Unguentaria

An unguentarium (plural "unguentaria") is a small ceramic or glass bottle found frequently by archaeologists at Hellenistic and Roman sites, especially in cemeteries. Its most common use was probably as a container for oil, though it is also suited for storing and dispensing liquid and powdered substances. Some finds date into the early Christian era. From the 2nd to the 6th century they are more often made of blown glass rather than clay. A few examples are silver or alabaster.

Unguentaria were used as product packaging in commerce and for funerary practice. They are distributed throughout the Mediterranean region of the Roman Empire from Israel to Spain, and north into Britain and Germania. Their manufacture was nearly as widespread.

The term unguentarium is functional rather than descriptive; that is, it refers to the purpose for which this relatively small vessel is thought to have been used and is not typological by shape. In its early development, the shape was modeled in miniature after larger amphoras, which would have been the original bulk shipping containers for products sold in the ungentaria. An unguentarium is not always distinguished in the scholarly literature from an , a term from antiquity that may refer to these as well as other small vessels. In scholarship of the modern era, an unguentarium is sometimes called a lacrimarium ("tear-container") or balsamarium ("-container"). All three terms reflect modern usage based on assumptions about their use, and no single word is found in ancient sources for the vessels.

Small vessels of two shapes, usually but not always without handles, are referred to as unguentaria:

The word bulbous is used rather confusingly in the scholarship to describe both forms. "Bulbous" appears as a synonym for "piriform", but is applied descriptively to the fusiform to distinguish certain examples from more slender profiles.

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