New research suggests that the Cortona Lamp, an ornate bronze artifact from central Italy dating to 480 B.C. BC, depicts Dionysus and his night owls, which distinguishes them as important for the cult of Dionysus. The Etruscan lamp of Cortona. Photo credit: Museo dell’Accademia Etrusca e della city di Cortona
A reassessment of the ancient bronze lamp revealed that it is a ritual artifact linked to the mysterious worship of Dionysus.
A recent study published in De Gruyter’s Etruscan and Italistic Studies suggests that an elaborately designed bronze lamp discovered in a ditch near Cortona in central Italy is much older than previously thought and features the image of the god Dionysus.
The date of the lamp and the meaning and significance of its decorations have been the subject of controversy since its discovery in 1840. Now Ph.D. Student Ronak Alburz and Associate Professor Gijs Willem Tol from the University of Melbourne, Australia, used literary sources and other iconographic evidence to provide a comprehensive new analysis of the object.
The Cortona lamp is a hanging bronze oil lamp roughly shaped like a chandelier, measuring 60 cm in diameter and weighing almost 60 kg. It comes from the Etruscan civilization of Archaic Etruria, a region in central Italy roughly corresponding to modern-day Tuscany and part of Umbria. The Etruscan civilization flourished from around 900 BC. BC, but was destroyed after around 400 BC. gradually integrated into the Roman Republic.
Challenges in interpretation
The Cortona lamp has eluded a comprehensive and satisfactory explanation for two main reasons. First, very few similar objects (“comparanda”) have been discovered in Etruscan or ancient Greek art, making it difficult to make insightful comparisons. Secondly, the lamp lacks context as only one inscribed bronze plaque was found, dating much later. That is, there is no information about the building in which it was used or its relationship to other artifacts. Therefore, the scientists limited themselves to analyzing individual decorative motifs depicted on the lamp.
In their reassessment, Alburz and Tol identify new comparisons that indicate the lamp dates back to around 480 B.C. BC was created, significantly earlier than many other estimates.
They also argue that previous scholars misidentified the lamp’s 16 bull-horned figures as the Greek river god Acheloos. Drawing on diverse literary sources and presenting new iconographic evidence, they show that Dionysus, the ancient Greek god of wine and joy, was also often depicted with bull features. They therefore suggest that the lamp represents the Dionysian Thiasus, the ecstatic entourage of Dionysus, often depicted as drunken revelers.
Lead author Alburz said: “The lamp was probably an object associated with the mystery cult of Dionysus. Its decoration represents the Dionysian Thiasus, possibly performing a cult performance in the Cosmos of Mysteries in celebration of Dionysus.”
Reference: “A reassessment of the iconography of the Etruscan bronze lamp of Cortona” by Ronak Alburz and Gijs Willem Tol, April 8, 2024, Etruscan and Italistic Studies.
DOI: 10.1515/etst-2023-0019