Ankara'da Özel Bir Koleksiyondan Cam Yağ ve Koku Şişeleri

This paper deals with the perfume and oil bottles from the Roman Imperial Period, which are part of the extensive glass vessel collection of Mehmet Durmaz, a collector of movable cultural property under the control of the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara.
Glass perfume and oil bottles were integral to daily life in antiquity, alongside examples crafted from ceramic, metal, and faience. They were essential elements of bathing rituals, anointment of athletes and cosmetics, particularly for women. Therefore, archaeologists frequently encounter these bottles in various settings, including residences, grave contexts, and public buildings such as baths and palaestrae. Additionally, perfume bottles, in their diverse forms, served as commodities traded across a wide geographical area. Being frequently encountered grave goods within the ancient burial contexts explains the large number and variety of unguentaria compared to other glass bottle forms. Furthermore, the well-preserved condition of the perfume and oil bottles in the M. Durmaz collection strongly suggests their role as grave goods.
The vessels evaluated within the study, acquired through purchase, have been reported to be recovered from Ankara and its surroundings. Although the finds unearthed by illegal excavations and exhibited in museums and private collections do not provide as much information as those discovered in archaeological excavations, they still form a crucial corpus of finds shedding light on the repertoire of the ancient Anatolian glass vessels, their diversity, and geographical distribution of the commercial bottles. In this regard, twenty-three perfume and oil bottles of varying shapes and sizes from the collection were examined,
focusing on their original function and chronological and typological distinctions.