SPĔCŬLUM

( κάτοπτρον , ἔσοπτρον , ἔνοπτρον ), a mirror, a looking-gla . The looking-gla es of the ancients were usually made of metal, at first of a composition of tin and copper, but afterwards more frequently of silver. The ancients seem to have had gla mirrors also like ours, consisting of a gla plate covered at the back with a thin leaf of metal. They were manufactured as early as the time of Pliny at the celebrated gla -houses of Sidon, but they must have been inferior to those of metal, since they never came into general use, and are never mentioned by ancient writers among costly pieces of furniture, whereas metal mirrors frequently are. Looking-gla es were generally small, and such as could be carried in the hand. Instead of their being fixed so as to be hung against the wall or to stand upon the table or floor, they were generally held by female slaves before their mistre es when dre ing. IMG:6459379820872971714_ill347a.jpg: Looking-gla held by a Nymph. (From a Painting at Herculaneum.)