Usage of lamps in a religious context is present throughout pagan antiquity. According to Atheneus, the lamp was a recent invention in Greece—οὐπαλαιὸν δ’ εὕρημα λύχνος—as the “ancients” only used torches.1 In fact, the presence of torches in the hands of divinities and their priests is almost exclusive in archaic and classical literary sources and iconography, and torches would never lose their solemn role in religion in spite of the fast spreading use of lamps. Torches borne by divine figures will eventually find their correspondence in lamps, sometimes ornate but mostly humble, that worshippers dedicate to sanctuaries or carry during processions and other rites.2 The purely ritual function of lamps—carried during processions, linked to the altar, suspended in temples, burning day and night in front of divine images3— starts gathering momentum around the end of the Hellenistic period, according to M. Nilsson under oriental, mostly Egyptian, influence.4
Cheaper and handier than the torch for interior lighting, the lamp (λύχνος) was destined to play a major role in Roman domestic cults. Along with the portable altar and the censer, the lamp will become part of a religious setting, a readily available private sacred space comparable to Christian iconostases with everlasting oil lamps. In fact, impressive deposits of lamps were discovered in the domestic sanctuaries of Lares at Pompey.5 Be it niches, ædiculæ or suitably arranged houserooms, the Lararia constitute model miniature temples with arulæ, figurines and, obviously, lamps.
In the years of Pausanias in Greece, an arrangement combining a censer and bronze lamps before the statue of Hermes Agoraios in Pharae, was involved in an oracular technique: the petitioner no longer needed the mediation of oracles and priests, while sacrifice itself was replaced by lighting of lamps and offerings of incense.6
Transposing the solemn piety of great sanctuaries into an everyday context, the lamp eventually finds its place within more or less marginal circles, at the heart of solitary rituals considered “magic”. In 2nd c. AD, Apuleius, curious about everything like Lucius, the hero of his Metamorphoses, not only depicts processions reminiscent of PGM rites, but ends up being accused of practicing magic himself.7 In order to defend himself, Apuleius goes through all incriminating evidence and mentions, among others, the usage of a lamp: ‘they alleged that a boy had been enchanted by my incantations, away of any control, in a secret place before a small altar and a lamp, and a few complicit witnesses— secreto loco, arula et lucerna et paucis consciis testibus.’8
Lamps are omnipresent in PGM recipes (2nd c. BC–5th c. AD). Given that these are syncretic texts stemming largely from Egyptian beliefs and practices, the widespread usage of lamps in Egyptian religious contexts of all times, is worth reminding. It is most probably not without a reason that Clement of Alexandria held the Egyptians as inventors of the lamp.9
In fact, not only offering lamps was of capital importance, but also lighting the lamp has always been the first act of every ceremonial day at the Egyptian temple: that is how the priest illuminated his way to the entrance of the sanctuary to reveal the face of the gods when the sun was crossing the horizon.10 The roots of oracular usage of lamps can be traced back to the New Empire: in a report dating to the reign of Ramses IX, there’s a brief reference to a lamp divination practice by a cemetery worker. In any case, written lamp divination procedures, such as those abundant in the magical papyri of the Greco-Roman period, in Demotic and Greek, will not be found for another 1300 years.11
By 2nd c. AD it is certain that lamps were involved in dream divination: an inscription from Athens coming from an environment of Isis worshippers mentions a woman being called at the same time λυχνάπτρια and ὀνειροκρίτις.12 In Roman times lamps (often foot-shaped) had a more specific role in incubation rituals.13 Still, in Egypt, although the interpretation of dreams (first for pharaohs, then for common mortals) has been an important way of communication with the gods since the most ancient times, and despite the fact that worshippers—since the New Empire—were occasionally allowed to spend the night in sacred space, all evidence is that the proper practice of incubation (dream divination through ritual sleep) emerged much later.14
Several examples of nocturnal festivities in the frame of Isis cults involving the burning of lamps are known, such as Νυκτέλιον, Λυχναψία and Λαμπαδεία; the task of lamp lighting in the temples of Isis and Sarapis was assured each day by special auxiliary staff, the λυχνάπται, who, as in the grand Sarapeion of Memphis, could even be stationed in a special chapel, the λυχνάπτιον.15 Everlasting lamps such as the golden lamp of Athena Polias on the Acropolis were used to suggest continuous worship. The λυχναψία, ‘illumination of the temple’ of Jupiter at Arsinoe, mentioned often in the 3rd c. AD register of accounts of the temple (be it in honor of a prefect or in commemoration of the emperor’s victories),16 provides evidence of interrelation between Egyptian and emperor-worshiping rites.
Documentation about the Λυχνοκαΐη, ‘lamp-burning’ festival is of particular interest in that it demonstrates the central role of lamps in smallscale replication of public cults. Hieroglyphic texts from the temple of Esna in Upper Egypt suggest that this festival was held on the occasion of the arrival of Neith, a divinity identified with Isis and Athena, as well as her installation among burning torches at her Sais temple.17 A very interesting text by Herodotus reports that lamps, corresponding to the light sources used in the temple, were lit around private houses: Ἐς Σάϊν δὲ πόλιν ἐπεὰν συλλεχθέωσι, τῆς θυσίης ἐν τῇ νυκτὶ λύχνα καίουσι πάντες πολλὰ ὑπαίθρια περὶ τὰ δώματα κύκλῳ (...) Καὶ τῇ ὁρτῇ οὔνομα κεῖται Λυχνοκαΐη. And this was happening not only in Sais but everywhere in Egypt, thus rendering remote participation possible for the physically absent: Οἳ δ’ ἂν μὴ ἔλθωσι τῶν Αἰγυπτίων ἐς τὴν πανήγυριν ταύτην, φυλάσσοντες τὴν νύκτα τῆς θυσίης καίουσι καὶ αὐτοὶ πάντες τὰ λύχνα, καὶ οὕτω οὐκ ἐν Σάϊ μούνῃ καίεται ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀνὰ πᾶσαν Αἴγυπτον.18
Domestic usage of lamps, in a religious context, gains importance during the Roman occupation. The financial difficulties plaguing Egyptian priests and sanctuaries more or less, contribute, as D. Frankfurter demonstrates, to centrifugal tendencies toward village sanctuaries and domestic altars.19
Therefore, alongside their presence in grand sanctuaries, lamps in that time’s Egypt were used extensively at small local sanctuaries, private chapels and domestic niches: ‘...the domestic cults of Roman Egypt (...) involved all manner of parapher nalia, often miniature or cheaper (wood, terra-cotta) versions of temple para pher nalia. Lamps and incense-burners in the shape of temples, miniature altars, and even the miniature cippi of Horus represent a process of domestication-through-miniaturization of temple cult and, perhaps, an increasing importance of domestic cults in the Roman period.’20
Whereas debating on the composition of “Magical Greek Papyri” (PGM) or the public addressed by this corpus21 falls beyond the scope of this chapter, the transformation sugge sted by D. Frankfurter sounds appropriate to the religiousness expressed in PGM recipes: private space instead of grand sanctuaries, and an abundance of written formulæ instead of ancient ritual procedures.
