Flexible Glass – Lost Ancient Roman Invention Because Glassmaker Was Beheaded By Emperor Tiberius

Ellen Lloyd – AncientPages.com – Did ancient Romans invent unbreakable glass? If they did, their secrets would be long lost because the Roman Emperor Tiberius beheaded the inventor of flexible glass.

A Roman blown-glass cinerary urn, dated between 1st and 3rd centuries AD. Image credit: Luis García – CC BY-SA 3.0

According to Roman authors Petronius (c. 27–66 AD) and Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD), a glassmaker was granted an audience with Emperor Tiberius. The glassmaker presented an incredible invention called a phiale (a shallow drinking vessel). The drinking bowl must have been made out of extraordinary material because he failed when the Roman Emperor Tiberius Caesar attempted to break the bowl.

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