Some simple form of weaving seems to have been practised by prehistoric man at a very early stage of development. Fig. 3 shows an example of coarse flaxen stuff from the lake-dwellings of Switzerland, dating from the Stone Age. Wool appears to have been the first substance used, as no skill is required to prepare it for spinning. Weaving was specially the duty of women, and even in the Middle Ages in Europe it was, in some countries, considered a specially feminine employment. An early Christian sarcophagus in the Lateran has a symbolical relief representing God condemning the future world to labour,—tillage for the man and weaving for the woman :—He gives ears of corn to Adam and a sheep to Eve.

The Egyptians were famed for the beauty of their woven stuffs, and almost incredible stories are related of the fineness of their linen, such as a pallium sent by King Amasis to the Spartans, which, Herodotus (iii. 47) says, was made of yarn containing no less than 360 threads; the figures woven on this were partly of cotton and partly of gold thread. Herodotus also mentions a wonderful pallium sent by the same king to the shrine of Athene at Lindus. Few examples of the fine and richly ornamented sorts of Egyptian stuffs now exist, though we have immense quantities of the coarse linen in which mummies were wrapped. This, though coarse, is closely woven, and usually has in every inch many more threads to the warp than to the weft. A few fragments of Egyptian cloth of the XVIIIth Dynasty have been found with a border of coloured bands, the blue of which is indigo and the red extract of Kermes

(7.v.). In Egypt linen was specially employed for religious purposes, such as priestly and royal vestments, because it harbours dirt less than wool or cotton, which were also worn by the Egyptians, and it was used to bandage mummies, because it was thought not to engender worms. Though priests were allowed to wear outer garments of wool, they were obliged to put them off before entering a sacred place.

The Phoenicians were celebrated for their weaving, as for their skill in other arts. Their purple linen, dyed with the murex, was specially valued; Tyre and Sidon were the chief places where this was made. Babylon, Carthage, Sardis, Miletus, and Alexandria were all famous seats of textile manufacture in the time of Herodotus.

Though no specimens of Assyrian textiles remain, some notion of their richness of ornament and the styles of their patterns may be gained from the minute representations of rich dresses worn by kings and other important personages in the sculptured Avail-reliefs from Nineveh which are now in the British Museum. The stuffs worn by Asur-banipal are most elaborate in design, being covered with delicate geometrical patterns and diapers, with borders of lotus and other flowers treated with great decorative skill. A large marble slab from the same palace is covered with an elaborate textile pattern in low relief, and is evidently a faithful copy of an Assyrian carpet. Still more magnificent stuffs are represented as being worn by Assyrian captives on the enamelled wall-tiles from Rameses II.’s palace (14th century b.c.) at Tel al-Yâhùdiya (see Pottery, vol. xix. p. 603); the woven patterns are most minutely reproduced in their different colours, and the design, special to Assyria, of the sacred tree between two guardian beasts, is clearly represented, though on the most minute scale.

Our knowledge of Greek textiles, in the almost complete absence of any existing specimens, is chiefly derived from the descriptions of various classical authors. One indication of the patterns commonly used at an early period is given by the designs on much of the archaic Greek pottery, which clearly has ornament derived from textile sources. Vol. xix. p. 607, fig. 16, shows examples of these; simple bands, chequers, and zigzags would naturally be the first steps towards more elaborate patterns. Again, recent excavations at Orchomenus and Tiryns have brought to light examples of ceiling and wall decoration the motives of which are obviously derived from textile patterns. A stone ceiling at Orchomenus has in relief a carpet-like pattern, and the painted wall-stucco of the Tiryns palace has many varieties of coarse but effective textile ornament. The poems of Homer are full of descriptions of woven stuffs of the most magnificent materials and design, used both for dresses and for tapestry hangings. In later times the most important examples of rich woven work of which we have any record were certain peploi made to cover or shade the statues of the deities at Athens, Olympia, Delphi, and other famous shrines. Euripides (Ion, 1141-1162) gives a glowing description of a peplos which belonged to the temple of Apollo at Delphi, on which was depicted the firmament of heaven, with Apollo Helios in his chariot, surrounded by the chief stars and constellations. At Athens a new peplos, ornamented with the battle of the gods and the giants, was woven for the gold and ivory statue of Athene in the Parthenon every fifth year, and was solemnly carried in procession at the greater Panathenaea. Similarly at Olympia a new peplos was woven by sixteen women, and displayed every fifth year at the Olympian games in honour of Hera. It appears probable that these magnificent peploi were not used as garments, which would have partly concealed the splendour of Phidias’s gold and ivory statues, but were suspended over them like a mediaeval baldacchino. Very possibly, however, most of the elaborate work on them was embroidery done by the needle, and not loom or textile work.

