Unguentarium

Roman marbled glass piriform unguentarium (front and back)
Unguentarium carved from a 2860-carat Colombian emerald, Habsburg-Lorraine Household Treasure, Imperial Treasury, Vienna.

An unguentarium (pl.: unguentaria), also referred to as balsamarium (pl.: balsamarii), lacrimarium (pl.: lacrimarii) or tears vessel,[1] is a small ceramic or glass bottle found frequently by archaeologists at Hellenistic and Roman sites, especially in cemeteries.[2] Its most common use was probably as a container for oil, though it is also suited for storing and dispensing liquid and powdered substances. Some finds date into the early Christian era.[3] From the 2nd to the 6th century they are more often made of blown glass rather than clay.[4] A few examples are silver or alabaster.[5]

Unguentaria were used as product packaging in commerce and for funerary practice. They are distributed throughout the Mediterranean region of the Roman Empire from Israel to Spain, and north into Britain and Germania. Their manufacture was nearly as widespread.[6]

  1. ^ Neuter noun from the Latin unguentarius, "concerned with the production, sale, etc., of ointments," Oxford Latin Dictionary (Oxford: Clarendon Press 1982, 1985 printing), p. 2092. The noun is a modern coinage as it applies to these vessels: see Susan I. Rotroff, "Hellenistic Pottery: Athenian and Imported Wheelmade Table Ware and Related Material," part 1: text, The Athenian Agora 29 (1997), pp. 175–176, note 28, for references on possible ancient terminology. In antiquity, the adjective unguentarius and its substantives referred to the perfume trade.
  2. ^ Virginia R. Anderson-Stojanovic, "The Chronology and Function of Ceramic Unguentaria," American Journal of Archaeology 91 (1987), p. 105.
  3. ^ For examples, James Whitley, "Archaeology in Greece 2003–2004," Archaeological Reports 50 (2003–2004), p. 66, with example dating from the 5th–7th century.
  4. ^ Henry S. Robinson, "Pottery of the Roman Period: Chronology," in The Athenian Agora, vol. 5 (American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 1959), pp. 15 and 118.
  5. ^ Virginia R. Anderson-Stojanovic, "The Chronology and Function of Ceramic Unguentaria," American Journal of Archaeology 91 (1987), p. 111, note 34.
  6. ^ Virginia R. Anderson-Stojanovic, "The Chronology and Function of Ceramic Unguentaria," American Journal of Archaeology 91 (1987), p. 105; E. Marianne Stern, "Glass Is Hot," American Journal of Archaeology 106 (2002), p. 464.