c. 1st-3rd Century A.D.

This flask consists of a circular body with a flat front and back sides, a slender neck with an everted rim below which sits a decorative band, a single ring handle on the right shoulder and two small feet. The front is decorated with a recessed stylized rosette. Remnants of turquoise blue glaze can be found on various parts of the flask and would originally have filled in the recesses surrounding the rosette making it look quite different than it does today. Similar flasks of this type have been in use by various cultures since as early as the 2nd millennium B.C., although glazing was not regularly used on these objects in the region until the 2nd Century B.C.. The style and shape of the vessel is typical of a Parthian flask of this kind while the central rosette decoration was most likely adopted from earlier Ptolemaic examples.

The Parthian Empire originated in the area of what is now northeast Iran, along the Caspian Sea. Originally a semi-nomadic people they clashed against the Seleucid dynasty in the 3rd Century B.C. following the death of Alexander the Great and eventually became the dominate power in the region. During its height the empire reached to the Persian Gulf in the south and encapsulated the Tigris and Euphrates in the west, with the residence of the kings being placed in Ctesiphon on the Tigris River. It was not until their defeat by the Sassanians in the 3rd Century A.D. that their empire came to an end.

4.05 x .82 x 2.83 inches (10.3 x 2.1 x 7.2 cms)

Export Approval from Israel Antiquities Authority

Antiquities
Ancient Near East