Mīr ʽAlīshīr, himself a distinguished statesman and writer, Mirkhond began about 1474, in the quiet convent of Khilāsīyah, which his patron had founded in Herāt as a house of retreat for literary men of merit, his great work on universal history, Rauẓat-ussafā fi sīrat-ulanbiā walmulūk walkhulafā or Garden of Purity on the Biography of Prophets, Kings and Caliphs. He made no attempt at a critical examination of historical traditions, and wrote in a flowery and often bombastic style, but in spite of this drawback, Mirkhond’s Rauẓat remains one of the most marvellous achievements in literature. It comprises seven large volumes and a geographical appendix; but the seventh volume, the history of the sultan Husain (1438–1505), together with a short account of some later events down to 1523, cannot have been written by Mirkhond himself, who died in 1498. He may have compiled the preface, but the main portion of this volume is probably the work of his grandson, the historian Khwāndamīr (1475–1534), to whom also a part of the appendix must be ascribed.
For accounts of Mirkhond’s life see De Sacy’s “Notice sur Mirkhond” in his Mémoires sur diverses antiquités de la Perse (Paris, 1793); Jourdain’s “Notice de l’histoire universelle de Mirkhond” in the Notices et extraits, vol. ix. (Paris, 1812); Elliot, History of India, iv. 127 seq.; Morley, Descriptive Catalogue (London, 1854), p. 30 seq.; Rieu, Cat. of Persian MSS. of the Brit. Mus. (vol. i. London, 1879), p. 87 seq. Besides the lithographed editions of the whole work in folio (Bombay, 1853, and Teheran, 1852–1856) and a Turkish version (Constantinople, 1842), the following portions of Mirkhond’s history have been published by European Orientalists: Early Kings of Persia, by D. Shea (London, 1832) (Oriental Translation Fund); L’Histoire de la dynastie des Sassanides, by S. de Sacy (in the above-mentioned Mémoires); Histoire des Sassanides (texte Persan), by Jaubert (Paris, 1843); Historia priorum regum Persarum, Persian and Latin, by Jenish (Vienna, 1782); Mirchondi historia Taheridarum, Persian and Latin, by Mitscherlik (Göttingen, 1814, 2nd ed., Berlin, 1819); Historia Samanidarum, Persian and Latin, by Wilken (Göttingen, 1808); Histoire des Samanides, translated by Defrémery (Paris, 1845); Historia Ghaznevidarum, Persian and Latin, by Wilken (Berlin, 1832); Geschichte der Sultane aus dem Geschlechte Bujeh, Persian and German, by Wilken (Berlin, 1835); followed by Erdmann’s Erläuterung und Ergänzung (Kazan, 1836); Historia Seldschuckidarum, ed. Vullers (Giessen, 1837); and a German trans. by the same; Histoire des Sultans du Kharezm, in Persian, by Defrémery (Paris, 1842); History of the Atabeks of Syria and Persia, in Persian, by W. Morley (London, 1848); Historia Ghuridarum, Persian and Latin, by Mitscherlik (Frankfort, 1818); Histoire des Sultans Ghurides, trans. into French by Defrémery (Paris, 1844); Vie de Djenghiz-Khan, in Persian, by Jaubert (Paris, 1841) (see also extracts from the same 5th vol. in French trans. by Langlès in vol. vi. of Notices et extraits, Paris, 1799, p. 192 seq.), and by Hammer in Sur les origines russes, St Petersburg, 1825, p. 52 seq.); “Timūr’s Expedition against Tuktamish Khān,” Persian and French, by Charmoy, in Mémoires de l’acad. impér. de St Pétersbourg (1836), pp. 270–321 and 441–471. (H. E.)
MIRROR (through O. Fr. mirour, mod. miroir, from a supposed
Late Lat. miratorium, from mirari, to admire), an optical
instrument which produces images of objects by reflection. In
its usual forms it is simply a highly polished sheet of metal or of
glass (which may or may not be covered, either behind or before,
with a metallic film); a metallic mirror is usually termed a
speculum. The laws relating to the optical properties of mirrors
are treated in the article Reflection of Light.
