Ancient Oil Lamps

Ancient Oil Lamps - how to use an oil lamp from biblical times.
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Stock footage licensed by Storyblocks.

[@APinchOfHistory]

Hi, I need your feedback! Feel free to answer these questions or comment on something different. What did you like about this video? What did you dislike? How could I improve next time? What do you think about the intro?

[@snoochieboochiess]

Great video! Your English is excellent! You speak very clearly and use perfect grammar! Good luck with the channel!!

[@APinchOfHistory]

@@snoochieboochiess Thanks a lot!

[@TheNightshadePrince]

I really like your video, but I think you made a small mistake. The Europeans already had oil lamps before the Romans made theirs but, they we much less refined like a granite bowl with fish oil and some natural materials to use as wicks. You could say that the romans brought the first modern oil lamps to Europe as the Celtic and Norse counter parts were quite primitive and not recognizable by most people as a lamp if they weren't in use. :)

[@APinchOfHistory]

Thanks! Yes, I noticed that too, the phrasing was off and therefore it turned out this way, lol. You're right, even Greeks used oil lamps before Romans did, which I say in the video, so idk what happened in that sentence haha.

[@worldtraveler6200]

It’s so nice to actually see how an ancient item was actually used. I’ve seen plenty of oil lamps but never the how to’s of how to actually use them. Thank you!

[@APinchOfHistory]

Yes, I thought it would be interesting to actually show how is it used, as most people only talk about the objects. Thank you for your feedback!!

[@gerhardheydrich3146]

It is best to use a guttus to fill the lamp with oil through the access hole so that the oil doesn't spill all over the top of the lamp which will just make it sticky (in modern times use a small funnel). Keep the wick low otherwise the oil will burn far too quickly. Clay oil lamps were the most popular because they were mass produced using the cheapest material (clay dug from the ground) and were the 'throw away' item of ancient times. Regular use of an unglazed (generally they were unglazed) clay oil lamp rendered it sticky because over time the olive oil seeps through the porous clay body. Bronze lamps were more expensive but far better and lasted forever. Finding your way outside in the dark with one of these is problematic, you would have to make sure you kept the lamp horizontal and the small flame has very limited illumination outside, far better to use a flaming torch made with a wooden handle and pitch tar etc. Not only did these lamps have a practical use but were used for religious purposes as votive offerings in temples and shrines.

[@eddypsc]

I heard and read about ancient lamps before, but never seen an explanation and demonstration like this before. I appreciate you young man for your time and dedication to show us this. Keep it up.

[@APinchOfHistory]

Thanks a lot Eddy!

[@SecretPlacePsalm91]

THIS WAS SO HELPFUL! Thank you! I am studying about a passage in the Bible on oil lamps so this makes it come so much more alive!! Matthew 25:1-13

[@APinchOfHistory]

Thank you so much! I'm glad I could be helpful in that matter.

[@nosotrosloslobosestamosreg4115]

Enjoying my coffee with your new video. Beautiful landscape by the way.

[@APinchOfHistory]

Good to see you back, mate! Thanks for support!

[@nosotrosloslobosestamosreg4115]

@@APinchOfHistory you're not gonna rod 9f me so easily 😂

[@APinchOfHistory]

:))

[@robertafierro5592]

Thank You for teaching us HOW they were used!

[@APinchOfHistory]

My pleasure!

[@Ainennke]

Excellent video. Very informative (I never realised that Aladdin's lamp used a wick), and very well produced.

[@APinchOfHistory]

Thanks a lot!

[@jorundr1907]

Nice video. If u add a little salt to olive oil, lamp will not smoke.

[@APinchOfHistory]

Oh, that's cool! Thanks!

[@froggerland]

Is this the same with vegetable oil?

[@jorundr1907]

@@froggerland Yes.

[@danthesupplyman4113]

I absolutely love your videos, they're very down to earth and relatable. Which I feel like is something missed out in the yt education space. The actual way people lived and did the everyday stuff seems to be generally glossed over

[@APinchOfHistory]

Thank you so much! Yes, I think recreating pieces of daily lives from the past is underrepresented on youtube, so decided to change that! Stay tuned because more content is in the making :)

[@skrimper]

This is wonderful content, thanks. Incredibly well done for a small channel. Good camera, shots, editing etc.

[@APinchOfHistory]

Thank you :) I try to do my best. I hope the chamnel will eventually grow!

[@KhoiThai]

And I'm back. Nice to see you in that tunic haha. Period clothing is always nice to see =))

[@APinchOfHistory]

Hii, yeah I have another tunic, haha. Thanks for commenting, as always!

