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Although it is now known that glass was invented in Mesopotamia or Iran around 2000 BCE,
there is a myth about the discovery of glass that reaches back to Pliny the Elder, the Roman
author and philosopher. He claimed that Egyptian merchants carrying natron (a sodium
compound) brought their ships ashore at the mouth of the Belus River in Phoenicia. The
merchants used their natron cargo to build fire pits to hold up their cooking pots because there
were no stones to properly do so. Eventually, the fire caused the natron and sand from the
shore to fuse into glass. Even though it is a myth, the Romans did play a huge part in the
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Glass bottles were also used to hold cosmetics, such as oils and lotions. Wealthy Romans
stored their cosmetics and medicinal lotions in bronze and silver containers, but poorer people
could now use glass for this purpose. At first, these cosmetic bottles were small and crudely
finished, but over time they became more refined and aesthetically pleasing.