Pregled tipova staklenog posuđa iz italskih, galskih, mediteranskih i porajnskih radionica na području Hrvatske u doba rimskog carstva

Abstract

The article brings a survey of the types of glass vessels to be found on the territory of Croatia during the period of the Roman Empire. In the introduction the author briefly discusses the production of glass as an important branch of economy, but points out in this connection that owing to the shortage of reliable data we cannot as yet speak of the existence and activities of glass workshops in this part of the Roman Pannonia. On the other hand the author also points out that the rich findings on the territory of all the more important centres of one part of the south-west Pannonia and the litoral part of Dalmatia (belonging today to the republic of Croatia — Bakar, Senj, Zadar, Nin, Solin, Stobrec, Sisak, Osijek, Varaždinske Toplice, and others) bear evidence to a strong import of glassware from all the glass-producing centres of the Empire (Italic, Gallic, Mediterranean, and Rhenisch workshops). The territory of Croatia — because of its geographical position — has throughout history re presented a place where political, economic, and cultural forces conflicted as well as a crossing of important traffic routes by which goods could be brought also from the most distant parts of the Roman Empire. The typological analysis of the discovered objects attempted to establish what all forms are to be found here and how they are distributed in individual regions. Additionally, it tried to establish their provenance either as regards origin or a particular type of workshops. The earliest import into the territory of Croatia is that from Italic workshops, which were unusually active in the first two centuries A. D., notably in Campania, in Rome and in the north. Italic glassware was being imported mostly into the west part of Pannonia and the coastal Dalmatia — almost until the end of the second century. Among the earlier forms one find bowls (pl. I, fig. 1) made of non-transparent coloured glas — in several specimens (Split, dark green; Sisak, light blue), often in semi-globular shapes, with folds (pl. I, fig. 3), as well as light brown, yellow, and blue from the beginning of the second half sf the first century (Split, Zadar, Sisak, Var. Toplice). Among the simpler forms belong: bowlsof various dimensions, cylindrical (pl. I, fig. 2, 4) with a ring, then bowls with slightly inclined walls of green or yellowish colour very popular in Italy (and produced during the first century; Zadar, Nin, Bakar), the flat plates (pl. I, fig. 6) of bluish-green colour, without a ring, from the time of Claudius and Nero (Zadar, Nin, Bribir, Solin, Stenjevac), and finally some others (pl. II, fig. 1, 5) with a roundish rim, convex sides and a ring from bluish-green, light green, or light brown glass — the production of which extends well into the second century. A frequent form among the Italic vessels is represented by a jug, with a potbellied body, a handle, but no ring (pl. II, fig. 3) and a semi-globular bottle (pl. I, fig. 5), both quite early products. To this group belongs also a bottle or a jug of a protracted body, with cut-in lines (pl. II, fig. 4), of various sizes but generally made of bluish green glass. Prismatic jugs with a comb-shaped handle and very often with an ornamented bottom — an ornament or the initials of the master or the workshop (pl. IV, fig. 1,2) — were made in thin light green glass in Italy but are to be found almost everywhere among the early material from the first two centuries (Bakar, Zadar, Solin, Stenjevac, Sisak, Var. Toplice). Little bottles for fragrant oils and balms (pl. II, fig. 2; pi. Ill, fig. 1,2; pl. IV, fig .4,5) are made in various colours and are an indispensable part of what is added into the graves. Their production was probably started in Italy but was soon to spread over the whole Empire (Bakar, Split, Zadar, Stari grad, Sisak). The same purpose was served also by vessels used for emtalment, of various shapes, also produced in the workshops throughout the Empire from the first until the third century (pi. Ill, fig. 3a-c, 4); Bakar, Solin, Zadar, Stenjevac, Sisak, Osijek, Var. Toplice). Urns are chiefly an Italic product, produced in several variants (pl. IV, fig. 3) — an earlier type without a handle or a type with a handle (pl. V, fig. 1 ; pl. VI, fig. 1). Their colour is bluish green or various shades of green, and their production lasts until the second century (Bakar, Solin, Zadar, Nin, Starigrad, Stenjevac, Sisak). The prismatic bottle with a widely bent rim, made in green glass, was also used as an urn (pl. VI, fig. 3). It is found during the first century in the north of Italy and is probably an Italic product, whereas in the second and third centuries it was probably produced in other provinces as well. To the repertoire of Italic forms of the first century belongs also a cylindrical little pot with a wide rim and a ring as well as a small handle (pl. VI, fig. 2), which is soon taken over also by Gallic workshops (Stenjevac). The import of glassware from Gallic workshops was not as strong as that from Italy. In the territory of Croatia one finds several types of vessels whose characteristics indicate an origin in Gallic workshops. Most frequent from the earlier phase of the first two centuries are prismatic jugs from very thick bluish-green glass (pl. VIII, fig. 1) with a folded