ancient egypt history of textiles
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Estimated to be cultivated well before 2500 BC, flax was the major textile produced by the the ancient Egyptians. The annual variety of flax (Linium usitatissimum), which grows well on sandy soils, was first cultivated, but it was replaced by the perennial variety (Linium austriacum) around 4000 BC. Egypt produced most of the flax products of all kinds; the goddess Isis, was worshiped as the inventor of flax. (1) Considering that Isis, the wife of Osiris (the same rank with Greek deity Hades) and mother of Horus which was thought to be incarnated by the pharaoh, is one of the most worshiped deity until the Roman times, the ancient Egyptians probably regarded linen as an indispensible, important goods in their life. Moreover, since flax provided Egyptians with not only fibers but also the stem for basketry and the seeds for extracting oil (2), the utility of flax would have made itself crucial for everyday life of ancient people.
The relics serve as the furthermore evidence of the importance of linen in the ancient Egypt. The linens in the gable-topped chest which dates back to 1550 to 1295 BC shows that there was variety of linens with different qualities, weaves and usages. dressing and outer garment, Egyptians wore a high-quality linen with superfine weave. For a mattress, long sheet of dark linen with coarser weave was used. Second, the chest contains large amount of linen only for a dead woman. Considering that the chest is too austere for the royal's or noble's tomb, the owner of the tomb would have been from a family with minimum wealth to afford making tombs (it can be family of artisans, rich farmers or technicians). For this dead body, the family put more than seventeen yards of linen for her afterlife (4); it shows that linen was not luxurious commodity but for everyday consumption for all people.