American Academy in Rome - Fautores Abstract

NORTH ITALIAN INFLUENCES ON THE OIL-LAMP PRODUCTS IN EARLY AQUINCUM POTTERY

Paula Zsidi

The most recent campaign of material analyses on oil lamps made in the Aquincum pottery workshops were conducted by Tihamér Szentléleky in 1959 (Szentléleky. Lamp-making workshops in Aquincum. Budapest Régiségei 19 (1959) 167-203) who collected approximately 240 products and samples from the finds of five Aquincum pottery workshops. He mostly took parallels from the ceramic material of the western provinces of the Roman Empire. Consequently, he deduced that the products from the Aquincum oil lamp making workshops are identical in many senses to the "German and Noricum oil lamp material developed under Italian influence". In his opinion the influence was direct on the part of the Aquincum workshops, on the other hand it was through the mediation of Pannonia Superior workshops.

At the same time, the Italian influence on the decorative ware made in Pannonian workshops came through other paths as well (Póczy. Der Einfluss der spätitalischen Sigillata-Werkstätten auf die Fabrikation von pannonischen Prunkgefässen. Acta ArchHung 11 (1959) 143-158.). The analyses on the decorative ware reflected a direct Italian connection. The author assumed the presence of the Italian filiae in South Pannonia. The role of the filiae, and therefore the importance of the Amber route, is pronounced in the products of the Aquincum pottery workshops until the middle of the 2nd century.

In our work, we will attempt to see whether the oil lamps from Aquincum workshops display other economic connections and how these can be explained.

The previous material collection (Szentléleky op.cit.) is supplemented by - mostly published - finds from other, new excavations, most of which are grave-goods. The rest of the ceramic material derives from workshops and finds from old collections as well as new field excavations. Other articles on oil lamps from Pannonian (Carnuntum, Poetovio) and North Italian (for example Aquileia) locations published since the last overview (1959) also help to localize the Aquincum oil lamp production. The material analyses of the firmalampen (G. Schneider) also contribute to this research.