Hellenistic glass was glass produced during the Hellenistic period (4th century BC – 5th century AD) in the Mediterranean, Europe, western Asia and northern Africa. Glassmaking at this time was based on the technological traditions of the Classical antiquity and the Late Bronze Age, but was marked by transition from limited production of luxury objects made for the social elite to mass production of affordable glass vessels used by the broader public to satisfy everyday needs. After the introduction of translucent and transparent glass, attempts were made to mimic precious and semi-precious stones, as well as rock crystal.
History
Core-formed glass vessels produced in the Mediterranean from 1525 to 50 BC were the most numerous and widespread. Core-formed vessels were generally small in size, opaque and designed to store perfumes, scented oils and cosmetics. The most common shapes were alabastra, amphoriskoi, aryballoi and lentoid aryballoi, oinochoai (jugs), and for the first time in the Hellenistic period hudriskai (three-handled flasks) and unguentaria (unguent bottles).
During the second half of the 3rd century BC, mosaic glass, also known as 'millefiori', literally, a thousand flowers, emerged. The group consists mostly of fused and slumped broad plates and shallow dishes with upright or out-splayed rims or hemispherical bowls. Sub-groups of mosaic glass production are 'network' or 'lacework' hemispherical bowls and vessels with meandering or spiral decorative patterns that imitate onyx. Often these bowls had a rim formed of a single ‘network’ cane of spirally twisted threads which gives a 'striped' effect. It is best represented in burial contexts from several large tombs in Canosa di Puglia (ancient Canusium) in Italy. They are open vessels since they are made with a mould but still opaque, like the widely produced core-formed vessels. The origins of the mosaic glassworking technique are traced back in the 15th century BC in the Mesopotamian glassmaking centres, such as Tell-al-Rimah, ΄Aqar Qūf and Marlik. Although the mosaic technique at the time was practiced in a desultory way, it is the predecessor of the elaborated mosaic vessels of high quality of the Alexandrian workshops, after the foundation of the city of Alexandria in Egypt in 332 BC by Alexander the Great, which is said to be the main production centre of these vessels. By the early 2nd century BC, monochrome drinking vessels, mainly hemispherical and sub-conical bowls were introduced. They were made in considerable quantities in the Syro-Palestinian coast and were widely traded and exported to several trading centres throughout the Mediterranean. Earlier examples were made of clear greenish, brownish or almost colourless glass, while later on they often had green, amber, blue or wine-purple colour. Usually, they were decorated with linear-cut concentric circles at the bottom or right under the rim either on the inside or the outside (Tatton-Brown and Andrews 2004). They were made in an open mould, which is in fact a relatively cheap technique that requires less effort put and it was this that allowed their large-scale production. Within the production of these drinking vessels, from the mid-2nd century BC onwards, translucent or transparent glass tableware (plates, dishes, bowls, drinking vessels, such as skyphoi, footed bowls or handled cups) was introduced; glass tableware production once established enjoyed several glassworking centres and contributed in the dramatic increase of the Hellenistic glass industry. This was the first time that glass vessels were widely consumed by the broader public as a widespread commodity, something that continued ever since and was achieved in a higher degree with the invention of the even more economical glassblowing technique. During the 1st century BC, new types of monochrome glass vessels were introduced and ribbed bowls started to be produced. They were mould-press bowls with ribs on the outside and their production centres were concentrated in the Levant and the Syro-Palestinian coast, like the monochrome hemispherical/conical bowls. However, the production of luxury glass vessels did not cease and glass vessels imitating precious metal vessels (gold- and silver-ware) were produced with new glassworking techniques to satisfy the needs of the elite social strata market. Gold sandwich glass vessels and gold-band alabastra were innovations of the late Hellenistic period addressed to a more limited range of wealthy customers. The manufacturing techniques were the same, namely the mould-press and core-form mosaic techniques respectively. However, they were developed further more in order to achieve a quite elaborate decorative aspect.
Other glass objects Hellenistic glass industry also included a range of other objects, mainly for decorative purposes. The broadest groups of glass objects were these of glass beads and inlays, like in all periods since the introduction of glassmaking in the ancient world. The mass production of glass beads of many varieties is well represented in the context of a Hellenistic glass workshop in Rhodes, where 10,000 beads of 40 different shapes and colours have been found; Rings, pendants, gemstones, amulets, small sculptures were also made with the mould-casting technique. Inlays were produced to decorate wooden articles, furniture, chests, sarcophagi and jewellery in combination with other, often precious materials, such as gold leaf or ivory. For example, glass inlays decorated the ionic capitals of north porch of the Erechtheion in the Athenian Acropolis. Inlays were deeply rooted in the Egyptian glassmaking industry and their production, with the mosaic technique after the Pharaonic tradition, continued to flourish during the Hellenistic period with old or new repertories inspired from the Greek world. Game counters and gaming pieces were made also as one way to recycle scrap glass left over from the manufacture of other articles. Like in many other occasions, these objects are well represented and archaeologically found along with various types of glass vessels in rich burial contexts, e.g. this of Amphipolis.
Primary production centres
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