ROMAN PERIOD, CIRCA 1ST CENTURY B.C.-1ST CENTURY A.D.

The 5 inlays presented here most likely represent Dionysos. As E.M. Stern and B. Schlick-Nolte discuss (pp. 376-377 in Early Glass of the Ancient World, 1600 B.C.-A.D. 50, Ernesto Wolf Collection), Dionysos would have been especially popular in Egypt and the Eastern Mediterranean during this period due to his connection with Mark Antony. In 41 B.C. Antony adopted the god of wine as his divine role model when he went to the East, following "in the footsteps of Hellenistic rulers who had modelled their image on gods" (op. cit., p. 377).