Kantharos

This elegant vessel of translucent blown glass with an attached ring of opaque white glass on the rim comes from a grave and is of rare type of drinking vase. Glass vessels of the Roman period have been found in significant quantities at various sites on Cyprus (Kition, Salamis, Tamassos, etc.), indicating the existence of local workshops. The illustrated example has several features that suggest influences from the famed glassmaking workshops of Sidon in the Levantine coast. Until Hellenistic times, glass objects were relatively rare and expensive. However, in the 1st c. BC the invention of the glass-blowing technique facilitated mass production and reduced dramatically the cost of glass vessels, which thus became accessible to wider social strata. This led to the creation of a wide range of vase-types, which were distributed all over the Mediterranean.