This mirror from the mysterious Etruscan civilisation depicts the twins, Castor and Pollux.
This bronze item from the 4th or 3rd century BC, was an Etruscan mirror.
The Etruscans are one of history’s most mysterious civilisations. Unlike most, the language they spoke was unusually not Indo-European. One of the particular strengths of surviving Etruscan art is metalwork, like this mirror.
The mirror would have been discovered in a tomb. It is decorated with a spiky garland around the outside, and has been engraved with a picture in the middle of the back. The engraving would have originally had a white filling, which has since worn away. This and the corrosion of the bronze makes the image difficult to see.
There are two youths wearing Phyrgian caps, probably the twins Castor and Pollux, speaking to the two women in the centre of the mirror, possibly Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra. Mirrors create an identical image of the user, so it’s appropriate to have twins depicted on one.
Learn more about the mirror on Winchester College's Collections website. The mirror is on permanent display in in the Winchester College Treasury.
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