[@Deximaru]

I've not seen a video covering this before, very cool. I would love to see more everyday stuff from different periods and locations. I find your video length is always good, not too long but it contains everything I would want to know, or at least a great overview.

[@APinchOfHistory]

Thank you for all your support! I always try to include to most important info trying not to make it unnecesairly too long. Glad you liked it! :)

[@foued250]

Great quality and very enjoyable watch 😃 keep up the great work!!

[@APinchOfHistory]

Hey, thanks for support! :D

[@SouthernRebels94]

I have to oil lamps a traditional oil lamp from India and a traditional middle Eastern genie oil lamp made of brass my favorite oil to use is olive oil to light them but i do use other oils from vegetable oil to other types of cooking oils but noticed olive oil burns the cleanest and gives off a longer burn time.

[@friedfish69]

Love that antediluvian lap steel in the backgound.

[@gunshotbill]

Nice Channel. The introductions are absolute fire. Keep up the good work! Subscribed.

[@APinchOfHistory]

Thanks! Good to know!

[@thebelfastvikingmartinbrow3603]

I have been using a few simple open clay lamps for a few years now. With just a basic jute wick put in sideways with old cooking oil. I find that they can be a bit Smoky, plus I need to keep a small pair of tweezers to move up the wick.

[@APinchOfHistory]

Yeah, the twizzers would probably always come in handy. I think it also depends on the type of oil that is used how much smoke it produces.

[@thebelfastvikingmartinbrow3603]

@@APinchOfHistory fish oil and most plant oils are not bad. But as I cook I sometimes strain out whatever oil mixed with whatever am cooking and use it .As I think if you was a poor person that might be the only oils you can get . But I have tried everything from making candle's from jute and the fat from cooking meat. To making small bee's wax candles.

[@superxuliguay]

Really nice video, interesting. Amazing work!

[@APinchOfHistory]

Thanks!

[@wnrr2696]

Hey 👋 saw your channel mentioned over on Modern History TV in the comments about a helmet, hope all is going well! Enjoying the information. I love olde things

[@APinchOfHistory]

Thank you for the support!

[@frogmad13]

I am loving this channel!

[@APinchOfHistory]

I'm so glad to hear that!!

[@theWARMJET]

Fantastic! you're vídeo and explanation is top notch thank you!

[@APinchOfHistory]

Cheers

[@crashburndicoot6940]

Such a young boy with such an appreciation for such an ancient item it makes me cry

[@APinchOfHistory]

Thank you haha

[@Exodusllfreedomministry]

Thank you for this - will be using this demonstration to give an explanation of Matthew 25 in my sermon.

[@WielkieOdpowiedzi]

Dzięki Wojtek! Dobry film rzetelne info to czego potrzebowałem

[@APinchOfHistory]

Miło słyszeć :)

[@paulinamartinez4208]

Yes very good I like this very much genie wishing coming true ❤

[@VintageCarHistory]

This video was quite enlightening.

[@APinchOfHistory]

I see what you did there lol, thanks! :D

[@chrisml8105]

I always assumed that they had a removable top. It'd be a pain if the burnt end came off and the wick fell into the lamp. That's a really great lamp you've got. Thanks for the info. Dziekuje!

[@gerhardheydrich3146]

No, they did not have removeable tops. in the event that a piece of wick could not be removed, the lamp would still be used but eventually thrown away as the clay oil lamp was very cheap to buy. In a more expensive bronze lamp tweezers etc would be used - a very fiddly process! If you make sure that the wick is not too small in diameter, it shouldn't fall into the body of the lamp.

[@APinchOfHistory]

There you go. Thanks for explaining and adding the info!

[@PhearomHok]

Thanks for sharing 👍 ❤❤

[@APinchOfHistory]

You're welcome!

[@Wadelmaz]

Does the wick need to be pulled up sometimes as it burns, or replaced? Such an interesting piece of history, thank you for sharing. 😊

[@APinchOfHistory]

Thanks for support!! Good question, actually. The wick definitely needs to be replaced from time to time, as well as oil needs to be added. But idk about the pulling it up, I'll test it and let you know!

[@thebelfastvikingmartinbrow3603]

Simple answer yes . As wick pulling up really depends on the type that you use. As they all have different soak up times and burn times.But you do have to check on them and clean out the burnt remains after using. I keep tweezers beside my oil and Wick's .

[@thebelfastvikingmartinbrow3603]

Wick's pulling up really depends on the type that you use. As they all have different soak up times and burn times.But you do have to check on them and clean out the burnt remains after using. I keep tweezers beside my oil and Wick's .

