Firmalampen: an abundantly-produced lamp-type almost never used? Socio-economic elements to define a new framework to study these peculiar lighting devices
Firmalampen: an abundantly-produced lamp-type almost never used? Socio-economic elements to define a new framework to study these peculiar lighting devices

Summary/Abstract: Firmalampen, produced in enormous quantities in the Northern provinces of the Roman Empire, bear with them still many mysteries to be solved. The most important of these concerns the very few individuals which have ever been used, if compared to the immense corpora of this type, gathered from Britannia to all the provinces situated along the Rhine and the Danube limes. This fact is not only in contrast with the quantities unearthed, but also with the incredible technological progress brought by a Firmalampe. By placing the wick on its channel, its lighting power doubles, being then comparable to the cumulative light provided by two contemporary "discus-lamps". This article aims to offer a new framework and new hypothesis for further studies, by examining diverse elements: locations and delocalizations of the workshops, supply chains leading to the most remote newly conquered areas, military and civilian logistic needs and tastes. Last but not least, a list of specific contexts where the majority of the lamps of this type are found with traces of use will give further clues, for the Firmalampen as well as for another poorly aesthetic and merely utilitarian type, which seem to have the same fate: the much less studied Imperial Vogelkopflampen. The latter type has also been created and manufactured massively during almost three centuries, with a specific "industrial design" elaborated to suit other specific needs: package easiness and possibility to fix them on a wall with a simple nail thanks to their vertical, pierced handle.

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