An ancient bronze Egyptian-style mirror like ones found at Accor and Megiddo

On an average day, how many times do you look at yourself in the mirror? Interestingly, an United Kingdom study shows that men look into a mirror 23 times a day, while women use a mirror 16 times a day. Fact is, people have been using mirrors throughout the history. While glass mirrors are the most common and popular today, mirrors used to be made from a variety of material in ancient times including copper, steel, silver and gold. Ancient mirrors have been found at archaeological sites! The Department of Antiquities in Israel has a few of these on display.

The first mirrors used by people were most likely to be a pool of water where they could observe their reflection and consider it magic. The first man-made mirrors were typically made of polished stone such as black volcanic glass obsidian and some examples of this kind of mirrors were found in Anatolia (modern-day Turkey). The ancient Egyptians made mirrors of metal (copper, bronze, silver, tin, etc). They flattened sheets of metal and polished them until it could be used as a mirror. The mirror they produced had rounded shapes, sometimes with ornamentation on the back side, and usually with a handle so that one could easily use the mirror for self-viewing.

Ancient Greek mirrors

If you recall, melted-down mirrors were used to make the laver used in the Tabernacle. The Bible says, “Moreover, he made the laver of bronze with its base of bronze, from the mirrors of the serving women who served at the doorway of the tent of meeting (Exodus 38:8).”  

It is believed that glass mirrors were invented at Sidon in the first century AD. After the discovery of glass making, the Romans produced glass mirrors by finishing them with a metal layer. Pieces of glass covered with lead were also found in Roman graves dating from the second and third century. Glass mirrors were quite common in Egypt, Gaul, Germany and Asia. The earliest glass made mirrors were only about three inches in diameter and mirror manufactured from metal was still preferable by many people due to the fact that glass mirrors still did not have a very good reflection.

This reminds us of what James said in the New Testament, “For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror (James 1:23).” The point James was trying to make was this – In the mirror we may look as if we are a person of faith, but unless we put our faith into action, that’s the only way to prove the genuineness of our faith.