[@garlan1732]

Great job... :)

[@Vexarax]

Very cool! Thanks for the info :D Some questions: What happens to the leftover wick inside the lamp, or does it all burn away? What did they use to light their candles/lamps (ie to start their fires)? Did they have flintstones or something? Is there a way to open the lamps to clean inside, or did they not need to be cleaned? Thank you for the cool video ^_^

[@APinchOfHistory]

The wick burns very slowly, but from time to time you have to put it up a little. Good question. Actually most of the time, you can just use the fire you already have, either some other lamps, fire from your fireplace etc. If you don't have any fire available, you go to your neigbours, they surely have it :) Of course if you have to, you can create fire with flint and iron, but that probably was done if everything esle was not available. There's no way to open it. You could just rinse it with water insde through the hole, but usually there is no need for them to be cleaned. Thanks for commenting!

[@JesseP.Watson]

Interesting. One thing I learned recently concerning using these lamps, or fire sourced lamps: I made myself a big candle recently which I was using when my solar power ran out. However, it's surprising how quickly the air quality is reduced if there is smoke coming off the wick. The problem is, because you're in low light, you don't see the atmosphere growing smokey so you just breathe it in - if it's not _really_ smokey you can do so without noticing it, but you have a bad cough soon enough. I would guess all the smoke in their homes often brought lung problems.

[@APinchOfHistory]

That is a good point, however, the same on much bigger scale was with open fireplaces inside the house without proper chimney. I remember reading about viking homes, they were often really smokey inside, but that was the price to pay for warmth. It's great when you realise how convienient modern life is sometimes :)

[@TheNightshadePrince]

Ancient homes breathed much better than modern homes. Viking long houses in particular are said to have better air quality than modern homes because they were made of turf, earth, stones and branches, had open fireplace, glassless windows etc. that allowed for proper air flow, and they didn't use any harsh chemical like we do with pressboard and plastic that off gases a lot of poison into the air.

[@christophersweetz7495]

That wouldn't really be an issue for them because they didn't have enclosed houses. Glass windows weren't common in antiquity so the air would be circulating through the house and outdoors.

[@JesseP.Watson]

@@christophersweetz7495 True, though I was describing using that in a bushcraft shelter myself when writing that. I think it's also fair to assume they blocked windows in the winter by whatever means, they'd not sit there in the cold with the wind blowing in.

[@christophersweetz7495]

@@JesseP.Watson that is true it wouldn't do to have snow blowing in. I'm sure they all had chimneys though and smoke rises. Although they were ignorant of a lot of things so poor air quality wouldn't be something they worried about. It's just a part of life just like cholera.

[@marmieRH]

Its very interesting 😊 merci du Québec ! 🎉

[@APinchOfHistory]

Cheers

[@douglasmaccullagh7865]

I know that oils worked the best, but I wonder if lard lamps were common? Tallow would be made into (expensive) candles, but would the heat from one or more burning wicks melt lard into oil for the lamp?

[@APinchOfHistory]

Good question Douglas! I think to answer that we have to speculate a bit. I think it could've been done theoretically, however if you had to go through the trouble of melting the lard to put it into the lamp... it seems very impractical. They had something called rush lights (check out Modern History TV for that) I think they would father do that with lard.

[@asyanochka]

the video is very nice and handy! could you please say if you wait some minutes after turning linen wick in to the lamp to let it absorb oil of you start it at the same moment?

[@APinchOfHistory]

You can light it immidiately, there is no need to wait really since the oil absorbs itself instantly so to speak :)

[@MartasZLA]

Love it!

[@APinchOfHistory]

:D

[@wvb93]

How would the ancients light their oil lamps? You used a candle here, and I'm sure ancients would have used candles too, but then how would they have lit the candle? Would they have gone to their neighbor to borrow a flame?

[@APinchOfHistory]

Good question and an interesting one. Well I used candle because that was convinient, but candle were quite expensive in general even in the Middle Ages. So, most of the times, they would probably: borrow flame from their neighbour, or maybe use the fire from fireplace, or use another lamp if you had one burning already. When there was no other way you could create the fire from scrarch using for example flint and steel method, but that requires so much effort that it's probably not worth it just to light up a lamp.

[@victormahagan6080]

I have one that I purchased a few years ago. When I added the olive oil and lit it the oil seeped through the clay. I am unable to use it. Is there something they did to seal the inside to keep it from leaking?

[@APinchOfHistory]

It seems back in the day it used to be a bit of an issue as well. Generally speaking I think it should get better the more you use it. Most practical is to get a fired clay one, at least fired on the inside, though I'm not quite sure that's entirely historically accurate. But, as I said, I heard the more oil you use it penetrates the structure a little bit and kind of seals itself I guess.

[@rustyholt6619]

thay found stone oil lamps in the cave in France that dates to the paleolithic ,melinia before Rome

[@nessaluv3737]

what did you use to light it. Was that a candle?

