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Weaving In The Odyssey

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Textile production is closely affiliated with the feminine realm of domesticated work. Spinning and weaving were necessary skills women needed to learn in order to provide clothing and other woven materials for their families (Reeder, 1995, 200). However, weaving was much more than a household chore. Weaving can tell stories or be a means of communication. It can be used for trickery or making a political statement. The different facets of weaving are highlighted by examining ancient primary sources.
The act of weaving became so ingrained with female domesticity that it evolved into a symbolic ideal. Women were praised in poems, plays, inscriptions, and other forms of media for their skills of wool working. The Roman historian, Titus Livius, …show more content…

In Greek and Roman mythology multiple goddesses were depicted as weavers. In Homer’s Odyssey, Odysseus encounters the witch goddess Circe who drugs men and turns them into animals. When Odysseus and his men first meets Circe she is within her home “weaving a great tapestry” (10.238). In Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Ovid writes a poem about the weaving contest between Minerva and the mortal woman Arachne. Minerva’s Greek equivalent Athena is the goddess of weaving. In Athens, Athena was honored every year with a woven cloth called peplos which illustrated the story of the Giants defeat by the gods (Reeder, 1995, 200). Illustrating goddesses as weavers is monumental. It portrays weaving as a vital activity that even goddesses would want to practice it. It also reinforces the sexual divide in domesticated work by influencing women to weave by showing goddesses as …show more content…

The band loom is needed to make the heading band which will be attached at the top of the warp weighted loom (19:52). The warp threads hang down from the heading band (19:54). At the ends of the warps are weights, usually made out of stone or clay, to weigh down the warps and cause tension (20:20). The thread that passes across the warp is called the weft or woof (14:29). The wefts goes over and under the warp threads forming a plain weave (Barber, 1994, 39). This is a tedious process which can be sped up by using a shed rod (15:08). The shed rod is a stick that is connected to the warp weighted loom and is placed in between the front and rear warp threads (19:57). A space then forms between the front and rear warp threads called a shed (15:20). In the shed a shuttle, which is a tool that holds the weft, can be inserted through the warp (15:30). To pass the weft back in the opposite direction the weaver uses a heddle rod (15:38). Heddles are looped strings linked to the rear warp threads and the heddle rod itself (15:38). When the rod is raised another shed is created and the shuttle is pass through again (15:50). After the weft is woven into the warp it is beaten into placed with a stick (21:16). The routine continues until the weaving is complete. The finished cloth then undergoes the process of fooling. Fooling simply consist of washing and brushing (21:47). Because the cloth is made out of wool it will shrink

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