Page 102 - Studia Universitatis Hereditati, vol 13(2) (2025)

The bowls are mostly hemispherical, around 5 to one site and study them. We can mention a sim-
6 cm in height, and the rim is cracked-off, un- ilar example from Slovenia, the Roman road and
worked or lightly ground. During the working customs station Romula in Pannonia, where we
process, the glassblower wound the thin glass had an opportunity to compare 1st-century finds
thread around the paraison and then created from a settlement and necropolis (Tomaž et al.
the ribs, before the bowl was inflated to its final 2024; Tomaž et al. 2025).
shape. The threads became thin, in some places What can this selected group of high-qual-
almost invisible; the ribs did not expand because ity glassware tell us about the Roman town of
pinching cooled the glass during forming (Stern Osor? Without a doubt, its population included
2001, 82). a group of wealthy people, both Romans and lo-
The use of these bowls is still questionable. cals, who were well aware of what was available
According to some researchers, the unworked on the glassware market and what the most pres-
102 rim should speak against being a drinking ves- tigious products were. They were well informed
sel, but for serving food or even washing hands about what was popular in the period and where
at dinner. However, some bowls were very prob- or by whom these items were available. These
studia universitatis hereditati, letnik 13 (2025), številka 2 / volume 13 (2025), number 2
ably used (also) as drinking vessels. From sites in residents had the wealth and economic pow-
Croatia and Slovenia, a wide range of these finds er to buy these products or have them made to
from settlements and necropolises, varied in size, order. With their quality and uniqueness, they
colour, and decoration (Croatia: Jadrić 2011, 364 could show off the prestige, taste and personal
and note 21, pl. 5, 1– 4; Slovenia: Lazar 2004, 61, economic power to their dinner guests. The rich
no. 42, 43), could perhaps confirm their use as and varied glass material, imported from Italic
drinking vessels. and Mediterranean workshops, shows that Osor
The finds of these bowls are widespread in played an important role in the process of Ro-
all the provinces of the Empire, but predomi- manisation of the northern Adriatic.
nantly concentrated in northern Italy, the SE
Alpine area, Dalmatia and the Ticino area. They Acknowledgments
were most probably made in the western part of The author would like to thank her colleague
the Roman Empire. Several bowls found in the Martina Blečič Kavur, who enabled her to pro-
Eastern Mediterranean are monochrome, like cess the selected glass material as part of the Osor
the completely preserved bowl from Osor. We beyond the myth project, and Zrinka Ettinger
can’t confirm if this is a regional variant or per- Starčić (Lošinj Museum) for providing access
haps a local product. to material from the Osor Archaeological Col-
The earliest dating of these finds is known lection at the aforementioned museum. Special
from Cosa in Italy, where finds come from the thanks also go to Monika Petrović from the Ar-
strata dated to the last decades of the 1st centu- chaeological Museum of Istria in Pula for re-
ry BC, even earlier than the Magdalensberg and storing the glass material, drawings, and photo-
Morgantina finds, which are dated to the first graphs, and to Nadir Mavrović (Mali Lošinj) for
decades of the 1st century AD (Grose 2017, 123). the photographs.
Janja Tratnik Šumi created ink drawings,
Concluding Remarks while Aleš Ogorelec prepared a plate of finds. Sin-
With the selected 1st-century AD glass finds, we cere thanks to both of them.
presented the varied assemblage of glass prod- The author acknowledges financial support
ucts discovered in Osor. The products represent from the Slovenian Research and Innovation
all glass-making techniques developed and used Agency for the Osor beyond the myth (N6-0292)
by Roman glassmakers. It is a rare opportunity project.
to have such a varied group of glass products on