[chrisbrandow]

This detailed description and his musings make me further convinced that if high quality clear glass technology had been created at this time, human history and discovery could have been profoundly different. Eyeglasses, telescopes, and microscopes would have allowed the Greeks to take discovery to the next level.

Surely that’s an oversimplification, but I always wonder.

[joshspankit]

There are some rather compelling theories positing that ancient Egyptians discovered how they could make a type of glass that they moulded in to a lens at least 5M in diameter. At that size, the focused light from the sun gets hot enough to melt granite (among other things).

I thin you’re right that they likely would not have had the clarity to make those smaller optics useful, but it feels interesting enough to add here.

[cryptonector]

Got any links for this? I'd like to know more.