DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62931#0027
II
MATERIALS USED BY THE WEAVER
LINEN.—The oldest existing fabrics have come from the
tombs of Egypt, where, owing to the mode of burial and
the dryness of the climate, they have remained in an
excellent state of preservation.
These early fabrics are of linen, fine in texture and without pattern,
and were produced extensively for native requirements, for clothing,
and mummy wrappings, and to meet the large demand from other
countries for these famous Egyptian linens.
Although woollen fabrics are but rarely found in the early tombs
of Egypt, they were doubtless used extensively for clothing; the
following passages give some explanation why woollen textiles are
not found with the linen ones.
Herodotus says, “ Egyptians wear a linen tunic fringed about
their legs and called calasure, over which they wear a white woollen
garment; nothing of woollen, however, is taken into the temple or
buried with them, as their religion forbids it.”
Apuleius says, “ Wool, the excretion of a sluggish body taken from
a sheep, was deemed a profane attire even in the times of Orpheus
and Pythagora ; but flax, that cleanest production of the field, is
rightly used for the most inner clothing of man.”
Some rare fragments of mixed linen and wool have been found
in an early Egyptian tomb (see page 21). Numerous examples,
however, of a later date have been found at Panopolis in Egypt.
They are known as tapestry-woven fabrics, of linen and wool, and
are of the Coptic period, A.D. 370—700 (plates 3, 8, and 9).
Silk.—This most beautiful of fibres was an early product of
the East. Aristotle mentions the silkworm and relates, “ that women
unroll and separate the cocoons and afterwards weave them ; and
that silk was first woven in the Island of Cos by Pamphile, daughter
of Plates.”
3
MATERIALS USED BY THE WEAVER
LINEN.—The oldest existing fabrics have come from the
tombs of Egypt, where, owing to the mode of burial and
the dryness of the climate, they have remained in an
excellent state of preservation.
These early fabrics are of linen, fine in texture and without pattern,
and were produced extensively for native requirements, for clothing,
and mummy wrappings, and to meet the large demand from other
countries for these famous Egyptian linens.
Although woollen fabrics are but rarely found in the early tombs
of Egypt, they were doubtless used extensively for clothing; the
following passages give some explanation why woollen textiles are
not found with the linen ones.
Herodotus says, “ Egyptians wear a linen tunic fringed about
their legs and called calasure, over which they wear a white woollen
garment; nothing of woollen, however, is taken into the temple or
buried with them, as their religion forbids it.”
Apuleius says, “ Wool, the excretion of a sluggish body taken from
a sheep, was deemed a profane attire even in the times of Orpheus
and Pythagora ; but flax, that cleanest production of the field, is
rightly used for the most inner clothing of man.”
Some rare fragments of mixed linen and wool have been found
in an early Egyptian tomb (see page 21). Numerous examples,
however, of a later date have been found at Panopolis in Egypt.
They are known as tapestry-woven fabrics, of linen and wool, and
are of the Coptic period, A.D. 370—700 (plates 3, 8, and 9).
Silk.—This most beautiful of fibres was an early product of
the East. Aristotle mentions the silkworm and relates, “ that women
unroll and separate the cocoons and afterwards weave them ; and
that silk was first woven in the Island of Cos by Pamphile, daughter
of Plates.”
3