1. Prehistoric Era
During the second millennium BC, glass working makes its appearance in the East. Initially beads, periapta and decorative elements for furniture and jewellery were manufactured. Somewhat later, in the middle of the millennium, glass vessels appear, in colours and colour combinations reminiscent of precious and semiprecious stones. Being in the immediate neighbourhood of Mesopotamia, Phoenicia and Egypt, the places where the art of glass working was born, Anatolia was from earliest times a significant market for glass works.
2. Archaic Period
Among the earliest finds are glass beads of all sorts. The tradition of their production begins in the first millennium BC, and survives until our days in traditional workshops. From the 7th BC onwards we find vessels crafted in the ‘core-forming technique’, while roughly during the same period we have the appearance of the uncoloured, transparent glass in the production of luxury artefacts.
2.1. Glass vessels in the core-forming technique
These multicoloured and almost opaque vessels, crafted around a core, usually have a white or azure body and are decorated with zigzags in yellow, white or greenish blue colour. Their production technique originated in Mesopotamia and Egypt in the Bronze Age. During historical times, this technique becomes very popular again, and its heyday lasts from the 6th cent. BC to the 1st cent. AD. There are numerous finds of this type from Asia Minor. The oldest specimen is an alabastron of the 7th cent. BC from Gordium; later finds include alabastra, amphoriskoi, aryballi and oinochoai of the Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic periods from Gordium, Pitane (modern Çandarlı), Myrhina, Dardanus, Assos, Tarsus, Cyme, Iassos, Mylasa (modern Milas), Cyzicus and many other sites. Several glass vessels in the core-forming technique are included in museums and private collections in Turkey as well as abroad.
2.2. Sardis
From the 9th cent. BC onwards, triangular ‘eyed’ beads are found in Sardis,1 while from the 8th or 7th cent. BC we have beads decorated with zigzags. The earliest glass vessels discovered in this city date to the late Archaic and Early Classical periods. These are glass vessel shards in the core-forming technique,2 probably imported from elsewhere. Indications of local glass production have been found in the area. Remnants of a small household glass workshop have been discovered during the excavation of a residence in Sardis. Apart from the iron tools and the glass beads found there, a piece of unworked glass weighting 4.8 kg was unearthed, in an opaque red colour. This find is very significant, as the production of this type of glass is technically quite challenging. The red opaque glass was in ancient times called ‘haematinon’ (dark, blood red) and its use was reserved for the production of expensive luxury artefacts.
2.3. Gordium
Gordium, the capital of ancient Phrygia, has yielded the earliest vessel of uncoloured glass found in Asia Minor – and one of the earliest in the world. This is an omphalos phiale from the Royal Tomb of Tumulus Ρ, where a small child was buried. The tomb dates to the late 8th century BC and was very richly furnished. The vessel is decorated on the outside by 32 petals, which start at the ‘navel’ and correspond to an equal number of stripes in the inside. It is almost completely colourless and pellucid. It is considered a creation of an Assyrian workshop, although the quality of the glass is superior to that of the few known contemporary glass vessels, which mainly originate from the Assyrian city of Nimrud. Slightly later, dated to the 7th century BC, is an alabastron in the core-forming technique; its body is wide and made up of azure glass with yellow zigzags. This find is considered important, for it fills a gap between the early Mesopotamian production and the Archaic production of the workshops in the Eastern Mediterranean. Vessels in this technique which are found in Gordium are dated up to the Late Hellenistic period.
3. Classical Period
The glass working production, as it was shaped in the Archaic period, continues into the Classical period. Small changes can be observed in the form of the artefacts, which are influenced by the style of the period. The production of glass vessels in the core-forming technique and beads continues. Towards the end of the Classical period we have an upsurge in the production of uncoloured transparent vessels that imitate artefacts crafted in rock crystal. These table vessels are conventionally called ‘Achaemenid’.
3.1. The ‘Achaemenid’ glass vessels
In 425 BC, Aristophanes mentions in his Acharnians, that the Athenian ambassadors to the Persian court were offered wine in glass ekpomata (goblets). A phiale found in the Artemisium of Ephesus, in a destruction stratum earlier than 356 BC, is considered as an example of these goblets. This vessel is made up of uncoloured transparent glass and is decorated by 24 lanciform leaves, between the extremities of which there are almond-shaped bulges. Although its place of production is unknown, it is thought to be related to the Persian (Achaemenid) production of similar metal vessels. It is one of the earliest vessels made up of uncoloured glass, and remains one of the most significant finds of its type from the Classical period. A similar type of decoration, with lanciform or rounded leaves is also found on other vessels of uncoloured glass.
