Roman glassware, as good as new

I have always been fascinated by Roman glassware in all its shapes, forms, and colors (see: The beauty of ancient glassware). 

Yet, I never came across glassware that survived in such pristine condition as that retrieved from the Cape Corse shipwreck in 2023. It lies on a Roman commercial route connecting Luna (modern Luni, Italy) to Massalia (modern Marseille), between Cape Corse in Corsica and the island of Capraia in Italy. It is the second known find with a cargo of almost exclusively glass, either in its raw state as blocks of various sizes or in the finished product of blown glass tableware. 

[Picture from Soprintendenza Nazionale per il Patrimonio Culturale Subacqueo]

The ship sank around 100 AD, and although it was discovered in 2013, we had to wait ten years for an international team of researchers to explore the wreck with two underwater drones. This modern equipment allowed them to retrieve the major part of its precious cargo using a very delicate claw system. 

A few thousand glass artifacts have been recovered, including drinking glasses, bottles, plates, cups, small bowls, and an ointment jar; also two bronze basins and several amphorae of different type such as oriental, the Beirut type, and four Gallic vessels. Combined with the raw glass, this find led the archaeologists to believe that the ship must have originated from a port in the Middle East, possibly Lebanon or Syria, and was headed towards the coast of Provence in Southern France. 

The Syrians were probably the first to have mastered the art of glass blowing as early as the 1^st century BC. Craftsmen from Sidon, Aleppo, Hama, and Palmyra developed the technique of using a blowpipe to shape molten glass, which allowed them to create objects faster than from cast glass. As a result, Syria became one of the most important glass production centers in the world, before, during, and after the Roman Empire. 

The main trade route started in Antioch (modern Antakya in Turkey) to supply the markets of Alexandria, Byzantium, and Rome, which, in turn, had steady connections with Massalia.

The question remains, how these thousands of glass objects were still undamaged and survived in such good conditions after resting at the bottom of the Mediterranean for two thousand years.

Alexander’s missed voyage to conquer the West

Alexander always planned ahead, far ahead even. He was a true genius juggling many problems, projects, and strategies (see: Eyewitness accounts of Alexander's life). 

His most significant projects, or at least their outlines, were put on paper, as we may conclude from the to-do list the king left upon his death, as mentioned by Diodorus. We have no reason to believe Alexander’s ambition was a utopian dream. After all, conquering the then-known world in less than ten years is a superhuman achievement. Nobody before or after Alexander succeeded. Nothing could stop Alexander – except his own death. 

It has been generally accepted that Alexander aimed to conquer the western Mediterranean, and the idea is consistent with his character. However, Diodorus’ text may be a list of ideas rather than real plans, as we all would imagine. 

Besides his plan to build colossal temples and a mausoleum for his father, there was the project to build a thousand warships, larger than triremes, in Phoenicia, Syria, Cilicia, and Cyprus. This construction had already started while Alexander was in Babylon and alive. He planned to conquer Carthage. On the way, along the coast of Libya, he would create a string of safe havens and shipyards. Eventually, this strategy would lead him to Iberia and Magna Graecia, including Sicily, where many Greek colonists had established themselves centuries earlier. 

In the end, the Romans attacked the Carthaginians in Sicily in the First Punic War, 60 years after Alexander’s death. A second war shifted their terrain to Iberia, which was largely occupied by the Carthaginians (see: Carthage Antique, des origines jusqu’à l’invasion Vandale). We can only guess how Alexander would have handled the confrontation, especially since the power of Carthage was different in his days. 

On his way to Carthage, Alexander would need to secure the hinterland to protect his newly built harbors along the North African coast. To this effect, he conceived the construction of a road as far as the Pillars of Heracles (Gibraltar). The project materialized 2,500 years later when Mussolini built a 2,000 km-long highway, the Litoranea, running from Tunisia all the way to the Egyptian border (see: Cyrene, founded by the Greeks). We may wonder whether this was Alexander’s megalomania or far-sightedness. 

