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61-634: The museum also has the task of preserving the Roman cultural heritage of Cologne, and therefore houses an extensive collection of Roman glass from funerals and burials and also exercises archaeological supervision over the construction of the Cologne underground . Most of the museum's collection was housed at the Wallraf-Richartz Museum in Cologne until 1946. In the front of the museum

122-404: A change in attitude that placed glass as individual material of merit no longer required to imitate precious stones, ceramics, or metal, or whether the shift to colourless glass indicated an attempt to mimic highly prized rock crystal. Pliny's Natural History states that "the most highly valued glass is colourless and transparent, as closely as possible resembling rock crystal" (36, 198), which

183-528: A decorative addition to pale and colourless glasses also increased, and metal vessels continued to influence the shape of glass vessels. After the conversion of Constantine, glass works began to move more quickly from depicting Pagan religious imagery towards Christian religious imagery. The movement of the capital to Constantinople rejuvenated the Eastern glass industry, and the presence of the Roman military in

244-469: A flux. Roman glass relied on natron from Wadi El Natrun, and as a result it is thought that glass-making workshops during the Roman period may have been confined to near-coastal regions of the eastern Mediterranean . This facilitated the trade in the raw colourless or naturally coloured glass which they produced, which reached glass-working sites across the Roman empire. The scarcity of archaeological evidence for Roman glass-making facilities has resulted in

305-438: A lesser extent casting, remained in use for the rest of the Roman period, with changes in vessel types but little change in technology. From the 2nd century onwards styles became increasingly regionalised, and evidence indicates that bottles and closed vessels such as unguentaria moved as a by-product of the trade in their contents, and many appear to have matched the Roman scale of liquid measurement. The use of coloured glass as

366-544: A much smaller group of 3rd century portrait levels are superbly executed, with pigment painted on top of the gold. The same technique began to be used for gold tesserae for mosaics in the mid-1st century in Rome, and by the 5th century these had become the standard background for religious mosaics. A number of other techniques were in use during the Roman period, including enamelled glass and engraved glass . Shards of broken glass or glass rods were being used in mosaics from

427-502: A rare situation which existed when all opponents had been beaten down and lost the ability to resist. Augustus' challenge was to persuade Romans that the prosperity they could achieve in the absence of warfare was better for the Empire than the potential wealth and honor acquired when fighting a risky war. Augustus succeeded by means of skillful propaganda. Subsequent emperors followed his lead, sometimes producing lavish ceremonies to close

488-401: A result of these factors, the cost of production was reduced and glass became available for a wider section of society in a growing variety of forms. By the mid-1st century AD this meant that glass vessels had moved from a valuable, high-status commodity, to a material commonly available: "a [glass] drinking cup could be bought for a copper coin" (Strabo, Geographica XVI.2). This growth also saw

549-431: A result of three primary influences: historical events, technical innovation and contemporary fashions. They are also linked to the fashions and technologies developed in the ceramic trade, from which a number of forms and techniques were drawn. Glass making reached its peak at the beginning of the 2nd century AD, with glass objects in domestic contexts of every kind. The primary production techniques of blowing, and to

610-424: A slow rhythmic re crystallisation process of the glass, likely occurring in the silicagel layer formed by the hydration of the outer glass surface. The diffraction of light by the so-formed grating constituted by hundred of nanolayers of silica crystallised at the surface of the altered glass is responsible for a typical golden patina . Pax romana The Pax Romana ( Latin for "Roman peace")

671-422: A wooden frame on top of a layer of sand or stone, but from the late 3rd century onwards window glass was made by the muff process , where a blown cylinder was cut laterally and flattened out to produce a sheet. See also modern glass colors . These colours formed the basis of all Roman glass, and although some of them required high technical ability and knowledge, a degree of uniformity was achieved. Not all

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732-407: Is a roughly 200-year-long period of Roman history which is identified as a golden age of increased and sustained Roman imperialism , relative peace and order, prosperous stability, hegemonic power , and regional expansion . This is despite several revolts and wars , and continuing competition with Parthia . It is traditionally dated as commencing with the accession of Augustus , founder of

793-428: Is related to the origin of glass as a substitute for gemstones . By borrowing techniques for stone and carved gems , artisans were able to produce a variety of small containers from blocks of raw glass or thick moulded blanks , including cameo glass in two or more colours, and cage cups (still thought by most scholars to have been decorated by cutting, despite some debate). These techniques, which were to dominate

