The history of the invention of glass legends and conjectures. The history of glass in the history of mankind

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This article describes the history of the emergence of glass and the development of glassmaking in the world from the time of Ancient Egypt to the present day. Particular attention is paid to the methods of production of window glass, used at different times.

Origin of glass

The manufacture of sheet glass began about 2000 years ago. But before its appearance, there were already basic techniques for working with molten glass and a variety of techniques for making simple glass products in the form of beads, vessels and bracelets.

The emergence of ancient glassmaking dates back to about the 3rd millennium BC. e. By this period, ancient masters created a new material - glass. The creation of glass on the scale of the discovery is a colossal scientific and technological achievement; its appearance in the history of technology and culture can be compared with the discovery of metals, ceramics and metal alloys.

How, where, when and who started making artificial glass? There are different versions of this question. Glass is an artificial material created by man, but natural glasses are also known - obsidian, which are formed in magmatic melts at high temperatures during volcanic eruptions and meteorites. Obsidian is a translucent black glass with high hardness and corrosion resistance and was used in antiquity as a cutting tool. Some believe that it was obsidian that pushed man to create their artificial counterparts, but the areas of distribution of natural and artificial glasses do not coincide. It is most likely that ideas about glass developed in close connection with the manufacture of pottery and metalworking. Perhaps, in the early stages of glassmaking, the ancient masters saw analogies in the properties of glass and metals, which determined the technological methods of glass processing. Recognizing glass as similar to metal (plasticity in a hot state, hardness in a cold state), the ancients created the opportunity to transfer metal processing techniques to glassmaking. In this way, crucibles for melting glass mass, molds for casting products, and technological methods of hot processing (casting, welding) were borrowed. This process took place gradually, especially at the first stages, glass and metal are so different in nature.

The earliest "theory" of the origin of glass is proposed by the Roman scientist Pliny the Elder in "Natural History":

“Once, in very distant times, Phoenician merchants were transporting a cargo of natural soda mined in Africa across the Mediterranean Sea. For the night they landed on the sandy shore and began to cook their own food. For lack of stones at hand, they surrounded the fire with large lumps of soda. In the morning, raking the ashes, the merchants found a wonderful ingot, which was hard as a stone, burned with fire in the sun and was pure and transparent like water. It was glass."

This story is not very reliable, even Pliny himself begins it with the words "fama est ..." or "according to rumors ...", because the formation of glass at the temperature of a fire flame in an open space cannot occur. Most likely is the assumption of the German scientist Wagner, who connects the appearance of glass with the production of metals. In the process of melting copper and iron, slags were formed, which could turn into glass under the influence of heat. It is now difficult to establish exactly how glass was invented, but there is no doubt that this discovery was accidental.

The most ancient products had only a vitreous layer on the surface of faience, and were found in the tomb of Pharaoh Djoser (III dynasty of the Old Kingdom in Egypt, 2980-2900 BC). Samples of glass in the form of ingots dating back to the XXII-XXI centuries. BC e., discovered during excavations in the area of ​​Ancient Mesopotamia.

Glassmaking in Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia

The earliest archaeologically known glass workshops date back to the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. e. It should be noted that at first the material itself (glass) was obtained, and then its novelty is realized, and its properties are revealed. Processing techniques for a new material are selected in relation to its properties: stretching, bending, winding. Only over time, other methods were selected and adapted: casting, pressing, running.

The history of glassmaking begins with the manufacture of beads. The new material found its application in the non-manufacturing sphere, and products from it were equated with the values ​​of noble stones and gems. The glass beads of Queen Hatshepsut, who ruled Egypt in 1525-1503, are considered to be the oldest glassware. BC e. and a glass goblet bearing a hieroglyphic inscription with the name of Pharaoh Thutmose III dating back to the New Kingdom.

By the middle of the II millennium BC. e. glassmaking developed in its main features almost simultaneously in different centers of the most ancient civilizations in Egypt and Mesopotamia. The only source on the basis of which one can judge the formation and early stages the history of glass and its origins are finished goods: beads, inserts, vessels. According to scientists, the beads for the Egyptians served as amulets.

From the middle of the 8th c. BC e. the set of finds found is expanding and rings, bracelets, ritual and toilet utensils are added to the beads and vessels, which began to be found not only in the Mediterranean region, but also in the Caucasus and Western Europe. The decorativeness and complexity of the found products are significantly increased. The technique of manufacturing products is becoming more complicated, the craftsmen, along with molding, winding and casting, have mastered other methods of working with molten glass: cutting, engraving, grinding, polishing and pressing in forms that differ in design and material. Techniques for processing glass mass were accompanied by a complication of the tools and equipment of the workshop.

Invention of the glass blowing process

By the beginning of the Roman period, glassmaking had accumulated a very large production experience and knowledge to make a real revolution in the field of glass technology.

The first "revolution" in glassmaking is considered to be the invention of the glass blowing method. The process of blowing products from molten glass began with the most important invention - the glass blowing tube by Syrian craftsmen between 27 BC. e and 14 AD e. With the discovery of the process of glass blowing, Syria became the largest center of glassmaking for hundreds of years. The invention of blowing led to the birth of a new quality and formed the basis of not only ancient, but also modern methods manufacture of glassware, and subsequently window glass

Blowing - previously an auxiliary operation, in Roman times began to be used as an independent technique. After collecting glass mass on a glass blowing tube, the craftsman blew the original blank into a wooden mold and received various hollow glass products in the form of jugs, jars, goblets and bottles. Along with simple dishes, craftsmen also made unique decorative items, decorated with threads and colored glass overlays.

