237 Roman and Later Blown Glass from the Aub

ARAM, 13-14 (2001-2002),SARAH 237-264 JENNINGS - JOANNA ABDALLAH 237

ROMAN AND LATER BLOWN GLASS FROM THE AUB EXCAVATIONS IN BEIRUT (SITES BEY 006, 007 AND 045)

SARAH JENNINGS AND JOANNA ABDALLAH

The introduction of making vessels by inflating a bubble of molten glass on the end of a hollow tube had a significant influence on the availability and use of glass vessels in the ancient world. Glass-blowing is generally agreed to have been discovered on eastern littoral of the Mediterranean around the middle of the 1st century BCE (Israeli 1991, 46). Prior to this glass vessels could only be produced by slow and elaborate methods, first of core-forming, and later by casting and slumping (Grose 1989, chapters 4 and 5). Early in the 1st century CE vessels made by blowing became increasingly common, although the manufacturing techniques of casting and slumping continued side by side with blowing for over a hundred years. Blown glass had almost totally replaced cast vessels by the end of the 1st century CE. Glass- blowing then became virtually the sole method of manufacture for vessels until the advent of industrialisation in the late 18th century, and as a manufacturing technique it remained essentially unchanged during the whole of that time. The glass found during the excavation of the Souks area is generally very fragmentary, and only two intact vessels were recovered from the three sites. It was mostly found in deposits used to make up ground surfaces and in dumps, and its condition represents both the formation processes and the debris associated with urban development and living. Once broken and discarded, thin pieces of glass continue to fragment every time they are disturbed, and in an intensively occupied area this could happen a number of times. Glass was also recycled in antiquity, both to augment the glass blower’s supply of raw mate- rial, and as a necessary ingredient in the making of raw glass. Nevertheless, these fragments have yielded an enormous amount of information, about the local industries making glass vessels, the types of vessels in common domestic use at any one time, and the patterns of trade in glass vessels throughout the centuries. The whole glass assemblage from the three Souks excavations ranges in date from the 3rd century BCE to the 16th century CE, and despite its fragmentary nature has enabled an extensive typology to be established for the glass vessels in use in Beirut during this time (Zaven 1998; Abdallah 1999; Jennings in prep). This article briefly covers just the blown glass from the 1st century through to the 15th century CE. 238 ROMAN AND LATER BLOWN GLASS FROM THE AUB EXCAVATIONS IN BEIRUT

Only a few core-formed vessel fragments were found, and all came from BEY 006 (Jennings 1997, 28), but pieces of many cast and slumped vessels were recovered from all three sites (Jennings 2000). The earliest blown glass vessels found on the Souks excavations probably date to the very late years of the first century BCE or early years of the first century CE. These, along with vessels of 1st/2nd century date, are found in far more limited numbers than the vessels dating to the later Roman and early Byzantine periods, as by that time glass was an extremely common commodity, and the Souks area more densely occupied. The forms of the 1st century vessels found in Beirut are typical of this period, and similar vessels are found throughout the areas influenced by the Roman empire. They mostly comprise small bottles, drinking vessels, bowls, and a few containers. At this time the local industries of the Syro Pales- tinian area seemed to have been using some de-colourised glass, but mostly used natural coloured glass. Nearly all of the vessel fragments recovered were made from ‘natural’ coloured glass, mainly shades of pale blue and greeny- blue glass, with a limited number in pale yellow glass. These pale ‘natural’ colours come from the impurities in the sand used to make the raw glass, and it is only the addition of metallic oxides that produces strongly or deeply coloured glass. Even though some of the forms are common in both coloured and natural glass, the evidence from the Souks excavations suggests that the small numbers of strongly coloured glass vessels found there are imports from outside the region.

