Textile Production and Dependencies in Ancient Greece
Martin Bentz & Patrick Zeidler
BCDSS Principal Investigator & BCDSS Exhibition Publication Coordinator
Textile production played an important role in the ancient Mediterranean cultures of the 1st millenium BC. The topic is even discussed in detail by Homer, the Greek poet of the 8th century BC. Right from the beginning, clothing characterized various social groups, particularly valuable fabrics were dedicated to the gods and had a high exchange value. The fibers for textile manufacture were obtained by domesticating sheep (wool) and growing flax. Cotton was largely unknown in the ancient Mediterranean region prior to the Arab conquest of Egypt in the 7th century AD.
Fig. 1: Black-figured oil flask (lekythos). Clay, Attic, Amasis painter, 550–530 BC. Women at various steps in textile production are depicted on the vessel. Tools such as wool baskets, spindles, and a loom are used. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Inv. 31.11.10, H: 17,1 cm (photo: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, n. d.).
The frieze on a small perfume bottle from Athens in the 6th century BC, which is shown here in a rolled-out version (fig. 1), shows in detail all of the phases in the manufacture of fabrics. The first step – after obtaining and cleaning the raw material – consists of spinning the threads. This process was carried out with a simple spindle. Continuous threads are first produced from the individual fibers by drawing them out while twisting them. The prepared fibers are placed in a wool basket (kalathos) (see the figure on the left of the loom and the two women at the right-hand edge of the image). The fibers are then gradually pulled out with one hand and fed to the spindle, which is being rotated at the same time with the other hand (the second woman on the left of the loom). The wool is then rolled into equally sized balls, weighed (the two women on the right of the loom) and then used. This is done here on a large loom, the warp threads of which are held taut underneath by pyramidal loom weights. Two women are doing the weaving, the one on the right is introducing the threads, the one on the left is pushing them upward. The finished fabrics are finally folded (at the left-hand edge of the image).
Alongside technical aspects, the image illustrates that textile production in Greece was above all women’s work; a hierarchy can also be identified within the workshop. The woman shown on an elaborately designed chair is presumably the owner of the workshop who is taking part in the work. Behind her, a forewoman is giving instructions. The woman on the left at the loom is characterized as a foreign slave due to her un-Greek hairstyle.
Textile production took place both in large workshops and in a domestic context. The equipment used for this represented part of the dowry and wedding gifts – just like perhaps the little perfume bottle with the detailed workshop image – and was added to the graves of deceased women to indicate their status in life.
Fig. 2: Imitation of a wool basket (kalathos), from Apulia (Italy), clay, Messapian, 330/320–280 BC. Wool baskets were actually made of raffia. Imitations made of clay, often in a reduced size, were used as grave goods for women and served as a status symbol. Akademisches Kunstmuseum Bonn, Inv. 1283, H: 16.2 cm (photo: J. Schubert, Akademisches Kunstmuseum Bonn, n. d.).
Fig. 3: Spindle, bronze, from Spoleto (Umbria), Italic, 8th century BC. Material and decoration indicate that this spindle was not intended for everyday use, but for use as a status symbol in the grave. Akademisches Kunstmuseum Bonn, Inv. C 292, L: 28.0 cm (photo: H. G. Oed, Akademisches Kunstmuseum Bonn, n. d.).
The wool baskets were originally woven, although clay baskets can also be found in the graves (fig. 2). Spindles were mostly made from wood, a bronze example (fig. 3), which also comes from a grave, has hardly been used in everyday life due to its intricate workmanship and decorative pendants, but was instead intended for use as a grave good with a symbolic value. In all ancient settlements there are also many loom weights made from clay, the holes of which were used to attach the warp threads (fig. 4).
Fig. 4: Loom weights, clay, Italic, 5th–4th century BC. Weaving weights can have different shapes and be made of different materials. The Italic clay examples shown here are trapezoidal in shape and perforated at the upper end to attach the warp threads. Some of these loom weights have a stamp on one of the long sides. Akademisches Kunstmuseum Bonn, Inv. D 534 a-b, D 851, D 914, h. 6.0-10.0 cm (photo: H. G. Oed, Akademisches Kunstmuseum Bonn, n. d.).
Further Reading
Gleba, Margarita, 2012. Textiles and Textile Production in Europe from Prehistory to AD 400, Ancient Textiles Series 11, Oxford.
Harlow, Mary, 2021. A Cultural History of Dress and Fashion in Antiquity, London.