At the height of the Roman Empire, this sturdy vessel might have held an evening meal. The soldiers of Bar Kokhba’s army, gathered around a campfire, might have shared food and conversation over such a pot. As we hold it in our hands today, admiring its simple beauty, we are aware of the touch of other hands long ago. Who might have held it when it was new? Were the dreams and emotions that guided their lives so very different from our own? The vessel's graceful unadorned shape appeals as much to the contemporary eye as it did to the culture that created it. Such artifacts, ordinary enough in their own age, connect us in an intimate way with the world of the past. In its presence, we cross the bridge of time and set the imagination on a journey of discovery.