Many claims have been made with regard to where spectacles originated. Both China and India have their advocates, but the best evidence is that they reached these countries from Europe via circuitous routes.
Pliny wrote of Nero viewing gladiatorial events zmaragdo, that is, through beryl, one of a family of transparent green precious stones of which emerald is another. The word beryl has lived on in my language. In the Netherlands we call spectacles a 'bril.'
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