Mesopotamia and Egypt; glassblowing in the Roman Levant
Associated with
Mesopotamian and Egyptian glassmakers
Anonymous craftspeople
Syrian glassworkers
Credited by many historians with developing glassblowing in the 1st century BCE
Plate 017
c. 2500–1500 BCE
Mesopotamia and Egypt; glassblowing in the Roman Levant
No photograph is shown for this exhibition. The museum displays an image only where it can show the object honestly.
About this date
Naturally formed glass such as obsidian was used long before. Made glass beads appear in Mesopotamia and Egypt, with hollow vessels from around 1500 BCE. Glassblowing is dated to the 1st century BCE.
About credit
Glass was developed by anonymous craftspeople over centuries. The origin of glassblowing is usually placed in the Levant, but the first blower is unknown.
Chapter II
The world before
Life before Glass
Vessels were made of clay, stone or metal, which were opaque or porous. Nothing allowed light in while keeping weather out.
II
The human achievement
How it came about
Craftspeople discovered that heating sand with a flux such as plant ash or natron gives glass. Early objects were beads and small vessels made by winding glass around a clay core. With glassblowing, a gather of molten glass could be inflated into thin, even shapes in seconds.
III
Understanding the invention
How it works
Glass, explained in two steps.
01
Step 01 of 02
Melting silica
Sand melts at a very high temperature. A flux lowers the melting point so ancient furnaces could reach it.
Melting silica
Blowing
IV
The transformation
What changed for humanity
Science
Lenses and flasks made later experiments in optics, chemistry and astronomy possible.
Buildings
Window glass brought light indoors while shutting out cold and wind.
Transparent, non-porous and easy to clean, glass gave us windows, vessels, spectacles, microscopes, telescopes and optical fibre.
V
Before and after
Life before and after Glass
Before
Open shutters or oiled cloth.
After
A clear pane.
On larger screens, drag the divider (or use the arrow keys) to give more room to the world before or after.
A sealed glass envelope holds the vacuum around a filament.
VII
Human stories
The people and the moments
Roman glass everywhere
After glassblowing spread, glass cups and bottles became inexpensive across the Roman Empire, and fragments turn up on archaeological sites from Britain to Egypt.
Where accounts differ, this museum follows the documented record and says so.
