From the foregoing we gather that the Ancient Egyptians had two forms of looms. The earlier or horizontal form, date about B.C. 2000, has in a modified way survived to the present day in desert Egypt and is also found in Seistan. It required a large area of ground for working and probably in earlier times when there was plenty of space this did not much matter. But as the population in the towns increased and with the increase of civilisation and its concomitant increased demand for cloth, probably out of proportion to the increase of population, space would be begrudged and this may have caused the invention or the introduction of the vertical form of loom which we find in use some 500 years later. In Egypt therefore the horizontal loom preceded the vertical loom but it does not necessarily follow that such was the case elsewhere. In so far as we can gather from the small amount of information at our disposal, in the earlier days the women were the weavers, and later on with the introduction of the upright loom the men were the weavers with an occasional female weaver. In the Egyptian Desert and in Seistan in the present day with horizontal looms the weavers appear to be males, but among the nomads of Persia who likewise use horizontal looms the weavers are females. In the use of either form of loom the Egyptian weavers beat the weft downwards or towards themselves and not upwards or away from themselves. They had the heddle in one of its earliest forms and had consequently made the first great step in the evolution of the loom as we now know it. In the beginning they made no selvedges so that for every pick a separate length of weft thread was used. The adoption of the selvedge was another improvement and until it was introduced the weft would no doubt have been put through with the fingers, later on a spool being used. It is possible also that in very late times the weavers’ comb was introduced. It is safe to say that the Egyptians had no knowledge of the reed. Both forms of looms were simple, without harness or other complicated pieces of mechanism. The Egyptians accomplished fairly good work and judging these people from their looms alone we must conclude they were a progressive race.

The Greek form of loom was an upright one on which the warp threads were kept taut by means of weights and similar to the form which existed in Central and Northern Europe (in the latter until recent times) but of which so far there is no trace to the east, or south, or west. The Greek loom may have been furnished with a heddle but the drawings are not clear on this point. A spool was used. The weavers were women and the weft was beaten upwards or away from the weaver. It was not a form of loom so capable of improvement as the Egyptian forms and there appears to be no connection between the forms used on either side of the Mediterranean. The Greek tapestry loom could hardly have been more primitive. In respect to the forms of looms used by the two peoples the Egyptians were considerably in advance of the Greeks.

FINIS.