(B)orders in Ancient Weaving and Archaic Greek Poetry

In this chapter we offer an investigation of textile terms where they are used for describing intellectual production or knowledge (epistēmē) in ancient texts. We focus on archaic Greek poetry as well as on selected philosophical works and experience from weaving experiments. This study arises from a common interest in the question of how ancient textile production and particularly weaving might have affected the very early discourse on poetry-making and the question of how poetic composition or the composition of texts as a technē might resemble the order of nature. We therefore lay emphasis on the connection of art, technology, and nature that is encompassed by the ancient term technē and embraces weaving as well as forging, writing a poem or a philosophical dialogue. In all such cases, we see a concept of technē at work that refers to a notion of the genesis of cosmic order that has never been explicated. The choice of the passages and the material to be discussed as well as the way the argument is built up reflect two different but complementary approaches to the topic we explore throughout this chapter: one is guided by an interest in ancient mathematics and philosophy and the other draws on literary criticism. Both have a role to play when tracing and contextualizing the (somewhat elusive) technological significance of textile imagery for archaic poetry and prose as well as for philosophy.