In the collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum are more than six hundred ancient lamps that span the sixth century BC to the seventh century AD, most from the Roman Imperial period and largely created in Asia Minor or North Africa. These lamps have much to reveal about life, religion, pottery, and trade in the ancient Greco-Roman world. Most of the Museum’s lamps have never before been published, and this extensive typological catalogue will thus be an invaluable scholarly resource for art historians, archaeologists, and those interested in the ancient world.

• Director’s Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• Abbreviations and Notes to Readers
• Introduction
• Catalogue
  • Typological Classification
  • I. Phoenico-Punic Clay Saucer Lamps
  • II. Greek and Hellenistic Clay Lamps
  • III. Roman-Period Clay Lamps
  • IV. Metal Lamps
• Indices
  • Index of Iconography
  • Index of Signatures and Inscriptions
  • Index of Donors and Vendors
  • Concordance of Identification Numbers
• Bibliography
• About the Authors

Jean Bussière was educated at the Universities of Lyon, Dijon, and Grenoble, receiving his MA (licence de lettres) and DES (diplôme d’études supérieures). He won a Canada Council scholarship in 1960 and studied for a year at Victoria College, University of Toronto. For several years he taught in Algeria, where he developed a passion for archaeology and lychnology. From 1989 to 2001 he was an associate researcher with UPR 217 CNRS, Antiquités africaines. From 2003 until his passing in 2016, he was associated with UMR 140-390 CNRS Lattes, University of Montpellier. In 1993 he was awarded le Prix de l’Académie d’Hippone in Aix-en-Provence.

Birgitta Lindros Wohl was educated at the University of Stockholm, Sweden (Fil.kand.), and at University of California, Los Angeles (MA and PhD). She is retired from teaching Art History and Classics at California State University, Northridge. Her excavations include sites in her native Sweden as well as Italy and Greece, the latter at Isthmia, where she is still active. Her professional interests, apart from ancient lamps, include Roman architecture, the use of spolia, and Latin literature. She has published in these fields and lectured internationally; she serves on the boards of ILA and the Cyprus American Archaeological Institute.