854-402: Is some variation in Roman glass compositions, meaningful compositional groups have been difficult to establish for this period. The Roman writers Statius and Martial both indicate that recycling broken glass was an important part of the glass industry, and this seems to be supported by the fact that only rarely are glass fragments of any size recovered from domestic sites of this period. In

915-414: Is thought to have originated either in the addition of salt (NaCl) to reduce the melting temperature and viscosity of the glass, or as a contaminant in the natron. Archaeological evidence for glass making during the Roman period is scarce, but by drawing comparisons with the later Islamic and Byzantine periods, it is clear that glass making was a significant industry. By the end of the Roman period glass

976-439: Is thought to support this last position, as is evidence for the persistence of casting as a production technique, which produced the thickly walled vessels necessary to take the pressure of extensive cutting and polishing associated with crystal working. Artisans used a mass of mud and straw fixed around a metal rod to form a core, and built up a vessel by either dipping the core in liquified glass, or by trailing liquid glass over

1037-784: The Ara Pacis . At the time of the Ludi Saeculares in 17 BC the Concept of Peace was publicized, and in 13 BC was proclaimed when Augustus and Agrippa jointly returned from pacifying the provinces. The order to construct the Ara Pacis was no doubt part of this announcement. Augustus faced a problem making peace an acceptable mode of life for the Romans , who had been at war with one power or another continuously for 200 years. Romans regarded peace not as an absence of war, but as

1098-452: The Battle of Actium on 2 September 31 BC and became Roman emperor. He became princeps , or first citizen . Lacking a good precedent of successful one-man rule, Augustus created a junta of the greatest military magnates and stood as the front man. By binding together these leading magnates in a coalition, he eliminated the prospect of civil war . The Pax Romana was not immediate, despite

1159-715: The Gates of Janus , issuing coins with Pax on the reverse, and patronizing literature extolling the benefits of the Pax Romana. After Augustus' death in AD 14, most of his successors as Roman emperors continued his politics. The last five emperors of the Pax Romana are known as the " Five Good Emperors ". Roman trade in the Mediterranean increased during the Pax Romana. Romans sailed East to acquire silks, gems, onyx and spices. Romans benefited from large profits, and incomes in

1220-560: The Greek East ." The first known record of the term Pax Romana appears in a writing by Seneca the Younger in AD 55. The concept was highly influential, and the subject of theories and attempts to copy it in subsequent ages. Arnaldo Momigliano noted that " Pax Romana is a simple formula for propaganda , but a difficult subject for research." The Pax Romana began when Octavian (Augustus) defeated Mark Antony and Cleopatra in

1281-731: The Kushan Empire in Afghanistan and India and as far as the Han Empire of China . The first Roman glass found in China came from an early 1st-century BC tomb at Guangzhou , ostensibly via the South China Sea . In addition to this a major new technique in glass production had been introduced during the 1st century AD. Glassblowing allowed glass workers to produce vessels with considerably thinner walls, decreasing

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1342-495: The Roman Empire in domestic, industrial and funerary contexts. Glass was used primarily for the production of vessels, although mosaic tiles and window glass were also produced. Roman glass production developed from Hellenistic technical traditions, initially concentrating on the production of intensely coloured cast glass vessels. However, during the 1st century AD the industry underwent rapid technical growth that saw

1403-414: The Roman principate , in 27 BC and concluding in AD 180 with the death of Marcus Aurelius , the last of the " Five Good Emperors ". During this period of about two centuries, the Roman Empire achieved its greatest territorial extent in AD 117 (Emperor Trajan ), and its population reached a maximum of up to 70 million people, which was around 33% of the world's population. According to Cassius Dio ,

1464-569: The 3rd and early 4th centuries producers north of the Alps were exporting down to the north of Italy and the transalpine regions. Glass working sites such as those at Aquileia also had an important role in the spread of glassworking traditions and the trade in materials that used hollow glasswares as containers. However, by the 4th and 5th centuries Italian glass workshops predominate. The earliest Roman glass follows Hellenistic traditions and uses strongly coloured and 'mosaic' patterned glass. During

1525-560: The 3rd century. There are a very fewer larger designs, but the great majority of the around 500 survivals are roundels that are the cut-off bottoms of wine cups or glasses used to mark and decorate graves in the Catacombs of Rome by pressing them into the mortar. The great majority are 4th century, extending into the 5th century. Most are Christian, but many pagan and a few Jewish; their iconography has been much studied, although artistically they are relatively unsophisticated. In contrast,