IMPORTED BLOWN GLASS VESSELS

It was during the 1st century CE that glass vessels were first imported into Beirut from outside the immediate region. The most likely source for these imports was Italy, where a rapidly expanding industry developed into the ma- jor producer of high quality glass during this time. All of the imported blown glass from the Souks can be dated to the first half of the 1st century CE, which is also the time when quantities of fine ceramic table wares were imported from Italy (pers comm Paul Reynolds), The imported glass is represented by a small number of distinctive vessels (Fig 1.1-8 and Fig 2). Most of these were made from deep purple or aubergine coloured glass. Other colours used were mid blue, deep blue and deep yellow. Several of these vessels are embellished with trails of opaque white glass, usually on, or near the rim. This is the only style of decoration found on these early coloured vessels from the Souks sites, and it is generally thought of as a feature of the Romano-Italian industry. Opaque white trails have not been found on any of the paler, natural coloured glass vessels from the Souks. The strong coloured vessels comprise fairly small bowls of various forms, beakers, a few jars, and a single fragment from a flask. SARAH JENNINGS - JOANNA ABDALLAH 239

Fragments come from a bowl with a flaring rim, and a inturned bowl rim. Both of these were made from purple glass and have opaque white spiral trails applied to the outside, just below the rim (Fig 1.1 &.2). The inturned rim also has a layer of white glass carefully applied on the top of the rim edge (Fig 2 top left). This is likely to be from a shallow bowl, and a similar vessel is in the collection of the American University of Beirut Museum. There are also fragments of three jars with everted rims and a single applied opaque white trail on the rim edge. These were made from yellow (Fig 1.6) and purple glass. One of the most distinctive forms of the early to mid 1st century CE is a small globular ribbed bowl, commonly known as zarte Rippenschalen (Isings Form 17) (Fig 1.3-5 and.9-11 & Fig 2 right). These are found throughout the Roman Empire and are generally dated from the early 1st century through to the mid 1st century CE (Cool & Price 1995, 57-8), though evidence from the Souks excavations suggest that this form was still current in Beirut in the third quarter of the 1st century. Several of the Souks examples were imported, but zarte Rippenschalen were also made locally in pale natural coloured glass (Fig 1.9-11). The imported examples date to the first half of the century, while the locally made zarte Rippenschalen were certainly available for several decades more. All of these ribbed bowls have cracked off rims, but two slightly different versions of this form are evident; it is likely that both types were blown into moulds to form the arcading on the shoulder and the vertical ribs, which were further raised by pinching (Fig 1.4). The rather different ribs on a couple of these bowls suggests that they were applied, and only sometimes further defined by pinching (Fig 1.9). Two of the imported bowls, one in mid blue glass (Fig 1.3), the other in opaque yellow glass (Fig 1.5), have fine, trailed opaque white threads from the bottom of the fragments up to the neck. An- other deep purple vessel has lost so much of its original surface that it is no longer possible to tell if it also had white trails (Fig 1.4). Initial research on the vessels from Beirut, and those from other sites in the region, suggests that the deep coloured bowls are products of the western industries, and the natural coloured ribbed bowls were made in the eastern Mediterranean. Hofheim cups are also typical of the 1st and earlier 2nd century CE (Isings Form 12). All the Souks examples have cracked-off rims and cut grooves either on the upper body, or around the point of maximum diameter. Like the zarte Rippenschalen most Hofheim cups were made locally and only a few were imported. The imported vessels are deep blue and deep yellow in colour with well cut grooves around the middle of the vessels (Fig 1.7). Hofheim cups presumed to be of local manufacture are dealt with below. The small numbers of imported, or luxury glass might seem surprising given the apparent level of trade in the Mediterranean and the position of Bei- rut on the coast. Only a few fragments from Beirut have cut decoration, as op- posed to cut grooves. This is in direct contrast to the quantity and high propor- 240 ROMAN AND LATER BLOWN GLASS FROM THE AUB EXCAVATIONS IN BEIRUT tion of cut decorated vessels found at Dura-Europas (Clairmont 1963, 56). The paucity of luxury vessels has though been noted at other sites along the Medi- terranean littoral eg Sabratha (Hayes 1986, 297), and at sites such as Samothrace (Dusenbery 1967, 38-9). The commonality of vessel forms between the western and eastern Mediterranean, together with the technical knowledge and skills of the local glass blowers, meant that the local industries were obviously able to meet most of the demands of the population of Beirut.