First window glass

The first window, truly flat glass first appeared much later, in ancient Rome. It was discovered during the excavations of Pompeii and dates back to the year of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, 79 AD. e. Window glass was produced by casting onto a flat stone surface. Of course, the quality of the glass was very different from the modern one. This glass was tinted in greenish tones and frosted (colorless glass was not yet known at that time), contained a large number of bubbles, which indicated a low melting temperature, and was quite thick (about 8-10 mm). But, nevertheless, it was the first case of the use of glass in architecture, which gave a significant impetus to further development glassmaking and glass distribution throughout Europe.

crown process

The 2nd revolution in glassmaking took place approximately at the beginning of the 2nd century, when Syrian craftsmen invented a completely new technology for the production of flat glass for those times - crown (crown), or as it was called in Russia, the lunar method. This idea originated, perhaps, when blowing large flat plates. Glass was made by blowing large bubbles, which in the next stage were separated from the glass blowing tube and attached to another tube - ponti. After intensive rotation on a pontic, the original workpiece became thinner under the action of centrifugal forces and turned into a flat round disk (see Fig.). The diameter of this disk could reach 1.5 m. After cooling, pieces of glass of square and rectangular shape were cut out of it. The central part of the disk had a thickening - a trace from the pont, which was called the "bull's eye". As a rule, this part of the disk was not used and was melted down, however, in some medieval buildings these round pieces are still preserved (see fig.).

This technology made it possible to obtain glass of fairly good quality for those times, with virtually no distortion. Not surprisingly, this technology lasted until the middle of the 19th century. So, known to everyone and one of the oldest glass manufacturers in the world - English company Pilkington stopped using the crown process entirely in 1872.

However, there was also a problem - size limitation. Using the crown process, it was impossible to obtain large-sized glass. Therefore, over the years, attempts have been made in various European countries to improve this technology, which led to the creation of a new method of glass production - the cylinder blowing method.

Production of window glass in a cylindrical way

In general, this method was very similar to the crown process, but at the same time the glassblower collected glass from the pot in several steps and inflated the blank (bullet) into a cylinder shape with constant rotation. To mold a cylindrical shape, the master swung the workpiece in a special rectangular pit. After hardening of the workpiece, the tapered ends are separated with a special heated hook. Then a longitudinal cut is made inside the cooled cylinder and straightened into flat sheets in special “correct ovens”, where the cylinders are gradually heated until their clay softens on flat bases and is smoothed into a sheet with a wooden chock fixed on an iron rod. By the end of the 19th century, air pumps began to be used to blow cylinders, and soon a method of mechanical stretching of cylinders appeared (see fig.).

The use of a more efficient method of producing window glass has made it possible to increase the size of sheet glass and reduce the amount of cullet waste. So, installed in 1910 at one of the English factories Pilkington (Pilkington) air machines of the American engineer John Lubbers (John H. Lubbers) made it possible to obtain glass cylinders up to 13 m long and up to 1 m in diameter.

Window glass production by melt-drawing

William Clark from Pittsburgh was the first to propose a method for the production of sheet glass by drawing a melt from a free surface. In 1857, he presented an English patent, according to which, the formation of a flat sheet is carried out by slow vertical pulling of the seed from the surface of the melt. Over the next 50 years, they tried to solve the main problem - the narrowing of the glass tape when stretched, but all attempts were unsuccessful.

In 1871, the Belgian inventor F.Vallin received a French patent (No. 91787) for the production of window glass by mechanical stretching of glass. For the continuous supply of the melt, he proposed a system of pots, which are interconnected by a tube, so that the glass mass from one pot enters another. A metal plate (seed) was lowered into the last large oval pot, which was enclosed in a pipe. Formation of a flat sheet occurred when this plate moved upwards. Air tubes with holes for cooling the glass were also located in the pipe on the sides of the glass. The sheet of glass was supported by rollers covered with asbestos cloth. Stretching glass can occur in two directions: vertical and horizontal. In the latter case, a special metal roll was provided. Wallin was a brilliant inventor and proposed almost all the basic elements of mechanical drawing, which in the 20th century will be used in all methods of glass drawing. At a time when bath furnaces were unknown, he introduced a system of glass melting pots, in which the clarified glass mass flowed from the bottom through tubes from one pot to another, to the main one, from which the glass was drawn. This system of continuous melt supply became the basis for the emergence of glass melting bath furnaces. In 1890, Wallin founded a mechanical drawing window glass company in Guifors.

In 1905, the Belgian engineer Emile Fourcault proposed his own method of vertically stretching glass. With this oldest method (VVS), a fireclay boat is used, from the slot of which a constant stream of glass flows under the action of hydrostatic pressure. The pulling speed can be adjusted by the depth of the boat. The glass ribbon from the boat entered the shaft chamber, where there are water-cooled tubes on both sides, and then it entered the annealing furnace along the rollers. Bead forming rollers and cooled tubes were installed along the edges of the belt to prevent narrowing of the belt. The thickness of the glass ribbon was determined by the drawing speed and the temperature in the drawing zone (“bulbs”). The first Fourko machines for stretching sheet glass were installed in Belgium and the Czech Republic in 1913. The productivity of 11 machines installed on one tank furnace was 250 tons of glass per day.

The process of glass drawing made it possible to produce cheap window glass with fire-polished surfaces. The main defect of drawn glass appears during forming (stretching) and is associated with a violation of the flatness of the glass. Such violations lead to the optical effect of the lens and image distortion. Drawn (machine-made) window glass was widely used in construction for glazing windows and greenhouses.

Production of window glass by casting and grinding

As mentioned above, both the crown process and the cylinder blowing method, as well as the VVS method, had a number of disadvantages associated either with the presence of optical defects and distortions, or with the inability to obtain large sheets of glass. Therefore, as an alternative, from the beginning of the 19th century, another method of production by casting and subsequent annealing of cast rolled glass was also used in Europe. In it, a pot of molten glass was poured directly onto the pouring table and rolled on rollers. For annealing, a special furnace with several rows of shelves was used, which made it possible to increase the loading capacity. Rolled glass could be made in any required size and thickness of 3-6.5 mm. This method was used to produce colored and colorless patterned glass, as well as large sheets unpolished window glass. Patterned colored glass was especially popular for glazing windows in churches and cathedrals.

