Who invented / discovered glass?
Naturally occurring glass, such as obsidian, has been used since the stone age. According to Pliny the Elder, the Phoenicians made the first glass. Pliny wrote: “The tradition is that a merchant ship laden with nitrum (soda and potash) being moored at this place, the merchants were preparing their meal on the beach, and not having stones to prop up their pots, they used lumps of nitrum from the ship, which fused and mixed with the sands of the shore, and there flowed streams of a new translucent liquid, and thus was the origin of glass.” [6] That the Phoenicians used glass as a glaze for pottery was known as early as 3000 BC. However, there is archaeological evidence to support the claim that the first glass was made in Mesopotamia. Glass beads, seals, and architectural decorations date from around 2500 B.C. The color of “natural glass” is green to bluish green. This color is caused by naturally occurring iron impurities in the sand. Common glass today usually has a slight green or blu
