Why were they interested in nastrum - what was it good for? TIA, Dan.

Neal Robbins wrote:

>
> According to the ancient Roman writer Pliny, this is how the
> Phoenicians discovered how to make glass:
>
> A group of Phoenician sailors had gone and acquired a cargo of
> nastrum. It is a subcarbonate of soda. The ship stopped at the
> Phoenician coast and the sailors went ashore to make dinner. They
> were at the mouth of the Belus River. The sailors could not find any
> stones to prop up their cooking utensils. They decided to use one of
> the blocks of nastrum and it mixed with the siliceous sand at the
> base. Thus a stream of glass was formed. The Phoenician sailors
> realized that they had accidentally discovered a technique for making
> glass.
> We do not know if this story is true, but it is plausible. It is
> certainly not impossible.
>
> Neal Robbins
>
>
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