#lang scribble/base
@(require "../Bibliography/cite.rkt"
          scriblib/footnote
          "../Images/image-support.rkt")

@define-cite-footnote[footnote
                      make-footnote
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@title{Performative aspects of Textile Production}
 

The roles that textile production played in ritual and ceremony are intrinsically tied to the fundamental importance of women in the practical production of textiles for either domestic or commercial purposes discussed above. As an attribute of feminine virtue, textile production took a performative role in several Roman rituals and ceremonies, most directly associated with three aspects of a woman's life: marriage, childbirth, and death.@cite-footnote[Cottica2006 203] These are, unsurprisingly, the three notable events in a woman's life that are likely to be noted in literary, historical, or epigraphic sources. As rites of passage, these events are also deeply steeped in tradition and ceremony.

@;"Another [spindle whorl] from Langres says "SALVE TV PUELLA." (CIL XIII 10019/19) @cite[Wild1970 33]

@section{Marriage}

Textile production played a prominent role in no less than three aspects of the preparation for and execution of the marriage ceremony for a Roman bride. There is no one primary source that outlines the Roman marriage ceremony. Most fragmentary accounts come from the antiquarians; however given difficulties accessing the primary sources, I had to rely on secondary sources, particularly the work of Susan Treggiari.@cite-footnote[Treggiari1991 "161-170"] The bridal attire itself served as an advertisement for the bride's suitability as a wife, as she wove the traditional @italic{tunica recta} and yellow hair net that she would wear in the ceremony herself.@cite-footnote[DAmbra2007 73] She was thus able to demonstrate to her groom her ability to contribute to his household through her craftsmanship.

After the bride and groom's hands had been joined, the bride would be led by three boys in a ceremonial procession, the @italic{deductio in domum mariti,} from her father's home to the groom's home. As part of this procession, either the bride or her attendants would carry a @index['("spindle/whorl")]{spindle} or @index['("distaff")]{distaff}.@footnote{Varro @italic{LL} 5.61; Plut. @italic{QR} 1; @cite[Treggiari1991 166]} Once the bridal procession arrived at the groom's house, the bride attached woolen fillets to the doorpost and anointed it with oils or fats.@footnote{Pliny @italic{NH} 28.142,29,30; Plut. @italic{QR} 31; @cite[Treggiari1991 168]; @cite[DAmbra2007 74]}

@; NDC: What is the significance of the woolen fillets on the doorpost? What's the significance of the fat? It all seems a bit weird but that's Roman religion ...

Other aspects of the ceremony reflected the bride's chastity, and fertility. The inclusion of textile production, textile tools, and woolen fillets in the wedding ceremony highlighted her productivity and contributions to the household.@cite-footnote[LarssonLoven2013-production 230] In a functional sense, these traditions called on the woman's ability to contribute to the household, even if her role in textile production in the day-to-day running of the household would have been primarily supervisory. Symbolically, spinning and weaving in this context represented the formation of a new family with the bride as the agent.@cite-footnote[Cottica2006 191] This metaphor is expanded on a larger scale as the fabric of society. @;expand on this with citations

@;TODO: Look at the Villa of the Mysteries frescoes in the sense of textiles in Roman marriage rites

@section{Funerary rites}

The interpretation of evidence related to textiles depends very much on its context: a @index['("spindle/whorl")]{spindle whorl} in a domestic context with signs of use was likely a practical tool used in production; a similar spindle whorl with signs of use discovered in a funerary context may maintain the practical past but its presence as a grave good has imbued it with some ceremonial significance; an image of a seated woman spinning on a gravestone could reflect the role she served in life or it could represent the further abstraction of the object into a symbol of feminine virtue. Given that funerary practices are inherently ceremonial and imbued with cultural significance outside of practical use, textile references from graves are the most concrete evidence of the symbolic nature of textile production.@cite-footnote[Cottica2006 200] In this role, textile tools as grave goods, depictions of textile tools, and epigraphs are ideologically linked to gender.@cite-footnote[LarssonLoven2013-production 122]

