Ancient technologies: glass 2800-PB-SZ
Glass has been known in human history since the Bronze Age. Already from the middle of the 2nd mill. BC glass vessels from Tell Brak and Tell Arbid in Mesopotamia are known. During the Assyrian period, beautifully decorated beaker were made, found in Nuzi or Hasanlu. However, the greatest development was recorded first in the time of Akhenaten who moved the Egyptian capitals to Tell Amarna, where the production of blue-cobalt cosmetic vessels decorated with glass threads began, and then in the 1st mill. BC. Thanks to the Phoenicians, glass spread throughout the Mediterranean. The Hellenistic and early Roman period brought a huge leap in the production of glass products. Then, in the 1st cent. BC, they began to use pipe to blow glass, a metal tube, free blowing vessels from a glass bulb. Glass production has become easier and faster. Of course, the mold-blowing technique was still used in glassmaking, but the basis was exactly that that allowed the glazier to be more inventive.
During the next lectures, students will learn about the forms of vessels from subsequent historical periods, thanks to which they will be able to independently try to work with archaeological glass throughout the course.
Course topics:
1. Glass as a material
2. Archaeological glass - description
3. Phoenician and Amarna glass
4. Hellenistic glass
5. Early Roman glass
6. Late Roman glass
7. Byzantine glass
8. Glass objects: pins, glass rods, bracelets, rings and gems
9. Glass beads from Hellenism to the Late Roman period
10. Islamic glass
11. Venetian glass
12. Early medieval glass
13. Late medieval glass
14. Glass in the 2nd half of the XIX - 1st half of the XX century
Type of course
Mode
Prerequisites (description)
Course coordinators
Assessment criteria
Attendance is compulsory (2 absences per semester are allowed). Passing the lessons is based on the prepared papers and involvement in the lecture, and short text written at the end.
Bibliography
A. Antonaras, Fire and Sands, Ancient Glass in the Princeton University, Princeton University, 2012
A. Ch. Antonaras, Glassware and Glassworking in Thessaloniki 1st Century BC - 6th Century AD (=Archeopress Roman Archaeology 27), Oxford, 2017
B. Basile, T. Carreras Rossel, C. Greco, A. Spanò Giammellaro, Glassway. Il vetro: fragilità attraverso il tempo, Ragusa, 2004
K. Buczkowski, Z. Kamieńska, Polskie szkło do połowy XIX wieku, Warszawa, 1987
S. Carboni, D. Whitehouse, Glass of Sultans, New York, 2001
S. Ciepiela, Szkło osiemnastowieczne Starej Warszawy, Warszawa, 1977
V. Arveiller-Dulong, M.-D. Nenna, Les Verres Antiques du Musée du Louvre II, Vaisselle et contenants du Ier siècle au début du VIIe siècle après J.-C., Paris- Louvre, 2006
V. Arveiller-Dulong, M.-D. Nenna, Les Verres Antiques du Musée du Louvre III, Louvre-Paris, 2011
S. Fünfschilling, Die römischen Gläser aus Augst und Kaiseraugst Kommentierter Formenkatalog und ausgewählte Neufunde 1981–2010 aus Augusta Raurica [= Forschungen in Augst 51], Augst, 2015
J. Henderson, Ancient Glass: An Interdisciplinary Exploration, Cambridge, 2013
C. Isings, Roman Glass from Dated Finds, Archaeologica Traiectina 2, Groningen–Djakarta, 1957
S. Jennings, Archaeology of the Beirut Souks 2. Vessel Glass from Beirut: BEY 006, 007, and 045, Berytus 48–49, Beirut, 20042005
N. Kunina, Ancient Glass in the Hermitage Collection, St. Petersbourg, 1997
Ch.S. Lightfoot, Ennion. Master of Roman Glass, New York 2014
A. Polak, Szkło i jego historia, Warszawa, 1981
M. Spaer, Ancient Glass in the Israel Museum: Beads and other small objects, Jerusalem, 2001
E.M. Stern, Römisches, byzantinisches und frühmittelalterliches Glas, 10 v. Chr. – 700 n. Chr., Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2001
O. Vessberg, “Roman Glass in Cyprus”, Opuscula Archaeologica 7, 1952
M. Wagner, „Late Antique vessels from the excavations at Akrai”, in: R. Chowaniec red., Unveling the past of ancien town Akrai/ Acrae in south-eastern Sicily, Warszawa, 2015, pp. 151-169
D. Whitehouse, Roman Glass in the Corning Museum, v. 1, Corning, New York, 1997
D. Whitehouse, Roman Glass in the Corning Museum, v. 3, Corning, New York, 2003
Additional information
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