The Roman Lamps of Nabataean Petra

Roman lamps were produced at Petra in great number. On the one hand the production is inspired by, and follows the general development of this class, but on the other hand possesses its own internal development and chronology. A picture of the local development can only emerge, if the various types, discus-scenes and rim-types can be dated independently of pure analogy to the material from other regions. In the following an attempt is made to sketch this local development, based on the stratigraphical information available to date. This information is mainly provided by the Swiss-Liechtenstein excavations at ez-Zantur in the years 1988-2003, where more than 3000 lamp fragments were found ranging from the late 2nd c. BC to the early 5th cent. AD, to a good part well stratified.