Greek immigrants searching for fertile lands and a better life had already colonized a significant part of the western Mediterranean. Around 600 BC, the Phocaeans (from modern Foça), who fled Asia Minor after a siege by the Persians, established themselves in southern France, where they founded the city of Massalia, modern Marseille. By 575 BC, these settlers founded regional colonies in Agde (Agathe Tyche), Antibes, Nice (Niké), and Monaco. 

With time, these colonists went further inland and spread all over Provence. The city of Arelate, modern Arles, occupied a strategic position where goods traveled up and down the River Rhone after they had been transhipped from Massalia. Most of those settlements are best known by their Roman names: Orange, Vaison-la-Romaine, and Glanum, although their origin was much older. 

A photographer friend of mine, Andrew Squires, explored Provence. His vision was to create images of the region, including Glanum, that translate the remains into what it once was. He published a splendid work of art as an iBook (with Apple) under the name Provence Mysterious. 

The Phoceans from Massalia, about the same time as they expanded in Provence, created circa 550 BC the trading post of Emporion, Roman Ampurias, and Rhoda, modern Rossas in Spain. Both cities, connected by a long sandy beach, served as stopover ports in the Greek expansion in the western Mediterranean. Geographically speaking, Emporion occupies the southwestern end of the Golfe de Lion, opposite Massalia. 

The first colonization of Magna Graecia happened earlier than elsewhere in that part of the Mediterranean. It started in Cumae, founded around 740 BC by emigrants from Chalcis and Kyme. Spartans emigrated to Taras, later named Tarentum. It was soon followed by new colonies established by the Achaeans in Metapontum, Sybaris, and Croton. In 733 BC, Greek settlers from Corinth arrived on the small island of Ortygia and founded Syracuse.

In the 6th century BC, Athenian settlers founded Thurii. Around 580 BC, colonists from Gela (Sicily), Crete, and Rhodes founded Akragas (Agrigento). 

Many of these initially Greek colonies became influential cities in their own right, creating their own towns. A good example is Sicily, where the new colonies fought the Carthaginians, the Romans, and each other, seeking their own ideals (see: Syracuse rivaled Athens to be the most powerful city). 

In 535 BC, Phocaean refugees established the colony of Elea, home of the Eleatic School created by the philosopher Parmenides (see: Magna Graecia, the forgotten Greek legacy). In 433 BC, the colony of Tarentum founded Herakleia, and the Achaeans founded Poseidonia, Roman Paestum. 

These relentless fluxes of Greek emigrants were no secret to Alexander and his contemporaries, meaning he was well aware and informed about the western Mediterranean – something we tend to forget! 

An excellent example of the high skills and wealth in the western Mediterranean is the so-called Riace bronzes retrieved off the coast of Calabria ( see: More about Magna Graecia: a testimony from Calabria). Archaeologists disagree on whether they represent warriors, athletes, or gods. Consequently, they are called “Riace A,” created between 460 and 450 BC, and “Riace B,” between 430 and 420 BC. Let’s keep in mind that these statues are the kind of artwork that existed a century before Alexander. 

Although extensive, the above-mentioned list of Greek colonists in the western Mediterranean is far from complete but long enough to prove their impressive presence. They often were caught in the expansionist attacks of the Carthaginians and, alternatively, of the Romans. Alexander would have to face both sooner or later. With his seasoned Macedonians, he would have created a Greek/Hellenistic world instead of the Latin one that Rome imposed on Western Europe. How different our world would have been!

Travelling in the opposite direction of Alexander the Great

It is 330 BC when Alexander is marching through the heartland of Persia. That same year, a very little-known Greek merchant named Pytheas started an astonishing voyage of his own in the opposite direction. There was much more happening on planet Earth than Alexander’s campaign in the east.

This Pytheas made such a name and fame that contemporaries and authors ended up moving his story to the lands of myths and legends that were discussed in belief and unbelief for centuries.

Our merchant from Massilia (modern Marseille, France) was also known as a skilled navigator, mariner, and astronomer. His treatise On the Ocean, unfortunately, has not survived but has been quoted extensively throughout antiquity by people like Diodorus, Eratosthenes, Strabo, Polybius, and Pliny the Elder. Each one of them interpreted and judged Pytheas in his own way, often reaching contradictory conclusions. Truth and fantasy went hand in hand and were so intertwined that nobody will ever be able to get to the bottom of the fact, I’m afraid.