In the future, with the advent of the need for higher quality glass, abrasive treatment of glass surfaces began to be used at the final stage. At that time, it was a laborious, lengthy and multi-stage process, which included moving the pot with glass melt, casting and rolling into a sheet, annealing, grinding and polishing. The glass processing time was about 17 hours.

In the early 20th century, the growth of the automotive industry spurred the development of more efficient, high-performance methods for producing polished glass. One of the pioneers of this method was Pilkington, which in 1923, together with Ford Motors, developed and launched a continuous process for the production of rolled glass. The melted glass was melted in a bath furnace and passed through the downcomer in a continuous flow through water-cooled rollers and pressed to a predetermined thickness. The main problem was to obtain a high-quality melt in the bath furnace. In 1925, this method was supplemented by a single-sided grinding and polishing machine. The next step towards the automation of production was the development of machines for double-sided glass grinding and polishing. After much experimentation and difficult assembly work, the first production line for the production of polished glass was launched at the Pilkington factory in Doncaster (UK) in 1935. A continuous glass belt 300 m long was moving at a speed of 66 m/h and was processed simultaneously on both sides by huge flat grinding discs. The introduction of this technology was the most significant development in the long history of polished glass.

More expensive polished glass had good optical quality and was successfully used for glazing buildings, shop windows, vehicles, and making mirrors. But the production process of polished glass has always been characterized by high energy consumption, high operating and capital costs. Waste glass during grinding and polishing reached 20%. So, for example, the production line of double-sided continuous grinding and polishing of the Pilkington company (Pilkington) in Cowley Hill (UK) in 1944, including a glass furnace, lehr, grinding and polishing machines, stretched over 430 m. Contemporaries noticed with pride or regret that the production line was 21 m longer than the largest ocean liner at the time, the Queen Mary.

By the middle of the 20th century, there was a need to use new, simpler and cheaper methods for the production of high-quality glass.

Transition to new ways of producing window glass - the float process

The credit for creating a revolutionary way of producing polished glass (float process) belongs to Sir Alastair Pilkington (Alastair Pilkington).

Lionel Alexander Betin (Alastair) Pilkington was born in 1920, after leaving school in Sherborne, he entered Trinity College, Cambridge, where he received his first degree in mechanics. During the war, he left the university and joined the Royal Artillery. Participated in hostilities in Greece and Crete. After being released from captivity at the end of the war, he returned to Cambridge to continue his studies and decided to pursue a career as a civil engineer. In March 1947 he was appointed as a technical assistant at the Pilkington flat glass factory and two years later he became production manager at the Doncaster factory. In 1952, Alastair returned to St. Helens, and under his leadership, experimental work began on the development of the float process. As a result of the first experiments, he proposed to use a metal melt to form and transport a glass ribbon. In 1953, a sample of float glass (float-glass) with a width of 300 mm was made at the first pilot plant. In 1955, 760 mm wide float glass was produced on a new pilot plant, and the Pilkington board took the bold and risky decision to build a 2540 mm wide float-line. The company hoped for success, but at the same time understood that in case of failure, financial losses would amount to millions of pounds. On the other hand, the successful launch of the line guaranteed a significant and revolutionary leap in flat glass technology throughout the long history of glass production.

The float production line was put into operation at Cowley Hill (UK) on May 6, 1957. Many at that time did not believe in new process, and it was said that this line would not even produce 1 m² of glass. Only 14 months later, the first quality float glass (6.5 mm thick) was obtained, and on January 20, 1959, the Pilkington company officially published a press release in which they introduced the float process in the following words:

"The float process is the most fundamental, revolutionary and important advance in glass production in the 20th century"

In accordance with the float method developed by Pilkington (Pilkington), the glass mass from the student pool at a temperature of 1100 ° C is fed from the glass melting furnace to the surface of the molten tin in a continuous belt. The tape is kept at a temperature high enough to remove all defects and irregularities on the glass surface. Since the surface of the molten metal is a perfectly smooth surface, the glass acquires a “fire-polished” shiny surface that does not need further grinding and polishing. During the experiments, it was found that the molten glass mass does not spread endlessly on the surface of the molten tin. When the forces of gravity and surface tension are balanced, the tape acquires an equilibrium thickness of about a little less than 7 mm. To obtain a glass ribbon of various thicknesses, methods were created based on the regulation of the viscosity of the glass in the molding zone and the magnitude of the tensile force. If it is necessary to obtain a glass tape thickness of more than 7 mm, then it is compressed by non-wetting side limiters.

At the beginning of the work, the problem arose of choosing a molten metal, which should be in a liquid state within the temperature range from 600 to 1050°C, have low vapor pressures, and the density should be higher than glass. Studies have shown that tin meets all these requirements, which almost does not interact with glass, and is a quite affordable and cheap product. But tin at high temperatures is oxidized by oxygen to form oxide compounds. Therefore, in order to avoid oxidation of the surface of the molten tin, it is necessary to create an inert nitrogen atmosphere in the float bath with a small addition of hydrogen. After forming, the glass ribbon is cooled to 620°C and transported to the annealing furnace.

Glass has been known to man since ancient times. At first, people used it to make jewelry and utensils. However, this type of material really began to be useful when people noticed its main quality - transparency. Since then, glass has been used ubiquitously for glazing window frames throughout the world.

Scientists are still putting forward various hypotheses and arguing about when and where glass first appeared on our planet. The ingredients for its manufacture - sand, soda and lime - are found everywhere, so the first glass could be made anywhere on Earth.

According to one of the existing theories, glass was discovered by the ancient Phoenicians, because it was they who were the first to sell beautiful and unusual glass products in all the countries of the Mediterranean.

