The coastal Levantine glass makers set up workshops in Aquileia and Campania and worked together with Roman artisans to perfect the glass blowing technique, eventually devising specialized equipment such as iron blow pipes and sophisticated horizontal kilns.
The blown glass technique was enhanced under Caesar Augustus and was soon spread throughout the known world. The city of Alexandria was said to have had an extensive glass industry during the Hellenistic period, as did the port of Taposiris Magna. Investigations into the chemical makeup of Roman glasses made from natron suggests that the production of ingots may have been separate from the production of the final glass product.
Quantities of Roman period glass fragments were found in the wreck of the Roman corbita Iulia Felix. The ship, which sank off the coast of Italy sometime between AD 150 and 250, is thought to have been taking broken glass intended for recycling at the workshops at Aquileia.
Sources and Further Information
Degryse P, and Schneider J. 2008. Pliny the Elder and Sr-Nd isotopes: tracing the provenance of raw materials for Roman glass production. Journal of Archaeological Science 35(7):1993-2000.
Paynter S. 2006. Analyses of colourless Roman glass from Binchester, County Durham. Journal of Archaeological Science 33:1037-1047.
Silvestri A, Molin G, and Salviulo G. 2008. The colourless glass of Iulia Felix. Journal of Archaeological Science 35(2):331-341.
