DOI Heft:
Egypt
DOI Artikel:Kucharczyk, Renata: Marea 2001: windowpanes and other glass finds
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.41369#0073
MAREA
EGYPT
frequently made even more difficult by the
actual condition of the glass. With regard
to the Marea glass, one cannot be com-
pletely sure of the identification.
“Muff’ glass is believed to have come
into use in Roman-controlled territories in
the 4th century AD.17) It gradually pushed
out of production “cast-glass” window-
panes, which remained in use chiefly from
the 1st to the 3rd centuries AD.18) “Muff1
glass dated from the early 5 th to the early
7th centuries was recorded both on Near
Eastern19) and on European (British)
sites.20)
Windowpane glass constituted an
important trading good in the Roman
Empire. Diocletian's Price Edict of AD
301 lists maximum prices not only for raw
glass and glass vessels, but also on
windowpanes.211 It is also apparent that
architectural glass under the Early Empire
was put to much wider use in the western
provinces. It is generally believed that in
Egypt it started being applied on a com-
mon basis not earlier than in the beginning
of the 4th century. Oxyrynchus papyri of
this age nicely reflect the scale of the
demand for this product. A source dated to
AD 326 mentions 6,000 pounds of glass
being used in the construction of a bath.22)
Whether this was merely window glass or
whether the total also included mosaic
cubes for decorating walls and floors, it is
impossible to say.
17) Ibid., 45.
18) Harden, “Roman Window-Panes from Jerash and Later Parallels”, Iraq 6 (1939), 91; L. Taborelli, “Elementi per
l'individuazione di un'offlcina vetraia e della sua produzione a Sentinum”, ArchCl 32 (1980), 138-173.
19) P.V.C. Baur, “Other Glass Vessels”, in: C.H. Kraeling, Gerasa: The City of the Decapolis (New Haven 1938), 546.
Ch. Lahanier, “Verres”, in: P. et M. Canivet, Huarte. Sanctuaire chretien d'Apamene (IVe-VIe s.), vol. 1 (Paris 1987), 333,
fig. 87; Saldern, Sardis, op. cit., 91-92.
20) R. Cramp, “Window Glass from the Monastic Site of Jarrow”, JGS 17 (1975), 88-95; cf. D.B. Harden, “Domestic
Window-glass, Roman, Saxon and Medieval”; in: Studies in Building History (London 1961), 39-63.
21) E.T. Erim, J. Reynolds, “The Aphrodisias Copy of Diocletian's PE on Maximum Prices”, JRS 63 (1973), 99-110.
22) P.Oxy., vol. 45, no. 3265, cf. also discussion in E.M. Stern, “Roman Glassblowing in a Cultural Context”, AJA 103, 3
(1999), 464-466.
71
EGYPT
frequently made even more difficult by the
actual condition of the glass. With regard
to the Marea glass, one cannot be com-
pletely sure of the identification.
“Muff’ glass is believed to have come
into use in Roman-controlled territories in
the 4th century AD.17) It gradually pushed
out of production “cast-glass” window-
panes, which remained in use chiefly from
the 1st to the 3rd centuries AD.18) “Muff1
glass dated from the early 5 th to the early
7th centuries was recorded both on Near
Eastern19) and on European (British)
sites.20)
Windowpane glass constituted an
important trading good in the Roman
Empire. Diocletian's Price Edict of AD
301 lists maximum prices not only for raw
glass and glass vessels, but also on
windowpanes.211 It is also apparent that
architectural glass under the Early Empire
was put to much wider use in the western
provinces. It is generally believed that in
Egypt it started being applied on a com-
mon basis not earlier than in the beginning
of the 4th century. Oxyrynchus papyri of
this age nicely reflect the scale of the
demand for this product. A source dated to
AD 326 mentions 6,000 pounds of glass
being used in the construction of a bath.22)
Whether this was merely window glass or
whether the total also included mosaic
cubes for decorating walls and floors, it is
impossible to say.
17) Ibid., 45.
18) Harden, “Roman Window-Panes from Jerash and Later Parallels”, Iraq 6 (1939), 91; L. Taborelli, “Elementi per
l'individuazione di un'offlcina vetraia e della sua produzione a Sentinum”, ArchCl 32 (1980), 138-173.
19) P.V.C. Baur, “Other Glass Vessels”, in: C.H. Kraeling, Gerasa: The City of the Decapolis (New Haven 1938), 546.
Ch. Lahanier, “Verres”, in: P. et M. Canivet, Huarte. Sanctuaire chretien d'Apamene (IVe-VIe s.), vol. 1 (Paris 1987), 333,
fig. 87; Saldern, Sardis, op. cit., 91-92.
20) R. Cramp, “Window Glass from the Monastic Site of Jarrow”, JGS 17 (1975), 88-95; cf. D.B. Harden, “Domestic
Window-glass, Roman, Saxon and Medieval”; in: Studies in Building History (London 1961), 39-63.
21) E.T. Erim, J. Reynolds, “The Aphrodisias Copy of Diocletian's PE on Maximum Prices”, JRS 63 (1973), 99-110.
22) P.Oxy., vol. 45, no. 3265, cf. also discussion in E.M. Stern, “Roman Glassblowing in a Cultural Context”, AJA 103, 3
(1999), 464-466.
71