Roman Glass

Object/Artifact

St. Joseph Museums

Name/Title

Roman Glass

Entry/Object ID

L2022.24.18

Description

Roman Glass (1st Century CE) From Dr. Jimmy Albright's excavation in Israel

Collection

Dr. Jimmy Albright Loan

Relationships

Related Places

Place

Country

Israel

Interpretative Labels

Label Type

Cultural/Historical Context

Label

The kingdom of Israel emerged as a sovereign entity around the year 1000 BCE, about 3ooo years ago. In its early history, great kings like Solomon and David (the same ones mentioned in the Christian Bible) ruled the area. In 931 BCE, the area split into two kingdoms: Judah in the south and Israel in the north. Over the next 1000 years or so, various powerful empires conquered and ruled this area, like the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, and the Byzantines. Before the Romans conquered Israel in 63 BCE, it had already established itself as the dominant military and political power in the Mediterranean. Already have undergone two centuries of military expansion, the Roman Republic (as it was at the time) was continuously seeking new lands and new people to conquer. In 63 BCE, as a consequence of another war Rome was fighting with a different enemy, Jerusalem was sacked and the area was renamed the province of Syria. For years after, this area was a vassal kingdom to Rome. This means that, although Israel could claim they were independent, the government officials were appointed and technically controlled by those in power in Rome. In 37 BCE, Herod was appointed King of Judea by the Romans, and given significantly more autonomy that previous rulers of the region. In 4 BCE (10 years after the death of Herod), Rome took a more total control of the region. In 30 CE Jesus was crucified, leading to the emergence of Christianity in the region and making Jerusalem a sacred site to those of both Jewish faith and Christian faith.During this time, the people living in the area were resentful of Roman control in the area and started several insurrections and uprisings. In 66 CE, the First Jewish-Roman War was started, which ended with the Siege of Jerusalem and the total destruction of Jerusalem and the holy temple in 70 CE. Despite a brief period of sovereignty in 132 CE, Israel remained under the control of Rome. A brief revolt in 132 CE resulted in the death of hundreds of thousands of Jewish people. In 614 CE, the Persians briefly took control of the region, followed by the Byzantine Empire in 629 CE. In 638 CE, Muslim forces captured Jerusalem and remained in control for the next 400 years. Three of the world's largest religions now considered Jerusalem their holiest of cities. This created a center of contention amongst Jews, Christians, and Muslims. In 1071 the first Crusade (a series of wars initiated by European Christians to try to retake control of Jerusalem and the Holy Land from the Muslims) began, and continued for the next hundred years. In 1517, the Ottoman Empire takes control of Israel, and remains in control until the 1900s and the beginning of World War I.

Label Type

Cultural/Historical Context

Label

The modern country of Israel did not exist until 1948. The region has always been a center of turmoil, primarily as a result of the importance of this location to three of the world’s major religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Most of what is known about Israel’s earliest history comes from the Christian Bible and archaeological excavations. This area was originally referred to as Canaan. Around 1000 BCE, King David ruled the area. His son, King Solomon, is credited with building the first holy temple in ancient Jerusalem. Around 722 BCE, the Assyrians invaded and caused major destruction to the area called Israel. In 568 BCE, the area was conquered again, this time by the Babylonians, who destroyed King Solomon’s temple and replaced it with their own in 516 BCE. Over the next several hundred years, this area was conquered and ruled by various groups, including the Persians, Greeks, Romans, Seljuk Turks, Fatimids, several groups of Crusaders, Egyptians, Islamists, and others. From 1517 to 1917 the area was ruled by the Ottoman Empire, until World War I ended the Ottoman Empire for good. The area still experiences considerable violence and turmoil due to a long history of violence between groups occupying the same land and continued arguments whether Israel should be recognized as an independent country at all.

Research Notes

Notes

Roman Glass Glass making in the ancient world dates back almost 4,000 years to ancient Mesopotamia. Originally, glass making was a slow and arduous process. When glassmaking was first developing as an industry, the glass would be heated and draped over open molds to create the shape that was desired. This method is called casting. Glass artists could get elaborate shapes and designs using methods, but this was still a limiting method of creating glass items. As time progressed, the art of glassmaking expanded out of Mesopotamia and people began to experiment with methods of making glass items. Artists could now make clear glass, glass jewelry, and more elaborate glass vessels and statues. Because of the labor intensive nature of creating glass objects, glass has always been considered a luxury item and was usually owned by the upper class of society. Finding glass artifacts at an excavation lends valuable insight into socioeconomic relationships of the time, as well as key information about trading relationships. The art of glass making varied widely from region to region, allowing researchers to pinpoint the origin of the glass items. Due to its fragility, glass is almost always the item being traded rather than being the container of something else (like wine). Glass began to be made and widely used in the Roman Republic in around 1000 BCE, though the spread of glassware did not spread until the 1st century BCE. When glass was first used in Rome, it created bottles to store the most expensive perfumes and creams. Eventually glass was being used to create a wide variety of artifacts; most commonly it was being used to create cups to replace ones made of clay. When glass-blowing was invented, it revolutionized the glass making industry and glass artifacts, like this vase here, became significantly more common. Glass blowing sped up the process, making it easier to mass produce items. It also allowed glass blowers to be much more creative in how the artifacts were made. The various colors of Roman glassware is due to the metals that were found in the sand that was used to create the glass. Roman glass makers knew how to control the color. The more translucent and clear, the more highly prized the glass.