Unguentarium
Encyclopedia
An unguentarium is a small ceramic
or glass
bottle found frequently by archaeologists
at Hellenistic
and Roman
sites, especially in cemeteries. Its most common use was probably as a container for oil, though it is also suited for storing and dispensing liquid and powdered substances. Some finds date into the early Christian era. From the 2nd to the 6th century they are more often made of blown glass rather than clay
. A few examples are silver
or alabaster
.
Unguentaria were used as product packaging in commerce and for funerary practice. They are distributed throughout the Mediterranean
region of the Roman Empire
from Palestine
to Spain
, and north into Britain
and Germania
. Their manufacture was nearly as widespread.
. In its early development, the shape was modeled in miniature after larger amphora
s, which would have been the original bulk shipping containers for products sold in the ungentaria. An unguentarium is not always distinguished in the scholarly literature from an ampulla, a term from antiquity that may refer to these as well as other small vessels. In scholarship of the modern era, an unguentarium is sometimes called a lacrimarium ("tear-container") or balsamarium ("balsam-container"). All three terms reflect modern usage based on assumptions about their use, and no single word is found in ancient sources for the vessels.
Small vessels of two shapes, usually but not always without handles, are referred to as unguentaria:
Fusiform. The fusiform shape (example here) is characteristic of Hellenistic unguentaria: a heavy ovoid
body resting usually on a small distinct ring foot, with a long tubular neck or cylindrical stem. The shape is comparable to a spindle
(Latin fusus, "spindle"). These ovoid unguentaria first appear in Cyprus
around the turn of the 4th and 3rd centuries BC. and may have been Near Eastern
in origin or influence. Early examples are similar in shape to the amphoriskos
. They are believed to develop functionally from the lekythos
, which they replace by the end of the 4th century BC. The fusiform unguentarium was in use for several centuries and the form shows many variations, including later examples with very slender profiles.
Piriform. The unguentarium with a footless body that is rounded or pear-shaped (Latin pirus, "pear") began to appear in the second half of the 1st century BC and is characteristic of the Roman era, particularly the early Principate
. These are regularly associated with graves in the 1st century. The piriform unguentarium was in use for a limited period of about a hundred years and did not replace the fusiform. A puzzling exception to this chronology is the squat rounded unguentarium with painted bands found on the northeast coast of Spain and in other Iberian
cemeteries, dated as early as the 5th century BC.
The word "bulbous" is used rather confusingly in the scholarship to describe both forms. "Bulbous" appears as a synonym
for "piriform," but is applied descriptively to the fusiform to distinguish certain examples from more slender profiles.
Thin blown-glass bottles began to appear in Cyprus
after the middle of the 1st century BC. The use of the new medium for unguentaria resulted in variations of form, including the thin, "test-tube" type. Glass unguentaria made in Thessaly
, for example, often have a distinctive conical body, flared like the bell of a trumpet
, or are squat and rounded with a very long neck; they come in a range of colors including aquamarine, pale green, and yellowish green, or may be colorless. This shape was popular in the 2nd and 3rd centuries and is also characteristic of Thrace
and Cyprus
.
Glass bird-shaped containers for cosmetics
found at various Roman sites from Herculaneum
to Spain
have also been called unguentaria. In these examples, dating from the period of the piriform type, the neck has become a spout, and the profile is no longer vertical. As with other unguentaria, no clear distinction can be made between the use of these vessels for grooming in daily life, and their inclusion in tombs.
used to contain and pour oil, Susan I. Rotroff classes unguentaria with plastic askoi
as used for perfumed oil in bathing and grooming, but notes the diversity of craft tradition associated with them. Most unguentaria from the Athenian agora
were probably intended for secular use, as they are found in household dumps; the pattern of deposition in some wells, however, suggests votive offerings.
It has been suggested that products shipped in bulk containers were dispensed for sale in these smaller vessels. Perfumed oils, ointments, balsam, jasmine
, kohl
, honey
, mastic
, incense
, scent powders and cosmetic preparations are among the contents proposed by scholars or evidenced by archaeology. With their long slender necks, the vessels were most suited for dispensing liquids, oils, and powders. Roman examples of bulbous unguentaria have been found with traces of olive oil
. A sharp distinction should not be made between cosmetics and medicaments
, as ingredients for these preparations often overlap. Chemical analysis of red and pink substances in two glass unguentaria from the Ebro
valley in Spain
showed that they were likely cosmetics, but similar ingredients are found in therapeutic recipes. The name "unguentarium" may be misleading, as solid unguents
, or ointments, would be difficult to remove through the narrow neck. There is little or no evidence of how the contents were prevented from spilling, as no corks, wax or clay seals, or lead stoppers have been found with unguentaria as they have with other vessels.
The manufacture of unguentaria seems to occur in conjunction with the marketing
of products. Roman glass unguentaria often have markings or lettering, usually on the base, that could indicate the manufacturer of the vessel or the supplier or dealer of the product inside. Nabataean
piriform wheel-thrown unguentaria show creative variations by potters, perhaps to establish brand
identity for the product they contained. These vessels include some of the larger unguentaria and may have been used for shipping as part of the Nabataeans' active perfume trade.
Mass production of Roman blown-glass unguentaria is indicated by their frequent asymmetry
, which results from speed and timing in shearing the neck from the blow-pipe. Recycled glass, as from a large, heavy broken bottle, could have been used to make many of the smaller unguentaria.
While unguentaria often appear among grave goods
, the purpose of their inclusion has not been determined with certainty or may vary by site. Unguentaria found in burials range in size from miniatures (4–5 cm.) to large examples 20 to 30 cm. high. The presence of the vessel in Hellenistic graves may indicate a revival of an earlier practice, attested in the 6th century by aryballoi
and in some 5th- and early 4th-century burials by small lekythoi
, which involved the deposit of a small container of perfume or oil with the dead. By the 3rd century, the black-figure
lekythos with palmette
s or Dionysiac
scenes has been completely replaced as a standard grave good by the undecorated, "cruder" unguentarium, indicating a shift in burial practice that is characteristic of the period.
