It is unclear exactly when or where glass was first made. Glass appears to have been produced as far back as the second millennium BC by the Egyptians and Phoenicians. Glass is thought to have originated in Mesopotamia, where pieces of well made glass artifacts have been found and dated from the third millennium BC.

The art of glass making eventually reached Egypt. The Egyptians used a method called core-forming. A shaped core, made of clay, was wrapped with molten glass and shaped by rolling it on a smooth surface.

It was around the end of the 1st century BC when a new method termed "glass blowing" would revolutionize glass production. This art is thought to have been discovered along the Eastern Mediterranean coast near Syria. By blowing through a hollow tube, the experienced glassblower could quickly produce intricate and symmetrical shapes out of the "gather" of molten glass at the end of the tube. This glassblowing innovation, along with the backing of the powerful Roman Empire, made glass products more accessible to Roman citizens. As the Roman Empire expanded, so did the art of glass making.