The Judgment of Animals in Classical Greece: Animal Sculpture and ...

statement accords well with the prominent position that ancient Egypt held in the
production of linen, and therefore points to the high value and exotic origin of the
material used. 455 In addition to the zw|~a, the breastplate was decked with gold and
ei0ri/oisi a)po_ cu&lou threads—a phrase that is taken to mean “embroidery,” thus pointing
to elaborate work. 456 Gold threads also point to valued material. 457 The phrase ei0ri/oisi
a)po_ cu&lou, whose literal meaning is “the wool of the tree,” has been interpreted as
“cotton.” 458 As Barber suggests, in Herodotus’ era, cotton was a novelty among textiles
in the Mediterranean, and so the passage points, most likely to another valued material. 459
Elaborate workmanship along with superior quality are also implied by the fineness of
each thread of the linen from which the breastplate was made, and also the extraordinary
number of 360 strands comprising each thread. 460 All these details justify Herodotus’
455
For a discussion of the prominent position of ancient Egypt in the cultivation of flux and production of
linen followed by references to visual evidence and archaeological remains, dating as early as the first
dynasty, see Barber, Prehistoric Textiles 145-162.
456
Grene, The History. Herodotus 232; Godley, Herodotus 61.
457
For a discussion of golden garments featuring as valued and exceptional pieces in the ancient sources,
see Vickers, Images on Textiles 20-22. Gold thread was also used for the production of the trapezoidshaped
cloth in which were wrapped the cremated remains of a female found in a larnax in the antechamber
of the late fourth-century tomb II at Vergina: M. Andronikos, Vergina: The Royal Tombs and the Ancient
City (Athens, 1984) 192, 195, figs. 156-157; also S. Drougou, “Τό ύφασµα της Βεργίνας: Πρώτες
παρατηρήσεις,” in ΑΜΗΤΟΣ: Τιµητικός τόµος για τον καθηγητή Μανώλη Ανδρόνικο
(Thessaloniki, 1987) 303-323. The same tomb yielded also a breastplate made of iron sheets with lining
that preserves remnants of cloth and leather, and external decoration in the form of bands and lions’ heads
in real gold. Its gold decoration may provide a parallel to what the gold embroidery on Herodotus’
breastplate might have looked like. For this breastplate, see Andronikos, Vergina 138-139, figs. 95-96, and
140-144.
458
For the translation of the phrase as “cotton,” see Newmyer, Herodotus 28; Grene, The History.
Herodotus 232. Reference to trees producing wool is also made in Herodotus’ description of India (3.106):
“There are also wild trees there which produce a kind of wool which is more attractive and of better quality
than sheep’s wool, and which is used by the Indians for their clothing”; translation: Waterfield, Herodotus.
The Histories 213.
459
Barber, Prehistoric Textiles 33, where she also mentions that the site of Trakhones in Attica has yielded
a fifth-century example of cotton fabric.
460
A description of the breastplate dedicated to Athena in Lindus with emphasis on the destructive results
that the examination of its high quality produced is provided by Pliny, NH 19.12, who says: “this may
surprise people who do not know that in a breastplate that belonged to a former king of Egypt named
Amasis, preserved in the temple of Minerva at Lindus on the island of Rhodes, each thread consisted of 365
separate threads, a fact which Mucianus, who held the consulship three times quite lately, stated that he had
proved to be true by investigation, adding that only remnants of the breastplate now survive owing to the
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