Although the unguentaria seem often to have been buried along with other objects associated with or treasured by the deceased or as grave gifts, they may have also have held a substance — such as oil, wine, or powdered incense — for a graveside ritual. The design of many unguentaria would not permit them to stand without support, but no stands have been found. Late Hellenistic gravestones depict unguentaria resting in a support, but they would also fit well in the palm of the hand, as shown in this Egyptian mummy portrait. Ritual dispensing, rather than long-term storage, might explain both the lack of durability needed for use in daily life and the absence of stands, stoppers or seals.
There is no standard assemblage of grave goods for which an unguentarium was required. Unguentaria often appear among articles for personal grooming; in one example, with a stone cosmetics pallet, strigil
s, tweezers and a pyxis
, and in another, with a pyxis, mirror, bronze scissors and tongs. Gravestones from Anatolia
depict the deceased with a similar group of objects, including mirror, comb, boxes
and cista
i, wool basket, and unguentaria. One Athenian burial produced five bulbous unguentaria along with five knucklebones
and a bronze needle; another, of a female child, contained an unguentarium, earrings, a blue glass pendant, and six knucklebones. Gold leaves and unguentaria were the grave gifts in a burial chamber at Kourion
in Cyprus
.
At Amisos (modern Samsun
) in the Black Sea
region of Turkey
, the grave goods in the early Hellenistic tomb of a wealthy family were exceptionally rich and of outstanding workmanship, but the unguentaria were plain and made of clay. One of the bodies was adorned with gold earrings in the shape of Nike
, ten gold appliqués of Thetis
riding a hippocamp
, snake bracelets and bracelets with lion-head terminals, and other gold items; on the right side of the skull was placed a single clay unguentarium.
Some graves contain multiple unguentaria, in one case numbering 31 of the fusiform type, while others hold a single example. Grave gifts sometimes consisted of nothing but unguentaria. Neither the piriform unguentaria nor thin blown-glass vessels occur in burials before the Augustan
period. In Mainz
, unguentaria are the most common grave gifts made of glass during the first half of the 1st century; in Gaul
and Britain
, glass unguentaria appear as containers for scented oils in both cremations and inhumations in this period and continuing into the 3rd century, but disappear by the 4th.
Rock-cut tombs at Labraunda
, investigated in 2005, contained unguentaria.
The grave goods of Jewish
ossuaries
at Jericho
in the Second Temple
period often include unguentaria along with bowls, lamps, and various vessels ordinarily encountered in daily life.
Unguentaria have also been found in Athens in ritual pyre
s along with the burnt bones of animal sacrifice
and smashed pottery. A single unguentarium was buried with a dog, possibly a pet, in an industrial district in Athens.
The many unguentaria at the Latin
town of Aricia
reflect the growth of commerce to support ritual activities at the famous sanctuary of Diana
there.
Glass unguentaria vary widely in quality and show a range of colors. The Judean desert caves, for instance, yielded unguentaria of aquamarine glass with large bubbles. A striking example of a glass fusiform unguentarium from 1st-century Syria
, a little over six inches tall, has a white spiral curling around the cerulean body. The base comes to an elongated, rounded point, and the lip is well-formed and prominent. Techniques of "marbling
," intended to emulate fashionably extravagant vessels made of sardonyx during the reigns of Augustus
and Tiberius
, were used for unguentaria as well as bowls.
An exceptionally elaborate unguentarium was found in a cremation
burial at Stobi
in Macedonia
. Made of milky glass, the vessel has a globular body decorated with an egg-and-dart
motif around the top and festoon
s and vine clusters around the bottom. The middle had six panels illustrating various vessels, with two examples each of the hydria
, oenochoe
and crater
.
" or "lachrymatory") for unguentaria persisted because the small vessels were believed to have been used to collect the tears (lacrimae) of mourners to accompany the beloved in the grave. This belief was supported by a scriptural reference translated in the King James Bible as "put thou my tears into thy bottle." Shakespeare refers to the practice in Antony and Cleopatra
, when Cleopatra chides the Roman for shedding few tears over the death of his wife: "Where be the sacred vials thou shouldst fill / With sorrowful water?"
The minor Victorian
poet Charles Tennyson Turner
, brother of the more famous Tennyson
, wrote a sonnet
called "The Lachrymatory," elaborating the idea of "the phial of his kinsman’s tears." Since the early 20th century, the use of a vessel to collect tears of grief has been regarded as more poetic than plausible.
91 (1987) 105–122.
Fleming, Stuart James. Roman Glass
: Reflections on Cultural Change. University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology
, 1999. ISBN 0924171731
Khairy, Nabil I. "Nabataean
Piriform Unguentaria." Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research
240 (1980) 85–91.
Robinson, Henry S. "Pottery of the Roman Period: Chronology." In The Athenian Agora, vol. 5. American School of Classical Studies at Athens
, 1959.
Pérez-Arantegui, Josefina, with Juan Ángel Paz-Peralta and Esperanza Ortiz-Palomar. "Analysis of the Products Contained in Two Roman Glass
unguentaria from the Colony
of Celsa (Spain)." Journal of Archaeological Science 23 (1996) 649–655.
Rotroff, Susan I. "Hellenistic Pottery: Athenian and Imported Wheelmade Table Ware and Related Material," part 1: text. The Athenian Agora 29 (1997) iii–575. ISBN 087661229X (full text online).
Rotroff, Susan I. "Fusiform Unguentaria." In "Hellenistic Pottery: The Plain Wares." The Athenian Agora 33 (2006), pp. 137–160. ISBN 0876612338 (full text online).
