An unguentarium (: unguentaria), also referred to as balsamarium (: balsamaria), lacrimarium (: lacrimaria) or tears vessel,Neuter noun from the Latin unguentarius, "concerned with the production, sale, etc., of ointments," Oxford Latin Dictionary (Oxford: Clarendon Press 1982, 1985 printing), p. 2092. The noun is a modern coinage as it applies to these vessels: see Susan I. Rotroff, "Hellenistic Pottery: Athenian and Imported Wheelmade Table Ware and Related Material," part 1: text, The Athenian Agora 29 (1997), pp. 175–176, note 28, for references on possible ancient terminology. In antiquity, the adjective unguentarius and its substantives referred to the perfume trade. is a small ceramic or glass bottle found frequently by archaeologists at Hellenistic and Roman sites, especially in cemeteries.Virginia R. Anderson-Stojanovic, "The Chronology and Function of Ceramic Unguentaria," American Journal of Archaeology 91 (1987), p. 105. Its most common use was probably as a container for oil, though it is also suited for storing and dispensing liquid and powdered substances. Some finds date into the early Christian era.For examples, James Whitley, "Archaeology in Greece 2003–2004," Archaeological Reports 50 (2003–2004), p. 66, with example dating from the 5th–7th century. From the 2nd to the 6th century they are more often made of blown glass rather than clay.Henry S. Robinson, "Pottery of the Roman Period: Chronology," in The Athenian Agora, vol. 5 (American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 1959), pp. 15 and 118. A few examples are silver or alabaster.Virginia R. Anderson-Stojanovic, "The Chronology and Function of Ceramic Unguentaria," American Journal of Archaeology 91 (1987), p. 111, note 34.
Unguentaria were used as product packaging in commerce and for funerary practice. They are distributed throughout the Mediterranean region of the Roman Empire from Israel to Spain, and north into Britain and Germania. Their manufacture was nearly as widespread.Virginia R. Anderson-Stojanovic, "The Chronology and Function of Ceramic Unguentaria," American Journal of Archaeology 91 (1987), p. 105; E. Marianne Stern, "Glass Is Hot," American Journal of Archaeology 106 (2002), p. 464.
Forms and function The term unguentarium is functional rather than descriptive; that is, it refers to the purpose for which this relatively small vessel is thought to have been used and is not typological by shape.Natalia Vogelkoff-Brogan, "Late Hellenistic Pottery in Athens: A New Deposit and Further Thoughts on the Association of Pottery and Societal Change", Hesperia 69 (2000), p. 316. In its early development, the shape was modeled in miniature after larger amphoras, which would have been the original bulk shipping containers for products sold in the unguentaria.Susan I. Rotroff, "Hellenistic Pottery: Athenian and Imported Wheelmade Table Ware and Related Material", part 1: text, The Athenian Agora 29 (1997), p. 177, and "Fusiform Unguentaria," in "Hellenistic Pottery: The Plain Wares", The Athenian Agora 33 (2006), p. 142. An unguentarium is not always distinguished in the scholarly literature from an ampulla,William Anderson, "An Archaeology of Late Antique Pilgrim Flasks," Anatolian Studies 54 (2004), p. 82, with reference to John Hayes (1971), who categorized a wheel-made, fusiform ampulla as a "late Roman unguentarium." a term from antiquity that may refer to these as well as other small vessels. In scholarship of the modern era, an unguentarium is sometimes called a lacrimarium ("tear-container") or balsamarium ("balsam-container"). All three terms reflect modern usage based on assumptions about their use, and no single word is found in ancient sources for the vessels.Virginia R. Anderson-Stojanovic, "The Chronology and Function of Ceramic Unguentaria", American Journal of Archaeology 91 (1987), pp. 105–106; Susan I. Rotroff, "Hellenistic Pottery: Athenian and Imported Wheelmade Table Ware and Related Material", part 1: text, The Athenian Agora 29 (1997), pp. 175–176, note 28.
Small vessels of two shapes, usually but not always without handles, are referred to as unguentaria: Fusiform – The fusiform shape (example herehere) is characteristic of Hellenistic unguentaria: a heavy ovoid body resting usually on a small distinct ring foot, with a long tubular neck or cylindrical stem. The shape is comparable to a spindle (Latin fusus, "spindle").Homer A. Thompson, "Two Centuries of Hellenistic Pottery," Hesperia 4 (1934), p. 472; Henry S. Robinson, "Pottery of the Roman Period: Chronology," in The Athenian Agora, vol. 5 (American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 1959), p. 15; Nabil I. Khairy, "Nabataean Piriform Unguentaria," Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 240 (1980), p. 85; Virginia R. Anderson-Stojanovic, "The Chronology and Function of Ceramic Unguentaria," American Journal of Archaeology 91 (1987), p. 106. These ovoid unguentaria first appear in Cyprus around the turn of the 4th and 3rd centuries BC.George H. McFadden, "A Tomb of the Necropolis of Ayios Ermoyenis at Kourion," American Journal of Archaeology 50 (1946), p. 474. and may have been Near Eastern in origin or influence.Virginia R. Anderson-Stojanovic, "The Chronology and Function of Ceramic Unguentaria," American Journal of Archaeology 91 (1987), p. 115. Early examples are similar in shape to the amphoriskos. They are believed to develop functionally from the lekythos, which they replace by the end of the 4th century BC.Nabil I. Khairy, "Nabataean Piriform Unguentaria," Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 240 (1980), p. 85; Virginia R. Anderson-Stojanovic, "The Chronology and Function of Ceramic Unguentaria," American Journal of Archaeology 91 (1987), p. 106; Susan I. Rotroff, "Fusiform Unguentaria," in "Hellenistic Pottery: The Plain Wares," The Athenian Agora 33 (2006), p. 138 The fusiform unguentarium was in use for several centuries and the form shows many variations, including later examples with very slender profiles.Virginia R. Anderson-Stojanovic, "The Chronology and Function of Ceramic Unguentaria," American Journal of Archaeology 91 (1987), p. 107.