SYRO PALESTINIAN GLASS

The Syro Palestinian coastal region is traditionally thought of as the area where early mold blown glass originated, largely based on some documentary evidence and a few signed cups, and Sidon has been suggested at the centre of this innovation (Stern 1995). If this is in fact true, it seems surprising that only two fragments of early mold blown glass were recovered from the three excavations, and is equally uncommon from other sites in the area. There is no direct archaeological evidence for Sidon being a source of glass vessel making of any kind, and if it had been the centre for the production of mold blown vessels rather more evidence of this would have been expected in Beirut, which is only 40 km away. One fragment from the Souks is part of the body of a date flask made from yellow brown glass (Fig 1.22). The bodies of these small, round-bottomed, flask resemble wrinkled dates, and were blown into two part molds, the necks were added afterwards. Date flasks were made from shortly before the mid 1st century CE until early in the 2nd century, and are common items found throughout the Roman world. Many are in museum collections, and are generally published as having been found or made in the eastern Mediterranean (Matheson 1980, 60-2), though in most cases actual evidence is slight. A range of cups and beakers with cracked-off rims were recovered, some of which are similar in shape to several of the imported forms discussed above, such as Hofheim cups and zarte Rippenschalen. Other cup or beaker forms have near vertical rims (Fig 1.15-16), or the more common outward curving rims (Fig 1.17). Generally these earlier cracked-off rim forms also have cut grooves or cut lines on the body, and the vertical rims with a wide cut groove just below the rim were always made from good quality, near colourless glass which has remarkably few bubbles, and the rim edges were always carefully smoothed. Another identifiable early cup form has a fire-rounded collar rim with an external fold (Fig 1.18-19). Surprisingly, only a small number of unguentaria were recovered from the Souks sites at any period; Figure 1.21 is one of the few dating to the 1st/2nd century. Several very small unguentaria with flattened bodies are in the Ameri- can University of Beirut Museum, and the body of one was found on BEY 006 SARAH JENNINGS - JOANNA ABDALLAH 241

(Fig 1.20). Other vessels of this period are small flasks (Fig 1.23) and a long necked bottle with a handle dating to the third quarter of the 1st century AD (Fig 1.24).