Thompson, Homer A. "Two Centuries of Hellenistic Pottery." Hesperia
4 (1934) 311–476. Edited by Susan I. Rotroff and reprinted with other essays in Hellenistic Pottery and Terracottas (American School of Classical Studies at Athens
, 1987). ISBN 0876619448
Ceramic art
In art history, ceramics and ceramic art mean art objects such as figures, tiles, and tableware made from clay and other raw materials by the process of pottery. Some ceramic products are regarded as fine art, while others are regarded as decorative, industrial or applied art objects, or as...
or glass
Roman glass
Roman glass objects have been recovered across the Roman Empire in domestic, industrial and funerary contexts. Glass was used primarily for the production of vessels, although mosaic tiles and window glass were also produced. Roman glass production developed from Hellenistic technical traditions,...
bottle found frequently by archaeologists
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
at Hellenistic
Hellenistic period
The Hellenistic period or Hellenistic era describes the time which followed the conquests of Alexander the Great. It was so named by the historian J. G. Droysen. During this time, Greek cultural influence and power was at its zenith in Europe and Asia...
and Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
sites, especially in cemeteries. Its most common use was probably as a container for oil, though it is also suited for storing and dispensing liquid and powdered substances. Some finds date into the early Christian era. From the 2nd to the 6th century they are more often made of blown glass rather than clay
Clay
Clay is a general term including many combinations of one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter. Geologic clay deposits are mostly composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure.- Formation :Clay minerals...
. A few examples are silver
Silver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
or alabaster
Alabaster
Alabaster is a name applied to varieties of two distinct minerals, when used as a material: gypsum and calcite . The former is the alabaster of the present day; generally, the latter is the alabaster of the ancients...
.
Unguentaria were used as product packaging in commerce and for funerary practice. They are distributed throughout the Mediterranean
Mediterranean Basin
In biogeography, the Mediterranean Basin refers to the lands around the Mediterranean Sea that have a Mediterranean climate, with mild, rainy winters and hot, dry summers, which supports characteristic Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub vegetation...
region of the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
from Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
to Spain
Hispania
Another theory holds that the name derives from Ezpanna, the Basque word for "border" or "edge", thus meaning the farthest area or place. Isidore of Sevilla considered Hispania derived from Hispalis....
, and north into Britain
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...
and Germania
Germania
Germania was the Greek and Roman geographical term for the geographical regions inhabited by mainly by peoples considered to be Germani. It was most often used to refer especially to the east of the Rhine and north of the Danube...
. Their manufacture was nearly as widespread.
Forms and function
The term "unguentarium" is functional rather than descriptive; that is, it refers to the purpose for which this relatively small vessel is thought to have been used and is not typological by shapeTypology of Greek Vase Shapes
Pottery in Greece has a long history and the form of Greek Vase Shapes has had a continuous evolution from the Minoan period down to the Hellenistic era...
. In its early development, the shape was modeled in miniature after larger amphora
Amphora
An amphora is a type of vase-shaped, usually ceramic container with two handles and a long neck narrower than the body...
s, which would have been the original bulk shipping containers for products sold in the ungentaria. An unguentarium is not always distinguished in the scholarly literature from an ampulla, a term from antiquity that may refer to these as well as other small vessels. In scholarship of the modern era, an unguentarium is sometimes called a lacrimarium ("tear-container") or balsamarium ("balsam-container"). All three terms reflect modern usage based on assumptions about their use, and no single word is found in ancient sources for the vessels.
Small vessels of two shapes, usually but not always without handles, are referred to as unguentaria:
Fusiform. The fusiform shape (example here) is characteristic of Hellenistic unguentaria: a heavy ovoid
Oval
An oval is any curve resembling an egg or an ellipse, such as a Cassini oval. The term does not have a precise mathematical definition except in one area oval , but it may also refer to:* A sporting arena of oval shape** a cricket field...
body resting usually on a small distinct ring foot, with a long tubular neck or cylindrical stem. The shape is comparable to a spindle
Spindle (textiles)
A spindle is a wooden spike used for spinning wool, flax, hemp, cotton, and other fibres into thread. It is commonly weighted at either the bottom middle or top, most commonly by a circular or spherical object called a whorl, and may also have a hook, groove or notch, though spindles without...
(Latin fusus, "spindle"). These ovoid unguentaria first appear in Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
around the turn of the 4th and 3rd centuries BC. and may have been Near Eastern
Ancient Near East
The ancient Near East was the home of early civilizations within a region roughly corresponding to the modern Middle East: Mesopotamia , ancient Egypt, ancient Iran The ancient Near East was the home of early civilizations within a region roughly corresponding to the modern Middle East: Mesopotamia...
in origin or influence. Early examples are similar in shape to the amphoriskos
Typology of Greek Vase Shapes
Pottery in Greece has a long history and the form of Greek Vase Shapes has had a continuous evolution from the Minoan period down to the Hellenistic era...
. They are believed to develop functionally from the lekythos
Lekythos
A lekythos is a type of Greek pottery used for storing oil , especially olive oil. It has a narrow body and one handle attached to the neck of the vessel. The lekythos was used for anointing dead bodies of unmarried men and many lekythoi are found in tombs. The images on lekythoi were often...
, which they replace by the end of the 4th century BC. The fusiform unguentarium was in use for several centuries and the form shows many variations, including later examples with very slender profiles.
Piriform. The unguentarium with a footless body that is rounded or pear-shaped (Latin pirus, "pear") began to appear in the second half of the 1st century BC and is characteristic of the Roman era, particularly the early Principate
Principate
The Principate is the first period of the Roman Empire, extending from the beginning of the reign of Caesar Augustus to the Crisis of the Third Century, after which it was replaced with the Dominate. The Principate is characterized by a concerted effort on the part of the Emperors to preserve the...