Another country where the properties of glass have been known since ancient times was Egypt. It was there that during the excavations of the tombs, beads and amulets made of colored glass were found, the manufacture of which dates back to 7000 BC. However, it cannot be said with complete certainty that these products are the work of local craftsmen, because they could have been brought from Syria.

But as early as 1500 BC, the Egyptians learned how to make their own glass. For this purpose, they used a mixture of crushed pebbles and quartz with sand. In parallel, the Egyptians invented a method for making colored. If the craftsmen added cobalt, manganese or copper to the mixture, then blue, lilac or green glass was obtained.

Three centuries later (about 1200 BC), the Egyptians already knew how to cast various glass products in special forms. But the glass blowing pipe only gained prominence at the beginning of the Christian era.

The Romans, on the other hand, became famous for the fact that they began to make window panes, which quickly gained popularity and subsequently spread throughout the world. Today, glass is widely used in construction, manufacturing, as well as for the manufacture of many valuable and useful items, jewelry and utensils. Some glass products are real works of art, and may well become a decorative design detail.

Today, not a single scientist can answer with exact dates the questions of when and how glass was invented. Too much time has passed since then. There is no unity among historians about the place of its invention.

Most likely the birthplace of glass was Mesopotamia or Egypt. Here, archaeologists find glass vessels, whose age is approximately three and a half thousand years. It was then that glass products began to be widely used among wealthy citizens. But it did not look like modern samples - one of the main qualities of today's glass was missing - transparency.

It is believed that man-made glass may have been discovered as a by-product of other crafts. Potters fired their products in ordinary pits, often dug in the sand, and used straw or reeds to keep the fire going. The ash resulting from combustion - that is, alkali - upon contact with sand and high temperature turned into glass glaze. And an attentive master potter could notice this and begin to make glass on purpose.

The Phoenicians were excellent sailors. They could see the glass making process during their visits to other countries. But even if they were not the first in his invention, they were undoubtedly the best in production. Their products are incredibly appreciated, despite the high price. It is no coincidence that even ancient authors attributed the invention of glass to the Phoenicians. The ancient Roman historian Pliny, who lived in the first century BC, described how glass was invented: returning from a sea voyage to Africa, Phoenician merchants landed on the shore. They built a fire on a sandy beach, and used their cargo - soda - as a hearth. And then they found pieces of glass at the site of the fire.

It is believed that the Phoenicians were the first to learn how to make transparent glass. However, they could paint it in any color. In Tire and Sidon - the largest cities of Phenicia - glass factories appeared. Gradually, glass products turned from luxury into objects for wide use. This craft reached its peak in the Roman era, when the craftsmen of Sidon invented the glass blowing pipe.

The Roman Empire lured glassblowers to itself. Alexandria has established itself as a center of glass production. Some historians even talk about the first obtaining of transparent glass in this city, dating this event to about a hundred years BC. Local craftsmen have achieved transparency by adding manganese oxide to the glass mass. And the fact is undeniable that it was in the Roman Empire that windows were first glazed. The technology for manufacturing flat glasses for these purposes is a secret to this day. It is assumed that flat molds were used to cast them.

And although there is no specifics about where and how glass was invented, alas, this event ranks fourth among the most important inventions mankind, skipping forward only the periodic table of Mendeleev, the technology of iron smelting and the creation of the first transistor.

Divers had to dive to the bottom of the sea and, risking their lives, collect shells. And what a heavy, suffocating stench stood in the workshops! The local workers walked through the garbage, slept among the garbage, immediately fell ill and died. Ancient authors complained more than once about the stench emanating from workshops where fabrics were dyed purple. “Numerous dyeing establishments make the city unpleasant to live in,” Strabo lamented. Due to the disgusting smell, fabrics had to be dyed outside. The dyehouses were located near the seashore, away from residential areas.
However, the Phoenicians themselves on this occasion could philosophically remark: "Money does not smell." These foul-smelling, as they seemed to artisans and foreign guests, purple fabrics brought fabulous profits to merchants. After all, their quality was very high. They could be washed and worn for a long time - the paint did not fade and did not fade in the sun.
According to legend, Alexander the Great found in Susa, in the palace of the Persian king, ten tons of purple fabrics, made almost two centuries ago and not faded at all since then. These fabrics were bought for 130 talents (one talent was then equal to 34 or 41 kilograms precious metals).
Such a price for purple fabric was due to its high cost and shortage of dye. Of one kilogram of raw dye, after evaporation, only 60 grams of coloring matter remained. And to dye one kilogram of wool, it took about 200 grams of purple dye, that is, more than three kilograms of raw dye. It remains to add that the body of a mollusk weighs only a few grams and contains a negligible amount of secretion. To obtain one pound of dye, about 60 thousand snails were mined. That is why purple fabrics, unlike Phoenician glass, have always remained luxury items available only to a lucky few.
Tyrian purple was literally worth its weight in gold. Its price has only increased over time. So, at the beginning of our era, during the reign of Emperor Augustus, a kilogram of wool, twice dyed purple, cost about 2 thousand denarii, and the cheapest fabric cost 200 denarii. Under the emperor Diocletian in 301 AD, Tyrian purple wool of the highest quality rose in price to 50,000 denarii, and the price of a pound of purple silk reached 150,000 denarii. Huge amount!
In modern currency, Horst Klengel estimated that a pound of purple-dyed silk was worth $28,000. Of course, silk brought from China was the most expensive fabric sold by Tyrian dyers. Dyed wool was also cheaper (it was usually brought from Syria), and fine linen, a thin linen delivered from Egypt. However, their cost was still high.
Purple clothing has long been the privilege of kings and emperors, priests and dignitaries. The senators of Rome and the wealthy of the East wore purple. Purple fabric has always been a sign of distinction, a symbol of supreme power.
Purple garments are mentioned more than once in the Old Testament: “Let them make holy garments for Aaron your brother… Let them take gold, blue and purple and scarlet wool and linen” (Ex. 28:4-5), “purple garments that were on kings of Midian” (Judg. 8:26), “their clothes were hyacinth and purple” (Jer. 10:9), “and Mordecai went out from the king… in a linen and purple robe” (Esther 8:15).
Purple fabrics were used to decorate temples and palaces: “And they will cleanse the altar from the ashes and cover it with a purple-purple robe ... And they will take a purple robe and cover the laver and its base” (Numbers 4.13 - 14), “And he made a veil ( in the Temple in Jerusalem. A.V.) from yakhontovy, purple and crimson fabric ”(2 Chronicles 3, 14).
Purple was mentioned in their works by many Roman and Greek authors. Pliny spoke of the fashion for the color purple in Rome. Horace ridiculed in his satire a rich upstart who, for the sake of vanity, ordered to be washed from the table with purple handkerchiefs. "The miserable swagger of wealth!" To outline the next object of his satire, Horace catches a glimpse:

