--- title: Replicating The Color-Changing Effect Of The Lycurgus Cup description: Researchers at the University of Sheffield recreated the dichroic color-changing effect of the ancient Lycurgus Cup. The 3rd or 4th century Roman glass cup... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/replicating-the-color-changing-effect-of-the-lycurgus-cup-nhapfqwmi twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Replicating The Color-Changing Effect Of The Lycurgus Cup | daily.dev og:description: Researchers at the University of Sheffield recreated the dichroic color-changing effect of the ancient Lycurgus Cup. The 3rd or 4th century Roman glass cup... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/replicating-the-color-changing-effect-of-the-lycurgus-cup-nhapfqwmi og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/nHAPfqwmI.png og:image:alt: Replicating The Color-Changing Effect Of The Lycurgus Cup og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Replicating The Color-Changing Effect Of The Lycurgus Cup **[Hackaday](https://daily.dev/sources/hackaday)** · 2 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Researchers at the University of Sheffield recreated the dichroic color-changing effect of the ancient Lycurgus Cup. The 3rd or 4th century Roman glass cup looks green when lit from the front and red when light passes through from behind. Prior research found the effect comes from gold and silver nanoparticles embedded in the glass. The Sheffield work also creates the effect in a modified Atlas statue, with a rather similar result, which is possible now that nanoparticles can be measured and added in exact amounts to pure glass. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What causes the color-changing effect of the ancient Lycurgus Cup? The dichroic effect comes from nanoparticles of both gold and silver embedded in the glass, discovered through research on a fragment of the original Roman cup. The cup appears green when lit from the front but red when light passes through it from behind, a property researchers at the University of Sheffield have since recreated in modern glass and even in a modified Atlas statue by precisely adding measured amounts of each metal's nanoparticles. _Anyone curious about nanoparticle materials science can explore more deep dives like this on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Scientists rediscover how to make ancient Roman colour-changing glass](https://daily.dev/posts/scientists-rediscover-how-to-make-ancient-roman-colour-changing-glass-5fuo9unwx) · Hacker News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [A new way to “paint with light” to create radiant, color-changing items](https://daily.dev/posts/a-new-way-to-paint-with-light-to-create-radiant-color-changing-items-mis3r5qdb) · MIT News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [A Sloshing-Mercury-Powered Neon Light](https://daily.dev/posts/a-sloshing-mercury-powered-neon-light-ajd4eyah2) · Hackaday · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Quantum phenomenon enables a nanoscale mirror that can be switched on and off](https://daily.dev/posts/quantum-phenomenon-enables-a-nanoscale-mirror-that-can-be-switched-on-and-off-1o195vebl) · Phys.org · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Liquid Glass in the Browser – Frontend Masters Blog](https://daily.dev/posts/liquid-glass-in-the-browser-frontend-masters-blog-aeuunx3ok) · Frontend Masters · 2 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#science](https://daily.dev/tags/science) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/replicating-the-color-changing-effect-of-the-lycurgus-cup-nhapfqwmi) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Replicating The Color-Changing Effect Of The Lycurgus Cup","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/replicating-the-color-changing-effect-of-the-lycurgus-cup-nhapfqwmi","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/replicating-the-color-changing-effect-of-the-lycurgus-cup-nhapfqwmi"},"datePublished":"2026-10-29T23:22:46.132Z","dateModified":"2026-10-29T23:23:10.327Z","description":"Researchers at the University of Sheffield recreated the dichroic color-changing effect of the ancient Lycurgus Cup. The 3rd or 4th century Roman glass cup...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/ccdd533375bee6786a899a87d029acb3?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/ccdd533375bee6786a899a87d029acb3?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Hackaday","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Hackaday","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--JhDfhy70--/f_auto,q_auto/v1767541814/logos/hackaday","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/hackaday"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/replicating-the-color-changing-effect-of-the-lycurgus-cup-nhapfqwmi","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"science","timeRequired":"PT2M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Hackaday","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/hackaday"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Replicating The Color-Changing Effect Of The Lycurgus Cup"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/replicating-the-color-changing-effect-of-the-lycurgus-cup-nhapfqwmi#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What causes the color-changing effect of the ancient Lycurgus Cup?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"The dichroic effect comes from nanoparticles of both gold and silver embedded in the glass, discovered through research on a fragment of the original Roman cup. The cup appears green when lit from the front but red when light passes through it from behind, a property researchers at the University of Sheffield have since recreated in modern glass and even in a modified Atlas statue by precisely adding measured amounts of each metal's nanoparticles. Anyone curious about nanoparticle materials science can explore more deep dives like this on daily.dev."}}]} ```