Minoan Weaving: When the Loom Never Stopped

In ancient times, it was a sophisticated industry that defined the aesthetic and economy of prehistoric Crete. To this day, Minoans remain in our minds for their elaborate, colourful, and vibrant garments, which are depicted with stunning detail in Frescoes both within and beyond the island, such as those of Thera. The myth of Ariadne's thread is famous; it is not merely a heroic tale of orientation but a reference to Minoan expertise. Following our previous articles on the attire of the Minoan man and the dresses of the Minoan woman, we will continue to investigate how these extraordinary garments reached the hands of the people.

Picture Provided by Gemini of Google.

The Myth of Ariadne: What can we Learn?

In the heart of the myth, it is Ariadne who provides the ultimate solution to the unsolvable riddle of the Labyrinth. By giving Theseus a ball of thread and instructing him to fasten it to the entrance, she offers him the only means of returning from the darkness of the maze after his confrontation with the Minotaur. This act of assistance is not merely a romantic gesture but a strategic deployment of a specialised tool.

As the daughter of Minos, Ariadne possesses the sacred art of weaving. The fact that a thread is what saves Theseus within the Labyrinth demonstrates that, in a sense, the string was regarded as a tool of survival and civilisation. For a thread to unfurl over such a vast area without breaking, it implies that the material was exceptionally strong-a detail that aligns with the historical reputation of Minoan yarns, which were highly sought after their remarkably durability.

As we can observe more clearly than in other civilisations, weaving during the Minoan period was deeply interconnected with religion and the female hierarchy. The thread may have symbolised logic and order, standing in opposition to chaos, the labyrinth, disorientation, and the beast.

The thread itself, could also serve as evidence of value, in the same way that banknotes function today. The word 'mitos' was used metaphorically for life, much like the three Moirai (fates) in later Greek mythology who spin the thread of destiny. In the Minoan economy, a well-crafted yarn was literally a form of currency. Linear B tablets reveal that its production was strictly recorded by the palace, just meticulously as gold and oil.

The Raw Materials

The foundation for the materials used was provided by the Cretan land itself, with sheep's wool being the primary source. Sheep farming was systematic and controlled by the palaces, as evidenced by the Linear B tablets. Flax (linen) was essential for creating finer fabrics for the warmer seasons-often semi-transparent and ideal for the Aegean climate.

For the colours, they used plant-based materials and animal-based dyes rather than earth pigments, which were more commonly used in wall painting.

Specifically, it is believed that:

Yellow: Derived primarily from saffron (krokos).
Red: Obtained from madder (rizari), using its roots, or from kermes, a tiny insect that lives on oak trees.
Blue: Derived from the woad plant (Isatis), which required a complex process to release its pigment.

A particularly distinct colour was purple (porphyra), which in Roman and later Byzantine times was more expensive even than gold. The Minoans appear to have been among the first to extract thie precious deep-red dye from certain shells, a type of sea snail living in the waters near Crete, known as murex. The reason it was so valuable was that producing even a small amount required thousands of these snails. It seems the Minoans developed the process even before the Phoenicians. Workshops have been discovered in Palaiokastro and Koufonisi. It is estimated that dyeing just the hem of a garment required hundreds of shells, while an entire fabric required approximately 10,000 to 12,000 shells. The process was extremely time-consuming: manual collection, removal of the gland, ten days of boiling, and exposure to the sun.

How Were the Fabrics Dyed?

Before dyeing, the fabric had to be thoroughly cleaned of its natural oils using wood ash mixed with water or soap-making herbs. If the fabrics were not clean, the dye would not take hold. They also made use of mordants, as most plant fibres do not naturally bond with pigments for long. These substances acted as a bridge, binding the colour to the fibre and making it resistant to washing and sun exposure.

The process took place in large clay cauldrons or rock-cut troughs, such as those discovered at the workshops in Pefka, Crete. The water was heated, and the fabric or yarn was simmered along with the dyes. Often, they would dye the yarn before weaving. This allowed them to create the complex, multicoloured geometric patterns that we observe in the frescoes.

Equipment

The loom was the heart of the production. They used warp-weighted loom with clay weights-in contrast to their fishing nets, where, as we saw in the previous article on Minoan metallurgy , they used lead weights. The structure of the loom was simple, yet its operation required extreme precision.

The main part of the loom was the frame. It consisted of two upright wooden posts joined by a horizontal beam at the top, called the cloth beam. The warp threads were suspended from this beam.

The warp consisted of the vertical threads that started from the cloth beam and hung freely toward the ground.

'Agnythes' was the term for the ceramic loom weights tied to the ends of the warp threads. Their function was to keep the threads taut so that the weft (filler thread) could pass through. Finally, a horizontal rod called the heddle rod divides the warp threads into two rows (front and back), creating the shed-the opening through which the thread passes.

For this reconstruction, archaeologists do not rely on mere suspicions but on solid findings. A series of evidence exists that reveals the form of an ancient Minoan loom.

The most compelling evidence comes from houses destroyed by fire, for example in the settlements of Myrtos and Knossos. When the wooden structure of the loom burnt or rotted away, the clay loom weights fell to the floor. Most of these were found aligned in a straight row or in two parallel rows. This arrangement on the ground proves that they were suspended from a horizontal beam and kept the threads taut. Had they been simply stored, they would have been found in a pile.

In Linear A tablets-the authentic Minoan script-there is a specific symbol (AB 54) that clearly depicts an upright frame with vertical lines ending in dots (the weights). It is the official ideogram for the loom or fabric.

Finally, seal stones provide another interesting piece of evidence. These are small engraved stones used for sealing that depict the loom as an object. Although the representation is schematic due to its small scale, the structure-with two uprights and a horizontal cloth beam-is identical to the form described above.

In the block universe, as we discussed in a previous article, at this very moment-perhaps in another block of this spacetime-a Minoan woman sits or stands before her loom, weaving. The weaver would stand upright in front of the loom. The weaving process started from the top and moved downward. The finished cloth was wound around the top horizontal beam. Meanwhile, she would use a wooden or bone weaving sword (beater) to strike the weft upward, ensuring the weave became dense and uniform.

Picture provided by Gemini of Google.

Author: Theocharis George Paterakis

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