Here is Prisk, for example, then he has three rings
He wears, it used to be, then he will appear with his left hand bare.
That hourly changes its purple ... "

(Translated by M. Dmitriev)
Ovid in The Science of Love even advises fashionistas to moderate their appetites: “I don’t want expensive trimmed fabrics, I don’t want woolen robes dyed with the crimson of Tyrian mollusks. For and for more low price you can have so many clothes of different colors.”
The glory of purple fabrics did not fade even in the Middle Ages. Charlemagne also imported similar fabrics.
By the way, purple was used not only for dyeing fabrics, but also for the preparation of cosmetics, special inks, as well as purple-purisse paint used by painters. In addition to purple, its composition included diatomaceous earth - microscopic flint shells of unicellular diatoms, as well as clay, grains of quartz and spar.
Pliny the Elder gives the following recipe for using this paint: “Painters, first applying sandik (bright red paint. - A.V.), then applying purpuriss mixed with an egg on it, they reach the brightness of mini (cinnabar. - A.V.). If they prefer to achieve the brightness of purple, then they first apply azure, then apply purpuriss mixed with an egg on it ”(translated by G.A. Taronyan).
... Nowadays, the extraction of purple has long ceased. They learned to make it artificially. It turns out even better than the Phoenicians, but this does not detract from their merits. After all, they managed to make a dye, having no idea about any chemical formulas and laws.
There is little evidence of the Phoenician purple fishery in Lebanon today. Most of the once accumulated shells - the waste products of the dyers - have long been washed away by the sea. Only a pile of shells remained in Sayda.

4.4. In skillful hands, sand turns to gold

The Phoenicians were also the first to learn how to make glass, but they made important innovations in the technology of its production. In Phoenicia, this craft has reached perfection. Glass products of local craftsmen were in great demand. Ancient authors were even convinced that glass was invented by the Phoenicians, and this mistake is very revealing.
In fact, it all started in Mesopotamia and Egypt. Back in the 4th millennium BC, the Egyptians learned how to make glaze, which is close in composition to ancient glass. From sand, plant ash, saltpeter and chalk, they obtained cloudy, opaque glass, and then formed small vessels from it, which were in great demand.
The earliest examples of real glass - beads and other jewelry - appear in Egypt around 2500 BC. Glass vessels - small bowls - have been known in northern Mesopotamia and Egypt since about 1500 BC. Since that time, the widespread production of this material has begun.
Glassmaking in Mesopotamia is experiencing a real flourishing. Cuneiform tablets have survived that describe the process of making glass. The finished glass sparkled in various shades, but was not transparent. At the beginning of the 1st millennium BC, apparently, in the same place, in Mesopotamia, they learned how to make hollow glass objects. Glass was also made in Egypt in the 16th-13th centuries BC High Quality.
The Phoenicians used the experience gained by the masters of Mesopotamia and Egypt, and soon began to play a leading role. The temporary decline experienced by the leading powers of the Ancient East at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC helped the Phoenicians conquer the market.
It all started with poverty. Phoenicia was deprived of minerals. A bit of alumina - and that's it. Only forest, stone, sand and sea water. It would seem that there is no way to develop their industry. You can only resell what you bought from neighbors. However, the Phoenicians managed to establish the production of goods that were in extraordinary demand everywhere. They extracted valuable paint from shells; they began to make sand from ... glass.
In mountainous Lebanon, the sand is rich in quartz. And quartz is a crystalline modification of silicon dioxide (silica); the same substance is the most important component of glass. Ordinary window glass contains more than 70 percent silica, while lead glass contains about 60 percent.
The sand, which was mined at the foot of Mount Carmel, was especially famous for its quality. According to Pliny the Elder, "there is a swamp called Candebia". From here flows the river Bel. It is “silty, with a deep bottom, the grains of sand in it can only be seen at low tide; rolled by the waves and thus cleansed of dirt, they begin to sparkle. It is believed that then they are drawn in by sea acidity ... This expanse of the coast is no more than five hundred steps, and for many centuries it was the only source for the production of glass. Tacitus in his History also mentions that at the mouth of the Bel River “sand is mined, from which, if boiled with soda, glass is obtained; this place is quite small, but no matter how much sand is taken, its reserves do not run out” (translated by G.S. Knabe).

