Flexible glass

Last updated

Allegedly, flexible glass is a lost invention from the time of the reign of Tiberius Caesar. The story is almost certainly false. [1]

Mythology

According to Petronius (c.27 AD – c.66 AD) in his work Satyricon , the inventor of flexible glass (vitrum flexile) brought a drinking bowl made of the material before Tiberius Caesar. The bowl was put through a test to break it, but it merely dented, rather than shattering. The inventor repaired the bowl very easily with a small hammer, which he pulled from a pocket in his toga, according to Petronius. After the inventor swore that he was the only man alive who knew the manufacturing technique, Tiberius had the man beheaded. He feared that the glass would devalue gold and silver, since the material might be more valuable. [2]

Pliny the Elder (c.23 AD – c.79 AD) also included the story about the flexible glass in his encyclopedic work Naturalis Historia (XXXVI.66.195), but added that the story is "more widely spread than well authenticated." [3]

Later during the Early Middle Ages, the story was retold by Isidore of Seville (c.560 AD – c.636 AD) in Etymologiae (XVI.16.6), De vitro, which in turn is included in pseudo-Heraclius's 13th century collection of technical recipes. [4]

However, these stories are commonly assumed to be either false or exaggerated. Historian Robert Jacobus Forbes believed that flexile referred to "bent" glass, such as handles used in stoneware. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Claudius</span> Roman emperor from AD 41 to 54

Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus was Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Drusus and Antonia Minor at Lugdunum in Roman Gaul, where his father was stationed as a military legate. He was the first Roman emperor to be born outside Italy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tiberius</span> Roman emperor from AD 14 to 37

Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus was Roman emperor from AD 14 until 37. He succeeded his stepfather Augustus, the first Roman emperor. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC to Roman politician Tiberius Claudius Nero and his wife, Livia Drusilla. In 38 BC, Tiberius' mother divorced his father and married Augustus. Following the untimely deaths of Augustus' two grandsons and adopted heirs, Gaius and Lucius Caesar, Tiberius was designated Augustus' successor. Prior to this, Tiberius had proved himself an able diplomat, and one of the most successful Roman generals: his conquests of Pannonia, Dalmatia, Raetia, and (temporarily) parts of Germania laid the foundations for the empire's northern frontier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">20s</span> Third decade of the first century AD

The 20s decade ran from January 1, AD 20, to December 31, AD 29.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">30s</span> Fourth decade of the first century AD

The 30s decade ran from January 1, AD 30, to December 31, AD 39.

<i>Natural History</i> (Pliny) Encyclopedia on Nature, Written by pliny the elder.

The Natural History is a Latin work by Pliny the Elder. The largest single work to have survived from the Roman Empire to the modern day, the Natural History compiles information gleaned from other ancient authors. Despite the work's title, its subject area is not limited to what is today understood by natural history; Pliny himself defines his scope as "the natural world, or life". It is encyclopedic in scope, but its structure is not like that of a modern encyclopedia. It is the only work by Pliny to have survived, and the last that he published. He published the first 10 books in AD 77, but had not made a final revision of the remainder at the time of his death during the AD 79 eruption of Vesuvius. The rest was published posthumously by Pliny's nephew, Pliny the Younger.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Livia</span> Wife of Roman emperor Augustus and mother of emperor Tiberius

Livia Drusilla was Roman empress from 27 BC to AD 14 as the wife of emperor Augustus. She was known as Julia Augusta after her formal adoption into the Julian family in AD 14.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Livia gens</span> Ancient Roman family

The gens Livia was an illustrious plebeian family at ancient Rome. The first of the Livii to obtain the consulship was Marcus Livius Denter in 302 BC, and from his time the Livii supplied the Republic with eight consuls, two censors, a dictator, and a master of the horse. Members of the gens were honoured with three triumphs. In the reign of Augustus, Livia Drusilla was Roman empress, and her son was the emperor Tiberius.

<i>Satyricon</i> Latin work of fiction attributed to Petronius

The Satyricon, Satyriconliber, or Satyrica, is a Latin work of fiction believed to have been written by Gaius Petronius in the late 1st century AD, though the manuscript tradition identifies the author as Titus Petronius. The Satyricon is an example of Menippean satire, which is different from the formal verse satire of Juvenal or Horace. The work contains a mixture of prose and verse ; serious and comic elements; and erotic and decadent passages. As with The Golden Ass by Apuleius, classical scholars often describe it as a Roman novel, without necessarily implying continuity with the modern literary form.

