MIRBT, CARL THEODOR: German Lutheran;
b. at Gnadenfrei (32 m. s. of Breslau) July 21,
1860: He was educated at the universities of
Halle, Erlangen, and Göttingen (Lie. Theol., 1888),
and,
after a year as privat-docent at the latter institution, was called to Marburg in 1889 as associate professor of church history, being promoted
to his present position of full professor of the same
subject in the following year. In 1903 he was made
a consistorial councilor and a member of the Cassel
eonsistory. He has written
Die Stellung Augustins
in der Publizistik des gregorianischen Kirchenatreits
(Leipsic, 1888);
Die Absetzung Heinrichs IV. durch
Gregor VII.
(1890);
Die Wahl Gregors VII.
(Marburg,
1892);
Die Publizistik im Zeitalter Gregors VII.
(Leipsic, 1894);
Quellen zurGeschichtedes Papsttums
and des römischen Katholizismus
(Freiburg, 1895;
2d.ed.,1901);
Die preussische Gesandtschaftam Hofe
des Papstes
(1899); and
Die katholisch-theologische
FakulW zu Marburg
(Marburg, 1905). He is likewise an associate editor of the
Deutsch-Evangelische
Zeitschrift für die Kenntnis and Forderung der
deutschen evangelischen Diaspora im Ausland.
MIRRORS, HEBREW: The use of mirrors
among the Hebrews is proved by some late and
somewhat enigmatic passages. It can not be held
that the context of
Isa. iii. 23
forbids the translation of
gilyonim
by "mirrors," since articles of
clothing and of mere adornment are mentioned
without separation into classes. The singular
gillayon
(Isa.
viii. 1)
signifies the uncovered, that is,
the smoothed, tablet (A. V. " roll "), cf.
galah,
" shear," " shave." Ex. xxxviD. 8, a passage of
late date, states that the laver of the tabernacle
was made from the looking-glasses of the
women
who served (A. V. " assembled ") in the sanctuary
(cf.
I Sam. ii. 22).
The Targum renders the
re'i
of
Job xxxvii. 18
by
ispaklarya,
the Latin
speeularia;
the translation "molten mirror" is correctly given
by three late commentators on
Job (K. Budde,
Giessen, 1900; B. Duhm, Tübingen, 1897; and F.
Delitzach, Leipsic, 1902). Mirrors are alluded to
in
Ecclus. xii. 11,
dated about 200
B.c.
In the
Hebrew text of Ecclesiasticus (ed. H. L. Strack,
Leipsic, 1903), mirror is rendered by raz, probably
a corrupted
re'i;
the
Greek version gives
eisoptron.
It may be deduced from the passages cited that
mirrors were exclusively or at least usually hand
mirrors for women. They are designated as pol
ished plates in
Isa. iii. 23.
According to
Ex. xxxviii. 8,
they were of metal (the Jerusalem Targum trans
lates expressly "i
spaklarya
of brass" and
Job xxxvii. 18
asserts that they were "molten." These
Old-Testament data are confirmed by other ancient
sources, for even in the luxurious homes of the later
Romans and Greeks, there were rarely pier-glasses
but
usually only hand-glasses; and that, even
toward the end of antiquity, polished metal plates
were still used can be inferred from their liability
to become dull
(
Eccles. xii. 11;
Wisdom, vii. 26,
" an unspotted mirror ") and also from their im
perfect reflection
(
I Cor. xiii. 12).
In Egypt the
mirrors were of tin; with the Greeks of brass, silver,
gold, etc.; among the
Romans commonly of cop
per, mixed with tin, zinc, and other materials. The
Talmud knew only of metal mirrors. Pliny asserts
that glass mirrors (unsilvered) were invented in
Sidon, but the first certain testimony comes from
Alexander Aphrodisiensis at the beginning of the
third century. It may be assumed that some of the
Hebrew mirrors were fabricated by Hebrew metal
workers while others were imported; for both the
Assyrians and the Egyptians used them and Corinth
was especially renowned for the manufacture of
these articles.
(E. König.)
Bibliography:
F.
Vigouroux, Dictionnaire de la Bible,
fasc. xxvi., cols. 1123-26, Paris, 1905; E. Gerhard, Etrua-
kische Spiegel, 5 vols., Berlin, 1843-67; J. de Witte, Lee
Miroirs ches les
anciens, Brussels, 1872; H. J. Van Len-
nep, Bible Lands, ii. 536-537, Lndon, 1875; M. Collig-
non, Manuel d'archéologie grecque, pp. 346 sqq., Paris,
1881; Guhl and Koner, Leben der Griechen and Romer, ed.
R. Engelmann, pp. 317, 746, 747, Berlin, 1893; DB, iii.
396-397; EB, iii. 3153; JE, viii. 609.
