Storiascopio · Era 4 of 12 · primary year 4
Phoenician glass spreads
about 600 BC · Sidon and Tyre (now Lebanon)
In short
Glass was made by melting sand and soda at very high temperatures. Phoenician craftsmen shaped small coloured bottles around a clay core, decorated them with zigzag threads of glass and sold them filled with perfumes and ointments. The Roman writer Pliny tells that glass was discovered by chance by Phoenician merchants on a beach, but it is only a legend. Blown glass would come much later, in Roman times.
Why it matters The Phoenicians turned glass from a rarity for the few into goods sold all over the Mediterranean.
Source: The Corning Museum of Glass, history of ancient glass
Where we are in the era “Sea civilisations”
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about 2000 BCEvent 22 of 25about 500 BC
Your turn
Name ______________________ Class ______ Date __________
When did it happen? Find the date at the top and write it here:
Tell it in your own words: what happened?
Draw the scene below.
storiascopio.com/en/event/phoenician-glass-spreads/ · free worksheet, you may photocopy it for your class