Light on Your Feet

Announcer: This is a Getty podcast.

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Host: Don’t walk—run!—to listen to this episode. This week, we’re hearing from a lamp with an unusual shape—it’s a pair of feet!

Welcome to If Objects Could Talk, a podcast where art and artifacts get to leave the museum vault and tell their side of the story. Thanks for joining us as we bring objects into the light!

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Speaking of light: what do you do when it gets dark outside and you need to see inside? I bet you just flip a switch and presto! More light! But it’s not just the overhead lights in your home that make things brighter. It’s the glow of electronic devices, flashlights powered by batteries, streetlights, car headlights, and the brilliant, bright lights of big city skyscrapers. We are rarely ever truly in the dark.

In ancient Rome, things were very different.

[dramatic music begins]

Apart from a big harvest moon and twinkling stars, the nights were very, very dark and all you had were torches and oil lamps to help illuminate it.

Today’s feet-shaped lamp was made in Asia Minor in the first century CE.

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It’s ok to laugh—he's really leaning into being the clown of the museum vault.

Feet Lamp: Mi, mi, mi! The people want to hear from meeee!

Oh, don’t mind me, just doing some vocal warmups, which is extra important for a pair of feet.

You know, it was starting to seem like I wasn’t going to get my turn to share my story, which would be a shame because I’m such a de-LIGHT.

[snare hit]

Get it? Because I’m a lamp? [laughs] I crack myself up! But not too much though! I am made out of clay, too much cracking would be a disaster!

[cracking noise and ceramic smashing]

What was I talking about again? Oh, yeah!

In ancient times there was no electricity, so lamps like me were all the rage! [applause]

[quiet nighttime music begins]

Business owners used oil lamps to light their buildings and the nearby streets. Noblemen used lamps to light their paths when they were out after dark. Soldiers used them to light military forts.

But enough about those ordinary lamps, [music ends] let's talk about how a star was made.

[twinkle]

Get it? Because I GLOW like a star?

[snare hit]

Whew, I am so good!

[suspenseful music begins]

Ok, picture it: I was nothin’! Just a ball of damp clay. But then I was pressed into a mold and I took my shape: a pair of sandaled feet.

[music pauses] I still have all ten of my toes, even 2000 years later, if you're curious.

[music begins again]

Then I was baked in a hot oven and my soft surface became hard. I was ready for action! To use me, oil was poured into holes at the top of my feet right where a pair of ankles would be and the wick was placed into an opening where the big toes touch. The wick was usually a bundle of fibers like linen or papyrus twisted together. And the oil was usually a plant oil like olive oil. Basically, anything you might put in a salad dressing today could get me going.

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A little flame would race down the wick and viola! [angelic voices singing]

Lights on, baby! A little bit more dramatic then just flipping a switch, don't you think?

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I'm pretty unique, as far as lamps go. Some lamps were modeled after animals, people doing silly or serious people things, gods and goddesses, or even funny faces. There were lamps shaped like a foot, but a pair of feet? In sandals? Like me?

That's something to be admired.

[music ends, voices say "ooh"]

And if I'm being honest, laughed at, too. [laughter] When my wick was lit, I looked like someone walking on hot coals! [voice gasping from sizzling heat]

And you can't see it now but I used to be glazed red, so I really used to glow. That glazing process helped me keep liquids, like oil, in. No leaking from me!

Yeah, I was quite the way finder as well. I had a handle so people could grab me and do things like make their way to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

[steps, door opens]

It was in those moments I was grateful I didn't have a nose.

[voice saying “pee-ew”]

Sadly my handle has since broken.

[cracking]

I won't say WHO did it, but it was someone with two left feet and butter fingers.

[sad trombone]

I was made in Asia Minor, which at the time was part of the Roman Empire and that Empire [laughs] was huge! Huge I tell ya!

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At its height, around 100 CE, and when I was made, the Roman Empire stretched from Britain in the Northwest to Egypt in the Southeast. I came from somewhere in the middle.

I was kept in a beautiful domus or house. It wasn’t very large, but it was impeccably designed and decorated. The home had no outside-facing windows, as to not attract thieves. However, it did have a large atrium, or central indoor space, that was open at the roof to let in light and air.

My owner, Albus, was a freedman. He was once enslaved but was granted his freedom and made a comfortable life for himself as a vendor of fine goods. He then later became a merchant, supplying goods for other vendors’ stores.

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Albus was a modest man and tried not to call too much attention to himself, but every once in a while he loved to have long dinner parties with friends and business associates.

[overlapping voices at a party]

Dinner parties were very popular in ancient Rome. They were held in the triclinium, which translates to “three couch room,” because it had three couches arranged in a U-shape. While eating, Romans reclined on these couches.

[voices end]

They always dined barefoot, which was so strange to me...at least put some sandals on, ya know?

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Anyway, in the hours that could pass during a dinner, the triclinium could go from full daylight to complete darkness. So, for the latter part of the meal, lamps lit the space, casting a soft glow on faces, and created short paths towards the food and drinks. I was kept going and glowing on a lamp stand until the last guest cleared the threshold.

[music ends, voices return]

During one particular dinner party, the guests were so loud that they woke Albus' seven-year-old son, Rufus.

[child makes questioning noise]

Little Rufus promptly fumbled in the dark house in search of his father. He used the sound of laughter and the faint light to find his way to the triclinium. When Rufus saw his father reclining, he approached him boldly and told him he could not sleep with all of the noise he and his guests were making! His father and guests laughed at his fearlessness. [laughter]

A fine example of a free man. Albus told Rufus that if he could not sleep, he should play! Albus used my light to make shadow puppets on the wall to the delight of his son and his guests. [cheering]

Yeah, have you ever done that? Used your hands to make shadow puppets on the wall? It’s very easy! All you need are your hands, a wall, and a light. Not me though, I am retired! A small bedside lamp or flashlight work great. No oil needed!

Put one hand between the light and the wall so that you can clearly see the shadow of your hand. Now go ahead and give yourself a wave! By changing the shape of your hand, you can make animals, birds, and other characters come to life.

How would you make a bunny? [springing noise] A bird? [a bird’s squawk] A dog? [dog barks]

Now here comes a real challenge: what about making puppets with your feet? I bet if you put your heels together and stuck your feet out you could make a smelly butterfly!

[disgusted voice]

Albus was incredible at making shadow puppets. Just one bright idea after another.

[small chime]

First he made a soaring eagle, [eagle chirp] then an angry toad, [frog’s croak] and then a mischievous hare hopping along the walls! [springing noise]

The shadow puppets that Albus created and his accompanying noises made them come alive and delighted his guests.

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All that playing made the dark evening seem brighter. Pretty soon all the guests were trying their hand, literally, at making shadow puppets, and creating stories for one another. It was the longest dinner party Albus ever had. But it didn't matter, the night was brilliant! Made even more perfect with his son by his side.

After all, Rufus was the light of his father’s life!

[music ends, snare hit]

[Laughs] Get it? LIGHT of his life? I gotta million of 'em!

I’ll share more next time.

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Host: I hope you enjoyed learning about Roman homes and lamps! Join us next time when a very fancy cat slinks into the studio. [cat meow]

To see photographs of the feet lamp and learn more, visit our website at Getty dot edu slash podcasts.

This episode was written by Tocarra Elise and produced by Zoe Goldman. Todd Schick voiced the lamp. Theme music, mixing and sound design by Alexandra Kalinowski. Christopher Sprinkle is executive producer.

Special thanks to curators Ken Lapatin and Judith Barr and educator Lilit Sadoyan.

Catch you next time!

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