This Roman oinochoe dates around 350 CE. An oinochoe is a wine jug usually made from ceramic materials.
Although the Romans had nothing to do with the invention of glass, which occurred around 2200 BCE in northwestern Iran, they did play a primary role in the industrialization of the glassmaking process in the Mediterranean world during the first century CE. By that time, the Romans had developed every glassworking technique we use today. Close to one hundred million glass vessels were then being produced every year to supply the Empire’s domestic demands.
Read more about Roman glass in the Expedition magazine article, Late Roman Glass at the university of Pennsylvania Museum: A Photo Essay by Stuart Fleming.
Visit our Roman glass website.
Penn Museum Object #MS5494.
See this and other objects like it on Penn Museum’s Online Collection Database
