The scene is depicted with the true Egyptian faculty for showing details, making words almost unnecessary to an understanding of their pictorial records. We see the raw material in the shape of the hide, and also two well-made coils of the finished product. One of the workmen is cutting a strand from a hide by revolving it and cutting as it turns. Anyone who has not tried it will be surprised to see what a good, even string can be cut from a piece of leather in this way.
DETAIL OF BAS-RELIEF FROM TRIUMPHAL ARCH AT ORANGE
Another man is arranging and paying out the thongs to a third, who is evidently walking backward in time-honored fashion, twisting as he goes. The thongs are evidently tied to a sort of swivel which is fastened to the man’s body in such a way that it enables him to keep a strain upon the strand without interfering with the twisting, in which process the weight shown upon the swivel is probably of some assistance.
The Egyptians also made rope from papyrus and from palm fiber. The specimen shown in our illustration[B] is from the latter material, and was made probably not less than 3,500 years ago, having been taken from an ancient tomb. It has always been a puzzling question how the Egyptians were able to move and put in place the massive stones used in some of their structures, but it is certain that rope must have been an indispensable part of their equipment. Indeed, some of the sculptures illustrate the free use of rope in moving heavy stone carvings. It is known that rope was made in China at a very remote period.
[B] See [page 15]. Photograph from the original specimens taken expressly for us through the courtesy of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
It is of course certain that when men began to propel boats by means of sails, some sort of rope must have been at hand for rigging such vessels. The early history of the building of sailing ships seems to be lost in obscurity, but many of the ancients were good sailors, there seeming to be some difference of opinion as to who were the pioneers in undertaking long voyages. We show an illustration of an Attic sailing ship of the sixth century B.C. The drawing was made from the painting on a drinking cup in the collection of the British Museum. We also give a picture illustrating a detail of the bas-relief from the triumphal arch at Orange erected about A.D. 41. This shows an anchor and a coil of rope, evidently a halyard for a good-sized sail, rove through a pulley. In these and numerous other cases we have records of the use of rope among the Greeks and Romans, as well as similar ones from other nations, handed down to us through their sculptures and paintings.
ATTIC SAILING SHIP, SIXTH CENTURY B.C.
The historians also occasionally mention the use of rope in connection with some great undertaking. Herodotus tells us that Xerxes, during his invasion of Greece, B.C. 480, crossed his army over the Hellespont upon two bridges of boats, which were held together, and the plank roadway supported, by enormous cables stretched from shore to shore, a distance of seven-eighths of a mile. It is said that these ropes, of which there were six to each bridge, were twenty-eight inches in circumference, two of each set being made of flax and four of papyrus. It is stated that the famous galley, the Syracusia, built for Hiero under the supervision of Archimedes, was furnished with hempen rope from Rhodes.