Ancient Mirrors.—The mirror (κάτοπτρον, ἔσοπτρον, ἔνοπτρον, speculum) of the Etruscans, Greeks and Romans consisted of a thin disk of metal (usually bronze) slightly convex and polished on one side, the other being left plain or having a design incised upon it. A manufactory of mirrors of glass at Sidon is mentioned by Pliny (Nat. Hist. xxxvi. 66, 193), but they appear to have been little used (one has been found at San Remo). Glass mirrors were coated, but with tin; some silver mirrors have also been found. They are said to have been in use as early as the time of Pompey, and were common under the empire. Homer knows nothing of mirrors, but they are frequently mentioned in the tragedians and onwards. The usual size was that of an ordinary hand-mirror, but in imperial times some appear to have been large enough to take in the whole figure (Seneca, Nat. quaest., i. 17, 8), being either fixed to the wall or working up and down like a window sash. The first specimen of a Greek mirror was not discovered till 1867, at Corinth, and the number extant is comparatively small. They are usually provided with a handle, which sometimes took the form of a statuette (especially of Aphrodite) supported on a pedestal, or consist of two metallic circular disks (the “box” mirrors) fitting in to each other, and sometimes fastened together by a hinge. The upper disk or cover was ornamented on the outside with a design in low relief; inside it was polished to reflect the face. The lower disk was decorated inside with engraved figures. The best specimens of both kinds of mirrors date from a little before 400 B.C. and last for some time after that. Of the reliefs, one of the best examples is “Ganymede carried away by the eagle”; amongst the incised mirrors may be mentioned one representing Leucas and Corinthus, inscribed with their names (both the above in Collignon, L’Archéologie grecque, 1907, figs. 212, 213), the Genius of the Cock-fights (Revue archéologique, new ser. xvii., 1868, Pl. 13). A bronze mirror-case, found at Corinth, has attached on the outside a relief representing an Eros with two girls; on the inside is incised a design of a nymph seated on a bench and playing with Pan at a game resembling the Italian mora (Classical Review, Feb. 1889, p. 86). On the back of another mirror in the British Museum (Gazette archéologique, ii. Pl. 27) is a figure of Eros which has been silvered over. With this was found the bronze case used to contain it, on the back of which is a group of Aphrodite and Eros in repoussé. It was found in Crete; but most of the Greek mirrors and mirror-cases having designs are from Corinth.
The principal feature of the Etruscan mirrors, the extant examples of which far outnumber the Greek, is the design incised on the back. Belonging chiefly to the 4th and 3rd centuries, they mostly resemble the Greek disk-mirrors in form, box-mirrors being rare. As a rule the subjects incised are taken from Greek mythology and legend (Trojan War, birth of Athena, Aphrodite and Adonis), the names of the persons represented being frequently added in Etruscan letters and orthography (Apul＝Apollo, Achle＝Achilles, Achmemrum＝Agamemnon). Scenes from daily life, the toilet, the bath, the palaestra, also occur. In most cases the style of drawing, the types of the figures, and the manner of composing the groups are true to the characteristics of Greek art. Some may have been imported from Greece, but the greater number appears to have been more or less faithfully imitated from such designs as occurred on the Greek vases which the Etruscans obtained from Greece. Even where distinctly Etruscan figures are introduced, such as the heroes Aelius and Caelius Vibenna on a mirror in the British Museum, Greek models are followed. Although the work is frequently rough and careless, certain very fine and beautiful specimens have been found: the famous Semele-mirror, and the healing of Telephus, in which Achilles is shown scraping the healing rust from the lance with a crescent-shaped knife (Baumeister, Denkmäler, figs. 557, 1774). Roman mirrors are usually disk-mirrors, the back of the disk, if engraved, being generally ornamented with decorative patterns, not with any subject design.
Plain mirrors are found wherever Greek and Roman civilization spread, and a specimen found in Cornwall (now in the British Museum) shows that the Celtic population of England had adopted the form and substance of the mirror from their conquerors. This specimen is enriched with a Celtic pattern incised. The shape of the handle exhibits native originality. Mirrors were sometimes used in Greece for purposes of divination (Pausanias vii. 21, 5). The mirror was let down into a well by means of a string until it grazed the surface of the water with the rim; after a little while it was pulled up, and when looked into showed the face of the sick person, alive or dead, on whose behalf the ceremony had been performed. This took place at Patrae.
See J. J. de Witte, “Les miroirs chez les anciens,” in Extrait des annales de l’académie, xxviii. (Antwerp, 1872); Mylonas, Ἑλληνικὰ κάτοπτρα (Athens, 1876); M. Collignon, L’Archéologie grecque (new ed., 1907; Eng. tr. by J. H. Wright, 1886); E. Gerhard, Etruskische Spiegel (1840–1867), continued by K. Klugmann and G. Körte (1884–1897); article in Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (3rd ed., 1891). (J. H. F.)
