Unknown Terracotta Spindle Whorl, 6th-5th centuries B.C., Terracotta H. 1 1/2 in. (3.8 cm) The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
The object above is a spindle whorl, part of the equipment that would have been used by most Athenian women to spin wool into thread. Spinning was one of the tasks which was seen as particularly appropriate for women; in fact, as far back as Homer's Iliad (c.750 BCE) we see Hector admonishing his wife Andromache to "return to the house, and attend to your work, the loom and the distaff". The distaff is pictured above as item a) in the diagram, a rod upon which the wool was gathered; it was then drawn off onto the spindle (item b)), which was spun in a circle to spin the thread. The whorl (item c)) was a heavy object, usually made of stone or clay, which weighted the spindle and increased the speed of the spin.