PGM ritual recipes generally prescribe that practitioners use λύχνοι ἀμίλτωτοι22 (not painted with minium), i.e., new and therefore without trace of red color that might evoke Seth-Typhon.23 It is equally prescribed that the λύχνοι be ‘non engraved,’ ἄγραφοι,24 in particular ‘pure,’ καθαροί,25 or even ‘brand new,’ καινοί.26 Purity is emphatically required throughout the magical operation: purity of the operator, the place, the altar, and of all instruments used. Purity is a prerequisite for encountering superhuman forces as they can only be attracted to something similar to them. While this is perfectly in conformity with the spirit of the Egyptian religion, it is even better understood when the creation of an ad hoc sacred space is at stake.27 It is nevertheless interesting that the opposite can happen too: it is ‘the lamp used daily’—λύχνος καθημερινός—that must be used.28
Candelabra, λυχνίαι, enabling better distribution of light are rarely prescribed,29 but it may be requested that lamps be placed on various supports: a window, a wolf head, or a reed tripod, always in close proximity to the altar. Recipes are very precise on this … καὶ βωμὸν ὠμὸν/ στησάμενος ἐγγὺς τῆς κεφαλῆς καὶ τοῦ λύχνου/ (…) ὃλα ποιῆσαι ἐγγὺς τοῦ λύχνου.30 Lamps are mostly placed near the altar, on both sides, next to the victims of the sacrifice or on top of structures equivalent to an altar such as bricks or offerings tables: …καὶ ἅψον λύχνους ἑπτὰ ἐπάνω πλίνθων ζ᾽/ ὠμῶν καὶ θῦσον….31 Lamps may also be part of non-bloody offerings accompanying the sacrifice—καὶ θύσεις ἀλέκτορα λευκόν. παρακεί-/ σθω δέ αὐτῷ πόπανα ζ᾽, πλακοῦντες ζ᾽,/ λύχνοι ζ᾽…32 without further explanation of their function.
Regardless of origin, the oil used to fill the lamp must be ‘of good quality, pure and limpid,’ ἔλαιον χρηστόν, καθαρόν, λευκόν,33 while there’s even a wealth of unusual procedures for enhancing its efficiency: in a case of dream divination, if the procedure fails and the ritual must be repeated, the oil must first be versed on the body of a virgin boy in the gymnasium, then collected to fill the lamp.34
It is important that in many occasions lamps assume the role of altar or, more precisely, that of censer, given that PGM-prescribed sacrifices are mostly fumigations. Thus, either a piece of incense is placed on the wick or the chosen fuel—‘cedar oil’ κεδρία, ‘rose oil’ ἔλαιον ῥόδινον, ‘nard oil’ νάρδινον—produces itself an odoriferous effect.35
In PGM suitable choice of oil turns the lamp into an altar substitute. By suitable preparation of the wick, ἐλλύχνιον, the lamp is also transformed into a ‘postal envelope,’ thus involving writing, an element of capital importance in PGM. The wick, mostly made from a piece of tissue, ῥάκος, often of fine linen, βύσσινον,36 clean or once belonging to a prematurely deceased,37 or even of papyrus or other materials through very diverse processing,38 usually bears a written formula addressed to the powers concerned.39 This formula is actually made up of obscure ephesia grammata encoding sacred names. In dream transmission (ὀνειροπομποί) the practitioner may write on the wick the dream to be imposed on the victim. The term ἐλλυχνιάζειν ‘to put a wick in the lamp,’ assumes therefore the additional meaning of communicating by means of light; practitioners may use this meaning to refer to the knowledge they expect to receive from the divinity: ἵνα μὲ ἐρατῶν πρὸς σὲ τὴν γνῶσιν/ ἐλλυχνιάσῃς… ‘to illuminate me with the knowledge of things dear to you.’40
The message written on the wick may be accompanied or even replaced by formulæ addressed to the lamp orally. Spoken formulæ include repeated secret names that appear in the written message, invocations of divinities, or requests to the lamp itself. Such ἐπικλήσεις or ἐπιλαλήματα may be repeated obstinately and oppressively ἑπτάκις, πολλάκις or even until extinction of the lamp.41
Multifunction lamps are not an innovation of PGM. In Greece the lamp is closely linked to the altar and the offerings spatially, as well as functionally. It is worth noting that the very first archaic lamp found (sanctuary of Apollo and Artemis in Dreros, Crete) is supposed to have been placed on the altar (Keraton),42 whereas lamps could be included in sacrificial supplies lists.43 In addition, Scholia on Nicander suggested that kernoi, the famous utensils of the offerings, could be used as a kind of lamp support—κέρνους γάρ φασι τοὺς μυστικοὺς κρατῆρας, ἐφ’ ὧν λύχνους τιθέασι—44, as supported by an archeological find in Crete.45 Finally, it should be added that lamps in the small sanctuary of Hermes in Pharae, mentioned earlier, were soldered to the altar: κεῖται δὲ πρὸ τοῦ ἀγάλματος ἑστία, λίθου καὶ αὐτή, μολίβδῳ δὲ πρὸς τὴν ἑστίαν προσέχονται λύχνοι.46
In Roman Egypt a large number of temple-or chapel-shaped lamps bearing one or more nozzles47 were found, whose function was to create compact, readily available sacred spaces. Such lamps are often associated with the Sais festival mentioned earlier, mainly due to the figure of Athena-Neith that appears on the interior.48 These miniature temples were thought to reproduce the ambience of the festival at home, and to keep it alive beyond time and space limits by articulating, as D. Frankfurter notes in commenting on the usage of figurines, ‘the relationship between the domestic altar and the temple altar throughout and beyond the festival.’49
Finally, the lamp-altar link is very well attested by Roman lamps often decorated (on their concave disc) with scenes of worship hinting at the eventual ritual usage of the lamp, close to the altar and the divine image.50 A study by P. Stewart shows that the arrangement of decorative elements around the nozzle—where the flame comes from—is regularly mimicking a small sanctuary: the flame of the lamp assumes the role of altar fire. Iconographic suggestion is supported by real-world usage of Roman lamps: to start with, the possibility of bypassing the altar thanks to lamps filled with nard or incense oil, as described in PGM, is attested by certain epigraphic documents related with funeral cults;51 further, the fusion of lychnos and altar is implented in a type of lamp attached to a miniature altar serving most probably as censer.52
In PGM, as well as in some of the usages mentioned above (chapel lamps, lamps soldered to a small altar/censer), it appears, that the smaller the scale (local or domestic cult, private space and personalized rite), the heavier the semantic and functional load imposed on each participating element.
