Grape Flasks of Third-Century Cologne: An Investigation into Roman Glass and Dionysus

A thesis submitted to the College of the Arts of Kent State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Masters of the Arts

by Kaitlynn Grey May, 2018 Thesis written by

Kaitlynn Grey

B.A. in Art History, B.A.V.A., The University of Toledo, 2016

M.A., Kent State University, 2018

Approved by

______

Diane Scillia, Ph.D., M.A. Advisor

______

Marie Bukowski, Director, School of Art

______

John R. Crawford-Spinelli, Ed.D., Dean, College of the Arts

ii TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF FIGURES………………………………………………………………………………iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………………………………v

I. INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………………...1

II. THE HISTORY AND URBAN PLANNING OF COLOGNE…………….…………………4

III. THE HISTORY OF GLASS IN COLOGNE………………………..……..……………..…..9

IV. DEATH AND DIONYSUS…………………………………………….……………………16

V. INTERPRETATION AND AESTHETICS………………………………….………….…….30

VI. CONCLUSION…………………………………………………….…….………………….40

BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………….……………………………………….…………42

FIGURES…………………………………………………….………………………….……….46

GLOSSARY OF TERMS…………………………………………………….…………….……61

iii LIST OF FIGURES

Figure: Page

1. Grape-Flask, Third-Century C.E……………………………………………………………1

2. Map of Upper German lines…………………………………………………………………4

3. Map of Cologne……………………………………………………………….……………..6

4. Reconstruction Drawing of a Roman Burial Road………….…………………………….…7

5. Schematic Drawing of Burial Sites Surrounding the City of Cologne………………………7

6. Schematic Drawing of Northwest Burial Site for Cologne………………………………….7

7. Survey Plan of Cologne With Significant Modern Monuments……………….….…………8

8. Woodcut of a Glassblowing Furnace from the Time of Theophilus and Agricola…….……10

9. Glass Bottle Shaped Like a Bunch of Grapes, Fourth-Century C.E………………………..11

10. Grape Bottle, First-Century C.E……………………………………………………………13

11. Lycurgus Cup, Fourth-Century C.E. ……………………….……………………………….15

12. Dionysus Mosaic, Third-Century C.E.…………………….….…………………………….25

13. Diagram of Dionysus Mosaic………………………………………….……………………26

14. Center roundel of the Dionysus Mosaic……………………………….……………………26

15. ‘Family’ Roundel of the Dionysus Mosaic………………………………….………………26

iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my deepest gratitude to many different people, starting firstly with my thesis advisor Dr. Diane Scillia. In the two short years I have been in this program you have given me enough inspiration to last the rest of my art historical career, and for that I will always be grateful. To Professor Albert Reischuck I wish to express my thanks for the advice you have given me for my writing and the new ways of interpretation you taught in your classes. Without it I know this text in particular would have suffered. I would also thank Dr. Gustav Medicus and

Dr. John-Michael H. Warner for their endless kindness and positivity in all of their professional guidance. To all of my friends who cheered with me as I completed each semester and gave their encouragement in all manner of ways. Most importantly I would like to thank two extraordinarily important people in my life. Mickey, who my love for has grown even as we have been apart and whose unwavering, endless support has helped me survive long nights of work and homesickness. You pushed me to attend the best school for my education even at the cost of our lives together being put on hold. I have loved and missed you everyday and I cannot wait to finally come home. And lastly to my father, who has been the silent supporter throughout my life. Never doubting my abilities and pushing with ceaseless and firm encouragement even as I know you worried for my future in a field you knew nothing about. You allowed me to attend the first art class I ever took, sparking my interest in art history, and I am gratified to say that you are the reason I am a scholar. I hope I have made you proud.

v CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Glass production in Roman occupied Cologne, Germany, was one of the greatest outlets of artistic creation of the Late Empire. The Grape-Flask [Fig. 1], a blown piece created in the early third-century C.E. within the city walls, is a small item for use in a variety of purposes, such as perfume holder or a sacrificial offering. The small flask is not unlike any number of other objects tucked away in museum collections worldwide, meaning that it has been excavated, documented, and displayed for the public eye often without its original function ever being addressed. However, it remains a piece with no historical attachment with the exception of a tentative fabrication date and the location of its eventual burial. As an object from what scholars call ‘Late Antiquity’ this flask has the potential to expand our knowledge of Roman religion and daily life, and provide us with a rare moment of insight into the era after the initial rise of the

Roman Empire begun by Augustus in response to the murder of his beloved uncle, Gaius Julius

Caesar.

Large, monumental public works from Roman history have been studied relentlessly, leaving the smaller daily items pushed to the wayside. In my opinion we can learn more about the true inner workings and beliefs of the Empire through dedicated investigation into the small objects of daily ritual and personal religious use. Similar artifacts in museum collections are given dates and left on display for visitors to gaze upon, often without contextual supporting information. The aim of this thesis is to highlight the importance of the Grape-Flask for a religious, socio-political, and historical understanding of the fringes of the Roman Empire and to solidify its meaning to the common Roman citizen through the examination of the glass

1 composition, the burial style and the location of manufacture. A large factor in my investigation is the material itself and the meaning behind the size and shape of the item. There are, in addition, any number of other areas that I shall address, the most prominent of which are the historical and political environment of the Roman province and its citizens in comparison to the native peoples with whom they lived.

The first step in reconstructing the underlying message of the flask is addressing the relationship of its origin city of Cologne to Rome and the religion that came from the center of the ancient world. Due to its specific shape the Grape-Flask can be linked to the Greco-Roman god Dionysus (Bacchus to the Romans) and his cult, which was popular with Roman women as it spread through the Empire. Secondly, we must address the glass production community within

Cologne and its vicinity--and its relationship to items fabricated for purchase by the different

Roman classes--that allowed for the collection of local minerals that made up the whole of the piece’s constitution.

I will later address the owner’s personal attachment to the object and its relationship to burial practices along the Rhine and Germania Inferior. Specifically in respects to how such pieces similar in size and shape to the Grape-Flask were displayed before, during and after the funeral processions and its eventual resting place in the grave itself. Furthermore, I will direct attention to the art a typical Roman household would have been exposed to and the influences of aesthetics of the Roman elite on the purchases of the classes beneath them.

I stress the importance of this small item because I truly feel that pieces like it have been overlooked if not ignored by academic scholars throughout the decades since the early twentieth- century. With the turn of the new millennia there has been a developing energy in certain institutions for the study of glass objects, the dedication to the understanding of daily life, and

2 items used by the ancient Romans, however some museums, institutions and certain publications have been slow to adjust to this new outlook.1 The Grape-Flask is an important step in the rediscovery of the medium of glass and its significance in retrospect to the area of Cologne and the religions of the Rhine.

1 Lesley and Roy A., Adkins, Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994), 324-326. Andrew and Nancy H. Ramage, Roman Art: Romulus to Constantine Fifth Edition (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2009), 135. Glass From the Ancient World: The Ray Winfield Smith Collection A Special Exhibition- 1957 (Corning New York: The Corning Museum of Glass, 1957), 91. E. Marianne Stern and Birgit Schlick-Nolte, Early Glass of the Ancient World 1600 B.C.E. - A.D. 50: Ernesto World Collection (Germany: Verlag Gerd Hatje, 1994), 316. Stuart J. Fleming, Roman Glass: Reflections on Cultural Change (The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, 1999), 97.

As I have already stated, in my experience daily items from antiquity have been frequently ignored by academics in favor of items of a grander scale (wall paintings, items with direct mythological images, architecture, and sculpture). Glass in particular has been neglected from several modern publications advertised to the public as overviews of Roman life, art, and history. The two texts I am most familiar with (published relatively recently) are: Adkins and Ramage. The Adkins text, in my opinion, is the most progressive of the general overviews as it includes a segment dedicated to the construction of glass and its chemical components but it still falls short of applying the knowledge to a specific item or including glass in the text in any other segment. The Ramage text is less progressive. It was used as the text for the Roman Art Graduate course at Kent State University and included exactly one glass item whose description was dedicated more to the provenance of the piece than the symbolism, chemical make-up, use, or its owner. While other texts giving a generalized overview of Roman art have left glass behind, in my research I have noticed that the efforts made by recent publications dedicated entirely to glass (Fleming and Stern/Schlick-Nolte) have made strides in completing the full description of a piece to include: provenance, chemical material, use, design, mythological symbolism etc. This is in comparison to an example of a Corning Museum of Glass exhibition catalogue from 1957 that focused more on presenting a visual description in supplement of the black and white photography, frequently followed by the phrase ‘The construction is complicated’ to satisfy the reader while simultaneously neglecting to delve deeper into the process or the aesthetics of the work. I bring each of these into this footnote as proof that there has been change in the direction of educating the public, however there is still an absence in the texts presented to students.