It is unclear whether these vessels date to the Late Classical or the Early Hellenistic period. Some of these have been unearthed in Caria. In Caunus, in a chamber tomb hewn in the rock, shards have come to light belonging to two different vessels. The collection of the Mylasa Museum (modern Milas) contains a shallow skyphos. During the excavation of a 4th cent. BC grave in Mylasa, a skyphos has also come to light. Two similar vessels exhibited in German museums (Hamburg, Dusseldorf) are thought to originate from Asia Minor, while a third belongs to a private collection in Turkey. Excavations in Gordium have also yielded several uncoloured transparent vessels. A drinking glass with horizontal grooves and almond-shaped bulges is almost identical to a find from Derveni in Macedonia. Shards belonging to skyphoi decorated with petals or leaves have also been unearthed.
3.2. Pitane
In Pitane (modern Candarlı) common funerary gifts of the Late Archaic and Classical periods include vessels in the core-forming technique. Only amphoriskoi and alabastra are found with a white background and decoration by multicoloured zigzags. In one case an amphoriskos was accompanied by its small base, made up of uncoloured transparent glass.
4. Hellenistic Period
The characteristics of the glass working production of the Hellenistic period differ significantly from those of the previous periods. The production of multicoloured vessels in the core-forming technique continues, but these are now not as popular as before, for consumers evidently prefer transparent glass. We see a great proliferation of luxury table vessels made up of uncoloured or monochrome glass, while we can discern efforts to produce table sets. Jewellery is also crafted out of this type of glass: rings and ring gemstones. The gilded vessels of this era are of superb quality. These have double walls with a foil of gold in between.
4.1. Glass jewellery
The glass rings and the glass gemstones are rare finds. A ring of milky glass was found in Myrina. A signet gemstone for a metal ring originates from Iasus. This piece of jewellery was found in a grave in the area of the necropolis of the Agora and dates to the 4th cent. BC. Its imprinted side bears the sunken relief3 representation of a bull.
4.2. Skyphoi with handles
Typical products of Hellenistic glasswork are the skyphoi which feature two vertical handles. These vessels were used as wine cups. The vertical handles are usually articulated in three parts. Such skyphoi with handles have been unearthed in various sites across the Mediterranean, but are rare finds. Four skyphoi dating to the 2nd-1st cent. AD have been found in Asia Minor. A skyphos with handles was discovered inside a stone sarcophagus in Cyme. It is made up of light blue glass and its sole decoration consists of horizontal grooves in the interior, under the rim and on its base. On the basis of the two lamps discovered together in the burial it is dated to 100 BC. A similar, but somewhat smaller, skyphos was discovered in the south necropolis of Cnidus. It is made up of naturally coloured greenish glass. The grave also contained a stone cinerary urn and a golden garland. A further uncoloured skyphos was found in a grave of the Late Hellenistic or Early Roman period, hewn in the rock in Alexandretta (modern Iskenderun). Finally an uncoloured skyphos is included in the Kocabas collection.
4.3. Monochrome phialai and skyphoi
In the Late Hellenistic period simple phialai with thick walls are produced. Their shape varies: some are open and shallow, others narrow and deep – hemispherical or conical. Their sole decoration consists of two or three horizontal grooves or clusters of grooves in the interior below the rim. The vessels are usually olive-coloured or light green, i.e. in the glass' natural colour. More rarely they are made of uncoloured or brown glass. These were probably produced on the Syropalestinian coast, but have been discovered all over the Mediterranean. Shards from such vessels have been discovered in Sardis, Myndus (modern Gümüşlük) of Caria and Cremna (modern Çamlık) of Pisidia, while many intact vessels of this type are included in the collection of the Attaleia and Smyrna museums.
4.4. The gilded skyphos from Gordium
Although it survives in a fragmentary state, a vessel discovered in Gordium is unique. It is a gilded skyphos of the 2nd half of the 3rd cent. BC. Gilded vessels are among the most luxurious glass pots of pre-Roman times. They have double walls, and a foil of gold between them provides the decoration. The gilded vessel of Gordium is decorated with garlands and roses.