Back to PGM, besides the presence near the altar of lamp offerings aiming at attracting the divine, same as flowers and perfumes (A), lamps are mostly utilized in divinatory rites53 (B). The following distinctions can be made: (B1) dream requests or transmissions, (B2) αὔτοπτοι συστάσεις, ‘encounters’54 with the divinity in some kind of vision, (B3) deduction of signs by observing the flame (attested once only in the frame of an ‘attraction charm’). In order to make the list almost exhaustive, we would have to mention a small number of recipes regarding demonstrations of magical tricks (C) as well as a unique case of lamp usage in a ἀγρυπνητικόν, a recipe for inhibiting sleep where the lamp is addressed as ‘child of Hestia and Hephaistos.’55
The majority of recipes in (B) are spells inducing a dream or causing someone else to have a dream (ὀνειραιτητά or ὀνειροπομποί). Less frequent yet central in grasping the role of the lamp are cases where the practitioner (in person or through a sexually pure boy serving as medium) tries to obtain αὔτοπτος σύστασις with the divinity: not in dream but in some kind of reality. Therefore, the delineation of dream visions, epiphanies and states of possession, is not an easy task in PGM recipes,56 this fact being stressed in the recipes themselves: in a dream request involving Egyptian god Bes, a state between awake and sleep is described: καὶ σχεδόν σου ἐγρηγοροῦντος ἥξει/ ὁ θεὸς κ[α]ὶ λέξει σοι.57
Deities involved in lamp divination are generally associated with the Sun, a power omnipresent in the PGM and the preeminent source of divine light:58 Apollo, Greek god of divination identified with Helios, was thought to descend to the underworld in a boat, much like the Egyptian solar god (Re);59 Sarapis is identified with a series of deities including Helios—ἐπικαλοῦμαί σε, Ζεῦ, Ἥλιε, Μίθρα, Σά-/ ραπι, ἀνίκητε, Μελιοῦχε, Μελικέρ-/ τα, Μελιγενέτωρ, αβρααλ βαχα-/ μβηχι· βαιβειζωθ…,60 Horus-Harpocrates can also be found in Re’s solar boat ἡνιοχῶν καὶ κυβερνῶν οἴακα.61 Finally, Hermes may occasionally preside such a ritual in his capacity as ὀνειροπομπός, but also identified with Thoth, lunar god and messenger of the gods; he is therefore called κύκλος Σελήνης.62
The characteristics attributed to gods persistently emphasize their “luminous essence.” Gods are addressed to as ‘fiery, invisible begetter of light’—τὸν θεὸν τὸν (...) πυριφεγγῆ, ἀόρατον φωτὸς γεννήτορα–63, ‘holy light, holy brightness’—ἱερὸν φῶς, ἱερὰ αὐγή–64, ‘who enlighten the universe and by his own power illuminate the whole world’—τὸν τὰ πάντα φωτίζοντα καὶ/ διαυγάζοντα τῇ ἰδίᾳ δυνάμει τὸν σύμπαντα/ κόσμον–65, ‘riding upon immaculate light’—ἐπὶ τῷ ἀχράντῳ/ φωτὶ ὀχούμενος.66 Not surprisingly, in a recipe for ‘direct encounter,’ the light-bringing charm (φωταγωγία) is followed by a god-bringing spell (θεαγωγός λόγος), both addressed to divinities.67
The divinity’s own light is invited to appear ‘in the light,’68 to merge with the light of the lamp, thus reproducing the divine splendor in its entirety: εἴσελθε ἐν τῷ πυρὶ τούτῳ/ καὶ ἐνπνευμάτωσον αὐτὸν θείου πνεύ-/ ματος καὶ δεῖξόν μοί σου τὴν ἀλκὴν, καὶ/ ἀνοιγήτω μοι ὁ οἶκος τοῦ παντοκράτορος/ θεοῦ Αλβαλαλ, ὁ ἐν τῷ φωτὶ τούτῳ,/ καὶ γενέσθω φῶς πλάτος, βάθος, μῆκος,/ ὕψος, αὐγή, καὶ διαλαμψάτω ὁ ἔσωθεν,/ ὁ κύριος Βουήλ.69
Producing more images than a crystal ball, the lamp may disappear altogether to make place for an extraordinary spectacle; magic formula recitation is associated with a play of closing and reopening of the eyes that amplifies surprise: … μετὰ τὸ εἰπεῖν τὴν φωτα-/ γωγίαν ἄνυξον τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς καὶ ὄψῃ/ τὸ φῶς τοῦ λύχνου καμοροειδὲς γινόμε-/ νον· εἶτα κλειόμενος λέγε ..., καὶ ἀνοίξας ὄψῃ πάντα ἀχανῆ/ καὶ μεγίστην αὐγὴν ἔσω, τὸν δὲ λύχνον/ οὐδαμοῦ φαινόμενον. τὸν δὲ θεὸν ὄψῃ/ ἐπὶ κιβωρίου καθήμενον,/ ἀκτινωτόν....70
The aim of this operation is not just a luminous spectacle, but also the reception of divine words, the ‘illumination’ of the practitioner, the entry into the light: ...φύλαξον ἅπαν δέμας ἄρτιον ἐς φάος ἐλθεῖν.71 In this respect certain recipes come very close to theurgic practices also aiming at communion with the divine, described as ‘illumination,’ ἔλλαμψις, in this context a term for both the target state of the practitioner, and the divine halo surrounding the statues manufactured for telestic purposes.72
The ancient tendency to imagine the divinity in a flame returns in the rituals prescribed in PGM. Further exploration of the role of luminous phenomena in apparitions as recorded by Greek authors of all times, is beyond the scope of this chapter. Supernatural glow, flashes of lightning and torches appearing miraculously in the sky, are regular features of divine epiphanies. Lamps, starting with that of Homeric Athena, are equally part of this context: their function of light provider to divine statues has reinforced their relation with epiphanies, and their flame seemed to animate the figurines placed on them. Temple lamps are also mentioned among the miracles depicted in a narration of the providential intervention of Zeus of Panamara in 1st c. BC (tempest, howling of dogs), for keeping burning throughout the siege of the city.73