. These are regularly associated with graves in the 1st century. The piriform unguentarium was in use for a limited period of about a hundred years and did not replace the fusiform. A puzzling exception to this chronology is the squat rounded unguentarium with painted bands found on the northeast coast of Spain and in other Iberian
Iberians
The Iberians were a set of peoples that Greek and Roman sources identified with that name in the eastern and southern coasts of the Iberian peninsula at least from the 6th century BC...
cemeteries, dated as early as the 5th century BC.
The word "bulbous" is used rather confusingly in the scholarship to describe both forms. "Bulbous" appears as a synonym
Synonym
Synonyms are different words with almost identical or similar meanings. Words that are synonyms are said to be synonymous, and the state of being a synonym is called synonymy. The word comes from Ancient Greek syn and onoma . The words car and automobile are synonyms...
for "piriform," but is applied descriptively to the fusiform to distinguish certain examples from more slender profiles.
Thin blown-glass bottles began to appear in Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
after the middle of the 1st century BC. The use of the new medium for unguentaria resulted in variations of form, including the thin, "test-tube" type. Glass unguentaria made in Thessaly
Thessaly
Thessaly is a traditional geographical region and an administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thessaly was known as Aeolia, and appears thus in Homer's Odyssey....
, for example, often have a distinctive conical body, flared like the bell of a trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
, or are squat and rounded with a very long neck; they come in a range of colors including aquamarine, pale green, and yellowish green, or may be colorless. This shape was popular in the 2nd and 3rd centuries and is also characteristic of Thrace
Thrace
Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east...
and Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
.
Glass bird-shaped containers for cosmetics
History of cosmetics
The history of cosmetics spans at least 6000 years of human history, and almost every society on earth.-The ancient world:The first archaeological evidence of cosmetics usage was found in Ancient Egypt in the year 4,000 BC. The Ancient Greeks and Romans also used cosmetics...
found at various Roman sites from Herculaneum
Herculaneum
Herculaneum was an ancient Roman town destroyed by volcanic pyroclastic flows in AD 79, located in the territory of the current commune of Ercolano, in the Italian region of Campania in the shadow of Mt...
to Spain
Hispania
Another theory holds that the name derives from Ezpanna, the Basque word for "border" or "edge", thus meaning the farthest area or place. Isidore of Sevilla considered Hispania derived from Hispalis....
have also been called unguentaria. In these examples, dating from the period of the piriform type, the neck has become a spout, and the profile is no longer vertical. As with other unguentaria, no clear distinction can be made between the use of these vessels for grooming in daily life, and their inclusion in tombs.
Commercial and secular use
In her typology of Hellenistic vessels at AthensHistory of Athens
Athens is one of the oldest named cities in the world, having been continuously inhabited for at least 7000 years. Situated in southern Europe, Athens became the leading city of Ancient Greece in the first millennium BCE and its cultural achievements during the 5th century BCE laid the foundations...
used to contain and pour oil, Susan I. Rotroff classes unguentaria with plastic askoi
Askos (pottery vessel)
Askos is the name given in modern terminology to a type of ancient Greek pottery vessel used to pour small quantities of liquids such as oil. It is recognisable from its flat shape and a spout at one or both ends that could also be used as a handle...
as used for perfumed oil in bathing and grooming, but notes the diversity of craft tradition associated with them. Most unguentaria from the Athenian agora
Ancient Agora of Athens
The Ancient Agora of Athens is the best-known example of an ancient Greek agora, located to the northwest of the Acropolis and is bounded on the south by the hill of the Areopagus and on the west by the hill known as the Colonus Agoraeus.-History:The agora in Athens had private housing, until it...
were probably intended for secular use, as they are found in household dumps; the pattern of deposition in some wells, however, suggests votive offerings.
It has been suggested that products shipped in bulk containers were dispensed for sale in these smaller vessels. Perfumed oils, ointments, balsam, jasmine
Jasmine
Jasminum , commonly known as jasmines, is a genus of shrubs and vines in the olive family . It contains around 200 species native to tropical and warm temperate regions of the Old World...
, kohl
Kohl (cosmetics)
Kohl is an ancient eye cosmetic. It was made by grinding galena and other ingredients. It is widely used in South Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, and parts of West Africa to darken the eyelids and as mascara for the eyelashes...
, honey
Honey
Honey is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. The variety produced by honey bees is the one most commonly referred to and is the type of honey collected by beekeepers and consumed by humans...
, mastic
Mastic (plant resin)
Mastic is a resin obtained from the mastic tree . In pharmacies and Nature shops it is called "arabic gum" and "Yemen gum". In Greece it is known as the "tears of Chios," being traditionally produced on that Greek island, and, like other natural resins is produced in "tears" or droplets...
, incense
Incense
Incense is composed of aromatic biotic materials, which release fragrant smoke when burned. The term "incense" refers to the substance itself, rather than to the odor that it produces. It is used in religious ceremonies, ritual purification, aromatherapy, meditation, for creating a mood, and for...
, scent powders and cosmetic preparations are among the contents proposed by scholars or evidenced by archaeology. With their long slender necks, the vessels were most suited for dispensing liquids, oils, and powders. Roman examples of bulbous unguentaria have been found with traces of olive oil
Olive oil
Olive oil is an oil obtained from the olive , a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin. It is commonly used in cooking, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and soaps and as a fuel for traditional oil lamps...
. A sharp distinction should not be made between cosmetics and medicaments
Materia medica
Materia medica is a Latin medical term for the body of collected knowledge about the therapeutic properties of any substance used for healing . The term 'materia medica' derived from the title of a work by the Ancient Greek physician Pedanius Dioscorides in the 1st century AD, De materia medica libre...
