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.