The Emergence of Lead-Glazed Pottery in the Late Hellenistic and Roman Mediterranean: New Investigations at Mytilene, Athens, and Ostia

by Florence Liard, Miguel John Versluys, and Ayed Ben Amara

Hesperia, Volume 93, Issue 3
Page(s): 439-503
Stable URL: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/937555
Year: 2024
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ABSTRACT:

The circumstances and chronology of the emergence of lead-glazed pottery in the Late Hellenistic and Roman Mediterranean remain heavily debated. This article presents a multidisciplinary discussion of pottery provenance and glazing technology based on the analysis of 94 samples from three sites: Mytilene, Athens, and Ostia. Through a critical review of published data and comparisons with other glazed ceramics, we discuss the emergence of lead-glazed pottery against the background of a highly interconnected, “global” world. We argue that mainland Greece played an important but hitherto unrecognized role in this development.