Ca. 400-500 AD. Late Roman. A large terracotta, twin flame oil lamp with two voluted round-tipped nozzles and a crescent moon-shaped handle with a hoop below. The round discus is decorated with concentric incisions encircling two seated human figures with their heads touching each other and an eagle beneath them; there is a filling-hole below the human figure on the right-hand side. The circular base is marked off by one groove. Excellent condition. In the Roman world, the eagle was seen as 'the symbol and agent of apotheosis after death'; for instance, an eagle was released from the top of an emperor's funeral pyre to signal the journey of the soul heavenwards (Durham 2014, 85). Therefore, the eagle might indicate that the couple depicted on this lamp was deified after death. The couple portrayed here might not necessarily have been an aristocratic couple because we know that the eagle was not only reserved for the ruling class but was also found on funerary altars of private citizens (Toynbee 1973, 242). Oil lamps like this one were the most important source of artificial lighting during the whole era of antiquity and far beyond. The Romans soon developed oil lamps that could support more than one flame at once. There are known examples with thirty flames or more. A piece like this one here would have been enough to adequately light a dinner table. Cf. Zhuravlev, D. (2002). Fire, light and light equipment in the Graeco-Roman world. Oxford: Archaeopress to find out more about light equipment across the Classical world. Cf. Durham, E. (2014). 'Symbols of power: the Silchester bronze eagle and eagles in Roman Britain', Archaeological Journal 170: 78-105 & Toynbee, J. M. C. (1973). Animals in Roman Art and Life, London: Thames and Hudson, for the symbology of the eagle in ancient Rome. Size: L:86mm / W:195mm ; 260g. Provenance: Property of a North London gentleman C. M.; formerly in Arnos Jumperz collection, Leverkusen (Germany), acquired pre-1994.gentleman C. M.; formerly in Arnos Jumperz collection, Leverkusen (Germany), acquired pre-1994.