, as ingredients for these preparations often overlap. Chemical analysis of red and pink substances in two glass unguentaria from the Ebro
Ebro
The Ebro or Ebre is one of the most important rivers in the Iberian Peninsula. It is the biggest river by discharge volume in Spain.The Ebro flows through the following cities:*Reinosa in Cantabria.*Miranda de Ebro in Castile and León....
valley in Spain
Hispania
Another theory holds that the name derives from Ezpanna, the Basque word for "border" or "edge", thus meaning the farthest area or place. Isidore of Sevilla considered Hispania derived from Hispalis....
showed that they were likely cosmetics, but similar ingredients are found in therapeutic recipes. The name "unguentarium" may be misleading, as solid unguents
Solid perfume
Solid perfumes or cream perfumes are perfumes in solid rather than the more common liquid form. Historically, ointment-like unguents have been used as a type of solid perfume since Egyptian times. Normally the substance that gives the cream its base comes from a type of wax that is initially melted...
, or ointments, would be difficult to remove through the narrow neck. There is little or no evidence of how the contents were prevented from spilling, as no corks, wax or clay seals, or lead stoppers have been found with unguentaria as they have with other vessels.
The manufacture of unguentaria seems to occur in conjunction with the marketing
Marketing
Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...
of products. Roman glass unguentaria often have markings or lettering, usually on the base, that could indicate the manufacturer of the vessel or the supplier or dealer of the product inside. Nabataean
Nabataeans
Thamudi3.jpgThe Nabataeans, also Nabateans , were ancient peoples of southern Canaan and the northern part of Arabia, whose oasis settlements in the time of Josephus , gave the name of Nabatene to the borderland between Syria and Arabia, from the Euphrates to the Red Sea...
piriform wheel-thrown unguentaria show creative variations by potters, perhaps to establish brand
Brand
The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."...
identity for the product they contained. These vessels include some of the larger unguentaria and may have been used for shipping as part of the Nabataeans' active perfume trade.
Mass production of Roman blown-glass unguentaria is indicated by their frequent asymmetry
Asymmetry
Asymmetry is the absence of, or a violation of, symmetry.-In organisms:Due to how cells divide in organisms, asymmetry in organisms is fairly usual in at least one dimension, with biological symmetry also being common in at least one dimension....
, which results from speed and timing in shearing the neck from the blow-pipe. Recycled glass, as from a large, heavy broken bottle, could have been used to make many of the smaller unguentaria.
Funerary and religious context
Grave goods
Grave goods, in archaeology and anthropology, are the items buried along with the body.They are usually personal possessions, supplies to smooth the deceased's journey into the afterlife or offerings to the gods. Grave goods are a type of votive deposit...
, the purpose of their inclusion has not been determined with certainty or may vary by site. Unguentaria found in burials range in size from miniatures (4–5 cm.) to large examples 20 to 30 cm. high. The presence of the vessel in Hellenistic graves may indicate a revival of an earlier practice, attested in the 6th century by aryballoi
Aryballos
An aryballos was a small spherical or globular flask with a narrow neck used in Ancient Greece. It was used to contain perfume or oil, and is often depicted in vase paintings as being used by athletes bathing...
and in some 5th- and early 4th-century burials by small lekythoi
Lekythos
A lekythos is a type of Greek pottery used for storing oil , especially olive oil. It has a narrow body and one handle attached to the neck of the vessel. The lekythos was used for anointing dead bodies of unmarried men and many lekythoi are found in tombs. The images on lekythoi were often...
, which involved the deposit of a small container of perfume or oil with the dead. By the 3rd century, the black-figure
Black-figure pottery
Black-figure pottery painting, also known as the black-figure style or black-figure ceramic is one of the most modern styles for adorning antique Greek vases. It was especially common between the 7th and 5th centuries BC, although there are specimens dating as late as the 2nd century BC...
lekythos with palmette
Palmette
The palmette is a motif in decorative art which, in its most characteristic expression, resembles the fan-shaped leaves of a palm tree. It has an extremely long history, originating in Ancient Egypt with a subsequent development through the art of most of Eurasia, often in forms that bear...
s or Dionysiac
Cult of Dionysus
The Cult of Dionysus is strongly associated with satyrs, centaurs, and sileni, and its characteristic symbols are the bull, the serpent, the ivy, and the wine. The Dionysia and Lenaia festivals in Athens were dedicated to Dionysus, as well as the Phallic processions...
scenes has been completely replaced as a standard grave good by the undecorated, "cruder" unguentarium, indicating a shift in burial practice that is characteristic of the period.
Although the unguentaria seem often to have been buried along with other objects associated with or treasured by the deceased or as grave gifts, they may have also have held a substance — such as oil, wine, or powdered incense — for a graveside ritual. The design of many unguentaria would not permit them to stand without support, but no stands have been found. Late Hellenistic gravestones depict unguentaria resting in a support, but they would also fit well in the palm of the hand, as shown in this Egyptian mummy portrait. Ritual dispensing, rather than long-term storage, might explain both the lack of durability needed for use in daily life and the absence of stands, stoppers or seals.
There is no standard assemblage of grave goods for which an unguentarium was required. Unguentaria often appear among articles for personal grooming; in one example, with a stone cosmetics pallet, strigil
Strigil
A strigil was a small, curved, metal tool used in ancient Greece and Rome to scrape dirt and sweat from the body before effective soaps became available. First perfumed oil was applied to the skin, and then it would be scraped off, along with the dirt. For wealthier people, this process was often...
s, tweezers and a pyxis
Pyxis
Pyxis is a small and faint constellation in the southern sky. Its name is Latin for a mariner's compass...
