Many centuries
ago there were powerful states of Assyria and Babylon. They disappeared from
the face of the earth a long time ago. But we know something about the wise
warlike peoples who inhabited these countries. They knew various sciences,
crafts, were engaged in arts. Among them were beautiful architects, artists,
chemists, glassmakers. Under the wreckage of their palaces, glass products were
found that are not inferior in beauty to Egyptian ones.
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| Glass Making Process |
But all these
findings pleased scientists less than a few simple clay tablets on which you
could see some kind of icons. It took many years to read them, and now, people
who lived thousands of years ago started talking from plain tiles. They talked
about the laws that governed their country, about travels by sea, about trade
with other states, about many of their industries.
Some tablets
were dedicated to glassmaking. On one of them, scientists dismantled the
signature - "Mardu." And here is what we managed to learn about this
man and his work. Mardu lived near the city of Babylon three thousand six
hundred years ago. He was the son of a priest. He was educated in one of the
churches, where he studied glassmaking well. The Babylonian priests kept this
science in strict secrecy. Secret records made on burnt clay tablets passed
from fathers to sons.
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| Ancient Glass Beads |
Mardu rewrote
the secrets of his ancestors, added to them everything that he comprehended by
his own experience, and thus made a detailed description of the manufacture of
glass of different grades and colors.
Babylonian names
sound strange to us. "Tsukku" - so the Babylonians called glass. And
each color had its own name: red - Uknu, blue - Tusku, dark blue - Shirshu. All
of them, according to the ancient master, were used for fakes for precious
stones: rubies, turquoise or sapphires.
Mardu
gives accurate recipes in his notes. He indicates how many and what substances
you need to take to get a purple glass or glass that has a special luster, as
if it is luminous from the inside, or blue, black, violet.