In PGM recipes, lamps are described as being nourished by divine presence even when their ritual function is not central. For this reason, the practitioner is often advised not to refill them with oil, as their flame will be revived by divine entry: καὶ μηκέτι/ ἐπιχέῃς· εἰσελθόντος γὰρ τοῦ θεοῦ περισσότερον ἐξα-/ φθήσονται.74 Lamp flames are considered consubstantial with the divine, a point of view affirmed by the practitioner who addresses formulæ to the lamp— πρὸς τὸν/ (...) λύχνον75—while standing facing the lamp— σταθεὶς (...) ἐναντίον τοῦ λύχνου.76
In certain cases of lamp divination lamps may function as substitutes of the sun: the practitioner is instructed to orientate lamps and candelabra toward the South or the East, ἐπί τοῦ ἀπηλιωτικοῦ μέρους,77, while a ‘direct encounter’ recipe prescribes that the magical formula be addressed first to the rising sun, then to the lamp— πρῶτον λέγεις πρὸς/ ἀνατολὴν ἡλίου, εἶτα ἐπὶ τοῦ λύχνου.78
The image of the lamp as ‘small sun’ is already present in Greek literature and parodied by Aristophanes: Ὦ λαμπρὸν ὄμμα τοῦ τροχηλάτου λύχνου,/ (...) μυκτῆρσι λαμπρὰς ἡλίου τιμὰς ἔχεις-/ ὅρμα φλογὸς σημεῖα τὰ ξυγκείμενα.79 The lamp thus corresponds to the all-seeing eye of the sun, silent witness of everything happening indoors and, subsequently, of the most intimate aspects of feminine life.
In fact, thanks to sympathy links, the humble flame of the lamp paves the way for heavenly light, which, in late antiquity, is invested with divine power. A philosophical explanation of lamp divination found in Apuleius, explicitly associates the lamp with a celestial, creator fire: ‘neither is it any marvel, for although this light is modest and made by the hands of men, yet it keeps memory, as of its parent, of that great and heavenly light— memo- rem tamen illius maioris et cælestis ignis velut sui parentis—that knows by divine prescience and reveals to us what is being prepared in the skies above.’80
Whereas ‘encounter’ operations (B2) have always been solemn and grave, the form of dream requests (B3) can be simpler. In fact, this group also includes short recipes involving everyday lamps. In four cases, lamp divination may revolve around a very popular scheme, used widely in Egypt during the 2nd and 3rd c. AD: the god is invited to react by ‘choosing’ among encoded lots.81 Thanks to PGM recipes, no temple is necessary; the practitioner may go ahead and ask his everyday lamp for an oracular dream, whose possible outcomes are predefined and, thus, readily interpretable: Ὀνειραιτητόν, ὃ ἀεὶ κέχρηται. λόγος ὁ λεγόμενος πρὸς τὸν/ καθημερινὸν λύχνον· (...)/ χρημάτισόν μοι περὶ τοῦ δεῖνα πράγματος. ἐὰν ναί, δεῖ[ξόν μ]οι/ φυτὸν καὶ ὕδωρ, εἰ δὲ μήγε, πῦρ καὶ σίδηρον, ἤδη [ἤδη, ταχὺ] ταχύ.82 The lack of long preparations agrees with the usage of very simple objects and procedures. Besides the everyday lamp, the last mouthful of food taken by the practitioner is implicated in a dream request of this type: [λα]βών σου τὸν ἔσχατον ψωμὸν δ̣[είκ] ν[υε τῷ] λύχνῳ καὶ δεικνύων λέγε καὶ εἴπας διαμάσ[η]σαι καὶ πίε ἐπάνω οἶνον καὶ κοιμῶ μη[δε]νὶ λαλήσας.83
Despite apparent triviality, it is worth noting that in this type of requests the lamp is personified, if not deified. Even though of lower rank than almighty divinities, the lamp is still addressed as a friendly spirit (κύριε, ὑγίαινε, λύχνε), equated to a divine helper that can serve the practitioning mortal in much the same way as Osiris or Archangel Michael: κύριε, ὑγίαινε, λύχνε/ ὁ παρεμφαίνων τῷ Ὀσίριδι καὶ παρεμφαίνων τῷ/ Ὀσιρχεντεχθα καὶ τῷ κυρίῳ μου, τῷ ἀρχαγγέλῳ Μιχαήλ.84
The third type of recipes (C), moderately attested in PGM, could also be linked to lamp divinations involving dreams or visions. It is about magical tricks executed during banquets, which, although not as prestigious as ‘encounters’ with gods, still build on the ‘hallucinogenic’ power of the lamp. The lamp’s indispensable presence on the table has catalyzed, no doubt, its assuming a starring role in magical ‘shows.’ We thus learn that in one case table guests may appear donkey-headed, ὀνόρυγχοι, to external observers, thanks to a wick soaked in donkey blood.85 This kind of παίγνια might occasionally cross the limits of simple entertainment. We know that very similar wonders and gimmicks of that kind were performed during private banquets of the imperial times where magoi were trying to demonstrate their powers and perhaps initiate other people.86 The lamp has therefore become an emblem of the power to twist the appearance of things, to play with the luminous apparitions of stars and gods.