@subsection{Grave goods}

@index['("spindle/whorl")]{Spindle whorls}, @index['("distaff")]{distaffs}, @index['("loom weight")]{loom weights}, needles, and other textile tools are common grave goods throughout the ancient world. To the extent that any artifact can be associated with a specific gender, spindle whorls have long been associated with women. In a somewhat circular argument, this association persists to the extent that they are often used in conjunction with objects such as jewelry and cosmetic bottles to indicate women's presence.@cite-footnote[Allison2010 173] This practice can be seen at sites throughout the Roman empire. Grave goods from Rome, for example, include @index['("spindle/whorl")]{spindle whorls},@cite-footnote[Lipkin2012 25] spools,@cite-footnote[Lipkin2012 38] @index['("loom weight")]{loom weights},@cite-footnote[Lipkin2012 48] and a @index['("distaff")]{distaff}.@cite-footnote[Lipkin2012 59] @;find more examples from other sites, maybe Allison on Pompeii?

@; **Find full citation for Barber 2007

@; NDC: Can you say whether a significant number of grave goods assoc. with textiles might have been purpose-made for burial? Do precious materials mean they are symbolic/ceremonial rather than functional? Does the comparison to Ephesus (bone) show that other precious material tools could be 'practical' or suggesting that the one in Ephesus is 'ceremonial', as Trinkl?

The funerary assemblage of @index['("spindle/whorl")]{spindle, whorl,} and @index['("distaff")]{distaff} from a sarcophagus of a woman and her unborn child in Ephesus @figures["Trinkl1994_1"] fits stylistically within the larger set of @index['("distaff")]{distaffs} found in the Roman terrace houses and other contexts across the city. In its use as a grave good, the @index['("distaff")]{distaff} maintained the same connotations as those found in domestic contexts while continuing its object-life with a new layer of meaning.

@; NDC: This looks very much like a Near Eastern goddess -- lots of exx. Are you sure it's a real mother?

In Roman Pannonia, @index['("distaff")]{distaffs} made of precious materials and often decorated were frequent grave-goods for adult women.@cite-footnote[PasztokaiSzeoke2011 126] One finger distaff from Pannonia depicts a nude female figure shaded under the branches of a tree, holding an infant @figures["Pannonia1"]. This image can easily be compared to the figural distaffs from Ephesus @figures["Trinkl1" "Trinkl4" "Trinkl2"]. The figural distaff from Pannonia as an object is more directly associated with motherhood. In addition to the baby in her arms, this figure lacks the drapery around her waist therefore displaying a prominent pubic triangle and a line along her abdomen has been interpreted as a scar from a cesarean section.@cite-footnote[PasztokaiSzeoke2011 133] @index['("spindle/whorl")]{Spindle whorls} from Pannonia show little distinction between those found in funerary contexts and those found elsewhere. The @index['("distaff")]{distaffs} that were used as grave goods, however, are distinctly made of precious materials that were not common in other contexts (bone, glass, amber, and bronze).

Of the total of fifty bone @index['("distaff")]{distaffs} discovered at Viminacium, fourty-six of them were either in graves or in the cemetery @figures["Dankovic10" "Dankovic11"].@cite-footnote[Dankovic2020 89] Typologically, the distaffs from this site vary between ring-distaffs and hand-distaffs @figures["Dankovic6"]. In addition to bone, distaffs of amber and glass were represented as well. Since they were found associated with both cremation and inhumation burials, many of the specimens are distorted or scorched from exposure to the heat of the funeral pyre @figures["Dankovic9"].@cite-footnote[Dankovic2020 87] In contrast to the high quantity of distaffs, only six @index['("spindle/whorl")]{spindles} were discovered at Viminacium; these spindles comprised of bone shafts and whorls of bone, stone, or glass.@cite-footnote[Dankovic2020 88] A grave assemblage of an inhumation burial of a woman consists of an amber distaff, a bone @index['("spindle/whorl")]{spindle} with a glass whorl, a bone sewing needle, and the bronze fittings of a jewelry casket @figures["DankovicAmber2" "DankovicAmber"].@cite-footnote[Dankovic2019 217] The amber distaff is a hand distaff comprised of a bronze core connecting 27 amber beads and terminating in a small female bust carved out of amber. The @index['("distaff")]{distaff} was conspicuously placed on the left side of the deceased's chest @figures["DankovicGrave"]. 