Pytheas’ book was a kind of maritime log loaded with astronomical, geographic, biological, oceanographic, and ethnological observations that still catch the attention of modern scholars. The log also contained practical information with descriptions of the coastal landmarks and even astronomical notes.

The travel account was written in Greek around 325 BC. At that time, Nearchus was sailing from the Indus to the Persian Gulf to be reunited with Alexander, who had survived his death march through the Gedrosian Desert.

Pytheas traveled through uncharted territory as well. Besides, we can only speculate about the route he took from his hometown, Massilia. After sailing through the Pillars of Hercules (modern Strait of Gibraltar), he then proceeded along the Atlantic coastline of Spain and France. He probably crossed the English Channel somewhere in French Brittany. Britain was a well-known source for tin, amber, and gold that was exported via Gaul to the Mediterranean world. 

Once in Britain, the intrepid navigator probably continued along the coast of Wales and onward to Scotland. Here, Pliny mentions Pytheas’ arrival at the Orcades Islands, north of Britain. These islands are generally recognized as the Orkney Islands.

More challenging was his route onward, which is thought to have taken him as far north as Iceland and the Arctic Ocean, where the giant Hyperboreans from Greek mythology lived. Modern scholars do not agree about Iceland, which Pytheas called Thule, as mentioned by Strabo, but believe that the merchant reached Norway instead. In any case, he experienced the nearly continuous daylight typical at this high latitude during the summer months. 

Just one day sailing out of Thule, he reached what he called the “Congealed Sea” – a way to tentatively describe the frozen Arctic Ocean. Strabo describes the place as a sea lung, where neither earth, water, nor air existed but where all things were suspended together.

On his way back, Pytheas may have traveled down the east coast of Britain, past “Kantion,” which may refer to the Kentish peninsula. There is evidence that he continued along the northern coastline of Europe, maybe meeting the Germanic people and perhaps venturing to Heligoland (Helgoland), a valuable source of amber. Some scholars argue that Pytheas sailed to the Baltic Sea as far as the Vistula River, now in Poland. It is not known when he arrived back in Massilia, but it is generally accepted that it was before 320 BC when his book was first cited by the writer Dicaearchus, a student of Aristotle.

It makes me wonder whether Alexander was aware of this travel expedition when he planned his own conquest of the western Mediterranean and the territories beyond. Julius Caesar likely used the book to acquire information about Britain and further northern areas. Copies of Pytheas’ work probably sat on the shelves of the great libraries of Alexandria and Pergamon, where it could and would be studied freely.

Whatever ancient and/or modern scholars may think of Pytheas, we cannot dismiss the fact that he went on a journey to explore the world by direct observation, not unlike the young British young men who went on the Grand Tour in the 18th century.

Orichalcum in the news again!

Orichalcum, a most precious metal considered second only to gold, was highly valued in antiquity but has rarely survived. This means that the recent discovery of 47 ingots of orichalcum off the south coast of Sicily deserves to be highlighted.

[Picture from Archaeology News Network]

In a previous blog (see: Mystery about the precious orichalcum solved?), I mentioned how 39 ingots had been recovered off the south coast of Sicily from a ship that sunk in the sixth century BC just before entering the harbor of Gela. In the same blog, I explained that orichalcum is basically composed of copper and zinc that result in brass with a very shiny finish that looks like gold.

This recent recovery comes from the same area as the previous one near the entrance to the harbor of Gela, together with two Corinthian helmets, several archaic amphorae and one round bottom flask manufactured in Massalia (modern Marseilles in France). The artifacts have been dated to the end of 7^th/early 6^th century BC.

The ingots of orichalcum which vary in size from 17 to 32 cm and in weight from 254 to 1340 grams have been analyzed and revealed to be made from 80% of copper and 20% of zinc with traces of lead and nickel.

This discovery confirms, if needed, the richness of a city like Gela where many specialized craftsmen must have been working to produce objects of great value.