Roman Glass

During the years of the Roman Republic (509-27 BC), simple vessels were created by covering a solid core in molten glass. Canes of glass could be used to create a mosaic of colours, but the process was slow and intensive and the end result thick and heavy.

However, in the middle of the 1st century BC, just as Rome was emerging as the Mediterranean’s dominant political, military and economic power, a technique pioneered by Syrian craftsmen arrived: glass-blowing. It revolutionised the industry overnight, allowing the Romans to produce glass much more quickly, at a fraction of the cost and on a huge scale.