Flexible Glass: A Roman Invention?

As many readers are probably aware, one of the latest innovations being touted in technological products is bendable or flexible glass. For example, Samsung’s "Edge" line of products uses curved or bent glass over the device's edge. Curved televisions and monitors have existed for years as well. While these are all great innovations, they pale in comparison to the legend of the original truly unbreakable flexible glass.

Imagine a glass you can bend, crush with your hand as if it were a beer can or smash to the ground that still returns to its original form. This would definitely be the breakthrough of the century. But what if that century was 2,000 years ago?

Roman author Pliny the Elder in Naturalis Historia and Petronius in his work Satyricon both tell a similar story from different viewpoints (the Satyricon more satirical, whereas Naturalis Historia is of an encyclopedic view) of an unlucky glassmaker and his meeting with Tiberius, the Emperor of Rome.

The artisan showed Emperor Tiberius a phiale (an ancient Greek drinking bowl). Upon examining the glass bowl Tiberius was not impressed and handed it back to the glassmaker who then threw it to the ground. To the amazement of all present, the bowl did not break but simply dented as if it were made of bronze and not glass. The artisan then produced a small hammer and began to beat the glass. Within moments the phiale regained its original shape.

Tiberius then asked if anybody else knew the secret to making this incredible unbreakable glass, to which the inventor proudly replied that he was the only one who knew the secret and technique of making this unique glass. The inventor was probably expecting to be rewarded for his incredible invention but unfortunately things did not go as planned. Tiberius had the unlucky craftsman executed and the secret of how to make vitrium flexile (flexible glass) was lost. The reason as cited by Pliny was that Tiberius feared an invention of this type would devalue silver and gold, the currencies of the Roman Empire at the time.

According to Pliny the Elder’s Naturalis Historia he considers the story of vitrium flexile to be just that… a story.

Dio Cassius, a Roman senator and historian, tells a different story some 200 years later. As Cassius’ Historia Romana relates, the Emperor was envious of the craftsman’s skills. In this re-telling however, the unlucky inventor is simply exiled and not beheaded. His name is lost to history as even Cassius simply refers to him as “an architect whose name no one knows”.

As there is no known example of vitrium flexile in existence, it is difficult to ascertain whether or not this is a factual account or if it is nothing more than a myth, a story of ingenuity created by Roman storytellers and passed down over generations.

The story of Roman flexible glass is treated today much as it was in Pliny the Elder’s time…with considerable doubt. There has however been some speculation on how it might have been made if it really did exist. One proposal is that the inventor might have had access to either boric acid or borax, both of which occur naturally. By infusing the glass with a small amount of boric acid the end product would be akin to unbreakable. Borax was known to have been imported from the East to Europe on a regular basis later on as it was regularly used by goldsmiths.

Is it possible that the hapless inventor had stumbled onto this formula purely by chance and, believing it to be either a beneficial invention or perhaps simply a profitable one, made a fatal mistake in showing it to Emperor Tiberius?

While this particular invention, if it did exist at all, may be lost to us, the ancient Romans changed the world in a myriad of ways. Not afraid to experiment with new technologies and concepts, the ancient Romans gifted us with many things we take for granted today such as newspapers, bound books, the three-course meals and, of course, aqueducts.

So did this wondrous invention truly exist 2000 years ago? And if so, are we simply rediscovering today what was lost to us in the past?

Posted from my blog @ Ancient Knowledge
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