Lamps of the Middle East and Africa

Islamic oil lamps on the high plains of Iran

Since the arrival of Indo-European invaders and settlers during the second millennium BC, the high plains of Iran have continuously been inhabited by powerful and belligerent peoples: Scythians, Medes, Persians, Achaemenids, Parthians, and Sassanians. All these tribes have quite certainly manufactured their own pottery and oil lamps. By the end of the 7th century AD, the Persian culture transitioned peacefully to civilization and to Islam.

Islamic oil lamps from North Africa

Over several years, the Arabs had undertaken repeated attempts to establish settlements in Northern Africa. By the first years of the 8th century AD, their efforts met with success as they drove the Byzantines out of Morocco. They settled down, they stayed, and they are there to this day. The Berber tribes settled mainly in Northern Africa.