1586-475: The Augustan period onwards, but by the beginning of the 1st century small glass tiles, known as tesserae , were being produced specifically for use in mosaics. These were usually in shades of yellow, blue or green, and were predominantly used in mosaics laid under fountains or as highlights. Around the same time the first window panes are thought to have been produced. The earliest panes were rough cast into

1647-606: The Imperial period, and Syrian glass being exported as far as Italy. During this period vessel forms varied between workshops, with areas such as the Rhineland and northern France producing distinctive forms which are not seen further south. Growth in the industry continued into the 3rd century AD, when sites at the Colonia Claudia Agrippinensis appear to have experienced significant expansion, and by

1708-551: The Po Valley by the end of the 1st century BC, producing the new blown vessels alongside cast vessels. Italy is known to have been a centre for the working and export of brightly coloured vessels at this time, with production peaking during the mid-1st century AD. By the early-to-mid-1st century AD, the growth of the Empire saw the establishment of glass working sites at locations along trade routes, with Cologne and other Rhineland centres becoming important glass working sites from

1769-730: The Roman empire were raised due to trade in the Mediterranean. As the Pax Romana of the western world by Rome was largely contemporaneous to the Pax Sinica of the eastern world by Han China , long-distance travel and trade in Eurasian history was significantly stimulated during these eras. The prominence of the concept of the Pax Romana led to historians coining variants of the term to describe other systems of relative peace that have been established, attempted, or argued to have existed. Some variants include: More generically,

1830-432: The Roman glass working industry after the late 1st century AD, are discussed in detail on the glass blowing page. Mould-blown glass appears in the second quarter of the 1st century AD. A number of other techniques were in use during the Roman period: The glass sheets used for slumping could be produced of plain or multicoloured glass, or even formed of 'mosaic' pieces. The production of these objects later developed into

1891-469: The Romano-Italian industry and almost exclusively associated with the production of fine wares. However, during the last thirty years of the 1st century AD there was a marked change in style, with strong colours disappearing rapidly, replaced by 'aqua' and true colourless glasses. Colourless and 'aqua' glasses had been in use for vessels and some mosaic designs prior to this, but start to dominate

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1952-433: The amount of glass needed for each vessel. Glass blowing was also considerably quicker than other techniques, and vessels required considerably less finishing, representing a further saving in time, raw material and equipment. Although earlier techniques dominated during the early Augustan and Julio-Claudian periods, by the middle to late 1st century AD earlier techniques had been largely abandoned in favour of blowing. As

2013-496: The blown glass market at this time. The use of strong colours in cast glass died out during this period, with colourless or 'aqua' glasses dominating the last class of cast vessels to be produced in quantity, as mould and free-blowing took over during the 1st century AD. From around 70 AD colourless glass becomes the predominant material for fine wares, and the cheaper glasses move towards pale shades of blue, green, and yellow. Debate continues whether this change in fashion indicates

2074-448: The colours of ancient glass are necessarily produced by chemical dopants , or impurities, initially present in the amorphous glass network, or incorporated in a later stade in the altered glass (buried in the soil or exposed to ambient air) by a slow diffusion -controlled process. Beside metallic cations , well known for their characteristic colours, or less frequently anions such as the red-brown selenide anion ( HSe , Se ), or

2135-472: The concept has been referred to as pax imperia (sometimes spelled as pax imperium ), meaning imperial peace , or—less literally— hegemonic peace . Raymond Aron notes that imperial peace—peace achieved through hegemony can—sometimes, but not always— become civil peace. As an example, the German Empire 's imperial peace of 1871 (over its internal components like Saxony ) slowly evolved into

2196-448: The core. The core was removed after the glass had cooled, and handles, rims and bases were then added. These vessels are characterised by relatively thick walls, bright colours and zigzagging patterns of contrasting colours, and were limited in size to small unguent or scent containers. This early technique continued in popularity during the 1st century BC, despite the earlier introduction of slumped and cast vessels. This technique

2257-718: The dictatorial reign of Commodus , later followed by the Year of the Five Emperors and the Crisis of the Third Century , marked the descent "from a kingdom of gold to one of iron and rust". The Pax Romana, spanning from 27 BC to 180 AD, stands as one of the most enduring periods of peace in the annals of civilization. However, Walter Goffart wrote: "The volume of the Cambridge Ancient History for

