The glassblowing pipe was discovered in the Near East, probably towards the end of the 1st century B.C. The new technology made possible the making of new forms of glassware, greatly facilitated their production and rendered glass objects available to the broader masses of population throughout the Empire. Trade in this type of goods was intensified when Syria and Egypt became parts of the Roman Empire. Glassmaking was not restricted to the East, as at the beginning; it also developed north and south of the Alps.
All the pottery forms were reproduced in glass. The finds from Singidunum include bottles, jugs, plates, cups, beakers, flasks (guti), urns, and lamps. Small toilet bottles were used for the keeping of exotic scents and medicaments. Clear whitish glass was the most common and greatly esteemed, although there were also vessels made of coloured glass, mostly blue and green. They were decorated with applied glass thread, beads, incised ornaments and polishing. Houses of the rich had glass window panes (oculi). Glass paste was used for the making of jewelry.
The presence of glassware from Italian, Gaulish and east Mediterranean workshops in Singidunum testifies to the widespread trade links and good communications of the town. The glassmaking craft was handed down from generation to generation. The associations of free craftsmen (collegia opificum), to which glassmakers (vitrarii) also belonged, had their statutes with strict regulations, although their members also enjoyed certain privileges.