, and in another, with a pyxis, mirror, bronze scissors and tongs. Gravestones from Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
depict the deceased with a similar group of objects, including mirror, comb, boxes
Pyxis (pottery)
A pyxis is a shape of vessel from the classical world, usually a round box with a separate lid. Originally mostly used by women to hold cosmetics, trinkets or jewellery, surviving pyxides are mostly Greek pottery, but especially in later periods may be in wood, metal, ivory, or other materials...
and cista
Cista
A cista in the classical world was generally a casket, used for example to hold unguents or jewels. More specifically, in the Mystery cult, a cista mystica is a basket or chest used to house snakes. Cistae mysticae were used in the initiation ceremony of the cult of Bacchus, or Dionysus, as well...
i, wool basket, and unguentaria. One Athenian burial produced five bulbous unguentaria along with five knucklebones
Knucklebones
Knucklebones also known as astragaloi, hucklebones, dibs, dibstones, jackstones, chuckstones or five-stones, is a game of very ancient origin, played with five small objects, originally the "knucklebones" of a sheep, which are thrown up and caught in various ways...
and a bronze needle; another, of a female child, contained an unguentarium, earrings, a blue glass pendant, and six knucklebones. Gold leaves and unguentaria were the grave gifts in a burial chamber at Kourion
Kourion
Kourion , also Curias or Latin: Curium, was a city in Cyprus, which endured from antiquity until the early Middle Ages. Kourion is situated on the south shores of the island to the west of the river Lycus , 16 M. P. from Amathus. , and was recorded by numerous ancient authors including Ptolemy...
in Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
.
At Amisos (modern Samsun
Samsun
Samsun is a city of about half a million people on the north coast of Turkey. It is the provincial capital of Samsun Province and a major Black Sea port.-Name:...
) in the Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
region of Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, the grave goods in the early Hellenistic tomb of a wealthy family were exceptionally rich and of outstanding workmanship, but the unguentaria were plain and made of clay. One of the bodies was adorned with gold earrings in the shape of Nike
Nike (mythology)
In Greek mythology, Nike was a goddess who personified victory, also known as the Winged Goddess of Victory. The Roman equivalent was Victoria. Depending upon the time of various myths, she was described as the daughter of Pallas and Styx and the sister of Kratos , Bia , and Zelus...
, ten gold appliqués of Thetis
Thetis
Silver-footed Thetis , disposer or "placer" , is encountered in Greek mythology mostly as a sea nymph or known as the goddess of water, one of the fifty Nereids, daughters of the ancient one of the seas with shape-shifting abilities who survives in the historical vestiges of most later Greek myths...
riding a hippocamp
Hippocamp
The hippocamp or hippocampus , often called a sea-horse in English, is a mythological creature shared by Phoenician and Greek mythology, though the name by which it is recognised is purely Greek; it became part of Etruscan mythology...
, snake bracelets and bracelets with lion-head terminals, and other gold items; on the right side of the skull was placed a single clay unguentarium.
Some graves contain multiple unguentaria, in one case numbering 31 of the fusiform type, while others hold a single example. Grave gifts sometimes consisted of nothing but unguentaria. Neither the piriform unguentaria nor thin blown-glass vessels occur in burials before the Augustan
Augustus
Augustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...
period. In Mainz
Mainz
Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...
, unguentaria are the most common grave gifts made of glass during the first half of the 1st century; in Gaul
Roman Gaul
Roman Gaul consisted of an area of provincial rule in the Roman Empire, in modern day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and western Germany. Roman control of the area lasted for less than 500 years....
and Britain
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...
, glass unguentaria appear as containers for scented oils in both cremations and inhumations in this period and continuing into the 3rd century, but disappear by the 4th.
Rock-cut tombs at Labraunda
Labraunda
In Antiquity, Labraunda in the mountains near the coast of Caria in Asia Minor was held sacred by Carians and Mysians alike. The site amid its sacred plane trees was enriched in the Hellenistic style by the Hecatomnid dynasty of Mausolus, satrap of Persia , for whom it was the ancestral sacred...
, investigated in 2005, contained unguentaria.
The grave goods of Jewish
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
ossuaries
Ossuary
An ossuary is a chest, building, well, or site made to serve as the final resting place of human skeletal remains. They are frequently used where burial space is scarce. A body is first buried in a temporary grave, then after some years the skeletal remains are removed and placed in an ossuary...
at Jericho
Jericho
Jericho ; is a city located near the Jordan River in the West Bank of the Palestinian territories. It is the capital of the Jericho Governorate and has a population of more than 20,000. Situated well below sea level on an east-west route north of the Dead Sea, Jericho is the lowest permanently...
in the Second Temple
Second Temple
The Jewish Second Temple was an important shrine which stood on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem between 516 BCE and 70 CE. It replaced the First Temple which was destroyed in 586 BCE, when the Jewish nation was exiled to Babylon...
period often include unguentaria along with bowls, lamps, and various vessels ordinarily encountered in daily life.
Unguentaria have also been found in Athens in ritual pyre
Pyre
A pyre , also known as a funeral pyre, is a structure, usually made of wood, for burning a body as part of a funeral rite...
s along with the burnt bones of animal sacrifice
Animal sacrifice
Animal sacrifice is the ritual killing of an animal as part of a religion. It is practised by many religions as a means of appeasing a god or gods or changing the course of nature...
and smashed pottery. A single unguentarium was buried with a dog, possibly a pet, in an industrial district in Athens.
The many unguentaria at the Latin
Latium
Lazio is one of the 20 administrative regions of Italy, situated in the central peninsular section of the country. With about 5.7 million residents and a GDP of more than 170 billion euros, Lazio is the third most populated and the second richest region of Italy...
town of Aricia
Ariccia
Ariccia is a town and comune in the Province of Rome, central Italy. It is in the Alban Hills of the Lazio region and could be considered an extension of Rome's southeastern suburbs...
reflect the growth of commerce to support ritual activities at the famous sanctuary of Diana
Diana (mythology)
In Roman mythology, Diana was the goddess of the hunt and moon and birthing, being associated with wild animals and woodland, and having the power to talk to and control animals. She was equated with the Greek goddess Artemis, though she had an independent origin in Italy...
there.
