from the time of their invention to long aft er the end of the
Roman era. Some molds for metal lamps have been found.
Th e molds were made of stone, plaster, and ceramics. Plaster
and ceramic molds were easier to make than stone molds, but
plaster molds decay much faster than do ceramic ones; there-
fore, most of the surviving molds are ceramic. Archaeologists
believe that they can tell the diff erence between lamps made
with plaster molds and those made with ceramic molds. On
metal lamps, plaster would leave speckles caused by tiny bub-
bles in the plaster; these bubbles occurred much less oft en in
clay. Th e molds show that some metal lamps were mass-pro-
duced. Th ese lamps would have had handles, and they were
made not only of copper and bronze but also of brass, iron,
and silver.
Th ere were regional variations in style. For instance, dur-
ing the Achaemenid Dynasty (ca. 600s–331 b.c.e.) of the Per-
sian Empire, Persian lamps had a long, fl at pinch in the side
for holding a wick and thin sides, and they were large enough
to hold about three hours’ worth of oil. Th e Samaritans of
about 100 b.c.e. to about 600 c.e. may have manufactured the
lamps most esteemed in the ancient Near East. Th eir ceramic
lamps were decorated with images of plants and religious
symbols. Several religions in the Near East of that era used
oil lamps in religious rituals, and the Samaritan lamps were
well suited to temple use as well as home use. Among their
designs were lamps with more than one nozzle. Nozzles were
somewhat like spouts on jugs, but wicks were placed in them.
Lamps with two nozzles, decorated with images of plants,
were especially popular among the Hebrews. Some lamps
looked like boxes with nozzles; others looked like horseshoes
attached to a bowl.
ASIA AND THE PACIFIC
BY TOM STREISSGUTH
To the ancient Chinese, fi re was one of the fi ve elements. Fire
corresponded to the summer and to the south. Its color was
red; it was generated by wood, another element, and was over-
come by a third, water. In ancient China a new light struck
during the spring festival represented renewal and purifi ca-
tion. Th e evils and misfortunes of the previous year were for-
gotten with the extinguishing of the old fl ame. In addition,
the time before the new fl ame was struck was a time of fast-
ing, as no cooking fi re burned, and the family had to eat raw
or uncooked food.
According to traditional belief, demons feared the home
fi res as well as loud and sudden noises. To contend with these
bad spirits, the Chinese lit numerous small lanterns or torches
in public places and set off fi reworks—the noisier and more
startling the better. Th ey also protected their homes by paint-
ing doors with the color red, symbolic of fi re.
Th e fi rst lamps of Asia may have been stone contain-
ers holding dry wood, bark, leaves, or other kindling. Hol-
low shells could also serve as fuel containers. At some point,
animal fat was separated from the carcasses of animals and
used as a source of lamp fuel—although one that burned with
considerable smoke and smell. Torches were handheld lamps
that burned bark, strands of bound and dried vegetation, or
combustible cane or bamboo.
Lighting served military commanders as well as the
keepers of religious ceremony. Signal fi res were burned from
mountaintops and walls to convey orders and messages. Com-
manders sent out spies to gauge the size of an enemy force by
the number of camp fi res it burned at night. By the same to-
ken, a commander could deceive his opponent by gradually
reducing the number of evening fi res, giving the false impres-
sion that he was retreating from the fi eld.
Flammable oil from rendered animal fat served as the
earliest fuel for lamps in China. Th e demand for lighting fuel
supported a whaling industry, in which fl eets of ships set out
in northern waters in search of whale blubber, one of the most
economical lamp fuels. Th ese fat-based fuels were so abun-
dant that the Chinese did not turn to oil pressed from plant
sources, such as almond, sesame, and hemp oil, until around
the fi rst century b.c.e., making the use of fuel oil one of the
few technologies in which imperial China lagged behind clas-
sical Greece and ancient Rome.
Th e Chinese were the fi rst in the world, however, to mine
and burn coal and to develop natural gaslights. Th e gas was
collected from underground wells that were known occasion-
ally to burn at the surface. Later the Chinese began sinking
wells and building iron drill bits to extract gas as well as pe-
troleum from underground reservoirs. Th ey built pipelines
of bamboo to transport underground brine, gas, and petro-
leum to nearby villages. Gas was fi rst put to use to heat basins
containing seawater, which when evaporated left a fi lm of ed-
ible sea salt. It was also piped into sealed leather bags, which
could be carried to the home and then lit for the purposes of
heating, lighting, and cooking.
Th e basic design of Chinese homes and temples, with
large eaves overhanging exterior porches and courtyards, al-
lowed lamps to be hung from roof edges and to burn without
the obstruction—and the fi re danger—of nearby walls. How-
ever, these same overhanging eaves, and a lack of windows,
made interior spaces dark. Each household had a few burning
tapers, made from rendered animal fat, and terra-cotta lamps,
but the expense of fuel and the danger of fi re such l ig hts posed
made artifi cial lighting in private homes relatively rare.
In India one of the ancient religious texts known as the
Upanishads names fi re, or agni, as the fi rst of the elements.
Th is element is associated with butter, oil, and fat—three
forms of basic fuel that were used in the ancient Indian lamps.
Ghee, or clarifi ed butter, was a common fuel for home lamps
while torches and exterior lamps used castor or linseed oil.
Natural petroleum was rare in India and too costly to use as
lamp fuel.
Th e oldest la mps of India were found by archaeologists in
Mohenjo Daro, a city of the Indus Valley that had been aban-
doned by 1700 b.c.e. Th ese round or oval lamps had a small
opening for placing a wick. As in all ancient lamps, the wick—illumination: Asia and the Pacific 587