3 CHAPTER II

THE HISTORY AND URBAN PLANNING OF COLOGNE

My investigation of the Grape-Flask [Fig. 1] begins with its ties to the community of

Cologne itself in the third century C.E. Through the location and type of environment, the quality and rarity of the piece is revealed and allows for further investigation of who commissioned works of a similar nature and the relationship those items have to Cologne. For the Roman

Empire of the first through the fourth centuries, outer border provinces were a mainstay for trade and military exploits. The city of Cologne, once a manufacturing site for funerary stelae during the era of Tiberius (14- 37 C.E.), became a center of glass fabrication in the third-century and supplied large quantities of items used for trade throughout the Empire; in its infancy however, the city had been the site of many clashes between the Romans and the native peoples.2

Located in the province of Germania Inferior [Fig. 2], Cologne, Germany, became part of

Rome after Gaius Julius Caesar (100 BCE- 44 B.C.E.) completed a campaign in the Rhineland in

55 B.C.E., defeating the tribe of Eburons.3 Prior to the establishment of the Roman city, this area of Cologne had been inhabited by a native Germanic tribe called the Ubii of which their capital, oppidum Ubiorium, was annexed into the Roman population in 19 B.C.E.4 Originally a

2 Peter Noelke, “II. Art life and organization,” in The Dictionary of Art, ed. Jane Turner, vol. 7 China, sVIII: Jade-Carving to Cossa (New York: Macmillan Publishers Limited, 1996), 582. 3 Joachim von Elbe, The Romans in Cologne and Lower Germany: A Guide to Roman Sites and Museums (Düsseldorf: Preis, 1995), 5. And Peter La Baume, Colonia Agrippinensis: A Brief Survey of Cologne in Roman Times (Chicago: Argonaut Inc., Publishers, MCMLXIX), 9. 4 Peter Noelke, “I. History and urban development,” in The Dictionary of Art, ed. Jane Turner, vol. 7 China, sVIII: Jade-Carving to Cossa (New York: Macmillan Publishers Limited, 1996), 579. The date for this annexation is debated and this particular source settles on two different

4 settlement for Roman veterans of the Mediterranean, by the year 15 C.E. the province was used as a stepping point for Roman military campaigns in Northern Europe. Its namesake, Agrippina the Younger (15- 59 C.E.), had been named the appointed sovereign of Gaul in 19 B.C.E.5 The younger Agrippina, niece and consort of the Emperor Claudius (10 B.C.E.- 54 C.E.), was born within the city.6 The year 49 C.E. brought with it the elevation of the area to that of a colonia, though there are differing reports on who started the process; the two competing story lines are that the Emperor Claudius wished to please his wife and therefore upgraded the city as a gift to her. Another, written by Peter La Baume, states that Agrippina was co-regent of the area and that she herself changed the status. In all effects the city was changed and the official name became

Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium (C.C.A.A.), a sign of imperial favor.7

The later history of the site was colored by the production of fine glass, the community of artisans that gathered there, Roman infighting, and by attacking Christian agents. The years 260-

269 C.E. saw Cologne emerge as the new capital of the short lived Gallic Empire founded by

Marcus Cassianius Latinius Postumus (r. 259-268 C.E.), commander of the Rhineland under the

Emperor Gallienus.8 Such disruption of political powers and trade routes would have highly influenced production of trade goods as attacks by the Germani became a regular occurrence and opened the door to new Christian settlers, changing the dynamic of civilian life.9 Cologne’s stability in trade and dedication to the Roman Empire was reaffirmed with the fall of the fleeting

dates, 38 or 19 BCE. I have chosen the year 19 BCE for my timeframe because of the proximity to the dates of the extended campaign of 15 BCE into the Danube by the troops of the deceased Julius Caesar. 5 Elbe, The Romans in Cologne and Lower Germany, 10. 6 Noelke, “I. History and urban development,” 580. and La Baume, 12. 7 Elbe, The Romans in Cologne and Lower Germany, 10. and La Baume, 12. 8 Elbe, The Romans in Cologne and Lower Germany, 11. 9 Noelke, “I. History and urban development,” 580.

5 Gallic Empire in 269 C.E. Ultimately this served to expand the items created for production at

Cologne and the areas to which they were shipped.

Cologne was a popular trade city of between thirty and fifty-thousand strong at its height and had all the amenities found in the capital city of Rome.10 What Rome failed at however, was glass production; this was a triumph of Cologne because of its unique deposits of pure quartz, a mandatory component of early glass manufacture, found to the west of the city center.11 The original city center was protected by an outer wall, within which was a grid patterned street system first designed by the Ubii and oriented on an east-west axis [Fig. 3].12 Glass studios were commonplace within the walls, each with their own specialty. Among the glassworks at the north-west corner of the city that were active during the production time of the Grape-Flask was one that fabricated ‘Mercury bottles’ and another that made so-called snake-threaded glass.13

It is not known if it was in one of these glassworks that the Grape-Flask was fabricated; we do, however, know that the piece was buried in another important section of the same area.

Necropoli, or cities of the dead, were an important part of a Roman city, but on account of the decree by the Twelve Tables all burials had to be performed outside of the city walls, or extra muros.14 Thus, traditional Roman necropoli line the streets leading away from the city with

10 Elbe, The Romans in Cologne and Lower Germany, 14. and Joachim von Elbe, Roman Germany: A Guide to Sites and Museums (Mains: P. von Zavern, 1997), 187. 11 Peter Noelke, “ III. Centre of Production 4. Roman Glass,” in The Dictionary of Art, ed. Jane Turner, vol. 7 China, sVIII: Jade-Carving to Cossa (New York: Macmillan Publishers Limited, 1996), 586. 12 Elbe, The Romans in Cologne and Lower Germany, 10. 13 Noelke, “ III. Centre of Production 4. Roman Glass,” 587. The title of ‘Mercury’ applies to the color of the piece do to its chemical components; the color is usually of a brown amber color. For the definition of snake-threaded glass please consult the glossary of terms at the end of this text. 14 J.M.C. Toynbee, Aspects of Greek and Roman Life: Death and Burial in the Roman World, ed. H.H. Scullard (Great Britain: Thames and Hudson, 1982), 48. The Twelve Tables of 450

6 monuments to the deceased [Fig. 4], the rich patrons being interred nearest to the street and the poorer filling in behind.15 Branching from the four main avenues leading out of the city were expanded grave sites; at Cologne, a fifth necropolis resides to the north-west of the city with limited access [refer to Fig. 5]. The small blown glass Grape-Flask was found at the southwestern cemetery site along one of two southern avenues.16 Here, the grave sites are a combination of inhumation and cremation burials that are bisected by the street coming from the city center. Each site is missing a regulated burial method (commonly found in later Christian cemeteries) and the pits within the site are a muddled mix of overlapping sections, as recorded in a sketch of the northwestern cemetery of Cologne by researchers from the 1990s [Fig. 6].17

Roman cemeteries like the southwestern site in Cologne are often a mixture of inhumation and cremation burials due to the incorporation of both non-Christian and Christian practices after the first-century C.E. Layers of stele and memorial monuments with acroteria for ornamentation surround the roads leading from the town.18 Of the over 1500 graves of the

B.C.E. were an attempt by the Roman ruling class to create a standardized set of laws. Listed are many topics, but for this paper one has been singled out; all burials were to be held outside of the city so as to limit disease. This particular law was followed well into the later Empire. 15 Keith Hopkins, Death and Renewal: Sociological Studies in Roman History Volume 2 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), footnote of 208. 16 Donald B. Harden, Hansgerd Hellenkemper, Kenneth Painter, and David Whitehouse, “Group F: Mould-Blown,” in Glass of the Caesars (Milan: Oliventti, 1987), 170. Modern mapping has titled this road Luxemburger Strasse. On Fig. 5 “Strasse nach Trier.” 17 Friederike Naumann-Steckner, “Death on the Rhine: Changing Burial Customs in Cologne, 3rd-7th Century,” in The Transformation of the Roman World AD 400-900, ed. Leslie Webster and Michelle Brown (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1997), 145. and Alain Dierkens and Patrick Périn, “Death and Burial in Gaul and Germania, 4th-8th Century,” in Transformation of the Roman World AD 400-900 (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1997), 79. By the absence of a regulated burial method I mean that in comparison to modern cemeteries the Romans purchased plots of land of all different sizes and after the initial row became a free-for-all the further one went off the road. 18 Angelika Abegg-Wigg, “A Roma cemetery in the eastern Civitas Treverorum. Preliminary report on the excavations in Wadern-Oberlöstern in Northwestern Saarland (Germany),” in

7 southwest cemetery from ancient Roman Cologne two thirds are cremations, spanning from the founding of the city to the early third-century C.E. Later the southern section of the area was leveled by the citizens for unknown reasons, leaving the grave belonging to the owner of the

Grape-Flask as one of the last burials of this cemetery.19

The flask at the center of this thesis was originally excavated from beneath the 20th century intersection of Luxemburger Strasse and Hochstaden Strasse [Fig. 7].20 Though its original grave site has been lost, the flask sheds light on several aspects about the possible inhabitant of the grave from which it came.

Burial, Society and Context in the Roman World, ed. John Pearce, Martin Millet and Manuela Struck (Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2000), 114. 19 Matthias Riedel, “Early Roman Graves in Cologne,” in Burial, Society and Context in the Roman World, ed. John Pearce, Martin Millet and Manuela Struck (Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2000), 193. 20 Harden, Hellenkemper, Painter, and Whitehouse, “Group F: Mould-Blown,” 170.

8 CHAPTER III

THE HISTORY OF GLASS IN COLOGNE

Glass objects of the ancient world often held connections with the act of burial and the worship of deities, and in the case of the Grape-Flask we are privy to both. I believe the piece to have been created after 200 C.E. during the Severan period (c. 193-235 C.E.) and that it can be tied to the god Dionysus (also known as Bacchus) as a religious item and funerary offering. The flask is also an exemplary model for the items fabricated in the Cologne glassworks and the amount of customization the artisans provided to their clientele in the early to mid-third century.

Because it was mould blown, the flask discussed here was not a one of a kind item but does show higher quality modifications in color and ‘snake glass’ detailing in comparison to other existing models, which points to the sophistication of the patron for whom it was either purchased or used.

With detailed descriptions provided by historical craftsmen not long after the Roman

Empire, historians are able to recreate the style and techniques of glassblowing from the time of the Romans. The steps outlined by Medieval and Renaissance craftsmen, Theophilus and

Agricola, follow those used during the turn of the first millennia C.E. Indeed, the materials and the furnaces used to create molten glass have not drastically changed today.21 The standard working situation of a glass production studio includes: a furnace for melting the compositional

21 Theophilus, On Divers Arts: The Foremost Medieval Treatise on Painting, Glassmaking and Metalwork, trans. John G. Hawthorne and Cyril Stanley Smith (New York: Dover Publications Inc., 1963), 57. Here Theophilus describes a tool and technique that is still used in glass blowing studios in the 21st century indicating that little has changed since prior to his writings.

9 materials that make up molten glass, a marble marver, blow-pipe, reheating chamber, multi-part moulds, and other various smaller tools with which the items were altered or shaped.22 Both

Theophilus and Agricola have written descriptions of the contemporary workings of the studios

[Fig. 8] in which the furnace resembles a mound with individual work stations situated around it.

The widest portion, dedicated to the furnace, contains the molten glass and the reheating chambers used to ensure that the glass is pliable for the work being done. At the top is a warming chamber for the purpose of annealing the glass to reinforce the strength of the finished item.

