Few people stayed up at night in the years before 1800 because there were so few sources of light. An open fire, a candle or a rush dipped in oil could be lit. Then whale-oil lamps became popular.

Italian researchers have discovered the pottery center where the oil lamps that lighted the ancient Roman Empire were made. Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free ...

Terracotta lamp from Anatolia with curled-up sleeping dog in high-relief (1st-4th c. CE) (all images courtesy of the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles and all featured in ‘Ancient Lamps in the J. Paul ...

A rare ceramic oil lamp from the late Roman period that bears images of items used in the Second Temple has been discovered in Jerusalem, the Israel Antiquities Authority said Thursday. “After the ...

While excavating a massive Roman cemetery in the Netherlands, archaeologists discovered an unusual oil lamp that may depict the ancient god of wine. The "filling hole," where oil would have been ...