The exquisite green goblet must have taken untold hours of labor to create.

From its intricately carved sides to the gilt bronze vines entangling the rib and foot of the vessel, the Lycurgus cup is regarded

as one of the most impressive examples of ancient glasswork in all the world.

Fashioned in 4th century Rome, the Lycurgus cup is named for the mythological king Lycurgus

and his rather memorable death. After angering Dionysius, the god of revelry,

the god decided that revenge is best served absolutely insane, and so he drove Lycurgus mad. In his

altered state, the king mistook his own son for a length of ivy and pruned away the boy's

nose, ears, fingers, and toes before perishing himself.

In another version of the myth, Lycurgus mistakes his own foot for Ivy and snips it clean off.

The tellings vary, but all involve poor King Lycurgus tormented by vines and ivy to the point

of death, which is exactly the scene the stunning cup portrays.

Chiseled into the thick glass are horrifying images of King Lycurgus being tortured to death

by grapevines, disturbing imagery that scholars believe was meant to dissuade people from drinking

wine.

It's a stunning piece of workmanship,

but it's not even the carving that makes this 1700-year-old item

truly mind-boggling,

but a secret held within the material itself,

because when light is shown through the opaque green glass,

the entire goblet turns a translucent, bloody red.

It's called dichroic glass, an ancient practical effect achieved by embedding powdered gold

and silver into molten glass. The result? A mystical, color-changing spectacle that must

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