Cologne--a major manufacturing hub for glass-blown art--had several of these kilns and workspaces located at Römerturm, Gereonstraße and Eigelstein, all made possible by the nearly pure quartz found to the West in Frechen.23 The quality of the glass produced there in the third- century C.E. sparked a sharp rise in demand and trade routes from Cologne spread items as far as

Rome and Syria.24 Such high-quality material begins with the basic ingredients of the glass itself.

The simple mixture for Roman glass included: 60-70% quartz sand, 10-20% soda, less than 10% lime,25 and in the case of the northern regions, burnt beech wood called potash, which had extreme levels of potassium.26 To this basic mixture minerals and oxides are added for colorants which are ultimately one of the factors for determining the value of a piece.

22 All italicized words within this chapter correspond to a similar entry in a glossary of terms towards the end of this text, pages 61 to 64. 23 Gerta Wolff, Roman-Germanic Cologne: A Guide to the Roman-Germanic Museum and City of Cologne, trans. Claudia Lupri (Cologne: Die Deutsche Bibliothek, 2003), 70. 24 Veronica Tatton-Brown, “Chapter 2,” in Five Thousand Years of Glass, ed. Hugh Tait (London: British Museum Press, 1991), 83. 25 Wolff, Roman-Germanic Cologne, 70. 26 Peter Wren Howard, “Glass, SI, 2: Materials: Colour,” in Dictionary of Art Vol. 12: Gairard to Goodhue, ed. Jane Turner (Grove’s Dictionaries Inc: Macmillan Publishers Limited, 1996), 781.

10 Both the color and the quality of the underlying glass indicate the efforts needed to produce such an object. In the case of the Grape-Flask [Fig. 1], we see a seventeen-centimeter- tall, deep blue bunch of grapes balanced above a circular foot with dual yellow orange handles looping around the cylindrical neck. Blues, relatively simple colors to produce, are achieved through the inclusion of cobalt oxide, the more of which one adds the stronger the color presence.27 Fading and age have caused the colors of the flask to dull slightly however the handles are one of two colors, orange or straw yellow. Remarkably, both the orange and straw yellow in the handles are extremely difficult to produce and indicate the sophistication of the glassblowers and their materials. Orange colored glass, as per a recipe from the 19th century, can be highly chaotic in its creation as the color is produced by a mixture of cadmium sulphide with selenium and can be transparent or appear opaque in response to the concentration of minerals.

Straw yellow is also made of a combination of minerals, in the case of iron and manganese.28

These colors together, the cobalt and the orange/straw yellow, indicate it was made to a higher standard with more precious materials than a typical mould-blown flask would have been.

Many items found in Roman excavations are of the plain glass body, meaning there are no added colorants and the item appears to have a greenish tint.29 Colloquially called ‘Forest

Glass’ it is the true color of ancient glass due to the mixture of the materials with extensive iron impurities.30 The Glass Bottle Shaped Like a Bunch of Grapes [Fig. 9] is a sister flask to the

27 Howard, “Glass, SI, 2: Materials: Colour,” 781. 28 Howard, “Glass, SI, 2: Materials: Colour,” 782. The recipe for straw yellow was written down by northern-European Medieval glassblowers. As I was unable to find the recipes directly from the Romans I located the color make-ups from other sources which also included the chemical make-up. 29 Veronica Tatton-Brown, “Chapter 2,” 73. 30 Fredrick Neuburg, “Techniques and Terminology,” in Encyclopedia of World Art Vol. VI: Games and Toys- Greece, ed. Massimo Pallottino, et al. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1961), 367.

11 Grape-Flask, and is also attributed to Cologne; it shares the same body style, foot, and handles as the flask from the Römisch-Germanisches Museum in Cologne [Fig. 1], which allows us the opportunity to examine the levels of finishing applied to mass produced objects such as these mould-blown flasks. The main color body of the sister flask is the greenish tinted glass with no additional colors applied to it. In our Grape-Flask [Fig. 1] the difference in color quality is notable and tells us that more effort and expense has gone into making it than was the case with the example in [Fig. 9], a difference we can associate with price as well as status.

The Emperor Diocletian’s Pricing Edict indicates the overall cost of glass purchases for the third-century; per the edict two types of glass exist for the Romans, Judaean and

Alexandrian, the former being of a greenish nature and therefore less desirable, and the latter of the highest and clearest possible quality.31 In addition to the two divisions of the glass trade the

Romans measured glass sold by the (Roman) pound in both cullet, or raw glass form, and by completed vessel glass. The price therefore was influenced by the overall quality of the glass, either Judaean or Alexandrian, and was then adjusted to reflect whether or not the glass was in its raw form or had been shaped into an object.32 When compared side-by-side, it is clear that the

Grape-Flask [Fig. 1] was a higher quality item, given the necessity of clear Alexandrian glass as a base to which expensive colorants would be applied rather than the ‘Forest Glass’ body of the

Glass bottle shaped like a bunch of grapes [Fig. 9].

In light of the superb quality the possible price for the flask and its final location can allow us to discern that the patron of the Grape-Flask was likely a Cologne native due to its discovery in the grave on the outskirts of the town and in such close proximity to several glass

31 E. Marianne Stern, “Ancient Glass in a Philological Context,” Mnemosyne 60, Fasc. 3 (2007): 374. 32 Stern, “Ancient Glass in a Philological Context,” 384.

12 blowing facilities. We may also associate these two items [Fig. 1 and Fig. 9] with the city because of the color quality and the “snake-glass” detailing around the necks formed into two handles, which is a trait found mostly in Northern Germanic provinces.33

The form of the particular mould used in the fabrication of the work illustrates the forward development of glass production under the Romans and the market value; the Grape-

Flask is an item that was manufactured using a two-part mould process to which hand-blown details were added at a later time for decoration, a relatively time-consuming process because of the two different types of glasswork. It can be seen that this object was created using a mould- blown technique by telltale signs on the main body of the flask; running down the center of the body is a seam that indicates the joining of the two-part mould. The handles and foot however, being free or hand-blown, are organic decorations added after the main body has been removed from the mould. Comparatively, the Grape Bottle [Fig. 10], in the Toledo Museum of Art includes none of the added items and is purely a mould produced piece, which suggests there were levels of refinement that patrons were able to commission or request.

While unfortunately we cannot go back in time to observe the process of these items we can piece together the events that lead to their production. Firstly, a glassblower would have combined the necessary mixture of materials into the furnace to liquefy. This would have been gathered onto the end of a blow-pipe to be prepared for the mould. The two-part mould would have been prepared with different oxide and mineral mixtures packed into the void to ensure an even distribution of color for the main body of the flask. From there the worker would have blown the gather34 into the mould, removed the object and hand-blown a foot for the piece,

33 Tatton-Brown, “Chapter 2,” 83. 34 See entry in the glossary of terms for this process definition.

13 which would be attached by pressing the body into a gather of glass equipped with the same colorants. The piece would thereafter be transferred to a punty, applied with a small amount of glass to the underside of the new foot and the blow-pipe would then be broken from the neck of the form allowing it to be shaped into the mouth, or opening. A separate punty at this time would have been prepared for the snake trailing handles by rolling a gather of glass through the cadmium or manganese mixtures. Finalizing the attachment of the handles and the swirled detail around the neck the piece would have been completed, broken off the punty and placed in the warming section of the furnace mound to anneal.35 In simpler terms, the process would have been time consuming, with the Grape-Flask being the most expensive of the three flasks in our sample to produce because of color, time, and additions to the body.

This description of the fabrication process indicates a patron of a higher standing, though it also denotes that the person was likely not a member of the highest status possible in the

Roman social sphere. Roman citizens were divided into the following: consular, senators, knights, citizens, allies, free subjects, and slaves.36 Prior to Augustus founding the Empire all glass objects were hand-blown items of high quality, expensive and out of reach to all except the most elite. Mould-blown techniques were introduced in the year 25 C.E., which paved the way for mass production and brought the initial cost of glass items within reach of those below the

35 Peter Wren Howard, “Glass, SI, 2: Materials: Colour,” 782. Due to my own experiences as an amateur glassblower and working for a live glassblowing studio I have gathered the knowledge of how the piece was likely constructed myself and have applied it accordingly as I have yet to find any writings on the actual step by step process by which the ancient Romans would have created their pieces. The portion of the colorants being packed into the mould can be verified by Howard. 36 Hopkins, Death and Renewal, 176.

14 senatorial classes.37 The upper-class members of the Roman Empire, if they collected glassware, were more often than not looking for items of higher quality than simple flasks, which they found in hand carved items of diatret glass, also called ‘cage-cups’, one of the most famous of such items is the Lycurgus Cup [Fig. 11].38 Veronica Tatton-Brown quotes the ancient Roman author Petronius in her essay for Five Thousand Years of Glass as he complains of the newfound regularity of the once expensive art form by the year 60 C.E.39 Therefore, it can be concluded that the flask would have belonged to a citizen of a mid-level social status with whom it was buried.

37 Tatton-Brown, “Chapter 2,” 70. At the same time this was available to a good number of citizens it was still out of reach for the poorest members of the Roman community. 38 Elbe, The Romans in Cologne and Lower Germany 14. These cups were favored by the upper-class even after the appearance of mass produced items because of the laborious and time consuming process by which it was made. Layers of glass were carved away to reveal a delicate lacing patter over the outer surface. 39 Tatton-Brown, “Chapter 2,” 65.

15 CHAPTER IV

DEATH AND DIONYSUS

Glass items were instrumental to Roman society for their use in funerary ceremonies; glass flasks such as the Grape-Flask [Fig. 1] were often presented as offerings to the dead and allows us a glimpse into the rituals of the celebration. To the Romans such objects represented a centralized and continuous theme that ran consistently through a person’s life and can give us insight to the significant factors of his or her life. This includes the owner’s personal beliefs, social status, cherished rituals, personal taste, and even how the individual decorated his or her home. From these collections specifically chosen items were later incorporated into their graves.40

The standard funeral celebration for a deceased Roman citizen was set into motion by the arrival of the team hired to prepare the body for its transferal to the ceremony site for the preferred method of burial. Throughout the history of the Republic and Empire, Romans practiced both cremation and inhumation burial styles in tandem until the time of the Emperor

Hadrian (r. 117- 138 C.E.) when inhumation began to gain favor.41 Cremation burial, often reserved for the elite during the Republic was abandoned in times of plague where large body counts overwhelmed cities, however inhumation burials were adopted in the later Empire after

40 Ellen Perry, The Aesthetics of Emulation in the Visual Arts of Ancient Rome (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 48. 41 Richard Daniel De Puma, Art in Roman Life: Villa to Grave (China: di Bretschneider, 2009), 138.

