Glass was discovered and manufactured in Egypt during the second millennium BC, but it was the Ph
oenicians who were responsible for spreading knowledge of it among the peoples of the Mediterranean and for developing the technology to allow the production of transparent glass. The glass paste was made by high-temperature fusion of calcium silicate, a
substance available in abundance on the beaches of Lebanon. The ease with which the raw material could be obtained allowed the development of this industry and the manufacture of a vast range of objects, from amulets to ointment jars that were brightly