Ancient Egyptian and Greek LoomsRoth, H. Ling (Henry Ling)
History
Ancient Egyptian and Greek Looms
Roth, H. Ling (Henry Ling)
Looms; Weaving
[Illustration: Fig. 6.--Horizontal Loom, Tomb of Chnem-hotep. Size of
original: Height of the figures 9-1/4" = 24·4 cm. Drawn by Mr. N. de
G. Davies, and now published for the first time by permission of Mr.
F. Ll. Griffith.]
In the various reproductions by the above explorers, the only three
which agree very closely are those of Cailliaud, Rosellini and Davies.
The others vary considerably and in essentials do not agree with the
above nor with one another. The differences may in the first instance
be due to difficulties in copying the original in the tomb. Others may
be due to ignorance of detail on the part of the secondary
copyist--the man who prepared them for publication--so that he was
unable to follow up the clues on the drawings laid before him. The
differences may also be due to careless copying and to "touching up"
of the copies when made; they may be slightly due to deterioration and
obliteration of the original in the course of time.
The _Encyclopædia Biblica_ gives a variant from all six illustrations,
but approaching nearest to that of Cailliaud, Rosellini and Davies. It
is misleading in so far that the drawing has been made to suit
Professor Kennedy's idea as to what it should be.
Some of the differences are of minor importance, but a comparison will
help materially to our understanding of the method of weaving adopted
by the Egyptians from the XIIth to the XIXth Dynasties, or about B.C.
2000 to 1200. To go into details, and taking Mr. N. de G. Davies'
illustration as our basis, we find slight differences in the shape of
the pegs B, B1, which are immaterial. A more pronounced difference is
seen in the way in which the threads are attached to the warp beam A.
Neither Wilkinson nor Lepsius carry these threads over the beam, the
former carrying them only as far as the laze threads C, while the
latter carries them up to a line drawn parallel to and below the beam;
Cailliaud and Rosellini carry them over the beam while Mr. Davies
carries them half way only. The object of this half carrying over is
not clear. The threads in chain-form at C are probably laze threads,
apparently placed there so that in case of any disarrangement of the
warp threads the weaver can from that point run her fingers along them
and get them disentangled. It has been suggested to me that this
chain-form might be a tension chain for taking up slack warp, but the
former explanation seems the more likely.
All the drawings but Wilkinson's show the warp threads converging
towards the breast beam; Wilkinson shows them parallel and in Lepsius
their convergence is excessive. There should be a slight convergence
shown, as in the course of weaving the threads get drawn in, and in
later forms of looms in semi-civilised countries we find an endeavour
to counteract this tendency by the use of a tool known as a "temple."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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