@subsection{Funerary Iconography}

While depictions of women spinning and participating in other stages of wool-work were ubiquitous in Greek art in a variety of contexts, they are rare in Roman art. The most abundant source for textile iconography in Roman art is found in funerary contexts. In contrast to the familiar scenes from Greek vases of women actively engaged in textile crafts, Roman examples tend to be stationary and present the objects more as attributes than tools in use.@cite-footnote[Cottica2006 203]

The motif of the wool basket (@italic{kalathos}), represented as a wicker basket with a narrow base that tapers upward, was a standard part of wool-working scenes, and could also appear in other domestic scenes as an attribute demarcating a women's space. While far less common of a motif in Roman art, when the wool basket does appear, it is typically associated with women's funerary monuments and incorporated into the scene as a passive attribute. In the grave relief of Ulpia Epigone, the deceased is depicted reclining on a kline with a wool basket at her feet @figures["UlpiaEpigone"].@footnote{@cite[LarssonLoven2002] 83 and @cite[DAmbra1989]} In this scene, the wool basket is depicted as the sole textile related object and its meaning could easily be overlooked without comparanda. On the gravestone of Marcus Valerius Celerinus and his wife Marcia Procula from Cologne, we see a domestic scene including a man reclining on a kline and a woman seated at the far left in a chair @figures["Marcus_Valerius_Celerinus"]. On the floor beside the woman's chair is a wool basket with two loaded @index['("distaff")]{distaffs} and a full @index['("spindle/whorl")]{spindle} sticking out of the top.@cite-footnote[Carroll2013 301] A sarcophagus from Bithynia represents a husband and wife both reclining on a kline with the wool basket on the floor beneath the couch. A loaded @index['("distaff")]{distaff} hovers horizontally above the wool basket with a piece of roving leading off of it tapering down to thread connecting it to a spindle depicted parallel and above it @figures["Bithynia"].@footnote{Ilija Dankovic mis-identifies the provenance of this sarcophagus as Ephesus in both @cite[Dankovic2020], 87 and @cite[Dankovic2019] 219; though in both cases she sites @cite[Trinkl1994], 86. Trinkl identifies the provenance of the sarcophagus as Bithynia, though she uses it as a visual representation of set of tools (spindle, whorl, and distaff) discovered in the women's tomb in Ephesus that her article focuses on.} The presence of the @index['("spindle/whorl")]{spindle} and @index['("distaff")]{distaff}, displayed in such a conspicuous manner, connect the basket below to the textile tradition.

@;In other reliefs, the loaded spindles or distaffs are depicted hovering in the periphery of the portrait unused without the context of the wool basket.@footnote{Get examples from Laarson Loven's dissertation once I can get a copy of the book again}

In another funerary trend that fits within the productive housewife theme, the deceased woman is shown in a frontal portrait holding textile tools in her hands. In the funerary relief of Ba'altega from Palmyra, the deceased holds a ring-@index['("distaff")]{distaff} in her left hand @figures["Harvard1908_3"]. On the Gravestone of Regina from Arbeia, the deceased holds a loaded @index['("spindle/whorl")]{spindle} and distaff idly in her left hand @figures["Regina"].@cite-footnote[Carroll2013 288] While the straight-sided basket at her feet doesn't conform to the typical @italic{kalathos} style wool basket discribed above, the balls wool and thread perched atop it indicate that it serves the same function. In the funerary portrait of Veriuga from Dunaújváros, she holds a @index['("distaff")]{distaff} in her left hand and a @index['("spindle/whorl")]{spindle} in her right @figures["Veriuga"].@cite-footnote[Carroll2013 296] While the women in each of these portraits hold textile tools in their hand, none of them are actively spinning, these idle tools equate to a symbolic formula denoting domesticity and virtue.@cite-footnote[LarssonLoven1997 91]

