Ancient Roman Flasks

Ancient Roman flasks were often used to hold various liquids. The people of ancient Rome were extremely sophisticated and advanced for their time. They were also known for their keen artistic flair that infiltrated every part of Roman life from their places of worship to the simple every day items they used. One example of the sophistication of early Romans can be seen by viewing some of the Ancient Roman flasks that survive today.

The Romans used these ancient Roman Flasks to hold a variety of liquids including: water, wine, oils, sauces, medicines such as opium and perfumes. While many of these flasks were made from Terracotta and even Bronze the most beautiful of the ancient Roman flasks were made from blown glass. The Roman glass blowers took great pride in their skill and this shows in some of the beautiful flasks that were created by these skilled artisans.

Although many blown glass flasks were simple smooth receptacles that were larger at the bottom with a thin neck, this was certainly not the only type of flask that was made. Many skilled artisans used their talents to create beautiful flasks that depicted such things as human heads, dates, grapes, fish and a number of other shapes. So skilled were the Roman glassblowers that often it is difficult if not impossible to see the seams of where two pieces of blown glass were joined during a mold blowing process.

Using head shapes were especially popular in Rome and there are ancient Roman flasks discovered both in Bronze and terracotta as well as glass depicting heads. Since Africans were thought to be quite an exotic people by the Romans, flasks with African heads were quite popular. Wine flasks sometimes bore the head of Bacchus the God of Merriment.

The sizes of ancient Roman flasks vary depending on the use for which they were designed. For example a flask that was designed to carry water or oil was much larger than most flasks containing perfume. Medicine flasks often varied in size from quite large to rather small. Depending on the medicines that were to be placed in them.

Collectors of Ancient Roman flasks often scour sales where such flasks may be for sale looking for the more unusual and well crafted flasks. Roman flasks also appear in countless museums around the world and some are quite breathtaking and lovely. It is quite surprising when one considers the number of Ancient Roman flasks that have survived particularly the more delicate of the blown glass ones.

For people who are interested in purchasing an Ancient Roman Flask or for the beginning collector there are surprisingly a great many to be found at a surprising low price starting around $125.00 and up. Perhaps, the reason they seem to be so inexpensively priced is because of the vast number of flasks that have survived. Whether you are interested in owning one of these flasks for your own or simply interested in learning more about the life of the Romans, ancient Roman flasks are a great way to see first hand some of items this civilization used.