First century BC bronze artefacts: elephant lamp and incense burner

In the Georgian National Museum in Tbilisi, as part of the exhibition New Discoveries – Georgian Archaeology, are first century BC bronze artefacts. One is an elephant lamp, and another is an elephant incense burner.

The elephant lamp, that can hold four candles, has representations of Dionysus Tauromorphos, Ariadne, Heracles, and three elephant heads. It was excavated in Vani, Georgia.

Dionysus (also known as Bacchus) is the Greek god of the grape harvest, winemaking, and theatre, circa 1500-1100 BC. He is also the god of epiphany and of ‘foreignness’ and is included in the list of 12 Olympians – the youngest god to be accepted into Mt. Olympus. Ariadne in Greek mythology was the daughter of Minos, the King of Crete. She is associated with mazes and labyrinths. She became the bride of Dionysus. Heracles (Hercules) was the greatest of Greek gods and a champion of the Olympians.

The incense burner was also found in the Vani archaelogical excavation site. Again, it has three elephant heads. However, the elephant heads are not decorated like the lamp.

All of the elephants’ trunks are raised, which is a symbol of good luck. Also, each elephant has tusks. All African elephants, male and female, have tusks. However, only some Asian male elephants have tusks, and about 50% of Asian female elephants have short tusks known as tushes. Therefore, the incense burner’s elephants are likely to be Asian female elephants. The elephants on the lamp may also be Asian elephants.

The New Discoveries – Georgian Archaeology is exhibited from 16 June to 16 December 2016.

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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