There are distinguishable types of representation between idealized domestic production -- typically associated with women's graves -- and commercial production -- more frequently associated with men's graves or graves shared by married couples. The women, as described above, are generally an inert idealized type, whereas imagery on men's graves could either be an innert tool representing the profession or the deceased depicted actively participating in their work with more individualized portraiture.@cite-footnote[LarssonLoven2007 231] The most common tool represented are wool shears (@italic{forfeces}), which appear both as an inert tool@footnote{See figures 1.2.1 - 1.2.4 in @cite[LarssonLoven2002 40]} or held by a male figure.@footnote{ See figures 1.2.5 - 1.2.9 in @cite[LarssonLoven2002 42]}. In three of these representations where both a man and a woman are represented, only the man is holding a the @italic{forfeces} as a representation of his profession. The funerary relief of Gaius Cafurnius Antiochus and his wife Veturia Deutera depicts a sheep under a pair of joined hands @figures["GaiusCafurniusAntiochus"]. The inscription that accompanies the relief identifies Gaius Cafurnius Antiochus as a @italic{@as-index{lanarius}} but does not indicate a job for his wife.@footnote{ See discussion of this inscription in Chapter 6 ** @italic{CIL} 6.9489} Likewise, the relief reflects the husband's job via the sheep -- source of the @italic{lana} or wool -- while conjoined hands represent the @italic{dextrarum iunctio,} a divice used to represent marriage.@cite-footnote[LarssonLoven2002 69]  A marble sarcophagus of unknown provenance at the J. Paul Getty Museum represents the deceased, Titua Aelius Evangelus, reclining on a @italic{kline} while his wife, Gaudenia Nicene, stands at the foot raising a cup of wine toward him @figures["GettyComb"].@cite-footnote[LarssonLoven2002 45] Neither the deceased or his wife are engaged in textile work themselves, but at the far left a bearded man is seated in front of a frame holding a wool comb, processing wool into roving. At the far right, another man winding wool roving from a basket at his feet, perhaps allotting daily portions of wool for the @index['("quasillaria/spinner")]{spinners}. The peripheral presence of the workshop scenes suggests the deceased's role as a @italic{@as-index{lanarius,}} though the deceased and his wife are conspicuously at leisure while others do the labor. 

@;ToDo add fulling and dying scenes

The Igel column, as discussed in chapters 4 and 7, has genre scenes depicting various actions and transactions in textile trade @figures["Igel2" "Igel1" "Igel4" "Zahn1" "Igel5" "Zahn2" "Igel6" "Zahn3" "Igel7" "Zahn4" "Igel 8" "Zahn5" "Igel9" "Zahn7" "Igel10" "Zahn8" "Zahn6" "Igel11"]. While this is the most ambitious funerary monument of the type, several of the scenes appear on simpler funerary reliefs including baling or baled packages,@footnote{ See figures 3.1.1 - 3.2.2 and 3.4.1 - 3.4.3 in @cite[LarssonLoven2002 55]} presentation of textiles for inspection,@footnote{ See figures 4.1.1 - 4.1.12 in @cite[LarssonLoven2002 59]} and salesroom scenes.@footnote{ See figures 4.2.1 - 4.3.2 in @cite[LarssonLoven2002 55]} 

While the majority of these depictions are within the context of funerary portraits, a fresco in the Hypogeum of the Aurelii contains one of the only representations of a Roman two-beam loom in the midst of other mythological scenes @figures["Aurelii"].@cite-footnote[Wild1976] While thes scene has been interpreted as either the myth of Penelope@footnote{ Hom. @italic{Od.} 19.137-158} or Arachne,@footnote{Ov. @italic{Met.} 6.87} there is nothing to definitively tie it to either myth. In fact, the woman standing beside the loom is facing away and clearly not weaving. It does serve as a divider between two scenes in the fresco.
@;include more research here... this is seat of the pants


