The sands at the mouth of the Belus, the scene of Pliny's legend, were famous for their glass -making excellence, and were largely exported for this purpose to Sidon and elsewhere (Strabo, Geog. xvi. ii. 25; Jos. M'arg, it, x. 12). Pliny refers to f>idon as a famous seat of glass manufacture, and Strabo also mentions the glass-works 'of Alexandria. Glass has been made in Hebron since very early times, and the glass-works there are said to supply in modem times a large jmrt of the glass* ware used in Southern Syria, Egypt, and Arabia.
The references to glass in OT are few, and only one is direct, viz. that in Job 28", where RV so renders n'joi (AV crystal), following LXX iiaXot and Vulg. vitrum, the allusion being to a rare anil valuable substance, than which wisdom is still more precious. From Pr 2.'$'' it may be in- ferred that drinking-cups of transparent glass were u.sed by the Hebrews. The phrase 'treasures hid in the sand,' in the blessing of Zebulim (Dt 33"), is interpreted in the Targum of I's-Jonatlian aa referring to the sands of the Belus with their glass-making properties. (See Driv«r, Dcut. p. 410). It has been supposed that the name d:5 nj-ifp 'burnings of waters' (Jos 11' 13') may refer to glass-works, but the allusion may only be to the hot springs in the neighbourhood (for the various opinions and authorities see Keil, in luc). There is a legend in the Koran (ch. 27) about a glass i)avement in Solomon's palace at Jerus. which the queen of Sheba mistook for water. Recent excavations attest that glass was in use in Palestine at a very early date, and was most common during the Roman period (Warren, Underground Jeru.salcm, p. 518).
The Gr. word iiaXos or ilfXos was applied by classical writers, not only to glass, but io mineral
GLASS
GLISTER
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■ubstances with similar properties (Herod, iii. 24 ; Achilles Tatius, ii. 3). Glass, indeed, was early used for making imitation gems (Pliny, xxxvi. 26), which Herodotus calls XWira xwd (ii. 69). In NT OaXos and vdXivo! are found only in Rev. The adj. is used in 4' 15" of a sea ; the noun occurs in 2118.21^ gold being compared to it. In the former instances there may be an allusion to limpid trans- parency (in 4" the sea is o/iola KpvardWifi, cf. 22'), but in the latter, notwithstanding the adj. Oiairf/js in 21-', the reference is obviously to brilliant lustre. Probably in all instances the point of the compari- son is smoothness and sheen (in 15" the sea is f-e/uy- lidv-q TTvpl, and in 22' the 'crystal' river is \aiiTplis). All other passages where glass occurs in AV refer to mirrors, and these were almost universally of polished metal. Pliny {Nat. Hiit. xxxvi. 26) speaks of mirrors in connexion with the glass manufacture of Sidon, but his words seem to describe an unsuccessful experiment (see MiRROR). Windows in Pal. do not appear to have been glazed in ancient times, though glazed windows have been found in the ruins of Pompeii (Smith's Diet. Antiq. s.v. vitrum).
LiTERATURK. — Dunlop, Gloss in the Old World, where many ftuthorities are mentioned ; Nesbitt, Introd. to Catahgws of Blade collection in Brit. Mua. and of glass articles in S. Kens. Mus. : Wilkinson, Anc. Kijyp. ii. 140 IT. ; Perrot and Chi]tiez, HUt. of Art in Ancient Egypt, 37^, and in Chahltva and .'luKj/ria, 806; Ennun, Ancient Egt/pt, ibS; Maspero, E'j'jptian Archceo-
faoi/,263fl. James Patrick.
GLASS. — The word 'glass,' which is now col- loquial Eng. for 'mirror, occurs with this meaning in AV, both in OT and NT. In Is 3-' ' the glasses ' are part of the ' bravery ' of the daughters of Zion (DT^jn, RV ' hand mirrors '). The translation is disputed by Ewald, who prefers ' gauzes,' ' trans- parent garments,' but it is generally accepted. ' Glass ' is, however, an unfortunate rendering, as the material of which the gilUii/un was made was polished metal. The .same word is used in S' of a writing-tablet. In Ex 38" we read of ' the looking- glasses (1611 'looking glas.ses') of the women as- uembling' (nxain nx-i?, AVm ' brasen glasses,' RV ' mirrors of the serving women '), which were given to make the laver of brass and its brazen foot in the tabernacle.* And in Job 37'* the sky is 'as a molten looking-glass' (1611 'looking glasse,' Heb. f-ps -Nnr, KV ' as a hiolten mirror ').
In Sir 12" the metaphor is used of a person wiping the rust oil" a looking-glass, but never being able to wipe it altogether away. The Gr. word is laoirTpof (RV 'mirror'), which is found once elsewhere in LXX, Wis 7'-'°, where it is tr^ in AV 'mirror' (the only occurrence of that Eng. word). This is the Gr. word which is tr'' ' glass ' = 'mirror' in NT. It is found only in 1 Co 13'-, Ja 1"» (RV 'mirror'). In 2 Co 3" the verb Karoir- rpifw (which occurs only here and in the middle voice) is tr'' 'beholding as in a glass' (RV ' reflect- ing as a mirror,' RVm ' beholding as in a mirror '). CtT Spenser, Ili/mne of Ueavenli/ Beautie —
'Those unto all he daily doth display And show hinisi-lfe in th' imiiju,^e of liiserace, As in a looliin;;-^rlaS8e, through which ne mAy Be 8t-i:ne of all his creatures vile and base, Tlmt lire unable else to see his (ace. His vr'"rious face I which plistereth else 80 bright. That th* Angels* selves can not endure his sight.'