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The history of glass making before the Industrial
revolution can be separated in two stages: in the
first, which began in the 3rd millennium BC and
ended in the period from 100 to 50 BC,
craftsmen discovered how to transform raw
materials into glass and how to make vessels and
other objects either with moulds or by forming a
molten glass around a removable core. Both
techniques were labour-intensive and were
seldom made in big quantities. In the second
stage, beginning in the 1st century AD in the
Syro-Palestinian region, glass workers found
that molten glass could be formed by inflation
and manipulation with tools. Glass blowing
enabled them to make quickly a wide range of
shapes, thus widening its market.
However, after the 2nd century AD, glass is
generally found in a more confined area. The
change appears to have taken place under the
Flavian Emperors (69-96 AD), an era that in
many ways represents a watershed in the history
of glass making. It is from this time onwards that
glassblowing in the East and the West developed
along independent lines, the only exception
being fine tableware decorated with special
techniques, which was probably due to the still
unifying factor of the Roman Imperial
administration.
Yet, the most prolific period in the history of
glass in the Eastern Mediterranean was during
the late Roman Empire, when Egypt, Palestine,
Syria, Cyprus, Asia Minor and the north Pontic
region all had flourishing glass industries. With
the increased demand for glass, regionalism
became the dominant factor in the production of
glass vessels. Marked regional differences
existed not only between the glass made in Syria,
Jordan and Palestine, but even between different
parts of Palestine (inland vs coast; Galilee and
Phoenicia vs Judea). The glass industries of these
regions experienced a prolonged period of
growth, and the late Roman and early Byzantine
period were by far the most important not only
in terms of absolute output but also in terms of
typologies used. Only during this period, glass
was finally used by different strata of societies,
sometimes even replacing pottery for certain
functions.
The Palestinian glass industry flourished from
the 4th to the early 5th century, following the
rule of the Roman emperor Diocletian (284-305
AD), when the region enjoyed a time of relative
peace in spite of economic instability. When
Constantine the Great finally emerged as sole
ruler in 324, Palestine benefited from the fact
that he targeted Jerusalem and the Holy Land as
main recipients for his reconstruction program.
Exempted from personal taxation by an Imperial
edict in 337, a large number of skilled craftsmen
profited greatly from the economic boom.
The transparent greyish green tinted glass jar
with translucent dusky bluish green coil handles
and transparent to translucent greyish blue green
thread decoration on the body. The rim rounded
in flame, funnel mouth with open collar, globular
body with kicked base. On the lower body,
starting from the bottom, one uninterrupted
thread wound clockwise, then spiralling up into
three revolutions of straight threads, while
another thread evolves as thick zigzag thread in
two registers. Three coil handles each applied
just below the shoulder and attached to the edge
of the collar and above on the rim. This type of
relief decoration, popular between the 4th and
the 7th century, was applied shortly before the
vessel was completed to avoid reheats that
might cause the threads to melt flush with the
surface.
In terms of forms, Syria and Palestine between
the 3rd and 5th century developed an unrivalled
diversity of individual shapes, including
characteristic jars such as the one here
illustrated, whose shape remained largely
unknown in the West. In the Syro-Palestine area
this type of glass jars was widely used in the late
Roman and Byzantine periods. The body was
usually bulbous and flat-bottomed or with a
slightly concave base. Many jars also featured a
relatively tall funnel mouth with just below the
edge of the rim a decorative rim coil or cut-out
fold, also known as projecting roll or cut-out
collar rim.
The presence of the projecting roll in our jar is
an indication that the vessel was not used for
drinking or pouring liquids, because the open
fold would have trapped the liquid. Its use is still
debatable but a plain, two-handled jar with a
projecting roll below the rim, discovered in a
burial a Giv'at Sharet, Israel, indeed contained
traces of cannabis, used in antiquity for
medicinal purposes. On the other hand, evidence
from an Egyptian excavation, would purport the
idea of a more mundane usage as tableware.
Whatever its original function, this beautifully
preserved iridescent jar speaks out of a long-
gone period of cultural thrive that the Eastern
Mediterranean enjoyed during the early centuries
of the Common Era, a fragile -yet unsurpassed-
reminder of the beauty and craftsmanship
achieved by Near Eastern glass workers in
ancient times.
For comparable examples cf. M. Stern, Roman,
Byzantine and Early Medieval Glass, 2001: pp.
230-239.
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