4.5. The phiale from Xanthus
The cemetery of Xanthus has yielded a hemispherical phiale of green glass. The burial has been dated to the 3rd-2nd cent. BC, but the grave was reused in the 1st cent. AD. The vessel’s main decorative element is a band of two parallel horizontal grooves with 12 vertical fins. Its bottom features an inscribed design consisting of 12 petals rising out of a central rose pattern. This vessel is a very important find, similar in style to a group of Hellenistic glass vessels from Canusium (modern Canosa) of Lower Italy. The likeness of the Xanthus phiale to two others from Canusium suggests that these three vessels originate from the same workshop.
4.6. The phiale from Kayseri
This is a phiale of light green glass, found in Huseyinli of the Kayseriprovince in Cappadocia. Its decoration combines inscribed and relief elements. Under its brim are two horizontal grooves, while on its body 12 inscribed leaves alternate with 12 relief vertical fins. The vessel is dated to the glass working production of the 3rd-2nd century BC.
4.7. Lattice vessels
The lattice vessels are composed of interwoven glass threads of two colours which make the finished product appear like a lattice. A deep pinakion with a broad rim was discovered in Myrina. Its colour is brown and yellow and dates to the 2nd or 1st cent. BC. A skyphidio of the 1st cent. BC, made up of uncoloured and azure glass comes from Cyzicus.
5. Roman Period
The glasswork of the Early Roman period follows the tradition of the Hellenistic period – luxury vessels of uncoloured glass are produced. During this period mosaic glass also becomes popular – this is glass produced by tesselation. The discovery of the blown glass technique, in the last decades of the 1st cent. BC, gave new impetus to the art of glass working. This new technique created the conditions for a quantitative increase in the production of glass wares, as well as for the lowering of their manufacture cost. The consumers of glass vessels increase, especially as the lower social strata now have the ability to buy products which at earlier periods were considered luxury items. The presence of glass creations is widespread throughout Asia Minor, especially during the 1st and 2nd cent. AD, when the region experiences a period of peace and economic growth. Thus the conditions for the import of glass products are created, as well as for the local production of vessels to satisfy increased demand.
5.1. Flabellated phialai
The flabellated phialai are the luxury vessels of this period. They are found all over the ancient world and were probably produced in many workshops. They were usually crafted in green or uncoloured glass, but we also have greenish blue, brown and violet specimens. Their outer walls were decorated by relief ribbing, vertical or slightly oblique, stopping under the rim. On the inside they featured two or three horizontal grooves. Intact flabellated phialai are included in the collections of many museums in Asia Minor, like those of Ankara, Antalya, Adana and elsewhere, as well as in private collections. Fragments or intact vessels have been unearthed in excavations in Sardis, Caunus, Iassos, the Dardanels, the Letoon of Lycia, Myrina, Cyzicus and Anemurium (modern Anamur). The flabellated phialai were so popular, that, following the discovery of the blown glass technique (mid-1st cent. BC), there were attempts for the first application of this new technique in the production of blown flabellated phialai.4 Such specimens have thin walls and a closed rim, while their ribs are of a different type. One such phiale is exhibited in the Bolu Museum and another one in the Smyrna Museum.
5.2. The vessel from Garipler
This amazing and unusual pot was discovered in Garipler, in a tomb of the late 1st cent. BC. The burial contained a wealth of luxury artefacts. Together with silver gilded cups and unguentariaof rock crystal there was a gold coin of the Augustan era, dated to 8 BC. The glass vessel is made up of dark violet glass. Its shape is closed and deep, it has no handles, while its simple decoration consists of relief horizontal bands, some with vertical incisions. There is only one similar glass vessel, from Adria in Italy. The similarities between these two vessels are many, and we may suppose that they were probably crafted in an Italian workshop.
5.3. Luxury pots from Cyzicus
Several cast luxury vessels of the late 1st or early 2nd cent. AD originate from the area of Cyzicus. Two pinakia, one of uncoloured transparent glass and one of green glass, bear no decoration. A shallow pinakion in a bright green colour is unusually shaped on the rim, bearing cuts with an abrasive wheel creating a series of stylized anthemia.
