apparently no visual instruments (i.e. glasses) existed at the time of the ancient egyptians, greeks, or romans. seneca is alleged to have read “all the books in rome” by peering at them through a glass globe of water to produce magnification. nero used an emerald held up to his eye while he watched gladiators fight. the chinese are sometimes credited with developing spectacles 2000 years ago, but apparently they only used them to protect their eyes from an evil force… just a few meager factoids from the history of eye glasses. if such historical minutia is too geeky for you try this instead.