Mirrors and Mirroring. From Antiquity to the Early Modern Period. 6.-7. October 2017 Program and Abstracts (original) (raw)

Greek and Latin words for mirror (κάτοπτρον, ἔνοπτρον, εἴσοπτρον; speculum) are formed from roots that denote vision and visibility. Unlike in English and French, where the respective words for mirror are derived from a remote Latin root, this etymology is strongly felt in Greek and Latin. Both languages often use the word in a way that points directly to the process of seeing or understanding, and Greek and Latin authors often conceptualize mirrors as tools or instruments for seeing the invisible (perhaps comparable to modern instruments such as microscopes and telescopes). This paper examines some instances in Greek and Latin texts in which the image of mirror conveys primarily the idea of visibility and focus on the cognitive aspect of vision. My main examples come from philosophical texts (for example Lucr. 3.974, Cic. Fin. 2.32.1-13 and 5.61.1-10, Plut. Moral. 967d8), but I also discuss passages from historiography (for example Pol. Hist. 15.20.4), and one interesting title of a scientific work (the Mirror of Eudoxus of Cnidus).