page_title: History of glass
section_title: Romans
hierarchical_section_title: History of glass / History by culture / Romans
context_page_description: The history of glass-making dates back to at least 3,600 BC in Mesopotamia, however some claim they may have been producing copies of glass objects from Egypt. 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 2,000 BC, were beads, perhaps initially created as the accidental by-products of metal-working 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.
  Development of glass technology in India may have begun in 1,730 BC. In Ancient China glass-making had a later start compared to ceramics and metal work.
  From across the former Roman Empire archaeologists have recovered glass objects that were used in domestic, industrial and funerary contexts. Anglo-Saxon glass has been found across England during archaeological excavations of both settlement and cemetery sites.
context_section_description: Roman glass production developed from Hellenistic technical traditions, initially concentrating on the production of intensely colored cast glass vessels. Glass objects have been recovered across the Roman Empire in domestic, funerary and industrial contexts. Glass was used primarily for the production of vessels, although mosaic tiles and window glass were also produced.
  However, during the 1st century AD, the industry underwent rapid technical growth that saw the introduction of glass blowing and the dominance of colorless or ‘aqua’ glasses. Production of raw glass was undertaken in geographically separate locations to the working of glass into finished vessels, and by the end of the 1st century AD large scale manufacturing, primarily in  Alexandria, resulted in the establishment of glass as a commonly available material in the Roman world.
caption: Roman glass
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