Levantine goblets and Egyptian windows: Glass consumption and supply at early Byzantine Ephesus

This is the first scientific study of the mainly 7th century early Byzantine glasses from the prestigious Verulanus Halls in Ephesus. It provides evidence, using electron probe microanalysis, for the use of natron for vessel and window glass. The forty samples of goblets, bowls, lamps and windows consist of 11 Levantine glasses, 4 Roman glasses, 6 HIMT glasses, a single possible Egypt 1 glass and 18 Foy 2.1 glasses. There are single examples of HIMT high iron and Foy 2 high iron. This compositional categorisation has been determined by examining the relative levels of aluminium, titanium and silicon oxides as well as iron, manganese and calcium oxide. Some are of a relatively ‘pristine’ (unrecycled) chemical composition, which suggests that the objects could be obtained with relative ease from the Levant and Egypt, perhaps a reflection of a tightly controlled trade system driven by social elites of Ephesus. Foy 2.1 glasses may have been imported from Egypt in raw form to make windows on or near the site to minimise breakage. There is a relatively clear correlation between glass colour and its source: Levantine glasses are all aqua green whereas Egyptian glass are mainly shades of brown or greenish-brown.