Nero Wore Glasses

... Pliny mentions that Nero, who was myopic, used glasses when he watched the fights of the gladiators.

Anonymous, "Antiquity of the Lens," Scientific American, vol. 69, no. 7 (August 12, 1893), p. 104.

Archimedes used a Telescope

Plutarch speaks of instruments used by Archimedes "to manifest to the eye the largeness of the sun."

Anonymous, "Antiquity of the Lens," Scientific American, vol. 69, no. 7 (August 12, 1893), p. 104.

An Assyrian Lens

A glass case in the Assyrian section of the British Museum contains a piece of rock crystal formed into the shape of a plano-convex lens 1 1/2 inches in diameter and 9/10 inch thick. This was discovered in the ruin called Nimroud. It gives a focus of 4 1/2 inches. According to Sir David Brewster, this lens has been designed for magnifying purposes. The date is about 700 B. C.

Anonymous, "Antiquity of the Lens," Scientific American, vol. 69, no. 7 (August 12, 1893), p. 104.

Confucius and Lenses in Ancient China

The use of lenses has also been traced to the Chinese moralist Confucius, 748 B. C.

Anonymous, "Antiquity of the Lens," Scientific American, vol. 69, no. 7 (August 12, 1893), p. 104.

The Lens and Telescope in Ancient China

With regard to the antiquity of the lens the author [Edouard Fourdrignier in an article in Photo Club de Paris] says: "If we are to believe C. P. Gaubil, quoted by M. De Paravey in his 'Chronologie Chinois,' the Emperor Chan, who reigned 2283 B. C., used enlarging lenses in the form of a telescope in order to be able to get a better view of the planets."

Anonymous, "Antiquity of the Lens," Scientific American, vol. 69, no. 7 (August 12, 1893), p. 104.