Like many essential objects that we often take for granted today, sunglasses have a long and intriguing history. The Canadian Museum Of Civilization boasts an exhibit that serves as an example of one of the earliest takes on sunglasses: A set of prehistoric Inuit snow goggles, reportedly from around the year 1200. They were discovered in the Arctic, per the museum, and were intended to protect against the dangers of reflected sun on the snow.
There are examples dating further back in history of such things being used for practical purposes. According to Pliny the Elder in his “The Natural History” (per Perseus), the infamous ancient Roman Emperor Nero “used to view the combats of the gladiators upon a smaragdus.” The word “smaragdus” here meant a green precious stone (presumably an emerald), and John Bostock (per Perseus) even suggests the possibility that the stone formed a sort of lens to aid Nero’s vision.
That last part might be a little fanciful, but there’s no denying that sunglasses and primitive versions of them have had all kinds of purposes. The Torquay Museum states that sunglasses of the 1200s were used in Chinese courts. Judges would reportedly wear them so their faces wouldn’t give them away in the courtroom.
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