Arabic glasses (coin weights, jets and vessel stamps) from Umayyad Syria

Despite the fact that in the 21st century at least the possibility that Egypt did not have the monopoly of glass disk production is considered, contrary to what Petrie believed in 1926, Syria itself is not even mentioned in the list of the regions in which glass jetons are found: therefore a paper entitled “Arabic glasses from Umayyad Syria” could appear provocative or ironic. However it is my aim to show evidence, both old and new, that will hopefully open a different perspective towards glass disks production in Syria during Umayyad times (40-132 AH/AD 661-750). The fact that the Syrian region was so close to the Sasanian and Byzantine empires, and that both of these empires produced glass disks, must be taken into account when studying the beginning of the Islamic glass disks. It may be true that « almost all Islamic glass weights, seals and jetons were manufactured in Egypt », as written by Bacharach, especially in Fatimid and post-Fatimid times, but it is important to consider what there is behind the word “almost”. Indeed, the non-Egyptian material evidence suggests that the start of the use of these glass disks, as Arab-Islamic objects, can be traced back to 7th century Syria. A corpus of 32 Arabic glasses (coin weights, jets and vessel stamps) from Umayyad Syria follows.