Images of the @italic{parcae} (Roman goddesses who presided over childbirth and spoke the fate of the child, often conflated with the Greek fates), @italic{Fata} (a personification of Fate) and the Greek @italic{Moirai} (the fates),@footnote{@cite[Barber1994], 235-236, 245} were exceptions to the general lack of images depicting women actively spinning in Roman art. The three fates each play their own role in determining the length of a life: Clotho spins the thread of life, Lachesis measures it, and Atropos cuts it. As the role of the fates is to determine and measure the lives of mortals, they are often represented on sarcophagi either as a reflection of a life cut short,@footnote{ See @cite[GinesTaylor2019] Fig. 5, pg. 22-24 for a mid-second century Roman sarcophagus lid and Fig. 7, pg. 28 for a second century Roman child's sarcophagus both representing the fates mingled with scenes of daily life.} or as part of a larger pantheon in mythological scenes. In these representations, Fata/Nona/Clotho is typically shown holding a @index['("distaff")]{distaff} in one hand and drafting with the other. In sculputral form, it is difficult to represent a single thread, therefore artists were forced to be somewhat creative with how active spinning was portrayed. In a hihg-relief representation of the myth of Prometheus from Puteoli, the thread of life itself was once disengaged but has since broken away. The fragments of the thread of life that are still visible and engaged to Nona's hands indicate that the thread was thicker than her fingers and the top of the @index['("spindle/whorl")]{spindle} is engaged to the bottom of her left hand @figures["NapoliPrometheus"]. In another relief of the myth of Prometheus in the Louvre, the bulky thread remains and is nearly as thick as the tines on Neptune's trident beside her @figures["LouvrePrometheus"]. 

@section{Religion}

Since there is little direct evidence between religion and textile production from Karanis, Trier, or Ephesus, I will not belabour this section. However, I felt it deserved some acknowledgment as part of my interpretation of the @index['("distaff")]{distaffs} from Ephesus. In the Roman empire overall, religious associations of textile production manifested in three forms: the association between mythical figures such as Arachne, Penelope, and the Parcae with textile production; the production of textiles for religious purposes or in religious spaces; and the use of textile tools as votive offerings at sanctuaries.

Although textile tools appear in smaller numbers at temples across the spectrum of the pantheon, they are found with most frequency in temples of female deities, particularly Diana.@cite-footnote[Cottica2006] From the archaeological evidence, it is often difficult to discern whether the objects served as votive offerings or evidence of sacred production.@cite-footnote[Meyers2013] The three @index['("loom weight")]{loom weights} found in the temple at Karanis, for example, can be discounted as evidence of sacred production because a much larger set of weights was required for a functioning loom; however, sets of @index['("loom weight")]{loom weights} or @index['("spindle/whorl")]{spindles} could be evidence of either.

@nested[#:style 'inset]{"Gaia Caecilia consort of one of Tarquin`s sons, a fair and virtuous woman, whose statue in bronze stands in the temple of Sanctus. And both her sandals and her @index['("spindle/whorl")]{spindle} were, in ancient days, dedicated there as tokens of her love of home and of her industry respectively."@footnote{Plutarch, @italic{Questiones Romanae} 30}}

Literary sources reference both of these religious connotations for textiles and textile tools. As in the case of Plutarch's account of Gaia Caecilia above, he connects the practice of leaving textile tools as votive offerings as an ancient tradition. Literary sources also indicate that women made votive offerings of home-made textiles at many of the same temples.@cite-footnote[Kleijwegt2002] This does not directly correspond to religious production of textiles, as the work does not occur within the sanctuary, it implies that women crafted some textiles with intent as votive offerings.

@; Statue of Isis-Aphrodite from Karanis, could be a representation of a goddess spinning. 

