Nimrud Lens: Is This 2,700-Year-Old Magnifying Glass the World's Oldest Telescope?

Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei is known as the inventor of the telescope, although the credit goes to Dutch lens maker Hans Lippershey, who applied for a telescope patent in 1608. Since the invention of this device, humans have learned a lot about heavenly bodies and our place in the universe.

An archaeological discovery, however, suggests that the telescope may have been invented thousands of years before the European scientists.

Strange Rock Crystal

In 1845, archaeologist Austen Henry Layard discovered a strange piece of rock crystal in the North West Palace of Nimrud in modern-day northern Iraq. The crystal was found buried under the ruins of the Northwest Palace's throne room during excavations of the ancient Assyrian capital of Kalkhu.

Dubbed the "Nimrud lens," the polished rock crystal roughly ground into a slightly oval shape dates back to around 750-710 B.C. and has some very interesting properties. It measures 38 millimeters wide and 6 millimeters thick. It also has a focal length of 4.7 inches (12 centimeters) and provides 3x magnification.

The surface of the Nimrud lens had 12 cavities that were opened during grinding. These would have contained naphtha or other fluid trapped in the raw crystal. The rock crystal is said to be able to focus on sunlight, although its focus is far from perfect. Today, the Nimrud lens is kept at the British Museum.

What Is the Purpose of Nimrud Lens?

Upon his return to England, Layard showed the rock crystal to physicist David Brewer, who assumed that the crystal could have been used as a magnifying glass by Assyrian craftsmen who made intricate seals and produced tiny texts on clay tablets using a wedge-shaped script. However, experts on Assyrian archaeology were not convinced, as they claimed that the Nimrud lens was such low quality that it would have been a poor optical device.

There has been much debate regarding the original purpose of the Nimrud lens. While the Nimrud lens was first identified as a magnifying glass, some speculate that it was used as a burning glass to start fires by concentrating the rays of the Sun. Still, there are other theories that claim this object is evidence that ancient Assyrian astronomers invented the telescope almost 3,000 years ago.

In 1999, Professor Giovanni Pettinato from the University of Rome claimed that the lens could explain the advanced knowledge of ancient Assyrians in astronomy. He added that these people depicted Saturn as a god surrounded by serpents, suggesting they could have observed Saturn's rings.

However, Assyrians depicted serpents everywhere and did not have references to telescopes in writing from that period. Additionally, it would also make a poor-quality lens for a telescope.

A curator from the British Museum explains that there is no evidence that the Assyrians used lenses to magnify objects or make fire. It is much more likely that this crystal is a piece of inlay for furniture. This is even supported by Layard discovering the object buried beneath fragments of blue opaque glass, the enamel of some object in wood or ivory.

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