Examples
Most ceramic unguentaria either lack surface decoration or have simple horizontal lines around the neck or body consisting most often of three narrow bands of white paint.Glass unguentaria vary widely in quality and show a range of colors. The Judean desert caves, for instance, yielded unguentaria of aquamarine glass with large bubbles. A striking example of a glass fusiform unguentarium from 1st-century Syria
Syria (Roman province)
Syria was a Roman province, annexed in 64 BC by Pompey, as a consequence of his military presence after pursuing victory in the Third Mithridatic War. It remained under Roman, and subsequently Byzantine, rule for seven centuries, until 637 when it fell to the Islamic conquests.- Principate :The...
, a little over six inches tall, has a white spiral curling around the cerulean body. The base comes to an elongated, rounded point, and the lip is well-formed and prominent. Techniques of "marbling
Marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...
," intended to emulate fashionably extravagant vessels made of sardonyx during the reigns of Augustus
Augustus
Augustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...
and Tiberius
Tiberius
Tiberius , was Roman Emperor from 14 AD to 37 AD. Tiberius was by birth a Claudian, son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla. His mother divorced Nero and married Augustus in 39 BC, making him a step-son of Octavian...
, were used for unguentaria as well as bowls.
An exceptionally elaborate unguentarium was found in a cremation
Cremation
Cremation is the process of reducing bodies to basic chemical compounds such as gasses and bone fragments. This is accomplished through high-temperature burning, vaporization and oxidation....
burial at Stobi
Stobi
Stobi was an ancient town of Paeonia, later conquered by Macedon, and later turned into the capital of the Roman province of Macedonia Salutaris . It is located on the main road that leads from the Danube to the Aegean Sea and is considered by many to be the most famous archaeological site in the...
in Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
. Made of milky glass, the vessel has a globular body decorated with an egg-and-dart
Egg-and-dart
Egg-and-dart or Egg-and-tongue is an ornamental device often carved in wood, stone, or plaster quarter-round ovolo mouldings, consisting of an egg-shaped object alternating with an element shaped like an arrow, anchor or dart. Egg-and-dart enrichment of the ovolo molding of the Ionic capital is...
motif around the top and festoon
Festoon
Festoon , a wreath or garland, and so in architecture a conventional arrangement of flowers, foliage or fruit bound together and suspended by ribbons, either from a decorated knot, or held in the mouths of lions, or suspended across the back of bulls heads as...
s and vine clusters around the bottom. The middle had six panels illustrating various vessels, with two examples each of the hydria
Hydria
A hydria is a type of Greek pottery used for carrying water. The hydria has three handles. Two horizontal handles on either side of the body of the pot were used for lifting and carrying the pot. The third handle, a vertical one, located in the center of the other two handles, was used when...
, oenochoe
Oenochoe
An oenochoe, also spelled oinochoe, is a wine jug and a key form of Greek pottery. There are many different forms of Oenochoe. The earliest is the olpe and has an S-shaped profile from head to foot.Oenochoe may be decorated or undecorated...
and crater
Krater
A krater was a large vase used to mix wine and water in Ancient Greece.-Form and function:...
.
In literature
The use of the term "lacrimarium" or "lacrimatorium" (also "lacrymatoryLacrymatory
Lacrymatory is a class of small vessels of terra-cotta or, more frequently, of glass, found in Roman and late Greek tombs, and supposed to have been bottles into which mourners dropped their tears. They contained unguents, and the finding of so many of these vessels in tombs is due to the use of...
" or "lachrymatory") for unguentaria persisted because the small vessels were believed to have been used to collect the tears (lacrimae) of mourners to accompany the beloved in the grave. This belief was supported by a scriptural reference translated in the King James Bible as "put thou my tears into thy bottle." Shakespeare refers to the practice in Antony and Cleopatra
Antony and Cleopatra
Antony and Cleopatra is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607. It was first printed in the First Folio of 1623. The plot is based on Thomas North's translation of Plutarch's Lives and follows the relationship between Cleopatra and Mark Antony...
, when Cleopatra chides the Roman for shedding few tears over the death of his wife: "Where be the sacred vials thou shouldst fill / With sorrowful water?"
The minor Victorian
Victorian literature
Victorian literature is the literature produced during the reign of Queen Victoria . It forms a link and transition between the writers of the romantic period and the very different literature of the 20th century....
poet Charles Tennyson Turner
Charles Tennyson Turner
Charles Tennyson Turner was an English poet.Born in Somersby, Lincolnshire, he was an elder brother of Alfred Tennyson; his friendship and "heart union" with his greater brother is revealed in Poems by Two Brothers. He married Louisa Sellwood, the younger sister of Alfred's future wife; another...
, brother of the more famous Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson, FRS was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom during much of Queen Victoria's reign and remains one of the most popular poets in the English language....
, wrote a sonnet
Sonnet
A sonnet is one of several forms of poetry that originate in Europe, mainly Provence and Italy. A sonnet commonly has 14 lines. The term "sonnet" derives from the Occitan word sonet and the Italian word sonetto, both meaning "little song" or "little sound"...
called "The Lachrymatory," elaborating the idea of "the phial of his kinsman’s tears." Since the early 20th century, the use of a vessel to collect tears of grief has been regarded as more poetic than plausible.
See also
- Pottery of ancient GreecePottery of Ancient GreeceAs the result of its relative durability, pottery is a large part of the archaeological record of Ancient Greece, and because there is so much of it it has exerted a disproportionately large influence on our understanding of Greek society...
- Typology of Greek Vase ShapesTypology of Greek Vase ShapesPottery in Greece has a long history and the form of Greek Vase Shapes has had a continuous evolution from the Minoan period down to the Hellenistic era...
- Roman glassRoman glassRoman glass objects have been recovered across the Roman Empire in domestic, industrial and funerary contexts. Glass was used primarily for the production of vessels, although mosaic tiles and window glass were also produced. Roman glass production developed from Hellenistic technical traditions,...
- AmpullaAmpullaAn ampulla was, in Ancient Rome, a "small nearly globular flask or bottle, with two handles" . The word is used of these in archaeology, and of later flasks, often handle-less and much flatter, for holy water or holy oil in the Middle Ages....
