Egypt & Near East
Solar Barque of Ra
Solar Barque of Ra
Crossing the sky by day and the underworld by night, it makes the sun rise again.
MountFirst recorded c. 2400 BCE
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Photograph: A ninth-century bronze oil lamp from Iran, with a pointed spout, rounded body and a feather-shaped ornament rising above a ring handle.
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3,000 × 2,199 PX3000×2199
ArchiveEgypt & Near East · Treasure
Aladdin's Lamp
Aladdin's Lamp
Rub it, and the jinni of the lamp appears to grant its owner's wishes.
- Owner
- Aladdin
- Maker
- Unknown
- First record
- Antoine Galland, French Thousand and One Nights1712
- Gallery
- Egypt & Near East
Notes on the photograph 3
Story
The poor boy Aladdin followed a sorcerer posing as his uncle into an underground cave and brought out the old lamp the man wanted. When the sorcerer trapped him there, Aladdin rubbed the ring on his finger and escaped with the help of its jinni.
At home, when his mother rubbed the lamp to clean it, a huge jinni appeared. With its power Aladdin grew rich, married the sultan's daughter and built a palace overnight. The sorcerer stole the lamp by crying "New lamps for old," but Aladdin finally got it back.
This story is not in the Arabic manuscripts. The Frenchman Antoine Galland heard it from the Syrian storyteller Hanna Diyab and added it to his translation of the Thousand and One Nights.
The object in the photo
The photograph shows Oil Lamp(Iran, 9th century), a real museum object that evokes the legendary artifact.
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