Thank you for downloading this episode of a history of the world in a Fountain in Rome, where every day tourists throw coins worth about 3,000 euros to secure good luck

and a return visit to Rome.

People have been throwing valuable things into water for thousands of years.

On the face of it is an extraordinary compulsion, but it seems to be a universal one,

and it's not only coins into fountains with a light-hearted wish, it's often a deadly serious plea to the gods.

In rivers and ponds across Britain, archaeologists regularly discover weapons,

jewelry and precious metals that were given to the gods thousands of

years ago. In the British Museum we have objects from all over the

world that were once solemnly deposited in water. One of the most fascinating, and the

subject of this programme, is a mirror thrown into a temple pool around 900 years ago in Japan.

I think that people who are interested in aesthetics and art and taste look back to the Heon period as one of the great

cultures not only in Japanese history but in the history of man.

A history of the world in a hundred objects. Japanese Mirror

12th Century 12th century

century made of bronze. I am a plain old-fashioned mirror from a bygone age, made of good white metal that stays clear without

being polished. I am going to discuss serious matters now. Pay close

attention everyone. You should think as you listen to me that you are hearing the Chronicles of Japan.

That's a quote from a famous Japanese history called The Great Mirror, written around 1100,

in which the Mirror not only has a voice, but the power to reveal Japan to itself.

I hope it's not too fanciful to make the same claim for the mirror in this programme, which was made

at about the same time.

Although, as always with mirrors, we can't necessarily trust what we think we see.

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