# Tell us an interesting random fact you stumbled across (Part 1)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [April 13, 2020, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674 "2020-04-13T03:19:22Z")\
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**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\
**Post date:** [April 27, 2024, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9384 "2024-04-27T19:35:52Z")

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A couple of things which turnout to be way older than you thought, courtesy of a visit to the Archaeological Museum of Rhodes. Dating from around 700 BCE: magnifying glasses and cheese graters. I was actually stopped from photographing them (oops); but here are a couple of interesting cites.

> An interesting finding from Ialisos, dated between the 7th and 6th centuries BC, consists of a series of three magnifying glasses made of rock crystal and set in decorated bronze frames. The lenses, of different dioptric power, are flat-convex and have a diameter of about 1.5 cm. It is perhaps the oldest known magnifying glasses. They were probably used for jewelery work and for engraving seals.

([Source](https://www.vacanzegreche.com/blog/rodi/da-non-perdere/museo-archeologico.aspx?lang=en-US#:~:text=An%20interesting%20finding%20from%20Ialisos,diameter%20of%20about%201.5%20cm.))

And regarding the grating of cheese, [this image of a man grating cheese twenty five centuries ago is from reddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/ArtefactPorn/comments/tzqsv2/a_painted_figurine_of_a_man_grating_cheese_c_500/). The source appears to be page 212 of this **PDF** [virtual museum](https://www.latsis-foundation.org/content/elib/book_17/thiba_en.pdf)

I have not yet been able to resolve this conundrum: do the magnifying glasses predate the (local) invention of glass?

j

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