16 countless decades of intermingling with early Christians began to change public belief systems.42

A firsthand account of the intricacies of a Roman funeral comes from Dionysius of Halicarnassus and his text Roman Antiquities. Written in the second decade of the reign of Augustus, it includes the funeral procession, or pompa, comprised of: family, extended relatives, friends, hired actors and professional mourners.43 At nightfall, following death, the body would be carried to a rostra, or raised platform, in the public forum where the heir apparent would perform a eulogy before the body was taken to be burned or buried.44 The historian Polybius from the second-century

B.C.E. also provides a vivid image of the parade:

After the burial… they put the image of the dead man in a conspicuous position in the house, enclosed in a wooden shrine. This image takes the form of a mask, which recreates the dead man’s features and colouring so that is seems astonishingly true to life. These masks are displayed, lavishly decorated, at public sacrifices. And when a prominent member of the family dies, they are taken to the funeral procession and are worn by men who bear a close resemblance in stature and gait to the original.45

Of these varying options cremation was the standard of the Empire, and would begin as the procession arrived at the ustrinae and placed the deceased atop a funeral pyre.46 Cologne’s cremation sites, located along the road between Cologne and Trier, were the launching points for

42 De Puma, Art in Roman Life: Villa to Grave, 138. De Puma attributes a number of these changes to the era of the Emperor Hadrian (117- 138 CE) and the rise of Christianity. 43 Hopkins, Death and Renewal 2, 201. and Toynbee, Aspects of Greek and Roman Life, 46. 44 Hopkins, Death and Renewal, 201. and Toynbee, Aspects of Greek and Roman Life, 46. Toynbee explains here that typical Roman funeral processions were held at night by the light of torches. It was only the funerals of small children or of the extremely poor that were held during the daylight hours. 45 Hopkins, Death and Renewal, 201. All possible spelling errors are included in the original text. 46 Naumann-Steckner, “Death on the Rhine,” 147. The ustrinae was a specific location for cremation where the body would have been burned, the ashes collected and placed in an urn and then brought to the final location for the monument. This place is not to be confused with the bustum style cremation burial (defined in footnote 47). This method of two part burial was typically used by citizens of the upper-classes.

17 burning if the ashes were to later be sifted through and placed in an urn.47 Ceremonial dirt would be thrown over the corpse and a finger of the deceased would often be cut away to be buried later on as part of the ritual, a practice otherwise known as os resectum.48 The eyes of the deceased were then opened and the individual was presented with gifts by the mourners for the journey into the afterlife, or with personal mementos from his or her home that would provide comfort and familiarity after death.49 After the presentation of gifts the body was then burned. Silius

Italicus, a Roman orator, wrote in his text Punica as a description of the treatment the great

Hannibal gave to an enemy Roman general: “They raised a tall pyre and built soft couches with green grass. Gifts were piled on top, funeral offerings: the sword hated by those who felt it…”. 50

As a social ritual, this bearing of gifts likely had more to do with the religious affiliations and a symbolic presentation of the grave owner reflective of his or her financial or social status in their community rather than with the ceremony. However, Roman cremations for the poorer classes are known to have had items called alabastra, or ‘tear vessels’, made of clay or glass, thrown into the funeral pyre to burn alongside the body.51

47 Naumann-Steckner, “Death on the Rhine,” 147. Naumann- Steckner also includes a brief mention of what is called a ‘cremation pit grave’, or bustum, in which the funeral pyre is placed directly over the freshly dug grave which I do not believe applies to the grave this woman was buried in. 48 Toynbee, Aspects of Greek and Roman Life, 49. and Mario Erasmo, Reading Death in Ancient Rome (Columbus: The Ohio State University, 2008), 6. 49 Toynbee, Aspects of Greek and Roman Life, 50 and Hopkins, Death and Renewal, 229. These to my knowledge were held back from the burning portion of the ceremony and later buried with the separate piece of the body as offerings. 50 Mario Erasmo, Reading Death in Ancient Rome (Columbus: The Ohio State University, 2008), 75. 51 Dierkens and Patrick Périn, “Death and Burial in Gaul and Germania, 4th-8th Century,”, 79- 80. and Naumann-Steckner, “Death on the Rhine,” 146. I have included this as we do not know precisely what type of ceremony was conducted with this piece [Fig. 1] since the excavation documentation was extremely poor.

18 In general terms, the elements of a cremation burial may be grouped into one of two categories: the more affluent person would have a lavish funeral pyre at the selected spot of burning to which the mourners would present the deceased with funerary gifts as a portion of the body was cut away for a separate burial with the ashes being sifted and transferred to an urn, whereupon it would be placed in the grave. The severed or reserved finger would then be buried with the grave goods next to the urn in which it was to be placed.52 In comparison, a member of the lower class would have the funeral pyre positioned above their grave pit with goods such as food and gifts laid alongside the body to burn, and eventually fall into the plot.53 Matthias Riedel explains in his research essay “Early Roman Graves in Cologne” that of the over 1,500 graves found in the southwest cemetery from ancient Roman Cologne two thirds are cremations, spanning from the founding of the city to the early third century C.E.54 After this time the southern section of the area was leveled by the citizens for unknown reasons, leaving the grave belonging to the owner of the Grape-Flask as one of the last burials of this cemetery and a strong indication that this personage was cremated.55

Ustores were in charge of burning the body, overseen by libitinarii, or professional undertakers, who took charge of the ashes until the conclusion of the final elements of the ceremony allowed the fossores (or grave diggers) to cover the grave.56 A stele, or monument,

52 Naumann-Steckner, “Death on the Rhine,” 149. 53 Naumann-Steckner, “Death on the Rhine,” 148. Naumann-Steckner describes the complicated act of silicernium which includes a several days long ceremony that included giving the dead their own portion of food. 54 Matthias Riedel, “Early Roman Graves in Cologne,” in Burial, Society and Context in the Roman World, ed. John Pearce, Martin Millet and Manuela Struck (Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2000), 193. 55 Riedel, “Early Roman Graves in Cologne,” 193. 56 Toynbee, Aspects of Greek and Roman Life, 45.

19 often adorned with acroteria would later be added with personal messages or epithets and, as previously noted, the cemeteries of ancient Romans cities lined the roads leading to and from the main center of town. There is little evidence, written or oral, that explains the concept of purchasing a domus aeterna and there appears to be no standard size.57 As we do not have the exact description of the grave where the Grape-Flask was found it falls to the choice of location of the grave itself and to the personal items interred with the body to shed light on that individual’s social and economic standing at the time of his or her death.

Accompanying grave goods used in the lavish celebrations of the dead often took the shape of items like the Grape-Flask, small items of little physical value but of extensive personal importance, especially in religious contexts. Due to the significant social role funerals played in

Roman society cemeteries were the ideal place to sell items of glass that could be used as votive offerings; stall items were commonly purchased if the deceased had not specified in their will which items they preferred to be burned or buried with.58 These stalls sold all manner of items and included in their stock objects of both subpar and high quality material, which can be differentiated by the nature of the colors and from the amount of flaws found on the item.59

Despite the limited amount of documentation available to us it is clear that we must associate the Grape-Flask with a cremation burial, as there was no sarcophagus or body of any

57 Abegg-Wigg, “A Roma cemetery in the eastern Civitas Treverorum. Preliminary report on the excavations in Wadern-Oberlöstern in Northwestern Saarland (Germany),”, 114. and Naumann-Steckner, “Death on the Rhine,” 145. Domus Aeterna translates to eternal domicile, used by the author to specifically describe the plot of land Romans chose for burials. 58 Marie Tuffreau-Libre, “Pottery Assemblages in Gallo-Roman Cemeteries,” in Burial, Society and Context in the Roman World, ed. John Pearce, Martin Millet and Manuela Struck (Oxford: Oxbow, 2000), 54. And Hopkins, Death and Renewa, 88. Hopkins specifically mentions the ability for Roman women to dispense their own property via a will to whomever or wherever they pleased. 59 Tuffreau-Libre, “Pottery Assemblages in Gallo-Roman Cemeteries,” 54.

20 kind reported at the time of the discovery in the 1890s. Inhumation, growing in popularity in the third-century C.E., was mostly left to the elite who could afford commissioning a lenos, or intricately carved trough shaped sarcophagus.60 One can also conclude that the piece was involved in the first form of cremation discussed above due to the intact nature of the object itself. Cremation as bodily disposal and burial frequently took a number of days to complete causing sustained heat exposure and damage to the items placed on the pyre.61 In recognition of the overall condition of the Grape-Flask [Fig. 1] I propose it could not have been included in a ceremony of the second nature outlined above as the extreme extended heat from such a fire would have destroyed the flask beyond recognition.62

Costly grave goods were additions to cremation ceremonies that often included elaborate mourning periods and were at times meant to reflect the social status of the individual.63 The socio-economic position of the individual is also confirmed through the location of the grave site itself within the designated cemeteries outside of the city and its close proximity to significant monuments. In comparison, the most elite citizens in Cologne could afford tomb constructions on private land instead of a small plot along the road. An example of this would be the Aurelii tomb, a hypogeum (or underground chamber) at Wide bei Köln several miles outside of the city on a Roman estate.64 This was in use from the first to the second century C.E. and Toynbee

60 De Puma, Art in Roman Life, 145. Inhumation graves were also used by the Romans in times of plague to bury the bodies in mass pits in hope of quelling the spread of disease, however I am speaking of the everyday lifestyle of the Romans for this text. 61 Erasmo, Reading Death in Ancient Rome, 85. 62 I would like to clarify here that I do not deny there appears to be some damage to the flask itself, however with exposure to extreme heat the glass piece would not have retained the shape it currently holds and I believe the impairments to be from age or from the act of compacting it into a funeral pit than being burned. 63 Naumann-Steckner, “Death on the Rhine,” 146. 64 Toynbee, Aspects of Greek and Roman Life, 212.

