---
title: "History of glass"
chunk: 2/5
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_glass"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:59:48.666461+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

The tradition is that a merchant ship laden with nitrum being moored at this place, the merchants were preparing their meal on the beach, and not having stones to prop up their pots, they used lumps of nitrum from the ship, which fused and mixed with the sands of the shore, and there flowed streams of a new translucent liquid, and thus was the origin of glass.
This account is more a reflection of Roman experience of glass production, however, as white silica sand from this area was used in the production of glass within the Roman Empire due to its high purity levels. During the 1st century BCE, glass blowing was discovered on the Syro-Judean coast, revolutionizing the industry.  The first evidence of the invention of glassblowing was found in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem, in a layer of fill inside a ritual bath that was overlain with the paving stones of the Herodian street. Several other site of producing "Judean Glass" were found in Galilee. Glass vessels were now inexpensive compared to pottery vessels. Growth of the use of glass products occurred throughout the Roman world. Glass became the Roman plastic, and glass containers produced in Alexandria spread throughout the Roman Empire. With the discovery of clear glass (through the introduction of manganese dioxide), by glass blowers in Alexandria circa 100 CE, the Romans began to use glass for architectural purposes. Cast glass windows, albeit with poor optical qualities, began to appear in the most important buildings in Rome and the most luxurious villas of Herculaneum and Pompeii. Over the next 1,000 years, glass making and working continued and spread through southern Europe and beyond.

== History by culture ==

=== Iran ===
The first Persian glass comes in the form of beads dating to the late Bronze Age (1600 BCE), and was discovered during the explorations of Dinkhah Tepe in Iranian  by Charles Burney. Glass tubes were discovered by French archaeologists at Chogha Zanbil, belonging to the middle Elamite period. Mosaic glass cups have also been found at Teppe Hasanlu and Marlik Tepe in northern Iran, dating to the Iron Age. These cups resemble ones from Mesopotamia, as do cups found in Susa during the late Elamite period.
Glass tubes containing kohl have also been found in Iranian, belonging to the Achaemenid period. During this time, glass vessels were usually plain and colorless. By the Seleucid and late Parthian era, Greek and Roman techniques were prevalent. During the Sasanian period, glass vessels were decorated with local motifs.

=== Levant and Anatolia ===
A glassmaking crucible was discovered at Alalakh in the Amuq Valley of Turkey during the excavation seasons 2011–2014. This is the earliest evidence for glassmaking in the Syro-Levantine zone – the area which became famous for glassmaking later on. This material is "contemporary with, or even slightly earlier" than the fourteenth-century BC dates from Egypt.
The discovery provides the earliest evidence for Late Bronze Age glassmaking outside of Egypt and the central Mesopotamia.
This production area may be associated with the Kingdom of Mitanni. According to the authors, this geographical area can be linked to the descriptions of glassmaking in cuneiform tablets, which provides some additional historical context.
A glass bottle fragment from Büklükale, in central Turkey, is estimated to be around 1600 BC old. This may represent the oldest glass work in Anatolia. The fragment is from the Hittite Empire period. It is unusually large compared to other glass bottles from Mesopotamia at the time. A production centre of glass may have existed in this area of Anatolia.

=== India ===
Evidence of glass during the Chalcolithic has been found in Hastinapur, India. The earliest glass item from the Indus Valley civilization is a brown glass bead found at Harappa, dating to 1700 BCE. This makes it the earliest evidence of glass in South Asia. Glass discovered from later sites dating from 600 to 300 BCE displays common colors.
Texts such as the Shatapatha Brahmana and Vinaya Pitaka mention glass, implying they could have been known in India during the early first millennium BCE. Glass objects have also been found at Beed, Sirkap and Sirsukh, all dating to around the 5th century BCE. However, the first unmistakable evidence for widespread glass usage comes from the ruins of Taxila (3rd century BCE), where bangles, beads, small vessels, and tiles were discovered in large quantities. These glassmaking techniques may have been transmitted from cultures in Western Asia.
The site of Kopia, in Uttar Pradesh, is the first site in India to locally manufacture glass, with items dating between the 7th century BCE to the 2nd century CE. Early Indian glass of this period was likely made locally, as they differ significantly in chemical composition when compared to Babylonian, Roman and Chinese glass.
By the 1st century AD, glass was being used for ornaments and casing in South Asia. Contact with the Greco-Roman world added newer techniques, and Indians artisans mastered several techniques of glass molding, decorating and coloring by the succeeding centuries. The Satavahana period of India also produced short cylinders of composite glass, including those displaying a lemon yellow matrix covered with green glass.

=== China ===