The German title of the book I have for you today translates to "Dark Glass and Fish in the Lamp".
It was published in 1963. Ingeborg Engelhardt, the author, wrote novels with the aim to make history accessible for children and young people. Instead of writing books about famous personalities of a certain time, country or region, though, her books told stories of ordinary people. For that, she also visited some of the places where her novels were set and did research, for example in archives.
I'm aware that you won't find an English version of this book - actually it's out of print here as well -, but I hope you'll be able to enjoy hearing about it anyway, just as I like to discover what children in other countries got to read.
I must have read this for the first time when I was about 11 because it was a recommendation by my Latin teacher who very much believed in children learning not through mere facts, but also stories and pictures (she and her husband traveled a lot and in every last class before vacations she would show us slides).
That fits well with her also being responsible for the small school library meant for the lower classes where my friend and I spent happy hours helping out. I remember how delighted she was about my becoming a librarian.
Mrs. Evler, this post is for you.
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| Germania inferior (red) within the Roman Empire around the time of the book, picture by ArdadN (public domain) on Wikipedia |
We are in Germania inferior ("Lower Germania") towards the end of the first century AD, in Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium, to be precise, the province's capital and military headquarters from which the city of Cologne developed.
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| Römerturm in Cologne (the only surviving of 19 Roman towers which were part of the city walls), picture by Mediatus, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons |
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During a stormy night, three travelers look for shelter at an inn, a young boy and his two Egyptian slaves. They ask for a glassmaker called Timon whom they visit the next day.
The young boy is Lysander, son of the famous glassmaker Ennion of Aquileia who has been executed by Emperor Domitian, allegedly for inventing unbreakable glass which would have upset the economical balance.
After fleeing from Aquileia to escape the wrath of the Emperor who had also confiscated his inheritance, all Lysander has left are the slaves Nemo and his brother Mutus who worked with his father.
Now he wants to work for Ennion's old friend Timon until he can return home. Timon has been about to close down his workshop because he can't compete with glassmakers from other Roman provinces. His daughter Fides, called Fugilo ("little bird"), however, convinces him to give Lysander a chance although it might prove dangerous for them to host a wanted man.
Lysander, on the other hand, who lives with them at first is shocked to find a fish scratched into their oil lamp and thus learn that Timon and Fugilo are Christians.
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| Roman perfume bottle (around 1st to 3rd century), picture by Hermann Junghans, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons |
With their beautiful glass, Lysander, Nemo, and Mutus get the attention of a big merchant who makes a deal with them to sell it to rich people outside of the province.
Therefore, the workshop's reputation spreads until a Gothic king and his daughter arrive to have Lysander replicate a glass that's important for a wedding ritual. The experienced Nemo takes on that task, but Lysander holds back the finished glass having fallen in love with the beautiful Svanadis and not wanting her to return home.
He also finds out that Nemo is actually the one who has invented the unbreakable glass and kept experimenting. Nemo offers to share the secret with his master in exchange for his and Mutus's freedom.
Everything changes, however, when the workshop goes up in flames.
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| Roman glass in the shape of a Secutor's gladiator helmet, picture by BS Thurner Hof, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons |
It's still fascinating to me that the Romans used to be here, not just in Cologne, but also in my own town (which was part of Germania superior ("Upper Germania")). When our oldest church was renovated decades ago, archeologists found that in there had been a "villa rustica" in that spot, a farmhouse meant to provide soldiers with food.
Also I was already intrigued by glass even then (and of course loved the idea of unbreakable glass).
According to the Britannica, the Rhineland was one of the great glassmaking areas of the Roman world and there was decorated glass that was a speciality of the region.
The so-called "Schlangenfadengläser" (literally "snake thread glasses") were decorated with glass threads - clear or colored - curling around the glass and pressed on. I couldn't find a picture I was allowed to share, but you can find one here that shows beautiful examples kept in Europen museums or in the banner of a page on the website of the Romano-Germanic Museum in Cologne which holds the worldwide largest collection of Roman glass.
We don't just get the story of Lysander, the glassmaker, though.
We also learn about him as a fugitive to a strange country so different from his own (snow!), as a son who wonders what the real reason was for his father's death and is afraid for his mother and sisters he had to leave behind (rightfully so as we find out at the end), as a young man falling in love with a princess from what's a Barbarian tribe to him who longs for home, as a master betrayed by his slave (from his point of view), and a man confronted with a faith other than his own.
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| Photo by Mina Meh on Unsplash |
I devoured the book as a child and later kept looking for it on fleamarkets.
When the internet came along, I saw my chance, but didn't remember the author and wasn't sure about the title.
Finally, I posted on the "In search of" page of a used book site (the page doesn't exist anymore which is a pity as it was so interesting to read what others were looking for and also informative) and someone told me the title.
After getting it I luckily found I still enjoyed it as much as when I was 11.
Do you have books like that from your past?