Glass is one of the most versatile and ancient materials ever produced. A product of elements from the earth—sand, ashes, and lime—and heat, glass originated and developed in the ancient Near East, in Mesopotamia and Egypt. The technique of glassmaking began about 5,000 years ago, and for millennia it was used primarily for glazing objects made of other materials. Hollow vessels made entirely of glass are first known from around the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. This vessel, from the 4th-5th century AD, is an exquisite example of the glassblower's art. The discovery that molten glass could be blown into a bubble and shaped to any form was made about 50 BC, somewhere along the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, and quickly spread throughout the Roman Empire. Once the basic shape of a vessel was produced, decoration and handles were added. The popularity of glass at this time rested on not only its usefulness and reasonable price but also its transparency and beauty.