handle or without it, and with a cylindrical short neck (Bakar, Zadar, Sisak). One might add to these workshops also a potbellied jug with one handle and a stand (pl. VII, fig. 2; Bakar). Little bowls with marked vertical folds, made of thick bluegreen or green glass, (pl. VII, fig. 3), are found during the first century throughout the Empire; this wide distribution makes it difficult to determine the centres of their production, yet it is believed that the bluish-green ones come from Gallia (Sisak, Var. Toplice, Stenjevac, Šćitarevo, Osijek). Here belongs also the funnel (infundibulum), produced in the course of the first century (Zadar, Mala Mitrovica). From the following period, which is actually the one in which the Gallic production was at its strongest — at the time of Sever and throughout to the second half of the third century — we do not get in this territory any specific forms. What is known is only the »Mercur« bottles (pi. VII, fig. 4; Sv. Juraj, Senj, Bakar, Nin, Split), and a potbellied bottle with a ring (pl. VIII, fig. 2; Solin). A very strong import of glassware from the Mediterranean area starting already at the beginning of the first century is evident from the material found in the coastal area of Dalmatia, while in the continental part of Croatia there is much less of the Mediterranean import. Belonging to Alexandrine workshops are probably a little bowl (pl. IX, fig. 1) and a small plate (pl. X, fig. 1) from Split and Solin, made in the mille-fiori and mosaic technique, as well as a great many fragments found at Sisak and Var. Toplice. Little jugs, amphoriscs, and bottles (pl. IX, fig. 2, 5), smooth or with ornaments in various colours, are the work of Syrian masters from the first century and the first half of the second. Of the same origin is most probably also the cup with lotos leaves (pl. XII, fig. 5), made of thin greenish glass (Podgradje, Novi Banovci). The cup with two handles from the necropolis at Stenjevac (pl. XI, fig. 1) and the bottles made of coloured glass found at Karlobag (pl. X, fig. 2) belong to the same circle, although they come from a somewhat later period (second to third century). The cups (pl. X, fig. 3, 4; pl. XII, fig. 1 ; Bakar, Podgradje, Solin, Stenjevac, Surduk) are unguentaria of the »candle« type — big in dimensions, with a roundish or flatened body (pl. XII, fig. 3, 4; pl. XI, fig. 2, 3, 4; Bakar, Solin); chiefly they are light green or transparent and most probably come from the Cyprus workshops. The workshops in Cyprus were started already in the first century, but their best period is from the middle of the second until the middle of the third century. High-quality cylindrical jugs, made of thin, light green or transparent glass (pl. XII, fig. 2), found at Bakar and Solin, as well as several types of flat plates (pl. X, fig. 5 ; pl. XI, fig. 5, 6, 7) from Bakar can also be attributed to these workshops. The last glass products to reach the territory of Croatia were those from the Rhenish area. So far we have knowledge only of simple forms, and these are to be found in a much greater number in the continental part than in the littoral belt. Most frequent are globular bottles, with a cylindrical neck without a rim (pl. XIII, fig. 2) or with a funnel-like widening (pl. XIII, fig. 4), from the third and fourth centuries (Bakar, Zadar, Štrbinci). Next come semi-globular cups, made of thick, olivegreen glass with a crude rim (pl. XV, fig. 2; Sisak, Popov dol, Senj, Solin) as well as cups of the same type, but made of finer material and decorated with ornaments in several colours (pl. XV, fig. 3, 4; Sisak, Virovitica, Radovanci). The cylindrical jug with a wide horizontal rim and a comblike handle, made of brownish green glass, ornamented (pl. XIII, fig. 3), found at Osijek — as well as the transparent bowl from Bakar (pl. XIV) come most probably from the Cologne workshops where the techniques of cutting and engraving were very well developed. In the final section of her presentation the author concludes that the material found in Croatia shows that it is the Italic and the Mediterranean imports which are most strong and varied. Whereas Italic glassware is found equally distributed in the Pannonian and in the littoral parts, Mediterranean glassware is much better represented in places at the seaside. This fact is related to the intensive urbanization in Pannonia and in this part of the Roman Dalmatia in the early period of the Roman Empire. Sisak, for instance, is the only place in this part of Pannonia (Croatia) which has plenty of precious Alexandrine vessels (a great number of fragments), while the somewhat later Mediterranean material is found in many places — due to the strong Oriental influence during Sever’s reign from the end of the second until the middle of the third century. Gallic import of glassware is much weaker in the territory of Croatia than the import of ceramics ; what is more, even the forms taken to be of Gallic provenance are neither very typical nor very numerous. As regards the late ancient import of glass, this comes mainly from the Rhenish workshops; it is much better represented in the continental part than in the coastal area. But it has been noticed that products from these workshops are more frequent in Salonica, which was very well connected with Sisak and Pannonia for which reason the import from the Rhenish area — either by river or by land — was here much easier available.