- Monza ampullaeMonza ampullaeThe Monza ampullae form the largest collection of a specific type of Early Medieval pilgrimage ampullae or small flasks designed to hold holy oil from pilgrimage sites in the Holy Land related to the life of Jesus, that were made in Palestine, probably in the fifth to early seventh centuries...
Selected bibliography
Anderson-Stojanovic, Virginia R. "The Chronology and Function of Ceramic Unguentaria." American Journal of ArchaeologyAmerican Journal of Archaeology
The American Journal of Archaeology , the peer-reviewed journal of the Archaeological Institute of America, has been published since 1897...
91 (1987) 105–122.
Fleming, Stuart James. Roman Glass
Roman glass
Roman glass objects have been recovered across the Roman Empire in domestic, industrial and funerary contexts. Glass was used primarily for the production of vessels, although mosaic tiles and window glass were also produced. Roman glass production developed from Hellenistic technical traditions,...
: Reflections on Cultural Change. University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology
University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, commonly called The Penn Museum, is an archaeology and anthropology museum that is part of the University of Pennsylvania in the University City neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.-History:An internationally renowned...
, 1999. ISBN 0924171731
Khairy, Nabil I. "Nabataean
Nabataeans
Thamudi3.jpgThe Nabataeans, also Nabateans , were ancient peoples of southern Canaan and the northern part of Arabia, whose oasis settlements in the time of Josephus , gave the name of Nabatene to the borderland between Syria and Arabia, from the Euphrates to the Red Sea...
Piriform Unguentaria." Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research
American Schools of Oriental Research
The American Schools of Oriental Research, founded in 1900, supports and encourages the study of the peoples and cultures of the Near East, from the earliest times to the present. It is apolitical and has no religious affiliation...
240 (1980) 85–91.
Robinson, Henry S. "Pottery of the Roman Period: Chronology." In The Athenian Agora, vol. 5. American School of Classical Studies at Athens
American School of Classical Studies at Athens
The American School of Classical Studies at Athens is one of 17 foreign archaeological institutes in Athens, Greece.-General information:...
, 1959.
Pérez-Arantegui, Josefina, with Juan Ángel Paz-Peralta and Esperanza Ortiz-Palomar. "Analysis of the Products Contained in Two Roman Glass
Roman glass
Roman glass objects have been recovered across the Roman Empire in domestic, industrial and funerary contexts. Glass was used primarily for the production of vessels, although mosaic tiles and window glass were also produced. Roman glass production developed from Hellenistic technical traditions,...
unguentaria from the Colony
Colonia (Roman)
A Roman colonia was originally a Roman outpost established in conquered territory to secure it. Eventually, however, the term came to denote the highest status of Roman city.-History:...
of Celsa (Spain)." Journal of Archaeological Science 23 (1996) 649–655.
Rotroff, Susan I. "Hellenistic Pottery: Athenian and Imported Wheelmade Table Ware and Related Material," part 1: text. The Athenian Agora 29 (1997) iii–575. ISBN 087661229X (full text online).
Rotroff, Susan I. "Fusiform Unguentaria." In "Hellenistic Pottery: The Plain Wares." The Athenian Agora 33 (2006), pp. 137–160. ISBN 0876612338 (full text online).
Thompson, Homer A. "Two Centuries of Hellenistic Pottery." Hesperia
Hesperia (journal)
Hesperia is a peer-reviewed journal published quarterly by the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. It was founded in 1932 for the publication of the work of the school. This is still the main aim of the journal today...
4 (1934) 311–476. Edited by Susan I. Rotroff and reprinted with other essays in Hellenistic Pottery and Terracottas (American School of Classical Studies at Athens
American School of Classical Studies at Athens
The American School of Classical Studies at Athens is one of 17 foreign archaeological institutes in Athens, Greece.-General information:...
, 1987). ISBN 0876619448
External links
- Ancient Roman Unguentaria at Ancienttouch.com (archived here). A commercial site, but with excellent color images of various types in glass, as well as information on provenanceProvenanceProvenance, from the French provenir, "to come from", refers to the chronology of the ownership or location of an historical object. The term was originally mostly used for works of art, but is now used in similar senses in a wide range of fields, including science and computing...
and scholarly references. - Unguentaria from the 1st to the 4th centuries AD, "Roman Glassware in the University of Pennsylvania Museum." Nearly 140 accurate line drawingsLine artLine art is any image that consists of distinct straight and curved lines placed against a background, without gradations in shade or hue to represent two-dimensional or three-dimensional objects...
by Jennifer Hook and Veronica Soch, representing individual unguentaria, with date, color, and provenance; archived here. - Snežana Nikolić and Angelina Raičković, "Ceramic Balsamaria-Bottles: The Example of ViminaciumViminaciumViminacium was a major city and military camp of the Roman province of Moesia , and the capital of Moesia Superior. The archeological site occupies a total of 450 hectares. Viminacium is located 12 km from Kostolac, was devastated by Huns in the 5th century, but rebuilt by Justinian...
," Сtаринар 56 (2006) 327–336. Overview article (in English and Russian) with detailed information on individual unguentaria (termed "balsamaria" here) and line drawings; also describes accompanying grave goods. - Examples of glass unguentaria, Fine Arts Museums of San FranciscoFine Arts Museums of San FranciscoThe Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, comprising the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum in Golden Gate Park and the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park, is the largest public arts institution in the city of San Francisco and one of the largest art museums in California.-External...
, image search. - Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, entry on "Unguenta," Bill Thayer's annotated edition at LacusCurtiusLacusCurtiusLacusCurtius is a website specializing in ancient Rome, currently hosted on a server at the University of Chicago. It went online on August 26, 1997; in January 2008 it had "2786 pages, 690 photos, 675 drawings & engravings, 118 plans, 66 maps." The site is the...
. On unguents as cosmetics and their trade.