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Description
Description
Ceramic conoid loomweight made from a mould with wearing on the bottom and a truncated top; measuring 7.80 cm tall, and 5.80 cm wide; a hole is pierced from side to side near the top. Solid; in okay condition: top of the loom weight is partially destroyed or worn down. Not well cleaned as roots can be seen hiding in the pierced hole. Beigey-brown in colour with additional specks of reddish clay.
Loomweights did not frequently change in terms of size and shape which makes dating loomweights difficult. This is why there is a four-hundred year range for this loomweight.
Fig 1. Loomweight. ca. 700 - 300 BCE. London, England. 2011,5013.36. © The Trustees of the British Museum.
Context
Context
Loomweights are often associated with women's work in the oikos, the Greek household (Xen. Oec. 7.29-36). Some of the tasks women were allowed to perform on a daily basis included textile production. Loomweights are used during the weaving process to weight the warp. Weaving was a complex task, and women were responsible for operating the loom to create fabric. Looms in ancient Greece were generally upright and relatively small, allowing them to be easily managed within the household (see fig. 2). Enslaved females were likely more involved in domestic tasks, including textile production within households. Their roles might have included spinning, weaving, and other related activities under the direction of the free women within the household.
Enslaved women however, did not only work on textile production inside the household. There is evidence to suggest that enslaved women participated in textile production in factories and that other enslaved women who preformed other types of enforced labour outside of the house also produced textiles in their own time. One such type of enforced labour that was common for women was prostitution. Prostitution took place all over the ancient world but especially in brothels. Prostitutes could have been purchased by enslavers from a young age and trained to perform sexual acts often before they were old enough. One such example of this is kind of life is Neaera, whose life is described in a speech by Demosthenes ([Dem.] 59.18-41). This text provides a crucial look at the life of an enslaved women in Ancient Greece who worked as a prostitute. During Neaira's life she was accused of claiming illegitimate Athenian citizenship status and living as the wife of a Athenian citizen.
Building Z3 in the Kerameikos neighbourhood of Athens has been identified as a place for enslaved labour as a textile factory and a brothel. This identification stems from the findings of archaeological excavations which uncovered coins, female statuettes of deities, jewellery, as well as a substantial number of loomweights. The loomweights would suggest that textiles were made in mass at the location. Meanwhile the coins link to a strong commercial presence on site which would not have been the case if the site was only being used in the creation of textiles.
The identification of this building raises many further questions.
Were the enslaved women who worked here doing both the jobs of a prostitute and a textile worker?
Were the enslaved prostitutes participating in textile production in their free time for personal reasons? And if so did they have to purchase the materials themselves or did the enslaver purchase the materials for them?
How young were the enslaved women that worked in building Z3? Were they purchased at a young age and forced to work while they were too young like Nearia?
We can only speculate about the daily activities of their lives and the toll enforced labour including prostitution must have had on these individuals. But it is important that we examine these common artifacts to find the often invisible lives of enslaved individuals.
Further Reading
Further Reading
Ault, B. 2016. "Building Z in the Athenian Kerameikos : House, Tavern, Inn, Brothel?" In Houses of Ill Repute: The Archaeology of Brothels Houses, and Tavens in the Greek World, edited by A. Glazebrook and B. Tsakirgis. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Davidson, J. N. 1997. Courtesans and Fishcakes: the Consuming Passions of Classical Athens. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
duBois, P. 2003. Slaves and Other Objects. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Glazebrook, A., and M. M. Henry. 2011. Greek Prostitutes In the Ancient Mediterranean, 800 BCE-200 CE. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press.
Glazebrook, A., and B. Tsakirgis. 2016. Houses of Ill Repute: The Archaeology of Brothels, Houses, and Taverns in the Greek World. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Knigge, U. 1991. The Athenian Kerameikos: History, Monuments, Excavations. Athens: The German Archaeological Institute in Athens.
Sebillotte Cuchet, V., and J. Dillon. 2013. “Women as ‘Wool-Workers’ and ‘Sex-Workers’ in Athens (Fourth Century BCE).” Clio. Women, Gender, History 38: 219–27.
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