Hellenistic Greek Cast Glass Pomegranate

Hicham Aboutaam
1 min readMay 18, 2021

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Hicham Aboutaam: The next piece in our series looking at some of Phoenix Ancient Art’s pieces and the stories behind them.

Hicham Aboutaam — Wonderful glass pomegranate
Hicham Aboutaam: A glass pomegranate

Pomegranates, a fruit that’s still perhaps a novelty to many of us today, were significant in Greek and Roman mythology.

Persephone, daughter of the goddess of the harvest, was abducted by Hades, who fed her pomegranate seeds, the food of the underworld. Since then, the fruit is associated with Persephone’s power as the queen of the Underworld; they are a symbol of life in death, of fruitfulness and fertility bursting forth from seeds under the ground.

While we have other examples of glass vessels in the shape of fruit, many of them votive offerings from tombs, this pomegranate is special. In the form of a ripening fruit, with gently variegated color and a perfectly fashioned corolla, its excellent condition marks this piece as unique.

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Hicham Aboutaam
Hicham Aboutaam

Written by Hicham Aboutaam

Hicham Aboutaam is the co-founder of Phoenix Ancient Art. He’s also the owner of e-Tiquities and Electrum

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