21 speculates that the owners of the land had to be incredibly wealthy to afford a tomb located on the outskirts of the privately owned villa.65 Though not of the same level of wealth as the owners of the Aurelii tomb the owner of the Grape-Flask was buried at a location that held deep religious significance to the Romans of Cologne. The grave’s original location, at the modern- day intersection of Luxemburger Strasse and Hochstaden Strasse is also the location of a temple dedicated to Augustus and his emperor worship.66

Despite the fact that, as previously stated, there are no written accounts of how the

Romans dictated pricing or preferred criteria for the location of a grave site it must be noted that to have a burial site so close in proximity to a temple dedicated to the Emperor should have affected the price of the plot heavily. The owner of the Grape-Flask was therefore wealthier than a member of the lower classes (the free subjects and slaves) and was of a family that could afford the cost of the plot, or was willing to spend the incredible amount to secure the site.67 To the

Romans survival of the soul after death was deeply entrenched in daily belief systems, and veneration of a particular ancestor or patriarch ensured the survival of their memory and of the family name.68 A monument positioned at the adjoining corner to a large devotional temple is in a prime location for passers-by to pay homage to the individual or to stop and read the inscriptions, thus ensuring that the people entering or leaving Cologne were aware of the family to which the deceased belonged.69

65 Toynbee, Aspects of Greek and Roman Life, 214- 216. 66 La Baume, Colonia Agrippinensis, 14. 67 Friederike Naumann-Steckner, “Death on the Rhine,” 146. 68 J.M.C. Toynbee, Aspects of Greek and Roman Life, 34. 69 Hopkins, Death and Renewal, 202- 205. Hopkins explains in his text that with the relatively small size of the Roman family individuality is forgone for the family unit as a whole. Their main goal was to continue on the family line and therefore their history which may have also influenced the sale of the plot. He also stresses that it was rare for monuments such as this to

22 Recent research has also provided clues to the gender of the individual who owned the

Grape-Flask. This individual was probably a woman as this item had the potential for cosmetic use. For the Romans, personal preferences in purchased items or commissioned works were the reflection of their daily interests and lifestyle choices: children were gifted toys, cosmetic related items for women, and gaming paraphernalia for men.70 Maggie Popkin’s research on object memorabilia in Rome indicates that just as stalls were located in the cemeteries, so too were they in other parts of the city with items often representing favorite sporting events or teams.71 While not a sports team, the cult of Dionysus required lifelong dedication and items like the flask, owned by its members, reflect the relationship shared with the god, as well as their own gender and the breadth of the overall religious community the woman belonged to. In the research done by Pascal Murail and Louis Girard in Northern Roman provinces between the first- and fifth- centuries C.E., the greatest number of glass objects were found in the burial sites of young girls and women, ages fifteen to twenty-five.72 The same female demographic was targeted and participated most heavily in the cult of Dionysus.73

contain more than one family member or multiple generations, though it would still have the same effect on the notoriety of the family’s name. 70 Hopkins, Death and Renewal, 229. 71 Maggie Popkin, “Object Memorabilia in the Roman Empire” (presentation for faculty work in progress, Case Western Reserve, Cleveland, OH, November 2, 2017). 72 Pascal Murail and Louis Girard, “Biology and burial practices from the end of the 1st century AD. to the beginning of the 5th century AD: the rural cemetery of Chantambre (Essonne, France),” in Burial, Society and Context in the Roman World, ed. John Pearce, Martin Millet and Manuela Struck (Oxford: Oxbow, 2000), 108. 73 A.P. Fitzpatrick, “Ritual, Sequence, and Structure in Late Iron Age Mortuary Practices in North-West Europe,” in Burial, Society and Context in the Roman World, ed. John Pearce, Martin Millet and Manuela Struck (Oxford: Oxbow, 2000), 16. Here Fitzpatrick was connecting the grave goods of burial sites he has investigated to prove his theory that the social network of an individual is apparent via the number and the quality of items placed in the grave with the deceased.

23 The Grape-Flask [Fig. 1] easily fits into a group of items whose symbolic meanings are often associated with women of the Dionysus cult. The god of fertility, revelry, and wine is closely tied to the female population throughout the Roman Empire, due in large part to social or cultural constructs towards women and, also, because of politics.74 As Dionysus’s story goes,

Zeus, once more displaying his rampant infidelity against his sister-wife, Hera, fell instantly in love with a semi-divine Theban princess, Semele, whom he impregnated. Semele was tricked by the jealous Hera into asking the father of her child to appear before her as he truly was, king of the gods. Bound by Semele’s promise Zeus came before her in his true godly form, killing her instantly but not before he was able to remove the still living baby from the burnt corpse. Zeus implanted Dionysus into a section of his thigh so as to provide a temporary safe haven for its continued development and eventual birth. After his birth, Dionysus was taken by his half- brother Hermes to live with the Maenads on Mount Cithaeron. Here they were instructed to dress him as a female to hide the child from Hera and continue the lie the infant had been incinerated with his mother. Roman legends further embellish the story of Dionysus by noting that he was often mistaken as a woman due to his feminine dress. Dionysus also taught others the ways of making wine, the grape therefore became a simple and yet powerful symbol of the youthful god and his traumatic, yet miraculous, birth.75

The childbirth rate of the early Roman Empire was of major concern in regards to the growth of families and those left without an heir were increasing at a severe rate among the general population. To ensure the extension of the family lineage Romans dedicated their efforts

74 James Hall, Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols in Art, (USA: Westview Press, 2008), 38. 75 Walter F. Otto, Dionysus: Myth and Cult, trans. Robert B. Palmer (Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1965), 65.

24 towards worshipping gods that could alter fertility, which they believed to be partially under divine control.76 The Augustan marriage laws of 18 B.C.E., later revised in 9 C.E., reflect the decline of birth rates and the rise of infertility. They were followed by a frantic need to help increase the birth rates of members of the upper-classes.77 That one in six couples were left with no surviving heir pushed the laws to outline severe punishments on those members who remained either celibate or were childless and included legal limits to inheritances for families with three children or less.78 These strict laws were only redacted in 320 C.E. by Constantine

(r. 306 - 337 C.E.), well after the third century death of the owner of the Grape-Flask.79

The social pressures of producing a child, even in the outer reaches of the Empire, would have been enormous for a female at the time the flask was made, both to keep her figure as fashionable women did, as well as to produce the children required by the emperor.80 With high infertility rates the inclusion of Dionysian worship plays significantly into daily devotions as all means of increasing the chances of producing healthy children were an interest to Roman women. Though Cologne was near the most northern portion of the Empire significant evidence demonstrates the cult of Dionysus was actively present in the community. The Dionysus Mosaic

[Fig. 12], a large third-century floor decoration from a lavish Roman Peristyle villa was found in

76 Hopkins, Death and Renewal, 84, and De Puma, Art in Roman Life, 88-89. De Puma explores in his text a well-known theory regarding the dining habits of upper-class Romans. Elite Romans were often exposed to deadly metals. They frequently ate from lead-glazed dining utensils or used lead based beauty cosmetics for women, there are even accounts of lead pipes in some homes. The Romans were aware of the harmful effects of lead, meaning death via poisoning, but were likely not familiar with the unintended by-product of sterilization, hence being partially influenced by something of an unknown or divine nature. 77 Hopkins, Death and Renewal, 95. 78 Hopkins, Death and Renewal, 242. 79 Hopkins, Death and Renewal, 95. The information found here was obtained from the author’s footnote (82) from this page. 80 Hopkins, Death and Renewal, 94.

25 Cologne during the excavation for air raid shelters during World War II in 1941. It is currently under the modern Römisch-Germanisches Museum.81 Separated into individual sections the center roundel, labeled ‘W’ [Fig. 13], depicts Dionysus wearing his crown of grapes at its center surrounded by revelers [Fig. 14]82 while another, designated section ’N’ [Fig. 15], showcases a growing family. 83

Here we are privy to a male and female--presumably the commissioners--as they gather a young child into their arms, the mother playing a double pipe and the father handing the youth a bunch of grapes, a direct symbol of the god of wine.84 Surrounded by dancers and diners these scenes are the most popular in Dionysus depictions, so much so that the revelry scenes are given their own title of thiasos.85 An extremely well preserved third-century mosaic in situ, this work was a grand gestural display towards the god, likely in response to the birth of a long awaited child and was fabricated within decades of the production of the Grape-Flask. As a large custom-made image installed for the personal worship of a rich patron this mosaic illustrates what items could be affordable for the consular and senatorial classes and what was out of reach for the knights, citizens, and allied classes. This gap in funds culminates in the creation of smaller articles of similar size and shape to the Grape-Flask [Fig. 1].

81 Gerta Wolff, Roman-Germanic Cologne: A Guide to the Roman-Germanic Museum and City of Cologne, trans. Claudia Lupri (Cologne: Die Deutsche Bibliothek, 2003), 137. In order to protect its status as in situ the Roman-Germanic Museum was built directly over top of the mosaic. It is therefore in its original place of installation. 82 David Parrish, “A Mythological Theme in the Decoration of Late Roman Dining Rooms: Dionysos and His Circle,” in Revue Archêologique, Nouvelle Série, Rasc. 2 (2007): 310. Parish reinforces in his text the type of crown associated with the god and his symbolic relationship with grapes. 83 Wolff, Roman-Germanic Cologne, 136. 84 Wolff, Roman-Germanic Cologne, 136. 85 Parrish, “A Mythological Theme in the Decoration of Late Roman Dining Rooms,” 308.

