The Interpretation of Hadrianoupolis as a “Glass Working Center”

Abstract

The commercial, political, cultural and religious importance of Paphlogonian Hadrianoupolis, especially in the IIIrd century AD. and later, has been accepted as a scientific constant as a result of numerous archaeological evidence and written sources. In parallel, the city should be evaluated especially in terms of Anatolian and Paphlogonia glass history. As is known, Anatolia has been documented as a glass processing center at least from the Archaic Period. It can now be said that glass production continued uninterrupted for the region as of this period. The increase in glass studies shows that Anatolian-based workshops reached their peak, especially in the Late Roman Period. Undoubtedly, the most definitive evidence proving production is glass furnaces. At points where glass furnaces cannot be identified, archaeological data such as ingot pieces, crucibles, glass slags, faulty productions or production residues are used. In this article, the position of the ancient city of Hadrianoupolis, where the mentioned evidence was documented in recent excavations, as a glass processing center will be interpreted. These evidences, which point to the Late Antiquity, are the first findings that concrete the production not only for Hadrianoupolis but also for the Paphlogonia region, and they are of special importance.