» Gaston Maspero. Egyptian Archeology, New York, 1888, p. 229. 

 >• W. M. Flinders Petrie. Tanif. Pt. 1. Egjpt Exploration Fund, London, 1889, p. 44. 

 " See H. Hausler. Die Lampe, ihre Bedeutung und Entwieklung in Palestina. Das Heilige Land, 

 pp. 58, 13-22, 79-87, 165-195. 



