A collection of glass bottles found in Pompeii, each with double the volume capacity of the previous bottle, Roman Empire, 1st century AD
A collection of glass bottles found in Pompeii, each with double the volume capacity of the previous bottle, Roman Empire, 1st century AD
Cylindrical volumes have always messed with me. I understand it on a mathematical level, but practically, I am always blown away by the difference just a little bit of circumstance can make.
17yes, just one person being in the right place at the right time can change the world.
::: please don't fix your typo :::
19I am always blown away by the difference just a little bit of circumcision can make.
3So wake up, Mr. Freeman. Wake up and smell the ashes.
5
It‘s crazy to think that you could fill the six smaller bottles with the content of the biggest bottle and still have some leftovers.
24Let's commission a glassblower to make more bottles, each half the size of the previous one, until there are enough to store all the contents. We should negotiate a lump sum payment ahead of time, I think.
4
I wonder how they were fabricated. Having precise units of measure and shapes that aren't basic demonstrates mastery of glass work. These must have been mass produced, but without machinery or automation. But how?
8Probably the same way glass is made today. Get a clay or graphite (both can withstand high temperatures, and can be shaped easily) two-part mold in the size bottle you want. Using a known quantity of glass, (you can just weigh it) you clamp the mold around it and blow it. The air forms a bubble in the glass, which becomes the inside of the bottle. And the walls of the bottle quickly cool and harden (holding the shape of the bottle) when they hit the inside of the mold and it begins sapping the heat away like a heatsink. And since it was a known quantity of glass, you know how much volume inside of the mold is taken up by glass (and inversely, you know how much is taken up by air, which determines the bottle’s volume.)
It’s basically injection molding, but using air to fill the space instead of just injecting glass into the entire mold.
11Interesting. It's an art I didn't get into. Thanks for the basic breakdown.
6
These must have been mass produced
Why must have they been mass produced? Couldn't it be they're like the equivalent of standardise weights which are used to calibrate other, less accurate measuring devices?
So for instance perhaps these were made with extreme care, but people also had copper pots and pans with some specific size. Like, idk, 4 serving cups or something. But the way theyre made is less accurate and you can just check your bowl by filling one of these and pouring the water into your bronze bowl and seeing how it fits.
Like perhaps taverns always serve a serving size of two cups (500ml is what we used to give as a serving in the army on every meal, as in the woods it's always stew or mash or something else you can ladel.) and there's a city inspector who can go around checking that taverns aren't cheating people by having too small serving ladels of too small pints or something.
Idk thats more of a fantasy. Probably just a set for an apothecary. And this would've been somewhat rare, so definitely could get your measuring sets done custom. Which you probably needed to.
1
Imperfections are what make things unique and beautiful. Be they people or manufactured items. The fact that each of those jugs is slightly different than the others (not only in size) is something that we've lost in our homogenised, mass produced world and it makes me sad.
3If you add ten more bottles, the last one could hold the entire solar system.
2assuming the last one shown holds a liter, you'd get 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, and the last would hold 1024 liters. gonna have to push really hard to get Jupiter in there
7
wow that's cool. If I could time travel I would love to talk to the Pompeii person who made this
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