26 The amphoriskos86 shape of the flask specifically lends itself to function as a container for perfume or ointment, a trading tradition long established in the Cologne glassworks by the third century CE.87 These small items were taken to the bath houses for Roman women (and some men) to complete their cleansing routine, the last step of which was to lather themselves with fragrant oils.88 Owned by a female who was dominated by the societal confinements of the marriage laws it is likely the flask itself was believed to infuse the oils it contained with the powers of Dionysus, therefore influencing the woman’s fertility.89 For the Grape-Flask to have been included in the funerary ceremony the maenad, or Dionysian worshipper, may have paid homage to Dionysus for the birth of her children, or she may simply have wished to show how deeply connected she was to the community of revelers.

There is also cause to suspect the Grape-Flask was a type of religious item similar to what would later be called an ex-voto. Traditionally associated with early panel paintings used by

Christians the ex-voto has existed since the time of the ancient Greeks.90 An offering made in the fulfillment of a vow or in thanks for a miracle, an ex-voto was in response to divine intervention and reinforced one’s devotional worship through art. The reaction to a reversal of infertility and the procurement of the required heirs is reflected in the lifelong dedication women assigned themselves as they were inducted into the cult and the art that they purchased or commissioned.

86 The definition of this item can be found in the glossary of terms on page 61. 87 Elbe, The Romans in Cologne and Lower Germany: A Guide to Roman Sites and Museums, 45. 88 De Puma, Art in Roman Life, 123. 89 David Freedberg, The Power of Images: Studies in the History and Theory of Response (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989), 28. Freedberg theorizes here that should the believer express enough emotional devotion to the item or the god in question then the existence of said divinity will be present. 90 Freedberg, The Power of Images, 136.

27 The Grape-Flask, found in a grave of such a member of this cult, is therefore of greater personal and social importance than expected.

It must be considered that the female in question was either presented with this piece at the moment of her funeral rites atop the pyre, or that she chose it herself via her will as an item of personal significance representative of her successful worship of Dionysus that had culminated in the expansion of the family unit. If we accept this second theory, the small flask assumes an even more impressive role to the woman in question and it is easy to imagine the item would have earlier adorned a sacred place in her own home. According to Popkin there were few innate differences between modern society and the ancient Romans, where collectable figurines are concerned. Modern people collect novelty items for display in their homes as did the Romans. Widespread respect for objects in the ancient world meant they were displayed in a place of honor in the home, which is supported by the description also given by the historian

Polybius.91

The god of wine also held an important civic role for the citizens of Roman Cologne.92

Ancient religions frequently mingle the contemporary with the divine in ways linking everyday cities and sites with the gods. One example of such inclusion is the story of Athena competing against her uncle Poseidon for the patronage of the city of Athens, Greece.93 And while he is of

Greek origin the Romans shared gods with their earlier Greek predecessors, Dionysus included, and frequent overlapping stories are common between the two cultures. To those citizens of

Roman Cologne in the third-century Dionysus would have been presented as not only a divine

91 Maggie Popkin, “Object Memorabilia in the Roman Empire” (presentation for faculty work in progress, Case Western Reserve, Cleveland, OH, November 2, 2017). 92 Andrew Dalby, Bacchus: A Biography (Los Angeles: The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2004), 59. 93 James Smith Pierce, From Abacus to Zeus: A Handbook of Art History, 6th ed., (New Jersey: Prentice Hall for the University of Kentucky, 2001), 114.

28 influencer of fertility but also a personal and public champion. Dionysian artworks discovered in other parts of the Empire are more often considered to be images of hospitality or of the pleasures of life, however in Cologne the god takes on another level of importance in conflict narratives.94 Typically a standard saga in Roman divine mythology, Dionysus’s final victory ending the war with the Indians is celebrated as a milestone throughout the Empire though it is expected to have resonated with the Romans of Cologne more so than elsewhere due to their similar battle, and eventual conquest, over the original inhabitants of the area, the Ubii.95

Commanding a legion of maenads, the followers brought triumph to the Romans and their deity in the defeat of the enemy. These citizens, living under similar circumstances to the myth, reflected the original fighting revelers, it is therefore only expected that several important images of Dionysian worship in Cologne have been discovered.

This powerful narrative of Dionysus’ victory reflects the very same struggles the early inhabitants of Cologne suffered through with their founding and provides yet another example as to why Dionysus was so influential to the Romans. This, along with the worship of the god for his gifts of fertility, allows the Grape-Flask to become a highly significant and very useful tool for further cultural examination of Roman Cologne through myth, burial, and social constructs.

94 Parrish, “A Mythological Theme in the Decoration of Late Roman Dining Rooms,” 332. 95 Parrish, “A Mythological Theme in the Decoration of Late Roman Dining Rooms,” 326.

29 CHAPTER V

INTERPRETATION AND AESTHETICS

The Grape Flask [Fig. 1] bridges several culturally motivated factors, the first of which being that the flask is not an aniconic symbol but a simplified form designed to please both the socio-political and religious parties of Cologne. Segregating the relationship amidst the two camps, the flask epitomizes the widening distance between the artists and those interpreting the aesthetics of the waning Roman influence. Within the traditional threshold of artistic criticism there are two distinct forms of interpretation: realistic and symbolic.96 Enveloped in a culture war and dipped in deep rooted philosophy, the Grape-Flask embodies the early struggles Romans and Christians both experienced as they lived in close proximity to one another. Shaped by stoic

Roman moralists, art of the third-century C.E. became a mode of secret internal expression and outer artistic restraint on the part of early Christians which was juxtaposed with the loud and open items of elite Dionysian worshipers of the Roman Republic and early Empire.

The artistic dichotomy between the early Christians and the steadfast non-Christian

Romans of the early third-century is often abandoned by modern academics in favor of the assumption that Christian art could not have existed at such an early date due to severe lack of coordination or to harsh purging throughout the Empire.97 However, items of a similar nature to the Grape-Flask can support the idea that early Christian communities were not only thriving,

96 Jaś Elsner, Art and the Roman Viewer: The Transformation of Art from the Pagan World to Christianity (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995), 3. 97 Paul Corby Finney, The Invisible God: The Earliest Christians on Art (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994), 99.

30 but also influencing production and demand within larger cities similar to Cologne, which fundamentally altered the appearance of items purchased by civilians of mid-level status. Blown glass artworks available to citizens of this status thus unknowingly participated in the waning struggle of the Empire and the eventual triumph of converted Christians that can be seen not only in the design of an item but also in the applied context that allows Christian and non-Christian art to overlap.

The immersion of Christian elements into art and the shift from the classical style that lead to the aesthetic changes found in the third-century Grape-Flask begin with the Logos

Paidagogos, a treatise written by Clement of Alexandria around 200 C.E. In it he preaches to

Christians that they must be selective to whom they commission and apply their patronage, that instead of segregating themselves they should seek out services and providers already established in the existing community and to have these artists repurpose their work into a new context befitting of Christian needs.98 Paul Corby Finney further explains that Christians were already forced to integrate with the larger community in this sense because they lacked the capital and landholdings needed to separate themselves completely.99 Their assumption of power would therefore come from the gradual change in services and pieces provided; demand would be the defining factor to help reshape supply in favor of the new religion.

The reshaping in the chain of supply and demand would also without question influence the craftsman creating a specific piece of work, if not in the form of their own religious change but for the survival of their business. It is therefore the artists who have the ultimate effect on the relationship between the appearance of early Christian art and the public. This influence and

98 Finney, The Invisible God: The Earliest Christians on Art, 111. 99 Finney, The Invisible God: The Earliest Christians on Art, 108.

31 restructuring of the forms in art may be seen in the active change from naturalism to abstraction in the items created for mass production and sale to the general public.

Here, abstraction also applies to the symbolism and the underlying message taken from the object. As stated previously, grapes are a symbol of the god Dionysus and his power over fertility and drink. In the context of early Christian art, following the advice of Clement of

Alexandria, the grape could be taken as a symbol of the pure form of the wine which would be changed into the blood of Christ at the altar through the participation in the Eucharist. These two conflicting interpretations mesh perfectly with the more abstract bunch on the Grape-Flask allowing the seller to cater to both types of clients using one style of flask. In contrast, had the purchaser been a wealthier patron with time to spare, the item could be made to look more like those of non-Christian pieces we have come to know from the earlier Romans. This is demonstrated by the discovery of the Lycurgus Cup [Fig. 11] from the fourth-century C.E., a labor-intensive cage cup that required both hand-blown elements and precise cuts on a wheel to reveal a more naturalistic vision of a Dionysian myth. As a custom piece this would have been out of reach of the lower classes, not only for the initial exorbitant cost of production but also because the aesthetics of mass produced items no longer aligned with the traditional principles of stoic mainstream upper-class Rome.

Aesthetics within a polarity such as this often reveal the underlying turmoil of the culture; in understanding the cultural circumstances in respect to the Grape-Flask we are also privy to the social pull of the ancient perspective on the subject. Plato and other contemporary writers were openly wary of the social influence artists had over the communities they lived in, though it is unlikely they could have predicted how the Romans themselves would have unknowingly

32 prepared the rise of Christian art.100 The power of the artist was defined by the Romans in a human essence called phantasia, the vision of a work of art in the mind of the artist which he then transformed by his hand into the physical product, called ekphrasis.101 With this information it is now clear why Elsner interprets anxiety in the writings of Plato. In Roman aesthetics, this chain was profoundly significant because of its influence over what was perceived as real. While

Plato himself had different views than later philosophers about reality he expressed vehemently that the artists themselves had no understanding or qualifications of the subject which implies he expected them to have no hand in the design or interpretation of a piece.102

Mimesis, or imitation of the real in art, was the next element effected by the Christians undermining Roman art.103 Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, an architect and military engineer from the first-century B.C.E., equated mimesis with veritas, or ‘the real’, which Jaś Elsner interprets as

“the value judgement, of “Truth,” as an ethical and aesthetic norm.”104 In his writings, Vitruvius commends the real but rejects the surreal, associating the disruption of the phantasia/ekphrasis process through the addition of an unconventional mimesis as equivalent to a loss of the essence

100 Elsner, Art and the Roman Viewer, 5. 101 Elsner, Art and the Roman Viewer, 26. 102 Plato, The Republic of Plato, trans. Francis Macdonald Cornford (New York and London: Oxford University Press, 1945), 331. In Plato’s writing he expresses a vehement opinion that the artist has no qualifications or understanding of reality, ‘but only the appearance’. This coincides with what is presented here in that artists and patrons were beginning to interpret and understand items in their own way instead of leaving it to the people whom Plato feels would have understood it best. I would like to stress here that this is not to argue what Plato believes regarding mimesis, only to show that the process of overlap between the artist and patron was cause for his concern (and others during the third-century C.E.) as citizens began to fabricate their own understanding of an item. 103 Francis Macdonald Cornford, Notes for The Republic of Plato, trans. Francis Macdonald Cornford (New York and London: Oxford University Press, 1945), 323. 104 Elsner, Art and the Roman Viewer, 55.

