Aleppo: Glass Workers

Date: Thirteenth century

Yaqut (d. 1229) reports in his geographical encyclopaedia that fine, white sand was gathered from Jabal Bishr, located between Rusafa and Tadmur, for use in the glass industry of Aleppo. The sand is claimed to be “like white lead (kal-isfīdāj) and used as a colourant. See also: Collector of clay; Glass maker; Glass worker.

Citation: Yaqut al-Hamawi, Kitāb Muʿjam al-buldān, ed. Ferdinand Wüstenfeld (title: Jacut’s geographische Wörterbuch) (Leipzig: F. A. Brockhaus, 1866-70), I, p. 631.

See also: Stefan Heidemann, “The history of the industrial and commercial area of ʿAbbāsid al-Raqqa, called al-Raqqa al-Muḥtariqa”, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 69.1 (2006), pp. 40-41.