While the sun god Sol is fairly well-known, Serapis is a more interesting deity. Serapis is a conglomerate god created to help fuse the Greek and Egyptian religions following Alexander the Great's conquest of Egypt. Linguistically, "Serapis" is a combination of Zeus and the Egyptian Apis bull, which was taken to be the living representation of Osiris, the slain king of the gods who ruled over the afterlife. In his anthropomorphic form, he was represented as a man wearing a Greek style robe with a Greek hairstyle and full beard. Surmounting his head, as we see here, was often a modius, which is a farmer's basket that holds a quarter of a bushel. This represents his fertility attributes as well as his association with Osiris, who was sometimes considered a god of the harvest. Interestingly, Serapis worship was never as popular in Egypt as it was elsewhere in the world; his cult spread as far as Britain and lasted well past the advent of Christianity, thanks largely to the popularity of worshipping his consort, Isis.

Taken together, Serapis in this context represents growth and fertility, while Sol, the sun god, understandably was also considered very important to farming and crops. It would not be unreasonable to imagine that this lamp belonged to a wealthy farmer whose well-being hinged entirely on the whims of nature and its influence on his crops.

AGE: Circa 1st century A.D.

CONDITION: A large crack around the top half of the tondo has resulted in some minor loss that does not affect the image. Much of the underside of the lamp has been lost, although the remnants of a maker's mark remains. A nice piece for someone looking for a higher-end lamp without the higher-end cost!