Phoenician glass vases found in Tire

After checking these stories, archaeologists found that the sand of the Bel River contains 14.5 - 18 percent lime (calcium carbonate), 3.6 - 5.3 percent alumina (aluminum oxide) and about 1.5 percent magnesium carbonate. From a mixture of this sand with soda, durable glass is obtained.
So, the Phoenicians took ordinary sand, which their country was rich in, and mixed it with sodium bicarbonate - baking soda. It was mined in Egyptian soda lakes or obtained from the ash left after the combustion of algae and steppe grass. They added an alkaline earth component to this mixture - limestone, marble or chalk - and then heated it all to about 700 - 800 degrees. Thus, a bubbly, viscous, quickly solidified mass arose, from which glass beads were made or, for example, elegant, transparent vessels were blown.
The Phoenicians were not content with merely imitating the Egyptians. Over time, showing incredible invention and perseverance, they learned how to make a transparent glassy mass. One can only guess how much time and labor it cost them.
The inhabitants of Sidon were the first to take up glassmaking in Phoenicia. It happened relatively late - in the VIII century BC. By that time, Egyptian suppliers dominated the markets for almost a thousand years.
However, Pliny the Elder attributes the invention of glass to the Phoenicians - the crew of one ship. It allegedly came from Egypt with a cargo of soda. In the Akko area, sailors moored ashore to have lunch. However, it was not possible to find a single stone nearby on which to place the cauldron. Then someone took several lumps of soda from the ship. When they "melted from the fire, mixing with the sand on the shore", then "transparent streams of a new liquid flowed - this was the origin of glass." Many consider this story to be fiction. However, according to a number of researchers, there is nothing incredible in it - except that the place is indicated incorrectly. It could have happened near Mount Carmel, and the exact time of the invention of glass is not known.
At first, the Phoenicians made ornamental vessels, ornaments and trinkets from glass. Over time they diversified manufacturing process and began to receive glass of various grades - from dark and cloudy to colorless and transparent. They knew how to give transparent glass any color; it didn't get muddy from that.
In its composition, this glass was close to modern, but differed in the ratio of components. Then it contained more alkali and iron oxide, less silica and lime. This lowered the melting point, but worsened the quality. The composition of Phoenician glass was approximately as follows: 60 - 70 percent silica, 14 - 20 percent soda, 5 - 10 percent lime and various metal oxides. Some glasses, especially opaque red ones, contain a lot of lead.
Demand created supply. In the largest cities of Phenicia - Tyre and Sidon - glass factories grew. Over time, the price of glass has declined, and it has gone from being a luxury item to an antique consumable. If the biblical Job equated glass with gold, saying that wisdom cannot be repaid either with gold or glass (Job 28:17), then over time glassware replaced both metal and ceramic. The Phoenicians flooded the entire Mediterranean with glass vessels and bottles, beads and tiles.
This craft experienced its highest flowering already in the Roman era, when, probably, a method of glass blowing was discovered in Sidon. It happened in the 1st century BC. The masters of Berut and Sarepta were also famous for their ability to blow glass. In Rome and Gaul, this craft also became widespread, since many specialists from Sidon moved there.
Several blown glass vessels have survived, marked with the sign of the master Ennion of Sidon, who worked in Italy in the early or middle of the 1st century AD. For a long time, these vessels were considered the earliest examples. However, in 1970, during excavations in Jerusalem, a warehouse with molded and blown glass vessels was discovered. They were made in 50-40 BC. Obviously, glass blowing appeared in Phenicia a little earlier.
According to Pliny the Elder, even mirrors were invented in Sidon. They were mostly round, convex (they were also made of blown glass), with a thin metal lining of tin or lead. They were inserted into a metal frame. Similar mirrors were made until the 16th century, when the Venetians invented tin-mercury amalgam.
It was the famous Venetian manufactory that continued the traditions of the Sidon masters. In the Middle Ages, her success led to a decline in demand for Lebanese glass. And yet, even in the era crusades glass produced in Tire or Sidon was in great demand.
Today, the remains of glass furnaces built in the Roman or Byzantine era can still be found on the coast between the modern cities of Sur (Tyre) and Saida. In Sarepta, the sea, retreating from the shore, exposed the remains of ancient furnaces. Among the ruins of ancient Tyre, the ruins of furnaces were found by archaeologists. The glass left in the ovens is a pleasant greenish color, quite clear, but not transparent.

4.5. What gave rise to luxury?

Let's say a few words about other Phoenician craftsmen who made figurines of ivory, vessels of gold, bronze or silver, carved wooden furniture, dark red ceramic vases, bowls, necklaces, bracelets, weapons.
Even Homer praised skillful trifles made of metal, made by the masters of Phoenicia. Cups made of precious metals, often decorated with Phoenician inscriptions, are found in various parts of the Mediterranean. Their appearance is remarkable. They demonstrate the popular motifs of various cultures of that time, intricately mixing them. So, on the Phoenician silver bowl of the 7th century BC, found in Cyprus - its diameter is only 20 centimeters - many human figures are depicted. These are Assyrian, Greek and Egyptian soldiers storming the walls of the city; Egyptians cutting down trees with Aegean double axes. Egyptian gods, winged scarabs, a stylized Phoenician palm tree can be seen nearby. The same beautiful, multi-figured Phoenician bowls were found in Italy. Their artistic merit was accurately assessed by Donald Harden: “In all these bowls, an amazing sense of composition of the Phoenician artists is manifested. Although the borders show a lot of detail, they do not crowd each other at all.” Noteworthy is the abundance of Egyptian motifs in the works of Phoenician artists. Such motives begin to be perceived quite early as one's own. So, even in the Bronze Age, Phoenician craftsmen carved items from ivory that resembled Egyptian ones. Sphinxes, lotus flowers, women in Egyptian wigs, and attributes of Egyptian deities are depicted on plates of this material.

These bronze female figurines by Phoenician craftsmen have been found in Aleppo, Baalbek and Homs.

