Glass was often the preferred material for storing expensive oils, perfumes, and medicines in antiquity because it was not porous. The small body and mouth allowed the user to carefully pour and control the amount of liquid dispensed. An alabastron is a container for perfumed oil that takes its name from alabaster, the material from which the original Egyptian examples were made. Greek (and subsequently Roman) artists adopted the Egyptian alabastron’s shape in the 600s B.C. but made the vessel in a variety of materials. Glass vessels are found frequently at Hellenistic and Roman sites, especially in cemeteries, and the liquids that filled them would have been gathered from all corners of the expansive Roman Empire.
To discover more about Roman perfumes and cosmetics, please visit our relevant blog post: Roman Glass: Unguentaria and Cosmetics.