In PGM, lamp divination often overlaps with dream divination. What is the base for such an adjacency? In times when public Egyptian sanctuaries are either fading or threatened with impoverishment,87 and a new cosmography distancing the gods from earth keeps spreading over the Greco-Roman world, PGM lamps and dreams are offering to mortals a means of communication with gods. Lamps, as we have seen, constitute complex cultic devices supplying practitioners with a small altar with fire, a censer, an oil vessel, a support for writing and a source of light at the material level; at the imaginary level these compact ‘pocket sanctuaries’ can, thanks to sympathy links, encapsulate the astral world in the gleam of their flame. Their light becomes oneiric matter and is subsequently equated to dreams.88 On the other hand, dreaming of gods, even though practiced at incubation halls within sanctuaries, does not require special infrastructure.89 As in direct visions (ἔμβηθι/ αὐτοῦ εἰς τὴν ψυχήν),90 gods could be invited through dreaming “inside” the practitioner (...‘ὁρκίζω σὲ τὸν ὑπ<ν>αφέ-/ την, ὅτι ἐγώ σε θέλω εἰσπορευθῆναι εἰς ἐμὲ/ καὶ δεῖξαί μοι περὶ τοῦ δεῖνος πράγματος),91 where they could appear in splendor superior to that of temple statues, and in closest proximity to mortals.
Certain of our recipes implicate the flame of the lamp in love life. In a B1 case, the practitioner may sneak his own image in the dream of the woman whose love he seeks: Ἐάν τινι ἐθέλῃς [ἐ]μφανῆναι διὰ νυκτὸς ἐν ὀνείροις,/ λέγε πρὸς τὸν λύχνον τὸν καθημερινόν.92
The sole occurrence of a B3 type includes prediction by the flicker of the flames of a seven-nozzle lamp (fitted with seven wicks each bearing a different formula), in the frame of an attraction ritual entitled ἀγωγὴ ἀσχέτου, ‘fetching charm for an unmanageable woman’: λαβὼν [λύχνο]ν ἑπ[τάμ]υξον/ ἀμίλτωτον ποίησον ἐλλύχνιον [ἀπ]ὸ πλοίου/νεναυαγηκότος καὶ ἐπὶ μὲν τ[ο] ῦ [αʹ]/ἐλλυχνίου/ γράφε ζμύρνῃ Ἰάω:, ἐπὶ τοῦ βʹ Ἀδωνάι, ἐπὶ τοῦ γ’ (...)ἐὰν μὲν ὁ π[ρ]ῶτος λύχνος πταρῇ, γνῶ, ὅτι εἴλημπται/ ὑπὸ τοῦ δαίμονος. ἐὰν δὲ ὁ βʹ, ἐξῆλθεν. ἐὰν δὲ ὁ γʹ, περι-/ πατεῖ. ἐὰν δὲ ὁ δʹ, ἥκει, ἐὰν δὲ ὁ εʹ, ἥκει εἰς τὸν πυλῶνα/ ὁ ςʹ, εἰς τὸν πεσσόν. ὁ ζʹ, ἥκει εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν.93
Prediction by flame observation had to be ancient knowledge in the GrecoRoman world. In Virgil for example, wool spinners perceive bad weathercoming by watching ‘in the clay of the burning lamp the oil sparkle and the wick become carbonized and covered with mushrooms.’94
The pattern of the lamp-witness of love plays and pains found already in Aristophanes, becomes very common in the love poetry of the Palatine An- thology: thus, the predictive power of a tripod lamp nourishes the lover’s hope: Ἤδη, φίλτατε λύχνε, τρὶς ἔπταρες. ἦ τάχα τερπνὴν/ ἐς θαλάμους ἥξειν Ἀντιγόνην προλέγεις;/ εἰ γάρ, ἄναξ, εἴη τόδ’ ἐτήτυμον, οἷος Ἀπόλλων/ θνητοῖς μάντις ἔσῃ καὶ σὺ παρὰ τρίποδι.95 The verb πταίρειν, ‘to flicker,’ refers to the PGM procedure mentioned earlier, while the comparison with the apollonian tripod reminds of the role of Apollo in PGM lamp divinations. Finally, the friendly address, φίλτατε λύχνε, reveals the same level of intimacy as that existing between a PGM practitioner and his λύχνος καθημερινός.
Addressing the lamp is very common in Hellenistic love poetry.96 The lamp is invoked as witness of vows and frolics of love, often compared to secret ceremonies; the lamp is asked to watch over the loved one; it serves as accomplice and confidant that can also be invoked as deity. In a 3rd c. AD epigram by Asclepiades a lover speaks to the lamp: Λύχνε, σὲ γὰρ παρεοῦσα τρὶς ὤμοσεν Ἡράκλεια/ ἥξειν κοὐχ ἥκει· λύχνε, σὺ δ,’ εἰ θεὸς εἶ,/ τὴνδολίην ἀπάμυνον.97 More than a set of purely literary patterns, these elements refer to the actual participation of the lamp in private, even intimate life, and help us better understand its role in certain PGM rituals.
In conclusion, if light is an indisputable medium in religion, the lamp is in antiquity light’s handiest and most widespread vehicle. The longevity of the lamp as ritual object is partly due to its adaptability to the needs of small private cults and solitary rites. These attributes of lamps are exploited to the furthest extent in PGM recipes. When Shenoute, the abbot of Atripe, who described the indigenous religion in late Egypt, curses pagan demon worshippers, he refers to the most persistent practices of those who ‘burn lamps about empty things while offering incense in the name of ghosts.’98 Ιn 3rd c. Egypt, however, polytheistic rituals and beliefs including lamps still survive in Christian practices.99 Finally, in Greece there’s an amazing abundance of Christian lamps dating from early Christian centuries, found in caves and other places involved or not with older cults.100
1. Ath. 15, 700E. Cf. the only mention of unique for a lamp in Homer (the very first reference to a lamp in Greek literature): Hom. Od., 19, 34. On the absence of lamps among finds of votive deposits of the geometric period, see E. Parisinou, The Light of the Gods. The Role of Light in Archaic and Classical Greek Cult (London, 2000), 15.
2. Σ. Πινγιάτογλου, Δίον. Το ιερό της Δήμητρος. Οι λύχνοι (Θεσσαλονίκη, 2005), 76, 81.On the role of light in ancient Greek religion, see also Parisinou, The Light of the Gods, passim.
