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Volume 101 No. 3
July 1997
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Crystals and Lenses in the Graeco-Roman World
Dimitris Plantzos
This paper examines the archaeological and literary evidence concerning crystals and lenses in classical antiquity. Lens-shaped objects were produced in the eastern Mediterranean since the Bronze Age, and it is commonly assumed that their function was to serve as magnification tools. It is argued here that ancient craftsmen, like gem cutters, had to rely on skill and experience rather than magnification implements to do their work; that popular science provided only a vague understanding of optical phenomena; and that, although in the Hellenistic period physics and mathematics were sufficiently developed to include concepts like angular magnification, philosophers and physicians failed to understand the physiology of the human eve and the mechanics of vision and, therefore, could not correct defective eyesight. Scientific breakthroughs did not always find applications in day-to-day practice, which was governed by traditional convictions and superstition. Accordingly, most ancient "lenses" must have been decorative.
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