2318-534: The displays. On the night of 18 January 2007, Cyclone Kyrill blew a sheet of plywood through the glass front of the museum right onto the Dionysus mosaic. The damage was repaired within a week. The museum has the world's largest collection of locally produced glass from the Roman period. 50°56′26″N 6°57′30″E  /  50.94056°N 6.95833°E  / 50.94056; 6.95833 Roman glass Roman glass objects have been recovered across

2379-504: The end of the civil wars, because fighting continued in Hispania and in the Alps . Nevertheless, Augustus closed the Gates of Janus (a ceremony indicating that Rome was at peace) three times, first in 29 BC and again in 25 BC. The third closure is undocumented, but Inez Scott Ryberg (1949) and Gaius Stern (2006) have persuasively dated the third closure to 13 BC with the commissioning of

2440-459: The first with a distinctly Roman style unrelated to the Hellenistic casting traditions on which they are based, and are characterised by novel rich colours. 'Emerald' green, dark or cobalt blue , a deep blue-green and Persian or 'peacock' blue are most commonly associated with this period, and other colours are very rare. Of these, Emerald green and peacock blue were new colours introduced by

2501-423: The former northern town gate of Cologne with the inscription CCAA (for Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium) is on display in the building. The Römisch-Germanisches Museum, which opened in 1974, is near Cologne Cathedral , on the site of a 3rd-century villa. The villa was discovered in 1941 during the construction of an air-raid shelter. On the floor of the main room of the villa is the renowned Dionysus mosaic. Since

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2562-499: The growth of glass working in the Hellenistic World and the growing place of glass in material culture , at the beginning of the 1st century AD there was still no Latin word for it in the Roman world. However, glass was being produced in Roman contexts using primarily Hellenistic techniques and styles (see glass, history ) by the late Republican period. The majority of manufacturing techniques were time-consuming, and

2623-473: The initial product was a thick-walled vessel which required considerable finishing. This, combined with the cost of importing natron for the production of raw glass, contributed to the limited use of glass and its position as an expensive and high-status material. The glass industry was therefore a relatively minor craft during the Republican period; although, during the early decades of the 1st century AD

2684-552: The introduction of glass blowing and the dominance of colourless 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 resulted in the establishment of glass as a commonly available material in the Roman world, and one which also had technically very difficult specialized types of luxury glass, which must have been very expensive, and competed with silver and gold as elite tableware. Despite

2745-399: The largest cases, large furnaces were built to surround these tanks. In comparison to glass making, there is evidence for glass working in many locations across the empire. Unlike the making process, the working of glass required significantly lower temperatures and substantially less fuel. As a result of this and the expansion of the Empire, glass working sites developed in Rome, Campania and

2806-413: The late Republican period new highly coloured striped wares with a fusion of dozens of monochrome and lace-work strips were introduced. During this period there is some evidence that styles of glass varied geographically, with the translucent coloured fine wares of the early 1st century notably 'western' in origin, whilst the later colourless fine wares are more 'international'. These objects also represent

2867-659: The later German state. As a counter-example, the imperial peace of Alexander the Great 's empire dissolved because the Greek city states maintained their political identity. Aron notes that during the Pax Romana, the First Jewish–Roman War was a reminder that the overlapping of the imperial institutions over the local ones did not erase them and the overlap was a source of tension and flare-ups. Aron summarizes that, "In other words, imperial peace becomes civil peace insofar as

2928-643: The memory of the previously independent political units are effaced, insofar as individuals within a pacified zone feel themselves less united to the traditional or local community and more to the conquering state." The concept of Pax Romana was highly influential, and there were attempts to imitate it in the Byzantine Empire , and in the Christian West , where it morphed into the Peace and Truce of God ( pax Dei and treuga Dei ). A theoretician of

2989-413: The mid-1st century AD, indicates that furnace technologies experienced marked development during the early-to-mid-1st century AD, in tandem with the expansion of glass production. The siting of glass-making workshops was governed by three primary factors: the availability of fuel which was needed in large quantities, sources of sand which represented the major constituent of the glass, and natron to act as

3050-508: The modern caneworking and millefiori techniques, but is noticeably different. Six primary patterns of 'mosaic' glass have been identified: The production of multicoloured vessels declined after the mid-1st century, but remained in use for some time after. Gold sandwich glass or gold glass was a technique for fixing a layer of gold leaf with a design between two fused layers of glass, developed in Hellenistic glass and revived in