3. Ever-burning lamps in antiquity: Paus., 1, 26, 6–1, 27, 1: Kallimachos’ lamp in the Erechtheion cf. Parisinou, The Light of the Gods, 20 ff. The fact that the lamp went out during the siege of Sylla was perceived as a sign of doom (Plut., Syll. , 13). More examples in T. tam Tinh and M.-O. Jentel, Corpus des lampes à sujets isiaques du musée gréco-romain d’Alexandrie (Québec, 1993), 27, n. 83.
4. See M. P. Nilsson, “Lampen und Kerzen im Kult der Antike,” OpArch 6 (1950): 96–110, notably 103ff asserting, in an absolute but not foolproof fashion, that the function of lamps in the classical and archaic periods is purely dedicatory; Πινγιάτογλου, Δίον, 84.
5. L. Chrzanovski, Lumière! L’éclairage dans l’antiquité (Milano, 2006), 20; G. K. Boyce, Corpus of the Lararia of Pompei, MAAR 14 (Rome, 1937): 102 (index); Nilsson, “Lampen und Kerzen,” 210 ff.; J. Bakker, Living and Working with the Gods. Studies for Private Religion and its material enviromment in the city of Ostia (100–500 AD) (Amsterdam, 1994), 14; P. Stewart, “Cult Images on Roman Lamps,”Hephaistos 8 (2000): 10 ff.
6. Strictly speaking, divination in this case is a kind of cledonomancy (cledon=chance word taken as omen). The worshipper burns incense in the entrance hall, refills and lights the lamps, places a coin on the altar, then confides his problem to the statue and plugs his own ears. As soon as he leaves the agora, he unplugs his ears and receives the god’s oracle in the first word that he hears. See Paus., 7, 22, 2–3 who considers this technique to be of Egyptian origin. Cf. C. Romaios, “A popular Cult in Ancient Achaia” in Πρακτικά του Β΄ Τοπικού Συνεδρίου Αχαϊκών Σπουδών - Καλάβρυτα, 24–27 Ιουνίου 1983 (Αθήνα, 1986), 155ff. and Parisinou, The Light of the Gods, 78.
7. H. E. Butler and A. S. Owen, eds., Apulei apologia sive Pro se de magia liber (Oxford, 1914), 101.
8. The trial of Apuleius has taken place around AD 158 see Apul., Mag., 42, 3.
9. This information reflects the knowledge of the author, not historical facts: Clem., Str. , 1, 16, 74, 2.
10. J. Gee, “The Structure of Lamp Divination,” in Acts of the Seventh Interna- tional Conference of Demotic Studies, Copenhagen, 23–27 August 1999, ed. K. Ryolt (Copenhagen, 2002), 216.
11. R. K. Ritner, The Mechanics of Ancient Egyptian Magical Practice (Chicago, 1993), 215 and Gee, “The Structure of Lamp Divination,” 217ff.
12. IG II2 4771. Cf. F. Dunand, Le culte d’Isis dans le basin oriental de la Mediterranée, I–III, EPRO 26 (Leyde, 1973), III, 155.
13. On the usage of Roman lamps in incubation rituals, see W. Deonna, “L’ornementation des lampes romaines,” RA 26 (1927): 244ff. On foot-shaped lamps, see also tam Tin & Jentel, Corpus des lampes, 28 as well as F. Santoro L’hoir, “Three Sandalled Foot Lamps. Their Apotropaic Potentiality in the Cult of Sarapis,” AA 98 (1983): 226.
14. S. Sauneron, “Les songes et leur interprétation dans l’Egypte Ancienne” in Les songes et leur interprétation. Sources orientales 2 (Paris, 1959), 40ff. Cf. F. Dunand et C. Zivie-Coche, Dieux et Hommes en Égypte (Paris, 1991), 304–5.
15. Dunand, Le culte d’Isis, I, 222; II, 24, 104–5; III, 149–50, 220, 238–39; Dunand & Zivie-Coche, Dieux et Hommes en Égypte, 299; tam Tinh and Jentel, Corpus des lampes, 27.
16. U. Wilcken, “Arsinoitische Tempelrechnungen,” Hermes 20 (1885): 431–43 and 457.
17. S. Sauneron, Les fêtes religieuses d’Esna. Aux derniers siècles du paganisme (Le Caire, 1962), 247ff.
18. Hrdt., 2, 6. See also F. Dunand, “Lanternes gréco-romaines d’Égypte,” DHA 188 (1976): 80–82 and Dunand, Le culte d’Isis, III, 238; Parisinou, The Light of the Gods, 196, n. 2.
19. D. Frankfurter, Religion in Roman Egypt. Assimilation and Resistance (Princeton, New Jersey, 1998), 134–35.
20. Frankfurter, Religion in Roman Egypt, 135.
21. The debate is coarsely outlined by J. Z. Smith and R. K. Ritner. Cf. attempts of reconciliation by I. Moyer, “Thessalos of Tralles” in Prayer, Magic and the Stars in the Ancient and Late Antique World, ed. S. Noegel, J. Walker, and B. Wheeler (Pennsylvania, 2003), 39–56.
22. PGM (K. Preisendanz, Papyri Græcæ Magicæ I–II, Stuttgart, 1973–19742) I, 277, 293; II, 57; IV 2372, 3191; VII 542, 594; VIII 87; XII 27, 131; LXII, 1. In a case (PGM IV, 1090) it is prescribed to use a λύχνος καλλάινος, of Egyptian faience (of turquoise blue color).
23. On the value of the red color: Ritner, Ancient Egyptian Magical Practice, 147ff and G. Pinch, Magic in Ancient Egypt (London, 1994), 81. See also the usage of the μίλτος of Typhon in the preparation of ‘Typhon ink’ (XII, 98) cf. VII, 653 or ‘Typhon blood’ meaning donkey blood, (λαβὼν αἶμα μελάνης βοὸς ἢ αἰγὸς ἢ τυφωνίου... γράφε).
24. PGM XII, 131.
25. PGM XIII, 317.
26. E.g., PGM IV, 66–67.
27. More than a reproduction of conditions for accessing the Egyptian temple (which according to Gee, “The Structure of Lamp Divination,” 215ff. would prove that the ritual takes place in a temple), this extreme preoccupation with purity, according to J. Z. Smith, “Here, There, and Anywhere” in Prayer, Magic and the Stars in the Ancient and Late Antique World, ed. S. Noegel, J. Walker, and B. Wheeler (Pennsylvania, 2003), 34–35, can be understood as ‘a concern for boundaries’ or ‘a highly developed sense of iclusion/exclusion.’