LATE ROMAN AND EARLY BYZANTINE GLASS

By the Late Roman period glass vessels were very common items in every- day use, and for a variety of functions. Glass also began to supplant items commonly made from pottery, such as lamps. By this time, deeply coloured vessels are virtually unknown, and almost all of the glass was natural green or blue/green in colour. By the late 5th, or early 6th century a particularly distinctive shade of blue/green glass was being used for the manufacture of an increasing number of vessels. Decoration during this period was limited in both style and technique, and mainly comprised thin trails in both the same colour as the main body of the vessel, and in contrasting colours. The contrasting colours were mainly shades of mid to dark blue, but occasional vessels have turquoise trails. No attempt seems to have been made to use coloured glass to make whole vessels. The two distinctive and different methods of manufacturing free blown glass vessels were both common in the late Roman period. These are vessels made with the use of a pontil iron, which have fire-rounded rims and thicker bases, and those made without the additional stage of being put on a pontil, and generally have cracked-off rims and thinner bases, although some flasks do have fire-rounded rims. During the 5th century and into the 6th century, an increasing number of both bowls and cups were produced without the use of pontil rods, although these were still used for the manufacture of stemmed goblets and lamps. Bowls, in a wide variety of different sizes and with different rim forms, were a common component of the late Roman assemblage (Fig 3.1-11). Shapes range from deep (Fig 3.1-3) to shallow (Fig 3.4), and the rims were finished in several different ways. Many of the medium size have plain fire- rounded rims; examples with further embellishments such as crimped applied trails on the rim edge are rare (Fig 3.1). Folded over rims, particularly on large shallow bowls, are also common. In most examples the rim is folded outwards and bent over to form an open tube around the top of the bowl (Fig 3.8-10), but on some vessels the folds are deeper and closed, forming a collar rim (Fig 3.5-6). Both methods are an easy way of strengthening the rim of a large vessel. Folded rim bowls usually have folded footring bases (Fig 3.12-13). Rela- tively few bowls with internal open folds were found (Fig 3.7 and 11). Flasks, and jugs with handles, are less common in the late Roman and early Byzantine period compared with the large numbers of cups, beakers and dishes. Many of the flasks have simple fire-rounded rims (Fig 3.14), but were 242 ROMAN AND LATER BLOWN GLASS FROM THE AUB EXCAVATIONS IN BEIRUT not made using a pontil iron, and have thin pushed in bases (Fig 3.16). Typi- cally they are very thin walled and tend to fragment badly in the ground (Fig 3.14-17). The most common form of tall jug has a thick fire rounded rim with a thick single applied trail below the rim (Fig 3.18-19 and Fig 5). These trails can be in the same colour as the main body of the jug, or in a contrasting colour, often darker blue or green. The reeded strap handles associated with these necks normally have several folds where they are attached to the rim (Fig 3.19). Another distinctive flask form has a folded in rim, often flattened (Fig 3.20-1). Funnel necked flasks become a common form in the late Roman period (Fig 3.22-7). The length of the neck can vary, and the bodies are often globular (Fig 3.22). This form continues to be made into the 5th and 6th centuries, often in the bright blue/green glass typical of this period. Funnel neck flasks are often found in association with blue trail vessels (see below p 245). During the late Roman period most of the cups, beakers and bowls in use on the Souks sites were made by the cracking off method (Fig 6). This is where the vessel was blown in a single operation and the top of the bubble is de- tached when the glass has cooled, leaving a sharp rim, usually square in sec- tion. The cups and beakers have the same basic shape as the bowls, with out- splayed rims, but are deeper in form (Fig 6.1-3). Many have slightly rounded or flattened bases, but the narrower, taller, beaker forms often have pushed in bases (Fig 6.7). The rims are rarely finished, and decoration is usually confined to faint abrasion of the outer surface. This was probably done on a lathe with a copper wheel (Whitehouse 1993, 23). The only other type of decoration found on cracked off rim cups is applied blobs, usually mid or dark blue in colour (Fig 6.9-10), but also occasionally in turquoise and yellow (Fig 6.8), and in the same style as those found on the conical lamps or beakers (see below). Coloured blob decoration is always found in conjunction with either cut grooves, or fine cut lines. This style of decoration is found throughout the Ro- man empire. By the 5th century CE most of the bowls and dishes of the late Roman period have cracked-off rims. They were made in a wide range of sizes from small and very thin to large substantial vessels (Fig 6. 11-22), and diameters range from 5.9 to 28.4 cm. Again, like the earlier versions, not many of these bowls were cold finished in any way, and the rim edges were mostly left sharp with minimal smoothing; decoration is mostly limited to abrasion bands and occasional cut grooves. Abrasion could be either in wide bands (Fig 6.17) or groups of narrow lines (Fig 6.14). Only a small number of bowls have deeper grooves cut into the vessel wall (Fig 6.13 and 16). A distinctive bowl or dish form has the typical out-splayed cracked-off rim, but more upright walls, and is shallow in proportion to the diameter (Fig 6.20-2). These are the largest of the cracked-off rim vessels found on the Souks, and several have diameters between 25 and 26 cm. Bowls of this size are usually considerably thicker and the bases are flat. SARAH JENNINGS - JOANNA ABDALLAH 243

