Tying Up Loose Ends

Textile production in Roman Egypt was done by a mixture of estate-workers (not found in Karanis), professionals, and personal households. In Karanis, 224 tools were identified as textile-working implements by the University of Michigan excavations in over 120 different locations, indicating, as is customary in villages like Karanis, that production was not limited to a strict group of professionals but an activity in which most households took part.

In Greco-Egyptian marriage contracts, clothing is often specified as making up a dowry or as a need the husband must provide. In the Byzantine period, the more exotic forms of the textile industry, like the manufacture of silk, were controlled by the state. The act of spinning and weaving took on a highly moralistic meaning, signifying the piety and virtue of a woman - something even mentioned on epitaphs. At the same time glorious and humble, textiles and textile production were a prevalent and crucial aspect of ancient Roman Egyptian society.