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Source Description
This type of mirror was introduced throughout the Roman Empire by the 2nd century and remained popular into the 3rd and 4th centuries. Similar examples have been found in Germany and Britain. The handle is made of two thick pieces of silver wire, intertwined to form a Herakles knot--a knot so complex that only someone as strong as Herakles could break it. In antiquity, knots of various kinds were believed to provide protection from harm.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
133695
label
Mirror with a Handle in the Form of a Herakles Knot
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
133695
contentType
object
title
Mirror with a Handle in the Form of a Herakles Knot
description
This type of mirror was introduced throughout the Roman Empire by the 2nd century and remained popular into the 3rd and 4th centuries. Similar examples have been found in Germany and Britain. The handle is made of two thick pieces of silver wire, intertwined to form a Herakles knot--a knot so complex that only someone as strong as Herakles could break it. In antiquity, knots of various kinds were believed to provide protection from harm.
date
c. 280–400 CE
citation
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q60753107
genreSpecific
Metalwork
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Diameter: 2.3 x 34.6 cm (7/8 x 13 5/8 in.)
cul
Byzantium, Syria(?), Byzantine period
accession
1956.31
Source extras
tec
silver
tombstone
Mirror with a Handle in the Form of a Herakles Knot, c. 280–400 CE. Byzantium, Syria(?), Byzantine period. Silver; diameter: 2.3 x 34.6 cm (7/8 x 13 5/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1956.31
collection
MED - Byzantine
citations
citation
Maguire, Eunice Dauterman, Henry Maguire, and Maggie J. Duncan-Flowers. <em>Art and Holy Powers in the Early Christian House</em>. Urbana: Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1989. p. 194.
citation
Lerner, Judith. "Horizontal-Handled Mirrors: East and West." <em>Metropolitan Museum Journal</em>, Volume 31(The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1996). pp. 11-40.
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook.</em> Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 47
citation
Milliken, William. "Early Byzantine Silver." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art </em>45, no. 3 (March 1958): 35-40.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 37; Reproduced: p. 44
creditline
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
updatedAt
2026-05-29 06:51:41.002000
sourceId
133695
dept
Medieval Art
coll
MED - Byzantine
med
silver
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
786268eacb0b9ff4