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The vase is about 25 centimetres high and 56 in circumference. It is made of violet-blue glass, and surrounded with a single continuous white glass cameo depicting seven figures (humans and gods). Though still mysterious, one interpretation is that the figures depict two different scenes, one the story of the Emperor Augustus' supposed siring by the god Apollo, and the other a divinatory dream by Hecuba that the Judgement of Paris would lead to the destruction of Troy. Another interpretation of the first scene is that it is Peleus and Thetis. On the bottom is a head, presumed to be of Paris on the basis of the Phrygian cap it wears. Based on the scenes and the style of the work, the Portland Vase is believed to have been made in Alexandria some time between 20 BCCenturies: 2nd century BC 1st century BC 1st century Decades: 70s BC 60s BC 50s BC 40s BC 30s BC 20s BC 10s BC 0s 10s 20s 30s Years: 25 BC 24 BC 23 BC 22 BC 21 BC 20 BC 19 BC 18 BC 17 BC 16 BC 15 BC Births Gaius Caesar, grandson of Augustus Caesar Deaths and the year 100Events The Portland Vase is believed to have been made in Alexandria some time between 20 BC and this year. Pliny the Younger advances to consulship. The Temple of the God of Medicine is built in Anguo, China. Lions have become extinct in Europe by this d.

Legend has it that it was discovered in the sepulchre of the Emperor Alexander SeverusMarcus Aurelius Severus Alexander ( October 1, 208- March 18?, 235), commonly called Alexander Severus Roman emperor from AD 222 to 235, was born at Arca Caesarea in Palestine. His father, Gessius Marcianus, held office more than once as an imperial procu near RomeRome ( Italian and Latin Roma is the capital city of Italy, and of its Lazio region. It is located on the lower Tiber river, near the Mediterranean Sea, at 41°50'N, 12°15'E. The Vatican City State, a sovereign enclave within Rome, is the seat of the Roman some time around 1580Events Michel de Montaigne publishes first Essay. September 26 Sir Francis Drake circumnavigated the globe 1580- 1764 First session if Jewish Waad ( Sejm of 4 countries) in Lublin, Poland. 70 delegates of Jewish local kahals met to discuss issue of taxati, but the first possible historical reference to the vase is in a 1601For other uses, see Number 1601. Events February 8 Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, rebels against Elizabeth I of England revolt is quickly crushed February 25 Robert Devereux beheaded Jesuit Matteo Ricci arrives in China Bad harvest in Russia due to r letter from the French scholar Nicolas Claude Fabri de Peiresc to the painter Peter Paul RubensPeter Paul Rubens ( June 28, 1577 May 30, 1640) was a Flemish baroque painter. He was born in Siegen, Westphalia, to a successful Protestant lawyer, who had fled Antwerp to escape religious persecution. After his father's death, Rubens and his mother retu. Another story says that it was found in a sarcophagusA sarcophagus is a stone container for a coffin or body. The word comes from Greek sarkophagos sigma;αρκοφαγο&sigmaf , which means "eater of flesh". Herodotus believed, erroneously, that sarcophagi (the Lati excavated at Monte del Grano (also near Rome) some time between 1623 and 1644. After being owned by the Barberini family for some two hundred years, it was then purchased by Sir William Hamilton and brought to England.

From there it ended up in the possession of William Bentinck, the Duke of Portland and at times the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. After a friend broke the base of it, he loaned the vase to the British Museum for safe-keeping, at which point it was dubbed the "Portland Vase."

In 1845, the vase was accidentally shattered to pieces by one William Mulcahy, who had drunkenly leaned on the case. The vase was pieced together, with mild success, but after the Duke's descendants sold the vase to the museum in 1945, a second and better reconstruction was done. The third and current reconstruction took place in 1986, and managed to reincorporate several small stubborn pieces that had been saved for more than 140 years. Little sign of the original damage is visible now.

From the standpoint of art history the vase is interesting as it twice served as a major source of artistic inspiration in two favorite British media. Josiah Wedgwood devoted considerable time at the end of the 18th century to duplicating it in porcelain, then in the 19th century a £1000 prize was offered by Benjamin Richardson to anyone who could duplicate the cameo work in glass. The latter work proved to be incredibly painstaking, and based on this it is believed that the Portland Vase must have taken its original artisan no less than two years to produce.