The value of glass was dependent on the colour it had. Green and blue (easy colours to create glass objects, without further decoration) can be generally seen in objects for daily use. They were often of lesser importance. Colourless glass was more expensive, as it was difficult to make and it was valued as a status symbol. If a goblet was colourless, you may see the colour of wine, and thereby judge the quality of the liquor.

In Athens, most of the glass seems to have been of the common green-blue variety. However, there are also a number of colourless objects, most of which were goblets and lamps.

Looking at the colours, and how these differ from place to place over the Mediterranean, can tell us something about the trade of glass. The glass from Butrint and Athens was both decoloured with the use of manganese, which may be able to tell us something about the origins of the glass (or at least its raw material).

The glass objects shown above are various examples of coloured glass found at the Agora in Athens, from different time periods. While they seem, to us, impressive to look at and beautiful in their colour, these types of glass would have been worth less than the colourless unguentarium shown on the previous page.

(all glass from the Athenian Agora from www.agora.ascsa.net)