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A grinning gorgon sticks out her tongue on the back of this bronze hand mirror from southern Italy. The mirror dates to about 500–480 B.C., when Greek colonies controlled southern Italy. Measuring 5-7/8; inches across, the repoussé, or hammered, relief of the Gorgon Medusa was made separately from the highly polished, reflective surface on the opposite side. The metal support, or tang, at the base once held a handle, probably made of ivory or wood.

The monster, with characteristic ugly round face, serpents for hair and wispy beard, provides a clever subject for a mirror: According to Greek mythology, anyone who looked at Medusa’s face turned to stone. When Zeus’s son Perseus went to slay her, he wore winged sandals and a cap that made him invisible so that he could sneak up on the Gorgon. Guided by the reflection of Medusa on his gleaming shield, Perseus beheaded the Gorgon, without jeopardizing his life by looking directly at her.

Most ancient mirrors discovered in archaeological excavations in the Near East are made of copper or bronze. The Bible corroborates that the earliest mirrors were made of metal: Bezalel, the architect and designer of the desert Tabernacle, melted down “the mirrors of the women” (Exodus 38:8) to make a bronze laver, and Job 37:18 describes the sky as “firm as a mirror of cast metal.” Glass mirrors were not available until late Roman times.

A grinning gorgon sticks out her tongue on the back of this bronze hand mirror from southern Italy. The mirror dates to about 500–480 B.C., when Greek colonies controlled southern Italy. Measuring 5-7/8; inches across, the repoussé, or hammered, relief of the Gorgon Medusa was made separately from the highly polished, reflective surface on the opposite side. The metal support, or tang, at the base once held a handle, probably made of ivory or wood. The monster, with characteristic ugly round face, serpents for hair and wispy beard, provides a clever subject for a mirror: According to Greek mythology, […]