The Male Weavers at Pompeii

The authors of works on Roman private life and economics generally support the idea that the weaving of woolen cloth was primarily a parttime occupation of the housewife and her maids who produced for home consumption,' for there appears to be sufficient evidence, both literary and epigraphic, of household spinning and weaving by women.2 Male weavers (textores), on the other hand, are considered to have been of little importance except as producers of luxury fabrics that required a high degree of expertise to manufacture. Although there are passing allusions to these craftsmen in the literature,8 there is an absence of references in the inscriptions to collegia (corporations or guilds) of weavers.4

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