5th Century Millefiori Glass Found in Myra – History Blog

Hundreds of 5th-century millefiori glass panels and fragments were discovered during excavations in the ancient city of Myra and its port of Andriak in southwestern Turkey. Complete panels are about four inches square, and each is different. Conservators have pieced together nearly 30 nearly complete panels. Hundreds more small fragments are currently being pieced together.

Millefiori, Italian for “thousand flowers,” is a glass craft that layers tiny glass rods of different colors and then fuses them together to create ever-changing floral and geometric patterns. The rods are arranged by hand, and the fusing process adds randomness so that no two patterns are alike.

Millefiori glassware has been popular in ancient times since the 1st century AD and is still in use today. Millefiori glassware has been found in many parts of the Roman Empire, but not in Turkey. Researchers have found references to one or two millefiori glassware in academic papers, but not the vessels themselves. Even finding a complete plate in Turkey is an amazing discovery, but the quantity and quality of millefiori glassware at the Andriak site is unprecedented.

The plates were unearthed in Room 42 of the customs area of ​​the Andriak Bazaar. Located at the corner of the bazaar and the main granary, it was the most important location of the port. Archaeologists believe that this building had an administrative function. It is believed that these millefiori glass fragments, along with other glass elements, were used as wall decorations in this building. The team also found mosaics (marble and stone cut into mosaic figures and patterns) depicting birds, camels and saints. The mosaic saints are also unique in the Turkish archaeological record.

Thanks to other objects found in the same archaeological layer, including ceramics and coins, archaeologists were able to date the millefiori glass to the 5th and 6th centuries. They also found glass rods that had not yet been layered, cut and fused, proving that the millefiori glass was not only imported but also manufactured there.

The discovery of millefiori glass elements and other decorative techniques at Andriache challenges the previous view that such complex glass techniques and mural decoration were limited to the larger centres of the Roman and Byzantine Empires, suggesting that trade and communication networks were well developed enough at the time to allow these techniques to spread to more remote places like Andriache.