The Mirror: A Reflection on Its History and Some Nifty Tips on Maintenance, Too

So if you had to take a guess, how long would you say mirrors have been around? Keep in mind, of course, that the vanity of fools is an ancient tradition. 500 years? 1000 years? 2000? Actually, it was probably around 3500 B.C.E. that humans first were capable of seeing a reflection of themselves with a device purposely designed for that. Obviously, those living near water had always had a natural mirror available, and reflective surfaces had been constructed even before then. But as best archaeologists can figure out, it probably wasn’t until some Sumerian dude in Mesopotamia figured out around 3500 that he could polish metal to a sheen and set into a wooden handle that people everywhere began regularly gazing lovingly at themselves.

Fast-forward to the ancient Greeks and around 328 B.C.E. An actual academy was developed for imparting the wisdom of crafting a mirror. Legend has it that Archimedes, the great Greek mathematician, utilized enormous mirrors to reflect the sun back onto Roman ships as they attempted to invade Syracuse; supposedly, the heat cast by the mirrors set the Roman ships on fire. Click here to listen to an NPR story about an attempt to recreate this legend. Ancient Greek mirrors came in two distinct varieties: the box mirror and the disk mirror. The latter presented a magnificently polished surface on one side with a back that was either engraved or decorated in relief. The box mirror was sort of a locket; opening up like a clam to reveal a mirror on one side and a cover on the other. These polished metal mirrors remained the rule of the day until 1300s.