<i>Etymologiae</i> Etymological encyclopedia compiled by Isidore of Seville

Etymologiae, also known as the Origines ('Origins'), usually abbreviated Orig., is an etymological encyclopedia compiled by the influential Christian bishop Isidore of Seville towards the end of his life. Isidore was encouraged to write the book by his friend Braulio, Bishop of Saragossa. Etymologiae summarized and organized a wealth of knowledge from hundreds of classical sources; three of its books are derived largely from Pliny the Elder's Natural History. Isidore acknowledges Pliny, but not his other principal sources, namely Cassiodorus, Servius, and Gaius Julius Solinus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Petronia gens</span> Ancient Roman family

The gens Petronia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome. This gens claimed an ancient lineage, as a Petronius Sabinus is mentioned in the time of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the last of the Roman kings, but few Petronii are mentioned in the time of the Republic. They are frequently encountered under the Empire, holding numerous consulships, and eventually obtaining the Empire itself during the brief reign of Petronius Maximus in AD 455.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gaius Caesar</span> Grandson and heir of Roman emperor Augustus

Gaius Caesar was the grandson and heir to the throne of Roman emperor Augustus, alongside his younger brother Lucius Caesar. Although he was born to Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa and Julia, Augustus' only daughter, Gaius and his younger brother, Lucius Caesar, were raised by their grandfather as his adopted sons and joint-heirs to the empire. He would experience an accelerated political career befitting a member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, with the Roman Senate allowing him to advance his career without first holding a quaestorship or praetorship, offices that ordinary senators were required to hold as part of the cursus honorum.

The gens Acilia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome, that flourished from the middle of the third century BC until at least the fifth century AD, a period of seven hundred years. The first of the gens to achieve prominence was Gaius Acilius, who was quaestor in 203 and tribune of the plebs in 197 BC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Claudia gens</span> Ancient Roman family

The gens Claudia, sometimes written Clodia, was one of the most prominent patrician houses at ancient Rome. The gens traced its origin to the earliest days of the Roman Republic. The first of the Claudii to obtain the consulship was Appius Claudius Sabinus Regillensis, in 495 BC, and from that time its members frequently held the highest offices of the state, both under the Republic and in imperial times.

Gaius Petronius Arbiter was a Roman courtier during the reign of Nero. He is generally believed to be the author of the Satyricon, a satirical novel believed to have been written during the Neronian era. He is one of the most important characters in Henryk Sienkiewicz' historical novel Quo Vadis (1895). Leo Genn portrays him in the 1951 film of the same name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julia gens</span> Ancient Roman family

The gens Julia was one of the most prominent patrician families in ancient Rome. Members of the gens attained the highest dignities of the state in the earliest times of the Republic. The first of the family to obtain the consulship was Gaius Julius Iulus in 489 BC. The gens is perhaps best known, however, for Gaius Julius Caesar, the dictator and grand uncle of the emperor Augustus, through whom the name was passed to the so-called Julio-Claudian dynasty of the first century AD. The nomen Julius became very common in imperial times, as the descendants of persons enrolled as citizens under the early emperors began to make their mark in history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Junia gens</span> Ancient Roman family

The gens Junia or Iunia was one of the most celebrated families of ancient Rome. The gens may originally have been patrician, and was already prominent in the last days of the Roman monarchy. Lucius Junius Brutus was the nephew of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the seventh and last King of Rome, and on the expulsion of Tarquin in 509 BC, he became one of the first consuls of the Roman Republic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julii Caesares</span> Roman patrician family

The Julii Caesares were the most illustrious family of the patrician gens Julia. The family first appears in history during the Second Punic War, when Sextus Julius Caesar was praetor in Sicily. His son, Sextus Julius Caesar, obtained the consulship in 157 BC; but the most famous descendant of this stirps is Gaius Julius Caesar, a general who conquered Gaul and became the undisputed master of Rome following the Civil War. Having been granted dictatorial power by the Roman Senate and instituting a number of political and social reforms, he was assassinated in 44 BC. After overcoming several rivals, Caesar's adopted son and heir, Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, was proclaimed Augustus by the senate, inaugurating what became the Julio-Claudian line of Roman emperors.

Petronius's Satyricon, the only extant realistic Classical Latin novel, survives in a very fragmentary form. Many readers have wondered how the story would begin and end.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Poems by Julius Caesar</span>

Poems by Julius Caesar are mentioned by several sources in antiquity. None are extant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magnes the shepherd</span>

Magnes the shepherd, sometimes described as Magnes the shepherd boy, is a mythological figure, possibly based on a real person, who was cited by Pliny the Elder as discovering natural magnetism. His name, "Magnes", the Latin word for magnetite, has been attributed as the origin of the Latin root that has passed into English, giving its speakers the words magnet, magnetism, the mentioned ore, and related formulations. Other authorities have attributed the word origin to other sources.

References

  1. Carrier, Richard (2017-12-01). The Scientist in the Early Roman Empire. Pitchstone Publishing (US&CA). ISBN   978-1-63431-107-6. From the context we can be certain of two things: the story is either untrue or wildly incorrect, and Trimalchio is being made to look like an idiot for telling it. [...] We can also assume no such thing ever existed.
  2. Petronius. "Section 51". Satyricon.
  3. Pliny the Elder. Natural History XXXVI.66.
  4. Isidore of Seville (2006). The Etymologies. Translated by Stephen A. Barney; W. J. Lewis; J. A. Beach; Oliver Berghof. Cambridge University Press. p. 328. ISBN   0-521-83749-9.
  5. Forbes, Robert James (1965). Studies in Ancient Technology. Brill Archive. p. 173.