Decoration, as stated above, is rare on vessels of this date. The principle exception to this is a group of vessels with darker contrasting trails and trailed spirals on, or near, the rim (Fig 9). Nearly all the contrasting trail decoration is in mid to dark blue glass, but there are a few vessels with turquoise trails (Fig 7.24-5), and some with self-coloured trails in the same colour as the body of the vessel (Fig 7.20-3). Blue trail decoration is applied in a slightly different way on bowls to the way it is applied on closed forms, such as flask and long neck bottles. Most of the bowls with blue trail decoration have externally folded over rims with a single trail which forms an integral part of the fold. This is accomplished in several different ways – embedded in the fold (Fig 7.8-9), acting as a spacer between the end of the fold and the vessel wall (Fig 7.10), or applied to the rim edge before it is folded over (Fig 7.11). A few rim fragments have a single wide trail just below the rim edge (Fig 7.15-16). These trails are usually a less intense blue, and parallells suggest that these rims are probably from stemmed goblets (cf Christie’s 1985, 27 no 38). The most common forms of enclosed vessels with trail decoration are flasks with funnel necks, and flasks with long, cylindrical necks. Typically, on the funnel necks, the decoration starts with a thick trail on, or just below, the rim edge, with a thinner trail spiralling down the neck culminating in several over lapping rings at the bottom (Fig 7.1-2 and Fig 7.12-14). A similar method is used on the long, cylindrical necks, though in these cases the trail starts below the rim edge (Fig 7.17-18). Vessels with funnel necks and blue trail decoration can have both cylindrical or globular bodies (Fig 7.1-2 & Fig 8), and occasional vessels also have rows of pincer marks on the body (Fig 7.3-4). The body form of the cylindrical neck flask is less clear, but parallels indicate that these were also globular, but often small in comparison to the length of the neck (Painter 1968, 87 no 118). Dark blue glass was also used to form foot rings (Fig 7.5-7), and occasionally handles (Fig 7.19). Nearly all the blue trail vessels were made from the distinctive blue/green glass of the Byzantine period, the exception to this is some of the cylindrical necks which were made in natural green glass. Very few of the vessels in the Byzantine blue/green glass group were made using a pontil iron, and most have thin, slightly domed bases. Some have an applied blue trail which forms a footring, and in these cases the bases are con- vex, or flat, but still thin (Fig 7.5-7). These are the only vessels dating to the Roman and Byzantine period for which there is direct evidence that the were manufactured in Beirut (Foy 1996, 90-7). Several fragments of moils and some glass waste were found on the Souks site BEY 006 (Jennings, in prep.), but there has been no other evidence for a glass manufacturing site at this period in the area excavated. Other vessels associated with the blue trail group are mold blown bottles, some with patterns on the base (Fig 7.26-28). Most have hexagonal bodies, but 244 ROMAN AND LATER BLOWN GLASS FROM THE AUB EXCAVATIONS IN BEIRUT a few example were octagonal in form. These mold blown bottles are the only vessels in this group with pontil scars on the bases showing that this technique was known to the glass blowers using this type of glass, but not much prac- tised. Plain blown flasks, with funnel necks and small globular bodies also made from bright blue/green glass, were found in association with blue trail and mold blown flasks (Fig 3.23-7). The plain, thin bases associated with these necks do not have pontil scars, even though they have fire-rounded rims. The earliest glass lamps, dating to the 4th century, were plain cones (Fig 10.1-2) made for suspension in a holder. One fragment has the scars from a metal ring at about the mid point of the body (Fig 10.1). These earlier conical lamps were made with plain fire-rounded rims and pontil scars on the small, but thick, narrow bases (Isings form 106d; Whitehouse 1997, 192 no 337). Another type of lamp, with a similar shape, but made by a different method, seems to be a slightly later introduction. These have everted cracked-off rims and small flat bases without pontil scars (Fig 10.3-5). Some lamps of this form (Harden Type AI, 1936, 155-9, nos 455, 457 & 460) are decorated with blue blobs and shallow cut grooves (Fig 10.3). Others have abrasion lines (Fig 10.4) This conical form has been identified as both lamps and beakers, and they seem to have been used as lamps in the east and beakers in the west. Large numbers of intact vessels were found at Karanis and all of them have an oily feel to the inside, one also had a deposit in the base which analysis showed contained oil, thus indicating their use as lamps (Crowfoot & Harden 1931, 26 pl XVIII,2). In the west this form develops into the cone beakers of the post Roman period. Two distinctive new forms introduced in the 5th century were stemmed lamps and stemmed goblets, and both these vessel forms became common throughout the Mediterranean area for several centuries. Pieces of lamps and goblets were some of the most frequently found fragments on the Souks excavations. They were obviously extremely common items and the large numbers recovered only partly reflects the way glass breaks and fragments, as the substantial elements of their construction making them easily seen and identifiable. Stemmed goblets and lamps were manufactured in a variety of slightly different