腓尼基花瓶
Phoenician Vase

仿效古腓尼基人以獨特的玻璃熔液口吹製成的花瓶，半透明的旋繞圖紋及手作工藝確保每一個都是獨一無二。

根據古羅馬學者老普林尼的記載，腓尼基人（聚居於推羅、西頓等地）在地中海岸，彼努斯河口意外地發現了製作玻璃的技巧：

傳說一艘商船在這裡泊岸，船上的人在岸邊做飯。由於那裡沒有石頭築爐放煮食鍋，他們於是便從船上取了些梳打架起爐子。當這些燒熱了的梳打接觸到灘上的沙，一股股不知明的液體流出來，這就是玻璃的起源。

一、二世紀羅馬時期，腓尼基的玻璃技師一直維持著高水平的製作工藝。耶穌時期的富裕人家家中都會有類似這樣的工藝品。現在希伯崙玻璃工房亦使用同樣的古老方法製作這些花瓶。他們會把銀或其它物料加入玻璃熔液中，令到每個花瓶都有其獨特的旋繞圖紋及色彩。

Handblown with a unique cocktail of molten glass characteristic of the ancient Phoenicians; the swirling translucent style and hand-made shape ensures that no two items are ever the same.

According to Pliny the Elder, the Phoenicians (inhabiting Tyre, Sidon and the surrounding area) unintentionally discovered this craft on the Mediterranean coast near the mouth of the Belus river:

A ship belonging to traders in soda once called here, so the story goes, and they spread out along the shore to make a meal. There were no stones to support their cooking-pots, so they placed lumps of soda from their ship under them. When these became hot and fused with the sand on the beach, streams of an unknown liquid flowed, and this was the origin of glass. (Pliny, 362)

In the 1st and 2nd centuries Phoenician glass-blowers maintained a high standard in blowing techniques all through the Roman period. The wealthy people of Jesus’ day would have had items similar to this one in their homes. Now they’re being fabricated in the same old fashion by the Hebron Glass company. They often add silver or other substances to the molten glass to give the vases a distinct swirly pattern with nice contrasting colors.