[@Bamx333]

Love the video! Sorry for the dumb question but how does the fire not just consume all the oil and not explode? Is it because the olive oil only burns on the surface? Can u explain it pls?

[@APinchOfHistory]

Sure. From the more scientific point of view you need access to air in order to create fire and the air is accesable only on the surface, so yeah, it burns only on the surface and also quite slowly for that matter.

[@larrydoll5064]

Now that was about a serious wick...😁

[@APinchOfHistory]

I see what you did there!

[@lizdavies8030]

Great video, i hope this helps but if you talk into the camera like you are addressing a much loved and admifed friend or family member you will come across as more charismatic. Really interesting and great video tho. Xx

[@APinchOfHistory]

Thank you! Yeah, I was kind of stressed when recoreding that. Especially at the beginning it's a little weird feeling you get when talking to a camera alone haha

[@lizj5740]

I enjoyed this video. Thank you. Wild Bill from Vintage Car History sent me over. Love from Liz and Ginger (pic left) in Australia.

[@APinchOfHistory]

Thank you so much, Liz! (And Ginger :D) I appreciate your support!

[@autismapostle]

Bravo.

[@APinchOfHistory]

Cheers mate

[@Polymath9000]

How long do these burn.

[@APinchOfHistory]

Well, I'd say, a substantial amount of time!

[@YohanSBach]

Our family enjoy 🪔thank you 😊

[@APinchOfHistory]

Great to hear, haha, you can check out the rest too!

[@eugenemartone7023]

And here I was thinking Greece was part of Europe …

[@APinchOfHistory]

Hi, what do you mean? Have I said something wrong? And if so, in what moment? :)

[@eugenemartone7023]

@@APinchOfHistory @2:02 after talking about lamps in ancient Greece you say the romans brought them to Europe.

[@APinchOfHistory]

@@eugenemartone7023 You're right! xD The phrasing could be better there... I meant Greeks Romans brought and popularised them throughout Europe well beyond just Greece. Sorry, thanks for pointing out!

[@michaelmouret2833]

Is your lamp a reproduction or original? The one you have is beautiful

[@APinchOfHistory]

It is a reprodution. Thanks!

[@d.o.7784]

Can the olive oil actually burn? 🤔

[@APinchOfHistory]

Sure it can!

[@Xinxin688]

Are those very expensive?

[@APinchOfHistory]

No, not really. I got mine for about 20$ I guess.

[@jasonwthompson5003]

So how did they adjust the wick?

[@APinchOfHistory]

With their hand :) (You don't really need to adjust it while the flame is burning)

[@jasonwthompson5003]

@@APinchOfHistory so do you know how to make them? I’m studying Passover and feel like followers of Christ should do the sedation.

[@APinchOfHistory]

@@jasonwthompson5003 You mean do I know how to make the wicks or the lamps? I've made the wick myself, the lamp is a bit more complicated, first you need some basic skills at making something out of clay, but more importantly, you have to bake it or fire it out in a special oven. If you need to make a lamp by yourself I would suggest looking up some tutorials on how to make a lamp on youtube. I'm not sure I've understood you well (I'm not a native speaker and idk what sedation is) but I did my best :)

[@jasonwthompson5003]

@@APinchOfHistory ah thanks I may just eBay the lamps lol.

[@APinchOfHistory]

@@jasonwthompson5003 Yeah lol, sure you can. I bought mine on the internet too. Really any piece of string can be used for a fully-working wick.

[@owojohnson1115]

What do I do when the wick starts to burn away???

[@American-Plague]

Trim it. If it's burning up too fast, you need a better wick as it isn't wicking oil as fast as the oil burns, thus the wick itself will burn.

[@howelltaylor6774]

You completely forgot Carthage! Thats were the use of olive oil as a lighting industry for trade really started its Commercial life. Not Rome!!! Rome was a back water hicksville when Carthage was a trading Empire.

[@APinchOfHistory]

Alright. That's a fair point should've mentioned Carthage as well. Thanks!

[@hellokatt]

I want 1

[@APinchOfHistory]

You can get the on the internet pretty cheap. I bought mine for around 15USD if I remember correctly.

[@georgegeorgopoulos6543]

Algorithm comment cuz!

[@APinchOfHistory]

thanks!

[@flowersofthefield340]

Do you have Oil for your Lamps ......? 🫒🌍🕊

[@alo1236546]

This is teapot, not aladdin lamp

[@APinchOfHistory]

?

[@olegd3860]

HQ9rbA3

[@incognito_incognito]

Great video! I hope your channel grows bigger.

[@APinchOfHistory]

I hope so as well! Thank you for the support!