ways, resulting in a number of different sub-forms, but always with the use of a pontil. These slight variations probably represent different work- shops, as well as changes through time. Once glass lamps became common in the 5th century they continued to be made in various forms for more than a thousand years, and some types were still used in the eastern Mediterranean in both mosques and churches well into the 20th century (Crowfoot and Harden 1931). The most frequently found form on the Souks sites has a bell-shaped bowl and a long, narrow stem (Fig 10.6-15). The stems of these lamps have a pontil scar on the end, and the associated rims are all fire-rounded (Fig 10.6). Although the bowls are similar in their basic shape, the stems were made in a variety of different ways, either SARAH JENNINGS - JOANNA ABDALLAH 245 solid (Fig 10.6-7), hollow (Fig 10.8-10), solid and knobbed (Fig 10.11-12), or solid and pulled with the marks of jacks near the bottom (Fig 10.13-15). Lamps with solid knobbed stems are a far less frequent find in Beirut than they are at other sites in the region, particularly those further inland, for instance Jerash (Baur 1938, 519-20 and fig 17 no 1) and Bet Shean (Hadad 1998, 66-9 type 2). They are all well made in contrast to the other three types, which are often irregular and sometimes have part of the pontil wad attached to the bottom of the stem. Another common form of lamp is those with short, hollow stems (Fig 10.16-19 and Fig 11). These bulb-like stems can either be pear- shaped, globular, or, less commonly, conical in form. No reconstructible examples were found, but parallels suggest they also had bell-shaped bowls. Lamps with both long and short stems were used in groups suspended in polycandelons (Buckton 1994, 106-7 no 116; Whitehouse 1997, 194-5 no 340), and both the disc form and the ring form of polycandelon have been found in Beirut in deposits associated with the earthquake of 551 CE (Saghieh 1996, 40-1; cf Fernandes-Puertas 1998, 76-7 and 190, 18.5 & 18.6). Less common forms of stemmed lamps include those with drop bases (Fig 10.20-21) and examples with solid short pad bases (Fig 10.22-4). The former are all made from the distinctive blue/green glass of the Byzantine period, and were probably made locally. Complete examples have out splayed cracked-off rims (Sotheby 1979, 173 no 310). Lamps with short pad bases were made in uncommon glass colours, and this, together with their limited numbers, suggests that they may well have been imports. This is given credence by their occurrence on other sites along the Mediterranean coast, eg Carthage (Tatton- Brown 1984, 203 nos 88-90) and Sardis (von Saldern 1980, 52 no 289 and pl 12). Other types of lamp include bowl lamps with three small handles which enabled them to be suspended by chains (Fig 10.25-6), and bowls with a separately blown tube attached to the inner base to hold a wick (Fig 10.27-8). Wick holder lamps could have been used on a flat surface, as well as suspended (cf Auth 1976, 152 no 198), and several of the Souks examples have foot rings for this purpose (Fig 10.27). This was another long lived form and several dating to the 8th to 10th centuries were recovered (see below Fig 14.8). Goblets, the other common form introduced in the 5th century, are found throughout the Mediterranean in large numbers. They remained a common vessel form for several centuries, particularly in the eastern region. Like lamps, the Beirut goblets can also be divided into several different types as a result of differences in the ways they were made. The main variations in manufacturing techniques are the ways the stem and base are formed – whether the base is an integral part of the goblet, or was added as one, or more, separate elements. The least complex manufacturing method is a one stage operation, where the base is part of the bubble which is constricted half way down to form the stem, and the base is formed by pushing the bottom of the bubble back up towards the body. This results in a double thickness folded 246 ROMAN AND LATER BLOWN GLASS FROM THE AUB EXCAVATIONS IN BEIRUT base, and either a plain or a knobbed stem (Fig 13.1-8). Other goblets have separately made bases which are either attached to the body with a pad spacer (Fig 13.12-13), or a short added stem (Fig 13.9-10). A fourth type has a short, solid stem and an irregular, pincered-out base (Fig 13.14-16). Most of the goblet bowls are rounded at the bottom with nearly vertical, or slightly flaring sides. Conical examples with straight, markedly flaring sides are less common (Fig 13.12). No complete examples were found, but all the associated rims are fire-rounded and show that the shape of the bowl can vary. Fig 13.17-25 are rims likely to be from stemmed goblets. Much of the glass vessel assemblage from the late Roman and Byzantine periods in Beirut has close parallels with assemblages from other sites in the region where the remains of domestic occupation have been found, such as Jalame (Weinberg 1988), Samaria (Crowfoot 1957), Jordan and southern Syria (Dusart 1998), and in the central Mediterranean, sites like Carthage (Tatton- Brown 1984), Sardis, Turkey (von Saldern 1980) and Istanbul (Hayes 1993). It does differ though in some respects from the many tomb groups that have been recovered in range of vessel forms present (Harden 1966). On the Souks sites unguentaria are rare, and no examples of double cosmetic phials were found. Cracked-off rim vessels are also far more common amongst the Souks glass, whereas folded rim bowls seem to be more numerous in tomb groups.

