This small amphora represents one of the most common typologies of core-formed vessel during the Hellenistic period. Amphoriskoi and alabastra, globular flasks and juglets were mostly produced from white or blue glass and served as containers for cosmetics and perfumes. Their distribution attests to the trade routes followed by Greek and Phoenician merchants, through Rhodes, the Greek Islands and the Etruscan cities in Italy. The amphoriskos was core-formed, a technique first explored in Mesopotamia in the 15th century BC, developed in Egypt during the 18th dynasty and later revived along the Mediterranean coast during the second half of the 1st millennium BC. Vessels such as this were characterized by the fact that the insides of the vessels' necks were modeled around the metal rod that held the core -not around the core itself, which shaped the hollow of the body. This technique represented a departure from the manufacturing tradition of the 2nd millennium BC and from methods practised in Elam and was consistently employed during the late 1st millennium BC especially in the eastern Mediterranean regions.

Antiquities
Ancient Greek