28. PGM VII, 250–251, 255–256 and 407–408, XXIIb, 27–28 and indisputably 32ff. In these cases too the lamp is personified and addressed as a divinity.
29. PGM II, 57 and VII, 541.
30. PGM I, 283–289.
31. PGM III, 22.
32. PGM IV, 2191–2.
33. See, among others PGM VII 1094, LXII, 1 (χρηστόν); II 46, IV 1391 (καθαρόν); XII 25 (λευκόν).
34. PGM II, 55.
35. See, for exemple, PGM XII 132, LXII, 1; I 278.
36. PGM I, 277, VIII, 86.
37. PGM II, 145.
38. E.g., PGM VII 594–595 (ἐλλύχνιον ἀπὸ πλοίου νεναυαγηκότος). 39. Exceptionally the role of the wick can be assumed by a written πιττάκιον placed under the lamp (PGM VII, 725).
40. PGM III, 585.
41. PGM, VII 667; VII 408 ; XXIIb, 27.
42. Parisinou, The Light of the Gods, 15 and fig. 4.
43. See for example Ditt. Syll3 III 999 (inscription of the 2nd c. BC from Lykosoura concerning the sacrifices to Δέσποινα) cf. Πινγιάτογλου, Δίον, 82 and Parisinou, The Light of the Gods, passim.
44. Schol. Nic., Alex. , 217b. Cf. Parisinou, The Light of the Gods, 197 and G. Bakalakis, “Les kernoi éleusiniens,” Kernos 4 (1991): 108.
45. It is about a kernos containing a lamp: S. Xanthoudides, “Cretan Kernoi,” BSA 12 (1905–1906): 19. Cf. Πινγιάτογλου, Δίον, 78, n. 139.
46. Paus. 7, 22, 2–3.
47. Dunand, “Lanternes gréco-romaines d’Égypte,” 75 and 88–89, nn. 34 and 35 with references.
48. The convincing demonstration of F. Dunand shows that certain lanterns of this type (with opening in the back) were used in processions, whereas other lamps and lanterns of small size were probably used both as offerings as well as in the remote participation witnessed by Herodotus. Dunand, “Lanternes gréco-romaines d’Égypte,” 82; M. Fjeldhagen, Graeco-Roman Terracottas from Egypt. NY Carls- berg Glyptotek (NY Carlsberg, 1995), 89–90. About the festival see also Dunand, Le culte d’Isis, III, 56–57 (cf. previous note). In any case, it should be noted that in the time of Herodotus and by his own testimony, the lamps used in the festival consisted in flat saucers filled with a mixture of oil and salt, on the top of which the wick floats (II, 62). Cf. F. W. Robins “The Lamps of Ancient Egypt,” JEA 25 (1939): 185.
49. Frankfurter, Religion in Roman Egypt, 55.
50. This does not imply that their usage was necessarily ritual. See Stewart, “Cult Images on Roman Lamps,” 11.
51. CIL 6, 30102 on the commemoration of a deceased et semper vigilet lucerna nardo and CIL 610248 where it is asked to light a lamp and burn incense on it on Kalends, Nones and Ides (lucerna lucens sibi ponatur incenso inposito) cf. G. McN. Rushforth, “Funeral Lights in Roman Sepulchral Monuments,” JRS 5 (1915): 149–164. On the association of scented smoke and the flash of lightning see also F. Cumont, Lux Perpetua (Paris, 1949), 50–51.
52. See for example D. M. Bailey, A Catalogue of Lamps in the British Museum 2 (London, 1980), Q125, 252ff. and D. M. Bailey, A Catalogue of Lamps in the Brit- ish Museum 3 (London, 1988), 205, Q1853.
53. This paper will not exhaust all aspects of lamp divination found in PGM (usage of bricks, tripods, role of mediums, etc.), in order to focus on the role of lamps. A complete study should take into systematic consideration the Leyden Papyrus—P. Mag. in The Demotic Magical Papyrus of London and Leiden, I–III, ed. F. Ll. Griffith & H. Thompson (London, 1904–1909), that includes spells in Demotic very similar to those in Greek, which also demonstrates the close relationship between lecanomancy and lamp divination cf. F. Cunen, “Lampe et coupe magiques PGM, V, 1–52,” S.O. 36 (1960): 65–71. A usage of lamps similar to the one described in PGM is suggested by Μ. Πετρόπουλος, Τα εργαστήρια των ρωμαϊκών λυχναριών της Πάτρας και το λυχνομαντείο (Αθήνα, 1999), 136ff. in his study of a Roman building in Patras identified by the author as oracle of lamps. Finally, late antiquity literature contains, in its own manner, scenes of lamp divination: in Apul., Met., V, 20, 2 ; 22, 2 ; 22, 5) the unveiling of Eros by Psyche alludes to lamp-assisted encounters, while in Ps.-Callisth. - Le Roman d’Alexandre (Les Belles Lettres, 1992) 2, 5–6-, Nectanebo, the last pharaoh, transmits dreams to queen Olympias by means of a juice of dream-inducing plants poured into the lamps. Cf. S. Lancel, “Curiositas” et preoccupations spirituelles chez Apulée,” RHR 160 (1961): 38–44 and S. H. Aufrère, “Quelques aspects du dernier Nectanébo et les échos de la magie égyptienne dans le Roman d’Alexandre” in La Magie -Actes du colloque international de Montpellier, 25–27 mars, 1999, 1–4, ed. A. Moreau and J. C. Turpin (Montpellier, 2000), 1, 113.
54. The corresponding Egyptian term is translated as ‘god’s arrival.’
55. PGM VII, 377–379. Cf. A. Mastrocinque, “Late Antique Lamps with Defixiones,” GRBS 47 (2007): 87–96.
56. On this confusion see R. Gordon, “Reporting the Marvellous: Private Divination in the Greek Magical Papyri” in Envisioning Magic: A Princeton Seminar and Symposium, ed. P. Schäfer and H. G. Kippenberg (Leiden, 1997), 83–84.
57. PGM VII, 228.
58. On the Sun’s omniscience and omnipotence in the PGM as well as among theurgy practitioners, see S. Eitrem, “La théurgie chez les néoplatoniciens et dans les papyrus magiques,” SO 22 (1942): 54ff. for comments, among others, on an excerpt from the Demotic Leyden Papyrus where the light of the lamp and that of the sun are actually working together. Greek Helios is traditionally the all-seeing deity: h. Cer. , 62.
