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Bronze mirror made in a Corinthian workshop. The disk still retains some of its sheen, and the handle in the form of a kore, a sculpted representation of a young woman, reflects the skill of the ancient artist. In his description of the gates to the Second Temple in Jerusalem, first-century A.D. historian Josephus extols the quality of Corinth’s bronze:

“Of the gates nine were completely overlaid with gold and silver as were also the door-posts and lintels; but one, that outside the sanctuary, was of Corinthian bronze, and far exceeded in value those plated with silver and set in gold” (Jewish War, 5:201.205).

In an excavated bronze foundry in Corinth, archaeologists discovered an oven for heating the metal, a bench for working it and channels that once brought water from the Spring of Peirene.