This work of a Phoenician master, found in the palace of the Assyrian kings in Kalah, resembles the work of Egyptian craftsmen. The plate is carved from ivory

Phoenician stamp seals are often made in the form of scarabs. They are carved from carnelian and other stones, set into rings, hung from necklaces or bracelets. Stamp seals by the beginning of the 1st millennium BC gradually replaced the cylindrical ones, since they could be used to leave an impression not only on clay - the once most common written material of Western Asia - but also on other materials. In Phoenicia, these seals resemble works of Egyptian art not only in their form, but also in the plots of the images.
There is nothing accidental in this. The very position of Phoenicia and especially the success of local merchants made this country an intermediary between the cultures of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, the Aegean region and the Western Mediterranean. Phoenicia connected East and West, North and South, borrowed all the best from them and synthesized its original art, in which Egyptian, Assyrian, Greek features were one whole.
Summing up, we can say that the phrase that was so popular among sociologists at the beginning of the last century applies to the Phoenician artisans and merchants in the best possible way: "Great fortunes arose by satisfying the most refined needs." The economic history of Phoenicia suddenly brings to mind the phrase of the German economist Werner Sombart: "Luxury gave birth to capitalism."

A cow with a calf is a masterpiece of Phoenician art. Ivory

Phoenician sphinx. Megiddo (ivory, XIII century BC)

5. TIME YOUR COLONIES

5.1. Path to the endless sea

What is Phoenicia? A piece of land. A scattering of sand. A pile of rocks. A trap from which it seems impossible to get out. From almost all parts of the world, armies come here to plunder the Phoenician cities. Only one road is free from enemies - the road to the west. Sea road. She goes off into the distance, into infinity. Along its edges - on the shores and islands - there are many empty lands where you can build new cities, trade with a profit, and not be afraid of either the Egyptian king or the Assyrian.
And when the Phoenicians had fast ships, they began to leave their homeland in detachments and communities and move to overseas countries. There they established their colonies, because their small country could not feed them. Most of the Phoenician colonists left the city of Tyre. Each new disaster that befell the homeland gave rise to a new wave of emigration. According to Quintus Curtius Rufus, the farmers of Phoenicia, "exhausted by frequent earthquakes ... were forced, with arms in hand, to seek new colonies for themselves in a foreign land" - to seek happiness outside their homeland.
Where there are disasters, there is poverty. Where there is poverty, there is inescapable trouble. They run from her even to the ends of the world. At the turn of the 1st millennium BC, property inequality intensified in Phoenicia. The situation inside the tiny city-states is escalating. None of them is capable of bringing order to themselves or uniting the country. Their rulers - especially the kings of Tyre - can only ease the tension among their subjects. They send ruined fellow citizens to overseas colonies, fearing their unrest, especially since they also had to fear the uprising of slaves.