33 of the real world.105 The mimesis, and therefore desired ekphrasis, use nature as its main base to stay true to the natural order and interpretation of the real, which is in turn divine.106 The Grape-

Flask, while simulating the appearance of a bunch of grapes, does not in fact represent the true mimesis desired by the classicists; the piece has unnatural coloring, scarcely defined grapes for the body, and attachments that bear no resemblance to elements found in nature.107 This flask therefore represents a change in interpretation of art as well, a divergence from a direct examination of reality to the reliance on the symbolic.108

Phantasia, an internal purity within the mind, can be corrupted as the body moves to create the piece via outside influences and pressures. The Greek sophist Philostratus wrote

“[Phantasia] is wiser than mimesis. For imitation will represent that which can be seen with the eyes while phantasia will represent that which cannot, for the latter proceeds with reality as its basis.”109 A new question arises: what occurs when the creator’s mind has been corrupted? Was there influence by an outside force driving the changes to occur? Christians here are the outside influence on the traditional Roman aesthetic, though they are not completely to blame for the ultimate turn from the classical style and established rhetorical philosophy of the artistic inspiration. The Romans themselves were yet another driving force of change towards a more generalized art format.

105 Elsner, Art and the Roman Viewer, 85. 106 Karen A. Hamblen and Beverly J. Jones, “Art Theory as Sociological Metaphor,” Visual Art Research 8, no. 2 (Fall 1982): 49. 107 Here I am pointing out the unnatural image of the handles and the foot in comparison to what could be found in nature. 108 Elsner, Art and the Roman Viewer, 22. 109 Elsner, Art and the Roman Viewer, 26.

34 Absence can also be an indicator of the social change found through the art of the

Romans. Examining the qualities of the Lycurgus Cup [Fig. 11] versus the Grape-Flask [Fig. 1] we are privy to what Finney credits as ‘absence art’, the void of material culture references due to the aesthetic changes in a society.110 The Lycurgus Cup showcases a direct image of Dionysus punishing Lycurgus whereas the Grape-Flask requires underlying knowledge and personal interpretation. Finney continues by boldly stating that ‘absence art’, and its implication of the shift away from direct messages, was therefore a higher form of spiritual interpretation.111

Influenced by the changes, artists were making items of a different nature than what was normal for the earlier Greek and Roman classicists. These were more widely available and more preferred by consumers than were items of the older classical aesthetic. Preference for these objects could signify greater spirituality and can be interpreted as the Christian influence over artists appearing superior in knowledge and power compared to strictly non-Christian ones.112

Admitting to the incoming religion’s superiority the ancient Romans would have signified

Christian artwork as the true veritas, a statement not directly made by theorists of the time but shown via the abandonment of cultural aesthetics in favor of Christian ideals.

Class division in the later Roman Empire was exacerbated further by the emergence of

Christianity as a driving and popular religion; it was also supplemented by the stoic values of the

110 Finney, The Invisible God: The Earliest Christians on Art, 107. 111 Finney, The Invisible God: The Earliest Christians on Art, 103. 112 By this I would like to remind the reader of the struggles of the third and fourth century in respects to the transition between the traditional state religion to Christianity (beginning officially with Constantine) through several edicts over the space of a generation that greatly influenced the culture. What I mean by this segment is that as the head of their religion converted the Romans likely began to question the legitimacy of their own power.

35 upper classes who rejected any emotional outbursts in favor of calm and reason.113 Juxtaposing these Roman stoics to the Dionysian revelers the strict self-inflicted social codes were a significant influence on their opinion of the wild festivals; as the social control of the stoics extended into the larger society their preferred aesthetics were also integrated into art.

Partial to the use of allegory in their poetry the interpretive nature of stoicism matched the muted objects of mass production, like the Grape-Flask, mostly in the sense that they allowed for multiple underlying socio-political messages and edited out the undesirable outburst of emotions found through items of the same lineage as the Lycurgus Cup as it showcases the dramatic punishment of Lycurgus.114 Emily Batinkski explains “[It was] the reader’s task [to] distinguish when the poet has shrouded the truth in allegory, or when he has invented a myth solely to entertain the unlearned.”115 The ideal interpreter would have to be of stoic practice to appreciate the true meaning behind the item, however there were also those of non-stoic practice who purchased similar items for pure entertainment, which could clarify how the Grape-Flask entered the possession of a follower of the cult of Dionysus.116

Richard Anderson states that due to the lack of secular art in many societies the aesthetics of the culture in question must follow religious ideologies, meaning “[Art is used often] because

113 Hopkins, Death and Renewal, 218. Hopkins cites in his text several examples of high class citizens, emperors, and the empress Livia, first wife of Augustus, who practiced Stoicism and where therefore influential upon the lower classes via law makers or cultural figureheads. 114 Emily E. Batinski, “Seneca’s Response to Stoic Hermeneutics,” Mnemosyne, Fourth Series 46, Fasc. 1 (Feb., 1993): 69. 115 Batinski, “Seneca’s Response to Stoic Hermeneutics,”: 73. 116 I would also add that my interpretation of the flask being used for fertility purposes may have been a common enough connection to be daily advice given to women and therefore not of any deeper theological or philosophical interpretation.

36 it is religious rather than because it is art.”117 This is true in the case of the presumed female owner of the Grape-Flask, as religion is the defining factor separating this piece between the

Roman and Christian factions in Cologne. Aesthetics in and of itself refers to the ‘theories about the fundamental nature and value of art’ which, when scrutinized, becomes the more narrow interpretation of comparative aesthetics and the relationship of craft versus art.118

The comparative aesthetic label applies to the Grape-Flask due to its association with both large and small-scale societies via their individual interpretation of the symbolic meaning of the flask. Academics are partial towards large scale social aesthetics (in this case the Roman stoics or classists) because of what Anderson defines as “the explicitness with which aesthetic ideas are articulated.”119 Put simply, this means that the stoic upper classes in late Roman society held the canon of beauty and that we moderns may be severely limiting the potential to unpack the meanings behind items similar to the flasks in this text due to contemporary academics applying these stoic ideals to individual pieces without considering other interpretations.

What can be determined as ‘art’ (and what is not) is explored in Gerald Pocius’s essay on the topic through the open knowledge that art is itself influenced by class, money and a culture’s history.120 He continues to propose what should be applied to all artistic contexts, in that, historians are privy only to the true definition of a work of art if it is taken into consideration the

117 Richard L. Anderson, Calliope’s Sisters: A Comparative Study of Philosophies of Art (New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1990), 225. 118 Anderson, Calliope’s Sisters, 4 and 224. Here Anderson defines comparative aesthetics as “cross-cultural differences between conceptions of art, and the extra-aesthetics, sociocultural factors that may cause these differences.” 119 Anderson, Calliope’s Sisters, 226. 120 Gerald L. Pocius, “Art,” The Journal of American Folklore 108, no. 430, Common Grounds: Keywords for the Study of Expressive Culture (Autumn, 1995): 413.

37 thoughts and actions of those who created the original work for its intended purpose.121 Eliseo

Vivas also vehemently pushes that “the value of an aesthetic experience depends on extra- aesthetic considerations,” meaning the piece as we examine it today will have no meaning or worth unless interpreted in the location and situation for which it was originally made.122 I propose that we must take this a step further for the Grape-Flask and items of a similar nature in that we must consider the overlapping cultural identities using the piece: Christians and non-

Christians. Without interpreting the flask through the eyes of both communities there cannot be an understanding of how Dionysian followers of the mid-status stratifications were affected by, and unintentionally effected, the socio-religious relationships within their own community. The detailed interpretation of the flask must include elements reflecting non-art related features as we know that art is a reflection of a culture but does not in fact function as a means of understanding itself by itself.123 The small grouping of privileged Roman individuals had defined the accepted ideal, allowing us to ignore any smaller culture’s symbolism. Anderson also points to the rift between the elite and the lower majority as accompanied by a separation: those who set the cultural aesthetics and the artists.124

To many the Grape-Flask is considered a utilitarian item of little significance, however, I believe it to be a piece of larger symbolic significance within Roman society. It embodies the cultural, socio-religious and aesthetic struggles of a woman living in the early third-century C.E. and allows us a deeper understanding of the pressures females of the time were under to provide for their families. The stressors of such laborious and dangerous times are reflected in pieces

121 Pocius, “Art,” 414. 122 Eliseo Vivas, “The Use of Art,” Journal of Philosophy 35, no. 15 (Jul. 21, 1938): 407. 123 Markus Lammenranta, “Goodman’s Semiotic Theory of Art,” Canadian Journal of Philosophy 22, no. 3 (Sept., 1992): 347. 124 Anderson, Calliope’s Sisters, 229.

38 from the homes of contemporary families, though the investigator must take into account the looming aesthetic social pressures of the Roman elite and their complex relationship to the artists, and therefore the general public, to understand the visual differences between commissioned items done for the consular and senatorial classes versus those made for quick purchase of the lower citizens.

Over time the misconception that the Romans of the late Empire preferred items of a more symbolic rather than classical approach has overstepped the boundaries of investigative research to undermine the interpretation of pieces from the late ancient society. In the case of items like the Grape-Flask the modern academic community has allowed the aesthetics of the few to overshadow the social pressures that very same group implemented on the majority.

Would the artworks of the Dionysian followers of late Rome look similar to the Grape-Flask had they not been dominated by the stoics of the ruling class? Or would a greater number of items like the Lycurgus Cup have been made?