ISLAMIC GLASS

After the 6th century vessel glass is far less common in the Souks area. In the earlier Islamic period this decline in vessel numbers reflects both the lack of surviving deposits on the site, and decline in the intensity of occupation. Towards the end of the Islamic period, but particularly during the Mamluk era, the amount of glass in general use, and the range of vessels available had de- clined considerably. Many of the vessels dating to the 8th to 10th century have elaborate facet cut decoration (Fig 14.1-4). Typologically most of these can be parallelled by complete vessels attributed to Persian manufacture, where this style of deep facet cutting was a continuation of the Sassanian tradition. Fig 14.3 is the body of a colourless glass flask with deep cut arcaded decoration; it would have had a slightly flaring facet cut neck. Its size, shape, and style of decoration is very similar to a complete flask in the British Museum, found in Persia and attributed to Persian manufacture, and dated to the 9th century (Pinder-Wilson 1968, 107 no 140). Others pieces from the Souks are similar to vessels known to have been made in Fustat, Egypt (Pinder-Wilson & Scanlon 1987). In contrast to either free blown or mold blown vessels, the blanks from which these facet cut vessels were made were thick to allow for the depth of the cutting. A few bases with shallower cut decoration were also found (Fig 14.5); the glass of these examples is of less good quality, and is usually light green in colour, SARAH JENNINGS - JOANNA ABDALLAH 247 rather than colourless, and the vessels are also thinner. Plain vessels of this period can be difficult to identify, and this has been largely done on the basis of form and the colour of the glass. These include bowls (Fig 14.6), small phials (Fig 14.7), and wick holder lamps (Fig 14.8). A small group of glass dating to the Fatimid period came from a single context. This comprises thin-walled vessel which were mostly made from good quality colourless glass. Several of these have cut decoration (Fig 14.11), and the shape of the fragments indicates that they were probably from beakers. Similar forms with this style of decoration have been attributed to both Egypt and Iran. Others vessels have faintly mold blown honey comb decoration made by partly inflating a bubble of glass in an optic mold, and then expanding it further making the decoration fainter and less distinct (Fig 14.9-10). This type of decoration has only been found on closed forms in this group, such as flasks or bottles. Other vessels of this date include several fragments of decorated beakers, usually in coloured glass, either blue or mid aquamarine. These beakers were either blown into two or three piece molds of the same size as the finished vessel, resulting in an elaborate overall raised decoration (Fig 14.13), or decorated near the rim with individual motifs, which were pinched into the vessel wall while the glass was still soft with decorated tongs (Fig 14.14). A beaker of the same colour glass and with similar pinched motifs has been attributed to Egypt and dated to the 9th-10th century (Barrucand 1998, 191 no 158). Another typical vessel of this period is a small globular flask in deep pink glass (Fig 14.18).

