Michael Vickers, Jesus College/Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (emeritus): Roman Murrhine Ware: 'The Most Costly Product of the Earth's Interior'

A certain category of costly vessels (vasae murrhinae) were said by the Elder Pliny to be made from a material that was 'the most costly product of the earth’s interior'. Moralizing writers stressed its fragility, but rich Romans spent fortunes on its acquisition. We shall examine the various suggestions that have been made over the centuries as to quite what this material actually was (in fact fluorite, imported from Persia), before looking at the few surviving examples and their glass evocations. The same material was mined in Castleton in England in the18th century, and was known as Derbyshire Blue John.

Michael Vickers of Jesus College/Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (emeritus) will present "Roman Murrhine Ware: 'The Most Costly Product of the Earth's Interior'" at a free public lecture on Monday, February 18th at 7:00pm, sponsored by the CU Department of Classics. This lecture will be held in Hellems Room 201 at the University of Colorado Boulder.