Pliny attributes the discovery of glass to the city of Sidon, but the art of glass-blowing is, in fact, the final stage of a long process that had been experimented in the Near East since the 2nd millennium. From the Persian period onwards, there was a great industrialization of glassmaking which, through the 'sand core' technique, led to the production of small polychrome mask beads and, on the one hand, to the production of miniature containers to hold precious perfumes and oils. In both categories, different coloured glass threads were used, which in the case of the small mask beads (cat. 530) were laid or inlaid into the mass. For the small vases, these threads were spread with little combs to obtain a multicoloured zigzag pattern. The mask-shaped beads are reminiscent of the demon amulets of earlier times and certainly had the same propitiatory function. The typology of miniature vessels also refers to older prototypes, such as Egyptian and Levantine alabasters for wine and oil, or Phoenician amphorae and jugs, which were gradually replaced by forms inspired by Greek examples. Finally, small bottles in the shape of bunches of grapes (cat. 534) are the most charming examples of glass-blowing art and remind us of the great importance that wine has always played in the export of the Phoenician ports. E.G.