5.4. Mosaic vessels from Tarsus
The category of mosaic pots is formed by a series of fragmentary vessels produced by tesselation,5 originating from the Tarsus region. These are skyphoi composed of pre-made multicoloured parts dating to the late 1st cent. BC or the early 2nd cent. AD.
5.5. Roman glass as an excavational find
Glass is a common find in the excavation of Roman sites, and glass processing remains have been found in many sites. The operation of a workshop producing high quality azure and green glass has been ascertained in Sagalassos of Pisidia. Raw materials, such as natron6 and local limestone, as well as an imported mixture of silicon and nepheline, together with local colorant and decolourants were used.7 The operation of the workshop, which produced vessels and stained glass windows, extends from the Early Imperial to the Early Byzantine period.
In Iasus of Caria there are indications for the operation of a glass workshop from the Roman, or perhaps even the Late Hellenistic period. Excavation finds from this area include blown and cast vessels of various types. Noteworthy glass finds of the Roman period have been unearthed in excavations at Kutahya. These include small and larger unguentariaof greenish glass, as well as glass bracelets. The excavations in Ephesus brought to light a wealth of glass pots of uncoloured or white glass. These were discovered in an opulent residence destroyed by an earthquake in 262.The finds are table vessels in a great variety of shapes: drinking glasses, phialai, small and large pinakia, bottles and some goblets. This site did not yield any contemporary specimens of luxury pottery, perhaps because such wares were replaced by glass vessels. In the Antioch area we have a significant presence of glass products, already by the Late Hellenistic and throughout the Roman period. The Hatay Museum collection includes glass vessels of all types: phialai, unguentaria, bottles, oinochoai, and various drinking vessels. It is highly likely that some at least of these vessels were produced locally. Six unguentaria with apyriform body8 were discovered together with fifty more funerary gifts in a richly furnished grave of the Augustan era in Priene. The pots indicate that blown vessels were mass produced as early as the 1st century.
The glass pots found in Sardis date from the 1st to the 3rd centuries. They vary greatly in terms of their shape and the various glass working techniques employed. The vessels of the Early period, mainly phialai and skyphoi bearing inscribed grooves are thought to be imports from Syria or Italy. The flabellated phialai are found in their early form featuring thick walls, as well as in their more fragile, blown-glass version. A blown skyphos with handles followed the tradition of similar Hellenistic skyphoi. Blown glass vessels, open or closed, are undecorated or bear decoration consisting of inscribed grooves, faceted incisions or superimposed elements. Apart from the pots, some jewellery was also found (a bracelet, a ring, glass checkers and beads). The circulation of these products within the Roman Empire is affirmed by the discovery of glass working products in Asia Minor manufactured in other areas of the empire. A small bottle with three pinched feet, which is exhibited in the Marmaris Museum and dates to the 1st century, is perhaps the product of a Campanian workshop. A horned azure unguentarium decorated with white fibres is probably an Italian product of the same period as well, discovered in the city of Pitane. A phiale discovered in Didyma is a product of a central European workshop in Rhineland. It is manufactured out of uncoloured transparent glass, and its whole surface is decorated with incisions forming an intricate geometrical pattern. It dates to the 3rd century.
5.6. Roman glass working in Phrygia
The Afyon Museum collection includes hundreds of blown glass vessels which do not seem imported. On the contrary, they exhibit characteristics of a local or provincial production. It is possible that the Jewish communities of this area played some role in the development of local glass working activities. Several of these vessels originate from the ancient city of Metropolis (modern Tatarlı) and Apameia (modern Dinar). There are no finds of Roman luxury glass vessels, i.e. pots produced in a mould.