While guilty of many social constraints total blame cannot fall on just the ruling elites; stressors to Roman aesthetics also came from the artists themselves as they followed changes in supply and demand. As stated previously demand by the early Christians influenced the supply of items in Cologne and throughout the Empire. As societies are controlled and victimized (in this case the Christians by the Romans) the aesthetics of these groups lean towards items of commercial and artificial worth to distract from involvement in the activities that led to the oppression.125

125 Anderson, Calliope’s Sisters, 234.

39 CHAPTER VI

CONCLUSION

As stated in my introduction the main focus of this investigation was to plausibly conclude for whom the Grape-Flask [Fig. 1] was fabricated and for what purpose. Discovered in the last decades of the nineteenth-century academics have brushed the meaning of this flask aside, citing it as just a means of decoration or an object of simple use. Through this thesis, I have built an argument that this piece is an important item of religious and socio-political relevance. By building on the history of glassmaking within the city of Cologne and the founding of the province itself under the Romans, I can show that this piece is not unique but the product of a market that catered to either the grieving families of the recently deceased or served a specially selected item for burial with a maenad, or follower of the god Dionysus. I have cited the general pricing of the materials and the techniques used to create the piece, showing that while of a higher quality than its sister flasks [Figs. 9 and 10] it is not of the caliber of items from the upper-classes [Fig. 11].

Concluding, based on the slim evidence that survives, that the owner was a female likely of the citizens class, I have also cited evidence of the social pressures forced on the women of the Empire to perform their duties and produce children to continue the family lineage, which links the Grape-Flask and the cult of Dionysus to the female. Examining Dionysian mythology and his association with Cologne’s own historic struggles heightens my argument that the

Roman citizens of the city felt a connection to the god and it was therefore fair to associate an item of this nature to the fertility god. The location of the grave site in close proximity to the

40 temple dedicated to emperor worship of Augustus solidifies my argument about the social status of the woman and thereafter the personal significance of the flask buried with her.

In addition, I concluded my investigation into the Grape-Flask by showing the connection between the emerging Christians and their power over a divided Roman society.

While powerful Dionysian followers had no qualms over commissioning items showing revelry I suggest that the mid- and lower level classes were forced to conform to the wishes of the elite stoics in their aesthetic choices. I have also made the connection that these stoics inadvertently pushed the same agenda that led to the influx of Christian aesthetics into the art market, further changing the physical appearance - i.e. greater abstractionism- of many daily items available in the markets through the power of supply and demand. My overarching theme for this thesis was to showcase the underlying history of the Grape-Flask and items of a similar nature and to make the argument that these pieces should be thoroughly investigated prior to being put on display in a museum setting. Using recent discoveries and the aesthetic and philosophical themes outlined in Chapter V, I have shown that this can be done by using historical first person narratives to approach the aesthetics of the item and how these new ideas (though taken from a contemporary theory) can often be skewed by bias, but may also allow us to expand our interpretations of past art works. I hope my thesis leads others to look again at the other largely overlooked Late Roman glass objects on display in many of our great museums.

41 BIBLIOGRAPHY

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45 FIGURES

Figure 1. Grape-Flask Third-Century C.E. Cologne, Germany Mould Cast Glass H. 17.0 cm.; D. 6 cm. Romisch-Germanisches Museum (Archaeological Museum) RGM 1027

46

Figure 2. Map of Upper German Lines

47

Figure 3. Map of Cologne

48

Figure 4. Reconstruction Drawing of a Roman Burial Road

49

Figure 5. Schematic Drawing of Burial Sites Surrounding the City of Cologne

50

Figure 6. Schematic Drawing of Northwest Burial Site for Cologne

51

Figure 7. Survey Plan of Cologne with Significant Modern Monuments

52

Figure 8. Woodcut of a Glassblowing Furnace from the Time of Theophilus and Agricola

53

Figure 9. Glass Bottle Shaped Like a Bunch of Grapes Late Imperial, 4th Century C.E. Glass; blown in a two-part mould and trailed H. 7 in. (17.8 cm) Metropolitan Museum of Art, 17.194.231

54

Figure 10. Grape Bottle Rome, 1st Century C.E. Glass; blown in mold in the shape of a bunch of grapes H: 5 1/2 in. (14cm) Toledo Museum of Art 1951.373

55

Figure 11. Lycurgus Cup Fourth-Century C.E. Silver and Mould Blown Glass, cut and fire polished H: 158.8 millimeters D: 132 millimeters The British Museum 1958, 1202.1

56

Figure 12. Dionysus Mosaic 220- 230 C.E. Glass and pebbles 7 x 10.60 m Römisch-Germanisches Museum, Cologne, Germany

57

Figure 13. Diagram of Dionysus Mosaic

58

Figure 14. Center Roundel of Dionysus Mosaic

59

Figure 15. ‘Family’ Roundel of the Dionysus Mosaic

60 GLOSSARY OF TERMS126

Amphoriskos (Greek). A small glass vessel, for oil or unguents, in the form of a Greek

AMPHORA (of either the ‘neck amphora’ or ‘continuous-curve amphora’ type),

made in Egypt or Cryprus, c. 1350 BC and, after a lapse of time, in the eastern

Mediterranean region, c. 600- 100 BC. Such vessels are of CORE GLASS, usually

from 5 to 15 cm. in height, and have a bulbous or ovoid body, a pointed bottom, and

a domed foot or a disk base-knob. The BODY is opaque, usually coloured turquoise

or dark lapis-lazuli blue, with orange-yellow, light-blue or white COMBED

DECORATION.

Gather(ing). A blob of molten glass attached to the end of a GATHERING IRON, BLOW-PIPE

or PONTIL, preparatory to forming an object. It may be enlarged by collecting additional

molten glass as work progresses, and the later gathering of the same colour does not

appear as a layer but is fused into one mass. A glass object that is thick and heavy is said

to have been made from a ‘heavy gather’.

Hand-blown. The same as FREE-BLOWN GLASS, made without a MOULD.

126 Harold Newman, An Illustrated Dictionary of Glass (London: Thames and Hudson Ltd., 1977). All definitions for this thesis come from Newman’s fully comprehensive dictionary of glass. Please see their respective alphabetical entries in the main text for any additional information.

61 Lip. The everted pouring projection at the frond edge of the MOUTH of a JUG, PITCHER or

SAUCE-BOAT. Some are of pinched (TREFOIL) shape.

Mould. A form used in shaping glassware, by the processes of making MOULD-BLOWN and

later MOULD-PRESSED ware. Some moulds were used to give the glass its final form,

others to give a patterning which was subsequently worked over and sometimes

occasionally almost eliminated, e.g. by ribbing. Many open-shaped glasses made before

the use of BLOWING are thought to have been moulded, some perhaps by the CIRE

PERDUE process. Moulds were originally made possibly of FIRE-CLAY, then of wood

or carved stone, and later of metal. Moulds were used from earliest times, sometimes

made in one part, much later in two parts that were hinged; they were then used for

making mould-blown glassware. Still later there were three-part and four-part moulds,

used for complicated form. The pieces so made were of a great variety of forms, e.g.,

bottles with human faces, bunches of grapes, etc. Some parts of objects (e.g. handles)

were made in a separate mould and joined to the body of the piece. After c. 1825 metal

moulds were used for mould-pressed glassware.

Mould-blown glass. Glassware made by the process of blowing molten glass PARAISON

(bubble) into a MOULD. The interior wall of mould-blown glass is in the shape of the

outer form, so that the blown object could be reheated and further blown to enlarge its

size. Mould-blown glass was made in Egypt in the 2nd to 4th centuries, and later

universally. In the United States mould-blown glass was made near the end of the 19th

century in preference to FREE-BLOWN GLASS, and was adapted to machines for

62 making bottles and electric-light bulbs; it was extensively made in the Middle Western

states to make a large variety of glassware, with LOW RELIEF decoration in imitation of

English CUT GLASS of the early 19th century. The method was largely superseded,

c. 1827, by the process of PRESSING which lead to mass-produced MOULD-PRESSED

GLASS.

Mouth. The orifice of a bottle, jug, jar or pitcher from which the contents are poured. The mouth

may or may not have a LIP.

Pontil mark. A rough mark in the centre of the bottom of a glass object where the PONTIL was

attached. On early ware the mark was often pushed upwards into the BASE of the object,

making a KICK. On later ware it was generally smoothed by grinding and by c. 1850 it

was eliminated altogether.

Pontil (sometimes ‘puntee’ or ‘punty’). The iron rod to which a partly-made molten object is

transferred from the iron tube (BLOW-PIPE) on which the METAL has been gathered

from the melting pot and MARVERED and tentatively shaped by blowing. The final

shaping, finishing the neck, attaching of handles and applied ornamentation, etc., are

done when the piece is on the pontil. The pontil can also be used to draw metal to almost

any length in the form of a rod or tubing. In order to make the molten object adhere to the

pontil, a small GATHERING is first attached to it (sometimes called a ‘punty-wad’).

Rim. The narrow area adjacent to the EDGE of a vessel, on such objects as a VASE, PLATE, or

CUP. Rims may be decorated with ENAMELING, or with applied wrought decoration.

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Sand. The most common form of SILICA used in making glass. It is an impure silica, taken from

the seashore or preferably from inland beds whose sand is more readily ground and is

freer from impurities. It should have a low content of iron and other impurities, and must

first be well washed, heated to remove carbonaceous matter, and screened to obtain

uniform small grains.

Shoulder. The bulge just below the neck of a vase, bottle or similar vessel.

Silica. A mineral that is one of the essential ingredients in making glass. The most common form

of silica used in glass-making is SAND (an impure silica) taken from the seashore or

inland beds. The Venetians used white pebbles from the rivers. In England, at least as

early as c. 1650 calcined and powdered flints were used. Pure silica can be melted to

form glass, but its fusion requires such a high temperature that it is commercially

impracticable; but it is so used for making certain laboratory glass that is subject to high

temperatures.

Snake Trailing. A type of decoration made of applied trailed glass threads in a twisting

haphazard serpentine pattern. Some bottles, bowls, and jugs so decorated have been

found in the Near East and are considered to by Syrian glassware; others found in the

Rhineland were probably made at Cologne in the 2nd and 3rd centuries C.E. The trailing is

usually coloured, but some of the Near Eastern examples have self-coloured trails

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