Already from the 6th century BC, Optics, which deals with light and the changes it undergoes and causes, occupied the ancient Greeks. Plato, Democritus, Empedocles, Aristotle, and later Archimedes, Euclid, Hero of Alexandria, even Claudius Ptolemy studied and wrote about vision, light, rays, and laid the foundations for modern theories of light.

How is light transmitted, how does vision work, how are eye diseases treated? And what is refraction, reflection, contraction, enlargement, and what are their applications? Studies that led to the first mirrors, lenses, lighthouses with the famous Pharos of Alexandria, telescopes, the early "dark chamber", the first eye surgeries, perhaps the first glasses, the "diopters" as they were called, and even theatrical scenography with the first optical illusions on stage. And, of course, they helped in the conception of Archimedes' project that burned the Roman fleet with the legendary - and mythical - mirrors.

Another fascinating page from the achievements of ancient Greek thought, a thought incredibly bold, creative, and versatile.