all the life of the Greeks, the religious element had much
influence in perfecting their flocks of sheep--only the most beautiful
animals were considered worthy of sacrifice to the gods.

A few of the rare specimens of stuffs which have been rescued from
tombs, especially in the Crimea, and in the Fayoum, in Egypt, show a
wool so fine and shining that it might be taken for silk, and the
beauty of the weaving is marvellous, and much varied in style.

A warrior's tomb in the district of Kuban contained a funeral pall,
covering the sarcophagus, measuring at least three metres and a half
each way, woven of brown wool, in twelve narrow strips sewn together
and afterwards painted. The ground is yellowish, the design brown. The
figures repeat mythical subjects, and alternate with patterns, and
there is a border. One strip contains a scene from the story of Peleus
and Thetis. Apparently this is Attic design. The coloured dresses worn
by women of rank, and hung on the statues of the gods, were sometimes
painted, sometimes stamped, and often embroidered, and they were
nearly all of woollen fabrics.

One of the great advantages of wool is its power of absorbing colour,
as the pigment sinks into its very fibre, instead of clinging to the
surface. It can be dyed of deeper colours than flax, cotton, or silk.

Pliny tells us that Tanaquil combed, span, and wove her wool, and she
herself made the royal mantle which Servius Tullius used to wear, and
it was covered with a wavy pattern (undulata). Thence came the custom
that when a maiden became a bride, her attendants carried a distaff
trimmed with combed wool, and a spindle with yarn upon it. The robes
worked by Tanaquil were dedicated by Servius Tullius to the statue of
Fortune in her temple at Rome, and were still hanging there in the
days of Tiberius.[161] Pliny remarks that it was a wonder that it
neither fell from the image, nor was eaten by the moths, during five
hundred and sixty years.

He gives us interesting details of the weaving of woollen cloths, and
speaks of the thick coarse wool with "great thick hair," used for
carpets from the time of Homer. The same passage mentions felt. He
tells us of the cloths with a curly nap, used in the days of Augustus;
of the "papaverata" woven with flowers resembling poppies; and we hear
from him of the cloth of divers colours woven in Babylon, and called
thence Babylonica; and the Alexandrian webs, with many-coloured
threads (polymita)