@cora.harrington: In Homer’s epic, The Odyssey, recently adapted by Christopher Nolan, Odysseus’ wife Penelope keeps the suitors at bay by weaving a burial shroud. But why did she ask for three years? And why did no one figured out her stalling tactics until Melantho told? This video explains two reasons why it worked. Sources include Women’s Work: The First 20,000 Years and Prehistoric Textiles, both by Elizabeth Barber as well as The Warp Weighted Loom by Marta Hoffman. The videos of weaving and unweaving the terracotta shroud are from Ellen Harlizius-Klück and her Penelope Project. The black and white clip is from The Norwegian Museum of Cultural History and was filmed in 1947. The first several clips are from the TV miniseries, The Odyssey, from 1997 (highly recommend!). #theodyssey #odyssey #penelope #weavingloom #ancientgreece

myth_bits :

I love the 1997 Odyssey!!!

⚰️⚰️ :

tbf, I wouldn't be surprised if the suitors just had no idea about weaving because misogyny.

Angela :

as a weaver, I'd also note that the undoing is NOT easy or quick

thelibrareader :

I also love the idea that because this was considered only a woman’s job, the Suitors would not truly look at it for fear of being seen as more interested in female customs (which shows Penelope’s amazing wits!)

Cora Harrington :

*Unweaving* looks almost identical to weaving! I can’t believe I messed that up. The first terracotta cloth weaving clip shows the fabric being woven. The last clip shows it being unwoven. As you can see, the two look basically identical.

tscheding :

i must mention too that what she was weaving was *much* finer than pictured (as much as i love the penelope project). extant finds and archaeology indicate the use of yarns thinner than 0.2mm. i know theres later finds with yarns thinner than 0.1mm. wool is sticky and any kind of tapestry, brocade or decorative technique would be agonisingly slow, i think unweaving it would almost be more frustrating than weaving it!

pauline dunne :

I also kind of assumed that she was the de facto head of household, like, running Ithaca so it would be understandable that her progress is very slow if she has to go do administrative things

tlauili :

Akalla Beth 🇨🇦 :

As a fibre artist, Penelope undoing her work every night causes me almost physical pain. Undo all my hard work? Have to do the same part over and over?? A horror story

Athena :

She was truly Odysseus's wife.

OmmOumnia🇩🇪🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 :

I just wanna know where her father's body was during all this 😭

SailorCorgiMoon :

I always assumed it was that she would undo the majority of what she did that day but not all of it, so there would be SOME progress

Kamodo :

And has a knitter/weaver never undone their work after seeing an error in the clothe? I would especially do it if it was something important like a burial shroud.

soft.invasions :

"Our queen is smart and beautiful. Her weaving is so intricate and shows her devotion. But gods it is taking forever 😭"

Artemis Therrien :

it also would have taken her a longer than average (for the time) because she still had royal duties to attend to as well as household/palace duties.

ohrioco0kies :

Your voice is so soothing and perfect for educational videos. Feels like I’m back in school watching a video in history class lol

green parrot :

wonderful video!

Ooooo 7 Wafflez 🍉 :

She could have also just been a really really slow weaver 🤣 or pretended she was. Anytime they were like, huh, that weaving hasn’t changed all that much this month, she can just be like “look! It’s hard freaking work! It takes forever! That’s as fast as I can go, man!” lol

Malcolm :

They probably didnt notice because they were just eating and drinking

Art-Kid. :

Also I find it very clever that she chose weaving to trick them as Penelope means weaver.

Moonlight Studies :

You have such a nice voice for this. I love learning about ancient textiles.

Daniel Boringcliff :

I need more videos about the cultural backstory for the Greek epics and myths

Amadeus :

thank you so much for this video! Penelopeia's strategy finally makes full sense to me, and I was actually able to visualize her unweaving her cloth!!! As a childhood fan of the Odyssey with Aphantasia, that's kinda huge to me, amazing video!

Cherbicish :

If you never complete the bottom of the ship it’s pretty obvious 😂

Mary_Tach♥️🎬🌹 :

the odyssey that you are showing is the only odyssey in my eyes