Archaeological Museum of Patra:
Polygonal glass panel, consisting of an ivory frame with honeycomb form and trapezoid intersections, which are coveredby blue and white glass. A decorative feature in a house, it was probably placed in a window or doorframe.
Patras, Roman period (1st-2nd cent. A.D)
About glass production and use during the Roman period of Patras
The earliest glass vessels from the region of Patras date back to classical times and there are only a few, indicating that they were luxurious and rare objects. This was the case until about the second half of the 1st century BC, when the invention of glass blowing led to a dramatic increase in production. Glass, coloured or clear, was more desirable than clay and equally impressive as metals, and therefore its demand was guaranteed. Ease of mass production made the glass vessels affordable and they were treated as objects of everyday use.
Patras has one of the biggest collections of Roman glass vessels, which is distinguished not only for its large number of complete vessels, but also for their significant variety in shape. Most of them were found in the two great cemeteries of the early and mid imperial times of the ancient city and they date back from the 1st and 2nd centuries A.D, when the city was at its zenith, and more rarely from the 3rd and 4th centuried A.D.
Most of the collection includes closed and small vessels*, which are related to burial customs and beliefs. The open domestic vessels that were used in houses, such as bottles, plates, cups, bowls and basins represent only a small part of the collection.
*these would contain perfumes and oils, a common offering to the deceased that would also help diminish the unpleasant odors coming from the graves. Though there are a lot of burials in elaborately sculptured sarcophagi, common people would be buried in clay pots (mostly children burials have been found in pots, but adults too appear in them), or under large roof tiles that would cover the deceased, or shallow cist graves. The most poor would be just buried directly in the ground, and covered with a mound of rocks, or some other marker.
Perfume bottles, were the perfume was entirely sealed in the glass- like these dove shaped ones - would have their tips broken off at the grave, and the liquid would be poured in or around the burial site.