LATER ISLAMIC GLASS

Vessel forms of this period are far more restricted and the vessels from the Souks are largely confined to drinking vessels, flasks, lamps, and sprinklers. Glass bowls of any type are not generally part of the repertoire of the Mamluk glass workers. Several fragment can be parallelled to complete vessels from the Serce Limani wreck, a cargo boat carrying large quantities of glass waste, or cullet, and complete vessels, which was lost off the western coast of Turkey around 1025 (Jenkins 1986, 6-7 and 29). These include the top of a flask in aubergine coloured glass, with a wide flange rim and engraved decoration on the neck (Fig 15.3), and the top of a ewer (Fig 15.2 and Fig 16; cf Bass 1984, 66 no 2f). The form of this long spouted ewer is the same as that of both the elaborately cut rock crystal ewers and cameo glass ewers of the 9th to 11th centuries (Battie and Cottle 1991, 42). One of the most common forms is the flask. Two long neck flasks with small pinched spouts and widely spaced trails on the neck were recovered (Fig 15.1). There is no evidence for either vessel having a handle, unless it was at- 248 ROMAN AND LATER BLOWN GLASS FROM THE AUB EXCAVATIONS IN BEIRUT tached to the body only. An identical neck was found at the Crusader Castle at ‘Akko dating to the years immediately before 1291 (Gorin-Rosen 1997, 76 and fig 1.1a). Several of the other flasks have bulges or closed ring folds in the necks (Fig 15.6-8) which are typical of the period. Necks with wider bulges, and particularly those lower down the neck (Fig 15.6 and Fig 17), are closely parallelled by a large group of vessels found in Corinth, and thought to have been made there (Weinberg 1975, 134-5 and fig 15). Another is similar to vessels found at Samsat, Turkey (Redford 1994, 87 figs 9 & 10). The open bulge necks from the Souks are all in natural coloured green, or ‘dirty’ coloured glass, as are those from Corinth and Samsat. The necks with closed ring folds (Fig 15.4-5) are usually in colourless glass; both the closed fold and the glass are typical of the Syrian factories at Aleppo and Damascus, which were famous for the production of the elaborate enamelled vessels from the 13th to 15th centuries (Atil 1981, 131 no 50). Sev- eral beakers (Fig 15.9-11), a complex folded pedestal base of a lamp or large flask (Fig 15.14), and the top of a blue glass sprinkler with a slightly flattened body (Fig 15.13), although undecorated, are also likely to have come from Syria. All the beakers have applied foot rings, thin flaring bodies, and plain fire-rounded rims typical of this period. They were made from nearly colourless glass which sometimes has a faint brownish tinge. Fig 15.15 is the only example from the Souks with multi-coloured enamelled decoration. This was also probably made in Syria. The small numbers of vessels of 12th and 13th centuries, and the fact that they can all be parallelled either to known manufacturing centres, such as Cor- inth, Aleppo and Damascus, suggests that Beirut might not have been making all its own glass vessels at this period, but importing many of its requirements. Remains of glass manufacturing debris dating to the late Mamluk period were found on BEY 006, and this could have been established in response to in- creased demand by this time.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We are very grateful to Prof Helga Seeden and the American University of Beirut for allowing us to study the glass discussed in this article, and for pro- viding working space; financial support was provided by Solidere; the Rakow Grant for Glass Research from The Corning Museum of Glass enabled Sarah Jennings to undertake research on the glass and generally supported the project. The AUB/Rakow Glass Project also benefited from the help of a number of people to whom our thanks are due; H E M Cool for her help ini- tially to set up the project; George Haggarty and Tania Zaven for assisting with the recording of over 12,000 fragments from BEY 006; and colleagues from English Heritage for their continued support. SARAH JENNINGS - JOANNA ABDALLAH 249

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Fig 1. 1st and 2nd century vessels. Scale 1:3 252 ROMAN AND LATER BLOWN GLASS FROM THE AUB EXCAVATIONS IN BEIRUT

Fig 2. 1st century CE imported deep coloured vessels. Height of right fragment 4.1 cm. SARAH JENNINGS - JOANNA ABDALLAH 253

Fig 3. Late Roman and early Byzantine bowls and flasks. Scale 1:3. 254 ROMAN AND LATER BLOWN GLASS FROM THE AUB EXCAVATIONS IN BEIRUT

Fig 4. Late Roman flask necks. Maximum height 6.1 cm.

Fig 5. Late Roman flask neck with applied trail. Height 9.2 cm. SARAH JENNINGS - JOANNA ABDALLAH 255

Fig 6. Late Roman and early Byzantine cracked-off rim cups and bowls. Scale 1:3 256 ROMAN AND LATER BLOWN GLASS FROM THE AUB EXCAVATIONS IN BEIRUT

Fig 7. Early Byzantine trail decorated vessels and mold blown bottles. Scale 1:3. SARAH JENNINGS - JOANNA ABDALLAH 257

Fig 8. Blue trail funnel necks. Maximum height, right 8.4 cm.

Fig 9. Blue trail decoration on rims. 258 ROMAN AND LATER BLOWN GLASS FROM THE AUB EXCAVATIONS IN BEIRUT

Fig 10. Late Roman and early Byzantine lamps. Scale 1:3. SARAH JENNINGS - JOANNA ABDALLAH 259

Fig 11. Bulbous lamp bases. Maximum height, right 5.2 cm.

Fig 12. Rims and handles of bowl lamps. Maximum height, right 3.9 cm. 260 ROMAN AND LATER BLOWN GLASS FROM THE AUB EXCAVATIONS IN BEIRUT

Fig 13. Early Byzantine stemmed goblets. Scale 1:3. SARAH JENNINGS - JOANNA ABDALLAH 261

Fig 14. Early Islamic vessels. Scale 1:3. 262 ROMAN AND LATER BLOWN GLASS FROM THE AUB EXCAVATIONS IN BEIRUT

Fig 15. Islamic and Mamluk vessels. Scale 1:3. SARAH JENNINGS - JOANNA ABDALLAH 263

Fig 16. 10th/11th century ewer neck. Maximum height 4.5 cm.

Fig 17. Mamluk necks. Maximum height, left 7.4 cm.