About this artwork
Found in women’s graves, bronze mirrors were luxurious personal possessions used in life and then buried with the dead for use in the afterlife. One side was highly polished; the other side was usually engraved with a mythic scene, such as this one, which shows the goddess Eos carrying the body of her son, Memnon, who was killed by the hero Achilles. The episode was taken from Homer’s The Iliad, the epic poem that narrates the Greek siege and eventual defeat of the city of Troy.
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Status
- Currently Off View
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Department
- Arts of the Ancient Mediterranean and Byzantium
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Culture
- Ancient Etruscan
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Title
- Hand Mirror
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Date
- 470 BCE–450 BCE
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Medium
- Bronze
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Dimensions
- 16.8 × 15.1 × 0.7 cm (6 5/8 × 6 × 5/16 in.) (with tang)
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Credit Line
- Katherine K. Adler Memorial Fund
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Reference Number
- 1984.1341
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IIIF Manifest
- https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/103304/manifest.json
Extended information about this artwork
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.