Piriform – The unguentarium with a footless body that is rounded or pear-shaped (Latin pirus, "pear") began to appear in the second half of the 1st century BC and is characteristic of the Roman era, particularly the early Principate.Nabil I. Khairy, "Nabataean Piriform Unguentaria," Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 240 (1980), pp. 85–86; Virginia R. Anderson-Stojanovic, "The Chronology and Function of Ceramic Unguentaria," American Journal of Archaeology 91 (1987), pp. 113–114; Patricia Maynor Bikai and Megan A. Perry, "Petra North Ridge Tombs 1 and 2: Preliminary Report," Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 324 (2001), p. 66. These are regularly associated with graves in the 1st century.Henry S. Robinson, "Pottery of the Roman Period: Chronology," in The Athenian Agora, vol. 5 (American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 1959), p. 85. The piriform unguentarium was in use for a limited period of about a hundred years and did not replace the fusiform.Virginia R. Anderson-Stojanovic, "The Chronology and Function of Ceramic Unguentaria", American Journal of Archaeology 91 (1987), p. 107. An exception to this chronology is the squat rounded unguentarium with painted bands found on the northeast coast of Spain and in other Iberian cemeteries, dated as early as the 5th century BC.Susan I. Rotroff, "Fusiform Unguentaria," in "Hellenistic Pottery: The Plain Wares," The Athenian Agora 33 (2006), pp. 138–139.
The word bulbous is used rather confusingly in the scholarship to describe both forms. "Bulbous" appears as a synonym for "piriform", but is applied descriptively to the fusiform to distinguish certain examples from more slender profiles.
Thin blown-glass bottles began to appear in Cyprus after the middle of the 1st century BC.George H. McFadden, "A Tomb of the Necropolis of Ayios Ermoyenis at Kourion," American Journal of Archaeology 50 (1946), p. 480. The use of the new medium for unguentaria resulted in variations of form, including the thin, "test-tube" type. Glass unguentaria made in Thessaly, for example, often have a distinctive conical body, flared like the bell of a trumpet, or are squat and rounded with a very long neck; they come in a range of colors including aquamarine, pale green, and yellowish green, or may be colorless.Gladys Davidson Weinberg, "Evidence for Glass Manufacture in Ancient Thessaly," American Journal of Archaeology 66 (1962) 129–133. This shape was popular in the 2nd and 3rd centuries and is also characteristic of Thrace and Cyprus.Virginia R. Anderson-Stojanovic, "The Chronology and Function of Ceramic Unguentaria," American Journal of Archaeology 91 (1987), p. 113.
Glass bird-shaped containers for cosmetics found at various Roman sites from Herculaneum to Spain have also been called unguentaria. In these examples, dating from the period of the piriform type, the neck has become a spout, and the profile is no longer vertical. As with other unguentaria, no clear distinction can be made between the use of these vessels for grooming in daily life, and their inclusion in tombs.Virginia R. Anderson-Stojanovic, "The Chronology and Function of Ceramic Unguentaria", American Journal of Archaeology 91 (1987), pp. 116–117; Josefina Pérez-Arantegui, Juan Ángel Paz-Peralta, and Esperanza Ortiz-Palomar, "Analysis of the Products Contained in Two Roman Glass unguentaria from the Colony of Celsa (Spain)," Journal of Archaeological Science 23 (1996), pp. 649–650, following C. Isings, Roman Glass from Dated Finds (Groningen-Djakarta 1957), on vessel form.
Commercial and secular use In her typology of Hellenistic vessels at Athens used to contain and pour oil, Susan I. Rotroff classes unguentaria with plastic askoi as used for perfumed oil in bathing and grooming, but notes the diversity of craft tradition associated with them.Susan I. Rotroff, "Hellenistic Pottery: Athenian and Imported Wheelmade Table Ware and Related Material," part 1: text, The Athenian Agora 29 (1997), pp. 6, 32, and 169. Most unguentaria from the Athenian agora were probably intended for secular use, as they are found in household dumps; the pattern of deposition in some wells, however, suggests votive offerings.Susan I. Rotroff, "Hellenistic Pottery: Athenian and Imported Wheelmade Table Ware and Related Material," part 1: text, The Athenian Agora 29 (1997), p. 176.