LINEIA
Lineia, a profession lost in the depths of time. First encountered in Linear B, on the stone plates of Pylos from the Myconean period. for thousands of years lineia processed flax fiber and converted it into linen thread which later on wove it on the loom.
Weaving is considered one of the oldest arts in the world. The first “weaves” were made by primitive people, weaving branches, reeds, sticks and other plant fibers. Research is particularly focused on identifying the plants used to make the earliest textiles (around 28,000 to 20,000 years ago).
An Art that goes back centuries
The first proof of the existence of weaving is depicted in the clothes of the so-called “Venus” figurines found in Upper Paleolithic Eurasia, as well as in clay fragments with textile impressions.
The use of plant material in the production of items such as skirts, belts, hats, necklaces etc, was proven.
Samples of simple linen burial cloths prove that linen weaving existed around 6000 BC at Katal Hüyük, a Neolithic city site in the Iconium region of Anatolia.
In the same ancient city were found loom weights dated around 7000 BC.
Some of the earliest textile finds are fragments found in ancient Egyptian tombs.
The majority of them are of linen with woolen tapestry inserts. These fabrics have been preserved thanks to the dry climate and sand.
Textiles in ancient times were mainly woven from linen, cotton and wool.
During the first Byzantine centuries, as in the Roman era, the above materials were used for the simplest everyday fabrics.
Undoubtedly, most of the evidence of Byzantine textiles that has survived to this day in the reliquaries is of silk, the supply of which until the time of Justinian depended on China.
The Byzantines fraudulently procured silkworm eggs, through two Nestorian monks who hid them in their walking sticks and transported them, together with the know-how, to Constantinople.