59. PGM I, 343–347: I adjure the fire which first shone in the void (...) him who destroys e’en in Hades/ that you depart, returning to your ship. See also the commentary by H. D. Betz (ed.), The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation. Including Demotic Spells (Chicago, 1986), 57, n. 138. On Apollo’s divination in the PGM see also S. Eitrem, “Dreams and Divination in Magical Ritual,” in Magika Hiera, ed. C. A. Faraone and D. Obbink (N. Y. - Oxford, 1991), 176ff.
60. PGM V, 4–7.
61. PGM IV, 993–994.
62. PGM VII, 669.
63. PGM IV, 960.
64. PGM IV, 978.
65. PGM IV, 991.
66. PGM VII, 570–571.
67. PGM IV, 956 and 986, respectively.
68. PGM VII, 576.
69. PGM IV 965–972.
70. PGM IV 1103–1109. On Boel see PDM (Papyri Demoticæ Magicæ) XIV 489–515: ‘Boel Boel ... the first servant of the great god, he who gives light exceedingly/ the companion of the flame, in whose mouth is the flame, he of the flame which is never extinguished ... he who sits in the flame in the midst of the flame.’ Cf. M. Totti, “ΚΑΡΠΟΚΡΑΤΗΣ ΑΣΤΡΟΜΑΝΤΙΣ und die ΛΥΧΝΟΜΑΝΤΕΙΑ,” ZPE 73 (1998): 300 and Gee, “The Structure of Lamp Divination,” 209.
71. PGM I, 323.
72. S. Eitrem, “Die σύστασις und der Lichtzauber in der Magie,” S.O. 8(1929): 49ff.
73. P. Roussel, “Le miracle de Zeus Panamaros,” BCH 55 (1931): 85 and 110.
74. PGM, XIII, 11 cf. 126, 366, 681. Same phenomenon in Apul., Met. , 5, 22, 2: ...cuius aspectu (sc. Cupidinis) lucernæ quoque lumen hilaratum increbruit.
75. PGM VII, 250–251.
76. PGM IV 957–957.
77. PGM VII, 540–578 cf. IV 3194 (east); VII, 600 (south). 78. PGM IV, 930–931.
79. Ar., Eccl. 1–5.
80. Apul., Met. , 2, 12, 2.
81. R. Lane Fox, Païens et Chrétiens. La religion et la vie religieuse dans l’empire romaine de la mort de Commode au concile de Nicée, Fr. tr. (Paris, 1997, 19861), 226.
82. PGM VII, 250–254.
83. PGM XXIIb, 32–35.
84. PGM VII, 255ff. cf . XXIIb 27ff. (similar address to the lamp) as well as LXII, 5ff where the context is different.
85. PGM, XIb. Cf. the presence of lamps in PGM I, 96ff listing the powers of the assisting demon (πάρεδρος), as well as in PGM VII, 167–185 (recipes of a pseudoDemocritos to be used as table gimmicks). Let us remind the miraculous lighting of the torches of a statue of Hecate by theurgist Maximus of Ephesus (Eun., VS, 7, 2, 6–10), in the frame of a ἐπίδειξις of his powers. See also the participation of the lamp in the transformation of Pamphilus into an owl (Apul., Met. , 3, 21).
86. The same recipe (for causing diners to appear donkey-headed) is available in Cyran. , 2, 31, p. 164 Kaimakis cf. 2, 40, p. 176 where diners appear in the likeness of the animal whose fat was mixed into the lamp oil. A. Mastrocinque, “Dinners with the Magus,” MHNH 3 (2003): 75–94 provides a lot of similar cases and discusses their relation with mithraic rituals.
87. The image, surely subjective, of a declining Egyptian religion is reflected in the predictions of the famous Oracle of the Poter, see G. Fowden , The Egyptian Hermes: a historical approach to the late pagan mind (Cambridge, 1986), 38–44.
88. P. Cox Miller, Dreams in Late Antiquity (Princeton, New Jersey, 1994), 120.
89. Cf. C. Stewart, “Ritual Dreams and Historical Orders: Incubation Between Paganism and Christianity” in Greek Ritual Poetics, ed. D. Yatromanolakis and P. Roilos (Cambridge, Massachusetts-London, 2004), 342 ff.
90. PGM VII, 561–563.
91. PGM IV, 3203–3205.
92. PGM VII, 407ff.
93. PGM, VII 593–616.
94. Virg., G. , 1, 390–392.
95. AP 6, 333 (Marc. Arg.).
96. See the examples given by E. Parisinou, “‘Lighting’ the World of Women: Lamps and Torches in the Hands of Women in the Late Archaic and Classical Periods,” G&R 47 (2000): 27ff.
97. AP 5, 7 (Asclep.). Cf. M. Marcovich, Studies in Graeco-Roman Religions and Gnosticism (Leiden–New York–København–Köln, 1988), 1ff.
98. Shenoute, Discours 4, The Lord Thundered codex DU, p. 45 (Amélineau 1909: 379).
99. We learn from the Vie of Macarius of Egypt (Histoire des Monastères de la Basse Égypte, coptic text and translation by E. Amélineau (Paris, 1984), 91-92 and 101-4) that Macarius, in order to heal a deaf and speech-impaired man, poured water on his ears and mouth, then oil coming from the lamp of the sanctuary. Cf. F. Dunand, “Miracles et guérisons en Égypte tardive,” in Mélanges Etienne Bernand, ed. N. Fick & J. C. Carrière (Paris, 1991), 249.
100. See, among others, Κ. Ρωμαίος, “Ευρήματα ανασκαφής του επί της Πάρνηθος άντρου,” ΕΑ (1905): 109ff; Α. Ν. Σκιάς, “Το παρά την Φυλήν άντρον του Πανός,” ΕΑ (1918): 14 ff; D. Jordan, “Inscribed Lamps from a Cult at Corinth in Late Antiquity,” HThR 2 (1994): 223–229 (citing previous bibliography for the Fountain of the Lamps at Corinth). Cf. Πετρόπουλος, Τα εργαστήρια των ρωμαϊκών λυχναριών της Πάτρας, 139.
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