Pewter of the Bronze Age in the Near East. The earliest piece of pewter found is from an Egyptian tomb from 1450 BC. The constituents of pewter were first controlled in the 12th century by town guilds in France. By the 15th century, the Worshipful Company of Pewterers controlled pewter constituents in England. This company originally had two grades of pewter, but in the 16th century a third grade was added. The first type, known as "fine metal", was used for tableware. It consisted of tin with as much copper as it could absorb, which is about 1%. The second type,
Ancient Greek funerary vases is analogous to putting on the mask of someone else. This connection between wine, masks, and stories told at symposiums were all embodied in the god Dionysus, the god of wine and theater. Greek tragedies were a popular motif on funeral vases which often contained the death of someone close to the main character within the play. An example of this is the suicide of Ajax vase. Greeks would see these pictures of Greek tragedies on vases, which would remind them of the suffering that heroes of old had to endure. They believed that If great heroes were able to