Another Look at the Origins of Iron Age II Cast Glass Vessels in the Levant

Abstract

In the 9th or 8th century BC, the technique of casting glass vessels appeared for the first time in the Levant. Made in translucent glass, the vessels were cast, cut and then ground using lapidary techniques. They are strikingly original departures from earlier Mesopotamian or Egyptian glass-working in both technology and effect, and were to influence the later development of Achaemenid Persian and even Greek Hellenistic high-quality glassware. Recent technical studies and publications of related stone and metal vessels suggest the need to revise the view that this glass was primarily Phoenician; its origins should be found in the kingdoms north Syria and Mesopotamia.