Fig. 170.—Silver Ear-Pick (No. 425). 3:5.
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.
[43:] Σμικροῦ τινος Αἰγινήτου ἐνδεές εἰμι ἔνδειγμα λατρείας.
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.
Fig. 171.—Woman Spinning (No. 421). Ht. of Vase 8¾ in.
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.
