The early stages of glassmaking disappear into the twilight of history. The Roman author Pliny claims that glass was invented by Phoenician sailors. However, this story is not likely to be true, even if the glassmaking of Phoenicia has a very long history. Among ancient peoples, the level of Egyptian glassmaking was particularly high, both artistically and technically. The Egyptians did not yet know how to blow glass but, instead, they usually produced objects by casting molten glass to a clay mould. As far as we know, the art of glassblowing was invented in the area of Syria or Lebanon about a century before the Christian Era.
