“Circus Cups” (3rd Century AD), are Roman Glass Cups found in princely graves in Denmark.

Reconstruction of a glass beaker from the Late Roman Iron Age. The glass was found in connection with the excavations of the burial ground at Himlingeøje in East Zealand.

The very rich finds from these excavations show that in the Late Roman Iron Age there was a political power center at Stevns with considerable territorial power and with close trade links to the Western Roman provinces. The provincial Roman glass industry was established at the end of the first century in the areas around Cologne, Worms and Trier.

The glasshouses, located in the forested areas by the Rhine, produced large quantities of different glass. The glasses were sold all over the Roman area, but were also brought with Roman merchants to e.g. Scandinavia.

The green color is because the glass was made from local sand and potash. Sand always contains a bit of iron, which colors the glass green, and the color varies according to the iron content of the sand.