@;Jewish & Christian traditions: Annunciation from the @italic{Protevangelium of James}, 10:1-2, 11:1-2.@cite[GinesTaylor2019 4] When Mary learns of her immaculate conception, she is in the act of spinning purple thread to make a veil for the temple. This is, in itself, religious production of textiles (the virgins singled out to spin/weave the veil for the temple). This story was writen in the 2nd c. CE, and reflects the social mores of the time. Association between textile production and pregnancy (or liminal space between being a virgin and being pregnant). Late antique images of Mary spinning follow from this Story. 

@;"We should not forget that the objects in question were ... conceived, & represented as divine attributes, then transfered to heroines & subsequently adopted to depict aristocratic women."@cite-footnote[Cottica2006 200]

A frieze in the Forum Transitorium in Rome depicts women spinning and weaving on three upright looms @figures["ForumTransitorium"].@footnote{See @cite[Wild1970] plates IV a for the @index['("quasillaria/spinner")]{spinners.}} Given the proximity to the temple of Minerva and the theme of weaving, this scene is often interpreted as a representation of the weaving contest between Minerva and Arachne.@cite-footnote[Wild1970 69] The presence of three looms rather than two, as well as the inclusion of spinning do not equate to a direct representation of the myth. Instead, Eve D'Ambra suggests that these scenes represent Minerva teaching women how to spin and weave as exempla of good behavior for a Roman woman in contrast to the reckless behavior of Arachne.@cite-footnote[DAmbra1993 104] 


@;Religious finds from Rome include a votive deposit with 25 loom weights on the Palatine Hill as well as spools from a votive deposit of Velia.@cite-footnote[Lipkin2012]

@;Reference past votive offerings at the Artemesion at Ephesus

@subsection{Christian Associations}

Biblical references to textile production shared the same ancient roots, continued concurrently with the Roman tradition, and continue into the late antique and medieval periods. In describing the virtuous woman, Proverb 31 makes four distinct references to textile production including processing wool and flax, spinning, and weaving as well as several additional oblique references to the products of her labor. Perhaps the most pertinent line to this study states: "She maketh fine linen, and selleth it; and delivereth girdles unto the merchant."@footnote{ Proverbs 31.24} While most of the textile references in this proverb fall in line with the concept of the dutiful housewife outlined in chapter 5 of this study and could refer to providing directly for her family alone, this line specifies that the virtuous woman intersects directly with the merchant to sell her wares, tying her to the larger economy.

The most prominent biblical example of spinning as an attribute for feminine virtue comes from the version of the annunciation recorded in the second century apocryphal @italic{Protevangelium of James.} @footnote{@italic{Protevangelium of James}, 10:1-2, 11:1-2, as quoted in @cite[GinesTaylor2019 4]} In this version, Mary, along with other maidens, was tasked with spinning thread for a veil for the temple. After she was innitially approached by Gabriel at the fountain, she returned to her house and was engaged in spinning when the angel completed his announcement. This story not only lays a foundation for Christian iconography of Mary spinning, it also describes the religious production of textiles.

This conception of Mary as a virtuous woman represented with her woolwork was a direct reflection on the Roman tradition of the virtuous housewife that was prevalent in the second century CE when the story was written, even though the iconography of Mary spinning that emerged from this text from late antiquity are outside the scope of this study.@cite-footnote[GinesTaylor2019] It was more prevalent with private devotionals among women than large-scale religious movements (i.e. representations on personal items such as textiles produced within the home or rings) because it drew a direct parallel between the lives of the devout and the divine.

@; add specific examples of Mary spinning

@;Medieval representations of women spinning were associated, but not limited to the virgin annunciate spinning. One particular manuscript reflects a charicature of the productive woman who is represented spinning while leading a donkey laden with wares to the marketplace to sell. The dutiful wife is depicted multi-tasking in ways that contribute to the household.