3111-730: The mosaic could not be moved easily, the architects Klaus Renner and Heinz Röcke designed the museum around the mosaic. The inner courtyards of the museum mimic the layout of the ancient villa. In addition to the Dionysus mosaic, which dates from around A.D. 220/230, there is the reconstructed sepulchre of the legionary Poblicius (about A.D. 40). There is also an extensive collection of Roman glassware as well as an array of Roman and medieval jewellery. Many artefacts of everyday life in Roman Cologne — including portraits (e.g., of Roman emperor Augustus and his wife Livia Drusilla ), inscriptions, pottery, and architectural fragments — round out

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3172-455: The production of the first glass tesserae for mosaics, and the first window glass, as furnace technology improved allowing molten glass to be produced for the first time. At the same time, the expansion of the empire also brought an influx of people and an expansion of cultural influences that resulted in the adoption of eastern decorative styles. The changes that took place in the Roman glass industry during this period can therefore be seen as

3233-487: The quantity and diversity of glass vessels available increased dramatically. This was a direct result of the massive growth of the Roman influence at the end of the Republican period, the Pax Romana that followed the decades of civil war, and the stabilisation of the state that occurred under Augustus ' rule. Still, Roman glasswares were already making their way from Western Asia (i.e. the Parthian Empire ) to

3294-754: The standard textbook dates for the Pax Romana, the famous 'Roman Peace' in the Mediterranean , are 31 BC to AD 250, the fact is that the Roman Peace was emerging in large regions of the Mediterranean at a much earlier date: Sicily after 210 [BC], the Italian Peninsula after 200 [BC]; the Po Valley after 190 [BC]; most of the Iberian Peninsula after 133 [BC]; North Africa after 100 [BC]; and for ever longer stretches of time in

3355-419: The trisulfide cyclic species S − 3 responsible for the typical blue colour of lazurite and lapis lazuli , other processes of pure physical nature can also affect the glass colour. Glass alteration can also induce the formation of rhythmic bands of crystallised SiO 2 (neoformed nanolayers of silica ) at the surface of the weathered glass. These bands resemble Liesegang rings produced by

3416-504: The use of chemical compositions as evidence for production models, as the division of production indicates that any variation is related to differences in raw glass making. However, the Roman reliance on natron from Wadi El Natrun as a flux, has resulted in a largely homogenous composition in the majority of Roman glasses. Despite the publication of major analyses, comparisons of chemical analyses produced by different analytical methods have only recently been attempted, and although there

3477-631: The western empire there is evidence that recycling of broken glass was frequent and extensive, and that quantities of broken glassware were concentrated at local sites prior to melting back into raw glass. In the eastern empire, there is evidence of recycled Roman glass being used to glaze Parthian pottery. Compositionally, repeated recycling is visible via elevated levels of those metals used as colourants. Melting does not appear to have taken place in crucibles; rather, cooking pots appear to have been used for small scale operations. For larger work, large tanks or tank-like ceramic containers were utilised. In

3538-502: The western provinces did much to prevent any downturn there. By the mid-4th century mould-blowing was in use only sporadically. Roman glass production relied on the application of heat to fuse two primary ingredients: silica and soda. Technical studies of archaeological glasses divide the ingredients of glass as formers, fluxes, stabilisers, as well as possible opacifiers or colourants. Roman glass has also been shown to contain around 1% to 2% chlorine, in contrast to later glasses. This

3599-534: The years AD 70–192 is called 'The Imperial Peace', but peace is not what one finds in its pages". Arthur M. Eckstein writes that the period must be seen in contrast to the much more frequent warfare in the Roman Republic in the 4th and 3rd centuries BC. Eckstein also notes that the incipient Pax Romana appeared during the Republic, and that its temporal span varied with geographical region as well: "Although

3660-445: Was being produced in large quantities contained in tanks situated inside highly specialised furnaces, as the 8-tonne glass slab recovered from Bet She'arim illustrates. These workshops could produce many tonnes of raw glass in a single furnace firing, and although this firing might have taken weeks, a single primary workshop could potentially supply multiple secondary glass working sites. It is therefore thought that raw glass production

3721-399: Was centred around a relatively small number of workshops, where glass was produced on a large scale and then broken into chunks. There is only limited evidence for local glass making, and only in context of window glass. The development of this large-scale industry is not fully understood, but Pliny's Natural History (36, 194), in addition to evidence for the first use of molten glass in

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