This is an interesting piece.
I have two opinions, but frankly, without further pictures and looking at the radials on the top, it would be hard to tell. here are the two opinions:
1) The ovoid
style strongly suggests late
roman (100CE to 300CE), with use, possibly by a Jew.
[LINK TO COMMERCIAL SITE REMOVED BY ADMIN]
The shape of the
lamp is the common "ovoid" shape used by
Roman Lamp makers. Because the
lamps were so varied and easy to make (both locally and imported) the likelihood of pinning it down to anything more than this is small.
The reason I suggest it was used by a jew (but, by no means a guarantee), is that Jews commonly broke out the discus (which often
had images, but often did not... but they got into the habit of doing it). The breakage was to destroy any "graven image" that was on it, which would then make the
lamp kosher for use. Given the jagged edge of the discus fill hole, this is a possible case.
there are also example of unused
lamps that
had fully sealed tops, requiring breakage, so it's not a guarantee. Just an interesting tid-bit.
Later examples of ovoid
lamps often
had raised rims (you'll see those in 5th century to 6th century CE
lamps). This one does not appear to have those, which is why I suggested 2nd to 4th century (100CE to 300CE)
2) The Radials and design strongly suggest HELLENISTIC (300-100 BCE) See here for specific examples from which to compare:
https://www.coinart.net/Hellenistic.htm Given that your example could fit either, I'd look very closely at the radials. If they're strongly imprinted with large raised radials, I would conclude Hellenistic, and the earlier timeframe. It shouldn't be too hard for you to make that call, given the link examples.
Cheers!
Skippy
