The earliest lamps were used by Greek and Roman civilizations,
where light primarily served the purpose of security, both to
protect the wanderer from tripping over something on the path as
well as keeping the potential robbers at bay. At that time oil
lamps were used predominantly as they provided a long-lasting
and moderate flame. The Romans had a word 'laternarius', which
was a term for a slave responsible for lighting up the oil lamps
in front of their villas. This task continued to be kept for a
special person as far as up to Middle Ages where the so-called
'link boys' escorted people from one place to another through
the murky winding streets of medieval towns. Before incandescent
lamps, candle lighting was employed in cities. The earliest
lamps required that a lamplighter tour the town at dusk,
lighting each of the lamps, but later designs employed ignition
devices that would automatically strike the flame when the gas
supply was activated. The earliest of such street lamps wer