The Romans under the late republic and the empire possessed immense stores of the most magnificent textiles of every description, such as the splendid collection of tapestry which Rome inherited along with the other art treasures of Attalus II. of Pergamum (2d cent, b.c.). A very costly cloth of gold was called by the Romans “attalica,” after Attalus. The C. Cestius who died about the middle of the 1st century b.c., and who is buried in the existing pyramid in Rome, left orders in his will that his body was to be wrapped in certain attalica; but, as this was forbidden by a sumptuary law, his heirs sold the gold stuff and with the proceeds had two colossal bronze statues made, which were set outside the tomb. The feet of one of these have been found with an inscribed pedestal recording the above-mentioned facts. The size of the statue shows that the attalica must have been worth a very great sum. Examples of large prices given by Romans for woven stuffs are recorded by Pliny (H.N., viii. 48): Metellus Scipio bought some hangings from Babylon for 800,000 sesterces, and other similar stuffs were bought by Nero for four millions of sesterces (about £3360). Costly tapestry from Babylon is mentioned by Plautus (Stich., IL, ii. 54), Silius Italicus (xiv. 658), and Martial (xiv. 150). Virgil (Gear., iii. 25) mentions woven tapestries with figures of Britons being used at theatrical shows: “Purpurea intexti tollant aulaea Britanni.” Other tapestries with scenes from the story of Theseus and Ariadne are mentioned by Catullus (Argon., xlvi. 267). On a very remarkable example of late Roman stuff found at Sitten (Sion) in Switzerland is woven a graceful figure of a nymph seated on a sea-monster, among scroll-work of foliated ornament, purely classical in design. A large quantity of very remarkable woven stuffs has recently been found in tombs at Ekhmin (Panopolis) in Middle Egypt. More than 300 pieces have been bought for the South Kensington Museum. They are of various dates, apparently ranging from the 4th to the 6th or 7th century a.d. The earliest are of purely classical style: some have badly designed but very decorative figures of pagan deities, with their names in Greek —e.g. Hermes and Apollo; others have figures driving chariots drawn by two centaurs, or marine gods, or long bands of animals—bears, lions, stags, ducks, and many others. These are used to decorate linen tunics or pieces of stuff about 2 feet square. The later examples appear to be Coptic vestments of various shapes, and are decor ated with rude figures of St George and other Oriental saints, each with a nimbus. These ornaments are done by true tapestry weaving, the weft pattern being in brilliantly coloured wools on a flaxen warp. Tn some cases the colours, especially the magnificent reds and blues, are as bright as if they were new. Though in all cases the figure drawing is rude, the decorative value is very great.

From the 6th to the 13th century Byzantium became the capital of all the industrial arts, and in none is its influence more obvious than in that of weaving. There the arts of ancient Greece and of old Rome met and were fused with the artistic notions of ancient Egypt, Assyria, Persia, and Asia Minor, and this combination produced a fresh and very active art spirit, which for many centuries dominated the whole civilized world. As regards weaving, this new development was strengthened by the introduction of silk into Europe in the reign of Justinian, and many specimens of early silk fabrics have lasted down to the present time, partly through their being safe against moths. The silken stuffs found in the tombs of Charlemagne and other kings, though perhaps not themselves as early as the 6th century, show one class of design used in Byzantium in the time of Justinian. Some of these combine the figure-subjects of ancient Rome with the stronger decorative beauty of the East. Chariot races in the circus, consuls and emperors enthroned in state, gladiatorial fights with lions, and other classical subjects occur, arranged in medallions or wreaths, set in close rows, so as to fill up the ground. Again, mixed with these classical scenes are designs of purely Assyrian origin, such as the sacred tree between two guardian beasts, closely resembling the designs of 2000 b.c. The manufacture of these rich fabrics was carried on, not only in Byzantium, but also in many towns of Greece proper, such as Athens, Thebes, and Corinth, all of which were specially famed for their silk textiles. During the same time, the 6th to the 12th century, Baghdad, Damascus, Ispahan, and many other towns in Persia and Syria were producing woven stuffs of the richest materials and designs; names of reigning caliphs are sometimes mingled with Ar-abicsentences from the Koran and other sacred books, which are introduced freely among the intricate patterns with the most richly decorative effect. By this means some existing specimens of the 8th to the 10th century can be dated. Fig. 4 shows a 16th-century example of the finest Persian damask in silk and gold,—a masterpiece of textile design.

