22/03/2021
Did you know that the technology of making the famous Murano glass was already used in ancient Egypt? It became particularly popular with craftsmen in Alexandria during the Ptolemaic era. The colorful pictures made of glass were very popular with the Romans when they conquered Egypt. Most of the plates found date back to the first century BC – the first century AD, that is, the early Roman period of Egyptian history.
These tiny glass plates, measuring about 2x2 cm, depict Egyptian sacred animals (crocodile, ibis, Apis bull, Horus falcon, lion, and others), religious symbols (ankh, uas), ancient theatrical masks of satyrs, maenads, and the god of the theater Dionysus himself, as well as characters of Menander's comedies, such as: An old man, a Slave, a brothel Owner, a Hetaera, a young girl. The works of glassblowers look unexpectedly modern, bright and in some ways very bold and unusual for us. This is not the style that we usually associate with Egyptian and ancient subjects.
This technique (it is also called millefiori) allows you to "stamp" drawings made of glass. Glass "twigs" of different colors are taken as a basis. They are folded into a bundle so that the "bundle" has the necessary pattern in the cross section. They are then heated and fused together. The resulting bar is cut into square or rectangular plates with a thickness of 3-4 mm. Even the uncut bars have been preserved, which give an idea of this technology (see photo).
Thus, the same pattern is obtained on each plate. Such cutting also allows you to make a face or any other symmetrical pattern of two halves: it is enough to turn the plate from the cut bar with the other side and put the two halves together. Therefore, archaeologists often find only one half of the mask.
Theatrical masks were made in accordance with a certain canon: women were depicted in white, men in yellow, and slaves in red. The plates may have been used to decorate wooden caskets and jewelry boxes. They show that Menander's comedies and theatrical performances in general were popular among the Greeks and Romans who lived in Egypt.