Glassblowing, the practice of shaping a mass of glass that has been softened by heat by blowing air into it through a tube. Glassblowing was invented by Syrian craftsmen in the area of Sidon, Aleppo, Hama, and Palmyra in the 1st century BC, where blown vessels for everyday and luxury use were produced commercially and exported to all parts of the Roman Empire.
At first, glass was blown into decorative molds; vessels shaped as shells, clusters of grapes, and human heads were common early Syrian products, but later Syrian gaffers (blowers) executed natural, spherical forms, without the use of molds.