The time of the beginning of colonization - the 12th century BC - is by no means accidental. In an earlier period, almost all maritime trade was in the hands of the Cretans and Achaeans. After the death of the Mycenaean society, trade between East and West was in the hands of the Phoenicians. During the era of the great migration of the Sea Peoples, their country largely escaped destruction.
Now there was no need to fear competition for a long time. Weakened at the end of the New Kingdom, Egypt ceased to be a maritime power for almost 500 years. Ugarit was destroyed. The "Peoples of the Sea" participated in maritime trade, but without much success. Under such favorable conditions, the Phoenicians began to create trading posts and colonies on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. The first of them appeared in Cyprus in the 12th century BC. In the same century, approximately in 1101 BC, the first Phoenician colony in North Africa arose - the city of Utica, located northwest of the modern city of Tunis.
In the 12th-11th centuries BC, the Phoenicians set up their colonies along the entire Mediterranean coast: in Asia Minor, Cyprus and Rhodes, Greece and Egypt, Malta and Sicily. The Phoenicians founded colonies in the most famous harbors of the Mediterranean Sea: in Cadiz (Spain), Valletta (Malta), Bizerte (Tunisia), Cagliari (Sardinia), Palermo (Sicily). Around 1100 BC, Phoenician merchants settled in Rhodes. At the same time, they settled on Thasos, rich in gold and iron, on Thera, Cythera, Crete and Melos, and, possibly, in Thrace.
Melos, according to Stephen of Byzantium, even in his name kept the memory of his discoverers: “The Phoenicians were its first inhabitants; then the island was called Byblis, because they came from Byblos. Indeed, this island was at first called Mimblis, and this name may come from the word Biblis. Mimblis then became Mimallis and finally Melos.
At that time, the islands of the Aegean Sea lagged far behind in their development from the Phoenician city-states. Here the Phoenicians could not be afraid of competition from local traders. Colonization to the south-west of the metropolis proceeded quite differently. Here, on the path of the Phoenician merchants, lay Egypt - a country on the coast of which it was not at all easy to establish their trading posts. The Egyptians did not allow visiting merchants to host in their country. They had to rent housing and obey Egyptian laws.
However, the Phoenicians agreed to such conditions. According to Herodotus, over time, a “Tyrian quarter” even formed in Memphis. The temple of the “foreign Aphrodite”, that is, Astarte, was also erected in it. In addition, Phoenician ceramics are found in various parts of the Nile Delta, where the Phoenician ships were probably unloaded or their warehouses were located. Of course, the Phoenician traders in Egypt did not play a special role. Their colonies flourished only in underdeveloped countries, and Egypt was not one of them.
More famous were other African colonies of the Phoenicians, which were reported in his "Yughurtin War" by the Roman historian Sallust: "Subsequently, the Phoenicians, some - to reduce the population in their homeland, others - striving for domination, prompting the common people and other people greedy for coups , founded Hippo, Gadrumet, Lepta and other cities on the sea coast, and those, soon becoming significantly stronger, became one stronghold for their founding cities, others an adornment ”(translated by V.O. Gorenshtein).
In mainland Italy, where the Greeks subsequently founded many colonies - "Greater Greece", - there were also never Phoenician settlements, but the trade contacts of the Phoenicians with the inhabitants of Italy were quite close. Probably, there was a Phoenician settlement even in Rome.
So, the Phoenicians became the heirs of the Cretan and Mycenaean merchants and sailors. Their cities and trading posts turned into the largest points of sale for Syrian and Assyrian goods, products of Babylonia and Egypt.
It was the Phoenicians who introduced the culture of the Dorian Greeks - rude dorks who destroyed the Mycenaean cities. The Phoenicians taught them sailing and instilled in them a taste for luxury, for which they paid with metal and blond, blue-eyed slaves.
Later, the students challenged the teachers. Already in the 8th century BC, judging by the archaeological data, Greek merchants began to show activity. By this time, the "golden age" of Phoenicia was already behind. The country suffered from oppression by the Assyrian kings.
So far, this time was far away. The prosperity of Phenicia was just beginning. And the "golden age" only dawned - it has not yet dawned. Without equipping an army, without sending a whole fleet to distant countries, the Phoenicians gradually subjugated the entire Mediterranean to their power, relying only on the cunning of individual shipbuilders.
The Phoenicians are often compared to the Greeks. Both countries were politically fragmented and consisted of separate city-states; both were maritime powers and colonized the Mediterranean coast. However, the Phoenician colonization was fundamentally different from the Greek. There was an inseparable bond between Tyre and its colonies. The latter were part of the Tire state. The Greek colonies were most often independent of the mother countries.
Otherwise, the Phoenicians also chose a place for settlement. They did not move deep into a foreign country for them, did not seek territorial conquest. Owning a strip of land in their homeland, they were content with the same piece of land in a foreign land. They only built cities on the shores of bays convenient for their ships, fortified their settlements and began to trade with the natives. So the shores of the Mediterranean Sea were covered with Phoenician trading posts.
And the boundless expanse of water, ever opening before them, called them forward. The Phoenicians were not limited to the Mediterranean world. They went beyond the Strait of Gibraltar and paved the sea route to the north - to the British Isles. They also sailed south - along the Atlantic coast of Africa, although they did not like this area because of the strong tides and violent temper. For the first time in the history of mankind, the Phoenicians sailed around Africa, passing from the Red Sea to Gibraltar. They dared to swim even deep into the Atlantic Ocean, moving away from the coast. It is known that the Phoenicians visited the Azores and, obviously, the Canary Islands.
It is possible that it was from the Phoenicians that the Greeks borrowed the idea of ​​the oceans. After all, they sailed into the "outer sea" - into the Atlantic Ocean. “I think,” Yu.B. Tsirkin, - that the voyages of the Phoenicians and the Spanish-Phoenicians across the ocean, where they could not find either the opposite shore, or the end, or the beginning, and gave rise to the idea of ​​a river flowing into itself, beyond which is the kingdom of death.
On the near bank of this river, on the eve of the kingdom of death, the Phoenicians busily settled down and equipped their colonies. According to Pliny the Elder, the very first Tyrian colony in the Western Mediterranean was established beyond Gibraltar on the African coast at the confluence of the Lix River (modern Lukkus) into the Atlantic Ocean. However, this settlement was away from trade routes leading to southern Spain. The next place for the colony was chosen more successfully: in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, the city of Gades (modern Cadiz) arose. So the Phoenicians for the first time in history came from the extreme east of the Mediterranean to the extreme west. By sea it was possible to get from Tire to Gades in about two and a half months. This path was full of dangers.
Just think about it: the inhabitants are negligible small country- a speck on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea - managed to conquer almost all of its coast and all its islands, setting up colonies everywhere, and with the same ease got out of it. The inhabitants of a pair of rocky islets equipped expeditions that could only be envied by their neighbors who reigned over vast countries. In tiny, like shells, ships, they boldly launched into any part of the Mediterranean Sea and even into the Atlantic Ocean, and yet at the time when they only set sail for the coast of Spain or Libya, the Mediterranean Sea was known to them and their contemporaries worse than us the surface of the moon. The shores of the sea and its straits were inhabited by the monsters sung by Homer - Cyclopes, Scylla, Charybdis ... Setting off on a voyage, the Phoenicians did not know either the length of the sea, or its depth, or the dangers awaiting them. They sailed forward at random, relying on it, like no other people of their time. And luck came to them.
Of course, shipbuilders also gained experience over time, and they tried to sail along the coast from one base to another, and many years passed until, living in unfamiliar shores, they reached the southern tip of Spain, but someone - determined and courageous - sailed this route for the first time, someone dared to seek their fortune in a foreign land, not hoping for the help of a large army! And someone paid for it on the biggest account - life. We do not know in detail the history of the colonization of the Mediterranean, but we can assume that many people died in its waves before navigation in its water area (which covers two and a half million square kilometers) became reliable.
What did these people die for? For naked gain? It is unlikely that the Phoenicians - this talented people in all respects - with the stubbornness of idiots set off on the road, thinking only about how, after several years of desperate adventures and disasters, to sell the goods a little more profitably than their direct competitors. Not only calculation drove them forward, but also a variety of feelings: a love of wandering, which overcame their ancestors - the Arabian Bedouins, curiosity, a thirst for novelty, excitement, craving for adventure, adventure, risky experiments. The descendants of the steppe nomads turned into sea nomads. When it turned out that these wanderings more than paid off, because in any unfamiliar country it was possible to profitably exchange gold or silver, tin or copper, then romance gradually gave way to commercial calculation.
In recent decades, the possibility of sailing the Phoenicians even to America has been discussed more than once. “Very often attempts were made to prove the presence of the Phoenicians in America,” wrote Richard Hoennig. - So, for example, on October 16, 1869, ancient Phoenician inscriptions were allegedly found near La Fayette, and in 1874 the same inscriptions were found in Paraiba (Brazil) ... In 1869, near the Onondaga River (New York State), it was allegedly discovered in earth a huge statue with a badly erased Phoenician inscription. All of these reports turned out to be false." Similar fakes appeared later. For example, in 1940, a certain Walter Strong found "no more and no less than 400 (!) Stones with Phoenician writings."