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Origins: First Glass

Invented only once in ancient Mesopotamia, the art of glassmaking has been preserved by Near Eastern peoples ever since.

By Samuel Kurinsky

In museum vitrines all over the world, we see beautiful objects labeled “Roman Glass.” This is misleading, for it is unlikely that any ancient Roman became a glassmaker.

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Endnotes

1.

Axel von Saldern, Glas von der Antike bis zum Jugenstil (Mainz am Rhine: Philipp von Zabern, 1980), p. 19.

2.

St. Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel in the Patrologia Latina, 8.27.313, “Orbe, Romano Occupato.”

3.

Saló W. Baron, in Nachum Gross, Ed., Economic History of the Jews (Jerusalem: Keter House, 1975), p.40.