The invention of glassblowing, around 70 BC and its industrial-scale use around the time of Christ made glassware affordable for all Romans. The wealthy stored their cosmetics and medicinal lotions in silver and bronze. But the rest of the populous could now afford both pottery and glass.
By the early 1st century AD, all of the aesthetic techniques of our modern glass industry--among them mold-blowing, lathe-cutting, and faceting--were standard in the Roman glassworking repertoire. At first small and crudely finished, their shapes became greatly refined over the centuries. Bottles such as this, called unguentaria were used to store oils or lotions. Various other kinds of glass juglets and jars stored herbal ingredients and oils so that lotions could be prepared fresh each morning.
