ABSTRACT
This journey across the centuries, spanning many different fields, has tried to outline the sociohistorical framework within which the gaze upon the self can be understood. The psychological role of the mirror emerges within a conceptual system, established in antiquity, to lay the foundation for analogical reasoning and to aid symbolic thought. The rare, dark, and lustrous image of ancient mirrors, corresponding to that which it mimics through an impalpable bond of resemblance, gives man the first glimpse of a reflection of a supernatural reality.
