An instruction text describing how to make glass (Middle Babylonian period, ca. 1600 Bc)
‘If you want to produce zaginduru - coloured (green lapislazuli) glass, you grind finely, separately, ten minas of immanakku - stone and 12 minas of ahussu - plant (ashes). You mix (these) together, you put (the mixture) into
A cold kiln which has four fire openings and arrange (the mixture) in between the four openings. You keep a good and smokeless fire burning. As soon as your mixture glows red, you take it out into the open air and allow it to cool off. You grind it finely again. You collect (the powder) in a clean dabtu - pan. You put (it) into a cold chamber kiln. You keep a good and smokeless fire burning. As soon as it glows golden-yellow, you pour it on a kiln-fired brick. (This first stage) is called the zuku (“pure” vitreous paste).
Collect ten minas of “slow” copper compound in a clean dabtu-pan. You put (it) into a hot chamber kiln. You close the door of the kiln and keep a good and smokeless fire burning until the compound glows red. (Meanwhile) you crush and grind finely ten minas of zuku - glass. You open the door of the kiln and throw (the ground glass) upon the copper compound and close the door of the kiln again. As soon as the glass and the copper compound become mixed, and the copper compound settles underneath the glass, you stir it a couple of times with the rake. You pour it inside the fire in a new haragu - pan. On the tip of the rake you will see some drops (form). When the glass assumes the colour of ripe (red) grapes, you keep the glass boiling with the copper compound (for a time). You pour it on a kiln-fired brick. (This second stage) is called the tersTtu (“preparation”).
You grind finely, separately, ten minas of tersTtu - preparation, ten minas of bUsu - glass, and sifted ahussu - plant ashes, 2/3 minas of mother-of-pearl (? “sea-white”), and coral. You mix (them) together. You collect (the mixture) in a clean dabtu - pan. You put it in a cold kiln which has four fire openings and place it on a stand between the openings. The base of the dabtu - pan must not touch the (bottom of the) kiln. You keep a good and smokeless fire burning. The fire should come out of the openings like [. . .]. As soon as your mixture is melted you pull the (burning logs of the) fire apart. You take (the mixture) out of the cold kiln and grind it finely. You collect (the powder) in a clean dabtu - pan and put it into a cold chamber kiln. You keep a good and smokeless fire burning. Not until the glass has become red you close the door of the kiln and while it glows yellow you stir it once “towards you”. After it has become yellow, and you see some drops (form) and when the glass is homogeneous, pour it in a new dabtu - pan and out of the cooled-off kiln emerges zaginduru - coloured glass.’
Glass production began as an artificial substitute to semi-precious stones (mainly lapis lazuli), which were difficult to get in this period, due to the crisis of the settlements and commercial networks of the Iranian plateau. This decrease in the availability of semi-precious stones throughout the Near East is attested archaeologically, especially when compared to their spread in the mid-third millennium bc. Texts consequently began to distinguish between the genuine ‘mountain lapis lazuli’, from the artificial ones, called the ‘lapis lazuli of the kiln’, or ‘boiled lapis lazuli’. The same distinction can be found for a variety of semi-precious stones, all with different colours or a mixture of colours that the various glass pastes tried to imitate. If the genuine stones continued to be of a higher value, the artificial ones became much more widespread in the production ofjewellery, seals and small vases, becoming more affordable alternatives.
Coloured dyes were also used on textiles. Apart from mineral and vegetable dyes, there were animal dyes. The most expensive one was purple dye, extracted from shellfish. This type of dye was also linked to the Akkadian term for lapis lazuli (uqnu), whose colour could at times be close to purple and at times to a deep red. Another development during this phase was in the production of perfumes and spices, which were at this time used more for healing than for cooking. Perfumes and spices were produced from plants that were sometimes imported from distant lands, providing a new impulse for the commercial networks of the time.
The fact that these innovations were not developed in Lower Mesopotamia, which had been the epicentre of technical advances until then, but in Upper Mesopotamia and Syria, is particularly striking. Horse training was centred in Mitanni, glass working in the area extending from Upper Mesopotamia to the Levant and purple dye in the Lebanese coast. From these original centres, these techniques quickly spread throughout the Near East. Since these were all high quality, refined and expensive techniques, they appealed to the palaces and their elite. This aspect explains the extraordinary pace of their diffusion, which developed through the contacts and exchanges between specialised artisans and royal palaces that would characterise the Late Bronze Age.
However, there was another fundamental way in which innovations began to spread. These were recorded on texts that can be considered bona fide treatises. The most ancient and basic techniques were developed well before the invention of writing and were by this point already established and well-known practices. In comparison, new techniques had to be written down, probably as a result of the interaction between specialists and scribes, who had previously only produced ‘scientific’ texts regarding mathematics or medicine, two important sectors for administrators, or for learned groups of medical practitioners and exorcists.
Now, however, there were treatises on horses, the most famous one being the Hittite text found in Hattusa. This treatise is attributed to a certain Kikkuli from Mitanni, who used the above-mentioned Indo-Iranian terms and phrases. Other treaties on horses have been found in the Middle Assyrian archives from Ashur, while Ugarit provides a number of hippiatric texts. Regarding the production of glass, there are some texts from the Middle Babylonian period, written during the reign of Gulkishar, king of the Sea-land (Text 16.2). These texts contained indications of a magical nature, but also retained some concrete, technical information. Following their instructions, it has been possible to produce a glass paste. Finally, the Middle Assyrian archives yielded texts on the production of perfumes and spices. This development was a response to the new needs of the royal courts (or new solutions to old problems), located in the new epicentres of technical advances and commercial interactions, such as Syria, Anatolia and the Jezira. As such, these new types of texts constitute a clear expression of a cultural environment that was increasingly technical and practical, rather than scientific and scholarly.
World History
