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Glass in Society
Thick-walled glass vessels, either free-blown
or mold-cast, could be facet-cut using a burring tool mounted on
a lathe. Patterning of this kind ranged from the very simple to
the extremely complex.
Documentation of the various glassworking innovations
of the Neronian era does much to help us appreciate how far the
skill level within this Roman industry had advanced in the mere
seven or eight decades of its history. We should not imagine, however,
that the position of glass changed significantly in the Roman material
hierarchy over that time period. The reasonably effective mimicry
of elitist silver, rock crystal, and fluorspar did not elevate the
status of glass in some "by-the-bootstraps" way, or give
the glassworkers themselves some new social standing.
The views
held by the inherently wealthy sector of Roman society, as to what
were inappropriate ways to earn a living, remained the same as those
expressed by the Republican lawyer, Marcus Tullius Cicero, a century
or so earlier: "All craftsmen, too [like retail merchants],
are engaged in vulgar occupations, for a workshop or factory can
have nothing genteel about it." (An Essay about Duties
I.150).
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Cast bowl from
the Cave of Letters, Israel
Early 2nd century A.D.
D., 33.8 cm
Faceted cup
Latter part of the 1st century A.D.
Ht., 9.0 cm
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