Similarities over time

"The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious...Whoever doesn't know it and can no longer wonder, no longer marvel, is as good as dead..."

Albert Einstein

Lycurgus Cup in Both Forms

In the sixth book of the Homer's Iliad, King Lycurgus of Thrace chased the god of wine, Dionysus, into the sea before he set upon the god's entourage.  Amrosia, a member of this group, who was under duress, called upon the Earth to help and the Earth responded by changing Ambrosia into a vine.  Once in this form, Ambrosia restrained Lycurgus so that Dionysus could return and torture him for his insolence.  It is this scene that was immortalised on one of the most amazing works of art extant today.

Glass holds a special place in our world, it has been used to enchant, insulate, encase and torture for millennia and this cup continues that tradition.  Crafted some 1,700 years ago, this 16.25cm (6.5in) class vessel has only been known to the public since 1958 when the British Museum acquired it from the estate of Lord Rothchild. 

What has been known is man's special relationship with glass over time: American history is rife with legends of land transactions based on glass beads and the Sassanian empire had a great tradition of glasswork as well.  In fact, Islamic glassmaking techniques were distributed from Europe to China and their success stemmed from a combination of Roman and Sassanian techniques that were combined by the consolidation of the entire region by the Islamic expansion.  During the early years of Islamic rule, glassmakers of the eastern mediterranean continued using the Roman recipe which called for calcium-rich sand combined with the mineral natron which can be found in the area of Wadi al Natrun (today's Egypt).  The natron supply from this era was disrupted in the early 9th century AD and plant ash was substituted in its stead.  It seems that this forced adaptation led to the amalgamation of Sassanian and Roman techniques which spawned great innovations in the production of glassware throughout the world and, by the early 1300's resulted in exquisite examples of art like the Mosque lamp image (above) found in Egypt.

Today, our fascination with glass has not diminished.  During a 2013 exhibit in Virginia, I watched throngs of people walk, mouth-agape in wonder, through a Dale Chihuly exhibition.  His work is sought after the world over and appeals to the ancient human attraction to light in its many forms. 

Chihuly Glass Display, VMFA, Richmond, VA- 2013 from the author's collection

Our Lycurgus Cup is a unique example of glass' ability to reflect light in a way that changes the cup's color depending on the nature of light falling upon it.  In ambient light the cup is a milky, opaque green - but when light is shined directly on it, the glass appears as a translucent, ruby red

At work here is ancient nanotechnology: as a microscopic analysis of the glass shows it consists of 40 parts per million of gold and 300 parts per million of silver.  Of course there are more ingredients than silver and gold, this simple revelation of nanotechnology use 1,700 years ago brings us back to our original question:  What did the ancients know and why did we forget it?