5.7. Roman glass working in Cilicia
The presence of glass artefacts in the Roman province of Cilicia is noteworthy. From the finds it is obvious that glass vessels were widely used in this region during the 2nd and 3rd centuries. This was probably due to two factors. One is the geographical configuration of the region, and the existence of safe harbours, through which the products were transported. Another factor is its proximity to the Syropalestinian coast, where glass working flourished, especially during the Roman period. Glass products, imported and local, are often unearthed in excavations in this area. The collection of the Bolge Museum in Adana includes hundreds of glass vessels discovered in the wider area and are related to the ancient cities of Flaviopolis (modern Kadırlı), Aegae (modern Yumurtalık) and Mopsuestia (modern Misis). During the investigation of the necropolis of Anazarbus (modern Anavarza), NE of Adana, glass pots were found in Roman tombs. The excavation of the city of Anemurium brought to light large quantities of glass fragments, dated to the Late Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine periods. These shards correspond to approximately 5,000 glass vessels. Glass beads, glass bracelets and plate glass were also unearthed. In Tarsus a wealth of glass vessels dating to the Roman and Byzantine periods, made up of greenish and azure glass, have come to light. These include phialai, unguentaria, andkandelai (table lamps), all manufactured employing a variety of glass working techniques. There are also strong indications for the existence of a local workshop that produced glass drinking vessels and phialai of a thin greenish or uncoloured glass. A distinctive feature of many short uncoloured drinking glasses is their almost quadrilateral body, which is formed by four pressings on the vessel’s body. Simple conical drinking glasses are also produced, uncoloured or greenish, with an open rim and a concave buckled base. The phialai follow the tradition of the Hellenistic flabellated phialai, although contrary to these, they are produced employing the blown glass technique. They have a deep body with radial ribs at their lower part.
5.8. Relief drinking vessels bearing depictions of mythological themes
During the late 1st or early 2nd century we see the production of drinking glasses depicting mythological figures. A group of such glasses is decorated with themes related to the marital procession of Peleus and Thetis. It is thought that they were produced in Asia Minor, as most of the relevant finds have been unearthed there. A drinking glass, together with a glass aryballos, were found in a burial at Cyzicus. The four sections formed on its walls depict Hermes, Cheimon (Winter), Hercules and Hymenaeus. The same mould was used for the manufacture of an identical drinking glass said to have been discovered in Gallipoli. A similar vessel was found in Balikesir.
5.9. Phialai bearing inscriptions in Greek
During the 3rd or 4th centuries, a workshop in Asia Minor produced vessels decorated with inscriptions in Greek. Their distinctive feature is the double outline of the inscribed letters. The best known example is a phiale in uncoloured glass, discovered in Apameia (modern Dinar). The letters, inscribed on its outer wall in such a way as to be legible from the inside of the vessel, form the phrase Η ΧΑΡΙΣ (Grace).
5.10. Skyphos from Heraclea Pontica and unguentarium from Dorylaeum
Two vessels in the cameo technique, exhibited in American museums, are thought to originate from Asia Minor. Both bear white depictions over an azure background. The skyphos from Heraclea Pontica (modern Ereğli) is also known as the Morgan's skyphos. It is dated to the first half of the 1st century AD. It is decorated by a scene of worship taking part in a Dionysian shrine. Following a purification ceremony, a pregnant woman is depicted praying and placing gifts at the shrine. She is accompanied by two slave women and a satyr. It is thought that the woman depicted is Olympias, mother of Alexander the Great, or Atia, mother of Augustus. The unguentarium from Dorylaeum (modern Eskişehir) dates to the late 1st cent. BC or the early 1st century AD. It is decorated with a scene that arguably takes place in the Egyptian city of Heliopolis: Horus, son of Isis, honours his mother and the beastlike god Thoth. During the Late Roman and the Early Byzantine periods new vessel shapes are introduced. Most widespread is the legged horned drinking glass. During the same period, the use of monochrome or multicoloured glass bracelets decorated in a variety of techniques becomes very widespread. Finally, we have the parallel use and production of two types of glass products which in the following centuries will become central liturgical and decorative elements of mainly ecclesiastical architecture: the kandelai (Holy Table lambs) and stained glass windows.
5.11. The Edict of Diocletian
A most important find for the study of Roman glass working is an inscription of a version of Diocletian’s edict on maximum prices. This edict was probably issued in Alexandria, in November/December of 301 AD. The inscription was found during the excavations at Aphrodisias and preserves the Latin text. It states the selling price of glass as an unworked product, as well as the prices for glass vessels and stained glass windows. The prices are fixed according to the product’s weight, and it provides special prices for each category; thus the price of the pots is not determined by their shape. Two types of glass are mentioned, which should not be understood literally in terms of the glass’ provenance, but as general terms defining the product’s quality: the uncoloured glass is termed ‘Alexandrian’, while the inferior bluish green and green glass is termed ‘Judaic’. Correspondingly, a distinction is made between first and second rate quality stained glass windows. Fragments containing the text of the edict have also been discovered in Synnada (modern Şuhut) and at Aizanoi.