Russell Guerrero

210-999-8406

rguerrer@trinity.edu

Weaving for Time: Archeologist Looks at Connection Between Penelope, Wife of Odysseus, and The Orgins of Textiles

Feb. 7, 2003 – Your husband is late; very late. In fact he’s been gone for years, first to fight in the Trojan war and then apparently lost on the way home. And while you wait, a group of suitors gather to claim you and your husband’s kingdom.  That is pretty much the predicament of Penelope, wife of Odysseus, from Homer’s epic Greek poem, The Odyssey.  To keep the suitors at bay while she waits for Odysseus, Penelope begins weaving a shroud and the project becomes one of the most famous sewing projects in classical literature. Dr. Elizabeth Barber, an expert in prehistoric textiles, will look at the connection between Penelope’s shroud and the history of textiles in a presentation titled “Penelope and the Origins of Greek Art.”  The event will begin at 7:30 on Thursday, Feb. 13, in the Chapman Center Auditorium.  The event is free and open to the public. For her presentation, Dr. Barber will also examine how Penelope could maintain her weaving trick for three years, when weaving a plain shroud should take only a few days, and what Penelope was actually making.  She will also discuss what we can reconstruct about Bronze Age textiles and show how certain elements survived through the Dark Ages to jump-start Classical Greek art.  Dr. Elizabeth Barber, a professor in the language department at Occidental College, graduated from Bryn Mawr College with a degree in Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology and Greek Language and Literature.  She received her PhD at Yale University in Linguistics.  Dr. Barber has also won numerous honors and awards for her work in prehistoric textiles.  This event is sponsored by the Southwest Texas State Archeological Society and by the Classical Studies department of Trinity University.

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Last updated on February 11, 2003 by the Office of Public Relations