According to the usual story, Roger of Sicily, who in 1147 made a successful raid on the shores of Attica and took Athens, Thebes, and Corinth, carried off as prisoners a number of Greek weavers, whom he settled at Palermo and made the founders of the royal factory for silk weaving. This story is doubtful, for the Saracenic inhabitants of Sicily had apparently been producing fine silken stuffs long before the 12th century. In part, however, the story may be true; certainly an impetus was given to the weaving industry of Palermo in the 12th century, and for about two centuries Sicily became the chief seat in Europe for the production of the finest woven stuffs. A large number of examples of these beautiful fabrics still exist, showing an immense variety of designs, all of which are imagined with the highest decorative skill,—perfect masterpieces of textile art, combining freedom of invention and grace of drawing with that slight amount of mechanical stiffness which is specially suited to the requirements of the loom. One of the earliest existing specimens, which shows the existence of the fabrique before the time of Roger I., is a piece of silk stuff in which the body of St Cuthbert at Durham was wrapped when his relics were translated in 1104; this was found at the opening of his grave in 1827, and is now preserved in Durham cathedral library. The figures woven on it show an interesting combination of Western and Oriental art. Birds and conventional ornaments of purely Eastern style are mingled with designs taken from late Roman mosaics,—the whole being blended with great skill into a highly decorative pattern. The Sicilian silks of the 12th to the 14th century were mostly used for ecclesiastical vestments, altar frontals, and the like; and the fact that examples have survived in almost all countries of Europe shows how important and far-reaching a trade in them must once have been carried on. The favourite designs were the sun breaking through a cloud from whence rays of light are issuing, or conventionally treated ships, fountains, islands, castles, and an immense variety of birds and beasts, such as swans, mallards, eagles, lions, cheetahs, hounds, giraffes, antelopes, and others. Some specimens have siren-like female forms, with floating hair, casting nets, leaning down from palm trees, or issuing from shells. Others, rather later in style, have winged angel-like figures. In many cases the Assyrian sacred tree and its guardian beasts occur, and very frequently borders with sham Arabic letters are introduced,—a survival of the time when real sentences were woven into the fabrics of Persia and Egypt, probably intended as a visible sign that the stuff was the genuine product of Saracenic looms. All these are perfect masterpieces of textile art, and have never since been rivalled either in beauty of design or in skilful use of gold and colours. Fig. 5 shows a characteristic example; another copied from a painting is given under Mural Decoration, vol. xvii. p. 46, fig. 15.

In the 14th century the chief centre of fine silk weaving was transferred from Palermo to Lucca, Florence, Milan, Venice, and other towns in northern Italy, and a different class of design, less rich in fancy, but scarcely less beautiful in effect, came into vogue. The designs of these 14th and

15th century textiles were chiefly conventional adaptations of natural foliage and flowers, arranged with great beautv of line and wealth of decorative effect; among the most beautiful is scroll-work of vines with graceful curving lines of leaf and tendril. An extremely rich design, largely employed throughout the 15th century, was made from the artichoke plant, and was especially used for the rich “cut” velvets of Genoa, Florence, and Venice, in which the pattern is formed in relief by pile raised above pile, mixed with gold (see fig. 6 and vol. xvii. p. 46, fig.

14). At this time Venice contained a large number of Oriental craftsmen in all the industrial arts, and very beautiful stuffs were woven there with designs of mingled Oriental and Italian style,—probably the work of Mohammedan weavers (see fig. 7).

In all these Oriental, Sicilian, and early Italian stuffs gold thread is used in a very lavish and effective way. It was made very skilfully, the richest effect being produced with little metal by thickly gilding fine vellum skins with gold leaf; the vellum was then cut into very thin strips and wound round a thread of silk or hemp so closely as to look like a solid gold wire. In and since the 15th century gold thread has been made by twisting a thin ribbon of gilt silver round a silken core. In this way much less gold is required, as the silver ribbon is gilded before being drawn out to its final thinness, and it is thus liable to tarnish, oλving to the partial exposure of the silver surface. In classical times attalica and other gold stuffs were made of solid gold wire beaten out with the hammer. Masses of this...