An umbrella, that apparatus to protect a person against rain or sunlight; we have it one too many that sometimes we forget it is a very useful ancient invention. Ladies in ancient Greece used it and most probably women of the Gupta period in Ancient India too. In the tomb of China's first emperor, Qin Shihuang; a Terracotta Army carriage has an umbrella securely fixed to the side. side The umbrella in ancient Greece or India however wasn't a collapsible umbrella, the one with bendable joints. That most probably was a Chinese invention. A 1270 AD late Song dynasty Chinese divination book features a picture of a collapsible umbrella very unlike today's umbrella. This Chinese design has spread later to Japan via Korea and to Persia that is modern Iran, and the Western world via the Silk Road.
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