History of glass
The history of glass-making dates back to at least 3600 years ago in Mesopotamia. However, they may have been producing second-rate copies of glass objects from Egypt, where this complex craft originated. Other archaeological evidence suggests that the first true glass was made in coastal north Syria, Mesopotamia or Egypt. The earliest known glass objects, of the mid second millennium BC, were beads, perhaps initially created as the accidental by-products of metal-working (slags) or during the production of faience, a pre-glass vitreous material made by a process similar to glazing. Glass products remained a luxury until the disasters that overtook the late Bronze Age civilizations seemingly brought glass-making to a halt.
Hellenistic glass
Core-formed glass vessels produced in the Mediterranean from 1525 to 50 BC were the most numerous and widespread. Core-formed vessels were generally small in size, opaque and designed to store perfumes, scented oils and cosmetics. The most common shapes were alabastra, amphoriskoi, aryballoi and lentoid aryballoi, oinochoai (jugs), and for the first time in the Hellenistic period hudriskai (three-handled flasks) and unguentaria (unguent bottles).
During the second half of the 3rd century BC, mosaic glass, also known as 'millefiori', literally, a thousand flowers, emerged. The group consists mostly of fused and slumped broad plates and shallow dishes with upright or out-splayed rims or hemispherical bowls. Sub-groups of mosaic glass production are 'network' or 'lacework' hemispherical bowls and vessels with meandering or spiral decorative patterns that imitate onyx. Often these bowls had a rim formed of a single ‘network’ cane of spirally twisted threads which gives a 'striped' effect. It is best represented in burial contexts from several large tombs in Canosa di Puglia (ancient Canusium) in Italy. They are open vessels since they are made with a mould but still opaque, like the widely produced core-formed vessels.