@section{Ceremonial functions of Ephesus distaffs}


The @index['("distaff")]{distaffs} discovered in the Roman terrace houses and other contexts in Ephesus were not likely created for daily use. Given their precious material and ornate decoration, they likely served some ceremonial purpose but since they were predominantly found in homes, their context does not concretely identify that purpose. Of the fifteen finger distaffs discussed above @figures["Trinkl1" "Trinkl4" "Trinkl2" "Trinkl3" "Trinkl6" "Trinkl5" "Trinkl7" "Trinkl8" "Trinkl9" "Trinkl1994_1" "Trinkl10" "Trinkl11" "Trinkl12" "Trinkl12" "Trinkl13" "Trinkl14" "Trinkl15"], only the @index['("distaff")]{distaff} discovered in the Damianosstoa has a concrete funerary association as a grave good.

Given their domestic context and the strong association between women and textiles outlined above, Elizabeth Trinkl concludes that they were intended as opulent status symbols to display the domestic power of the @italic{matrona.}@cite-footnote[Trinkl2004] In her opinion the precious materials, the level of decoration, and the placement of embellishments at the intersection of the shaft and the ring rule out the possibility of use.

Since we have examples of the same object type from both domestic and funerary contexts, I approach these @index['("distaff")]{distaffs} in terms of changing meanings throughout the object's life. The same principal can be applied to the @index['("distaff")]{distaffs} from Ephesus.

Given the importance of textile-tools to marriage, child-birth, and death discussed above, I argue that these @index['("distaff")]{distaffs} could have accompanied women through these various milestones in their lives. Their decoration and material, while certainly discounting them for regular use, would not have prohibited them from use for ceremonial purposes.@footnote{Forthcoming: I intend to test this theory by making scale-models of a sampling of these artifacts and testing their usability. Unfortunately, this process is on hold until stay at home orders ease up and I have access to a kiln.} It is possible that they were, as Trinkl suggests, gifted to a bride on her wedding as a symbol of her new status as a @italic{matrona.} The @index['("distaff")]{distaffs} could be employed for certain ceremonial uses across the life-cycle of the object:@cite-footnote[Dannehl2009 124] to create parts of her wedding attire, carry in her wedding procession, as a symbol of fertility, and perhaps for religious production of textiles. The symbolic function of the artifact could shift as the circumstances of the woman's life changed and ultimately accompany her to the grave. 

@;They could have been used in religious production of textiles or as part of a bridal procession.@footnote{@cite[Cottica2006]; Pliny, @italic{Natural History} 8.74} In Roman wedding processions the bride approached her husband's home carrying a spindle and distaff.@cite-footnote[LarssonLoven2007] Women in both Greece and Rome traditionally wove items of their bridal attire themselves as a display of their skill in domestic crafts and as a symbol of their purity and fertility.@footnote{@cite[LarssonLoven2007 7]; @cite[DAmbra2007 94]; @cite[Cottica2006 191]} The association between votive offerings of textile implements and textiles at sanctuaries discussed above appears to frequently coincide with the transition from maiden to matron on the occasion of her wedding.

@;find Bammer image

@section{Conclusions}

Examining "performative aspects" of textile production leads to an odd question: do the ritual associations between women and textiles stem from their domestic and commercial roles and developments or vice versa? In one scenario, women performed the labor of textile production and therefore it became a shorthand for women's virtue as a reflection of her contributions to the household. In the other, textile production was done by whoever was available to do it until it was ascribed a gendered meaning and thence became 'women's work.' This is a classic chicken-and-egg scenario, but of course we know from evolutionary biology today that the evolution of eggs precedes the emergence of chickens by a great deal.  But this in turn also misses the point, for reproductively mature pre-chicken egg-laying ancestors co-evolved with the process of laying eggs. One plays into the design of the other.

From that lens, textile production clearly existed before it developed performative symbolic meaning, but this symbolic meaning in turn developed from and evolves alongside social expectations of gendered domestic and commercial roles.  What is and is not "women's work" is not a concept which exists in the physical rules and properties of the universe, it emerges from and reinforces alongside social development in general.  The use of textiles and textile imagery in major lifetime milestones such as marriage and death develop from existing social expectations, but also serves to codify them.  But this is of great benefit to us, because knowing these rituals evolved from women's expected practical roles helps inform us to what they likely have been.


@make-footnote[]

@(generate-chapter-bibliography)