For _Fibulae_, see _Catalogue of Bronzes_, and _Guide to Antiquities of Early Iron Age_ (Dept. of B. & M. Antiqs.); (375) _Cat. of Jewellery_, 2775; (406) _B.M. Inscr._, 947; (420) _Excavations in Cyprus_, fig. 149. [Footnote 43: [Greek: Smikrou tinos Aiginêtou endees eimi endeigma latreias.]] XII.--DOMESTIC ARTS. (Table-Case G.) In this Table Case, under the general heading of "The Domestic Arts," objects are exhibited connected with the house industries of spinning, weaving, and sewing, together with various groups of objects connected with home life, such as locks and keys, seals, knives, etc. [Illustration: FIG. 171.--WOMAN SPINNING (NO. 421). Ht. of Vase 8-3/4 in.] [Illustration: FIG. 172.--WOMAN SPINNING (NO. 422). Ht. of Vase 4-1/2 in.] [Illustration: FIG. 173.--SPINDLES AND WHORLS, SHUTTLE AND LOOMWEIGHT. 2:5.] =Spinning and Weaving.=--(_a_) _Preparation of yarn._--The process of spinning is clearly seen in the accompanying drawings from Greek vases of the fourth and fifth centuries exhibited in this Case (Nos. =421-2=; figs. 171-2). In each, a woman is holding up in her left hand the distaff, a rod which is thrust through a bunch of unspun wool. With the fingers of her right hand she is twisting fibres drawn from the wool. The yarn is attached below to the top of the spindle, a rod of wood or metal with a disc (whorl) near the bottom to assist the rotation. When some quantity of yarn had been twisted it was wound round the body of the spindle and hitched into a hook at its upper end (see figs. 171, 173), to prevent it from unwinding. The twisting process was then recommenced. An impressive description of the ancient spindle is given by Plato in the vision of Er at the end of the _Republic_,[44] where he likens the axis of the universe to the shaft of a spindle suspended by a hook of adamant, and the revolving starry heavens to a whorl made up of eight concentric rims, fitting one into the other like boxes. Two bronze spindles (No. =423=) are seen in the Case and are illustrated on either side of fig. 173. In the same figure are shown four ivory whorls from spindles (No. =424=). Before the wool was placed upon the distaff it appears to have been rubbed, with a view to the separation of the fibres, upon an instrument known as the _epinetron_ or _onos_. This was semi-cylindrical in form and was placed upon the knee. Several examples in terracotta had long been known, and were explained with little plausibility as covering-tiles. One, however, was found with a painted design which first gave the clue to its real use (Fig. 174). One of these _epinetra_ B 96 (No. =425=) is exhibited in this Case, together with a fragment of a second. Other examples are to be seen in the Second Vase Room (Cases 24 and 25), and one of these is illustrated here (No. =426=; fig. 175). A miniature example was found with the girl doll seated in a chair, exhibited in Table-Case J with the other dolls (p. 195, fig.