woven tapestries-those amazing Romans

[Daniel S Peterson]

A recent National Geographic about ancient China had a photo of a fragment (primarily a man's head) of an incredibly complex tapestry said to be Roman 1-2 centuries AD, found in the grave of some barbarian steppe Nomad, apparently sewn into the seat of his pants!<br>
This is the first survival of this type I am aware of, but it is far more sophisticated than any I have seen up until the 16th century. Yet one more field of endeavour in which it took the world over 1000 years to regain what was lost with Rome's fall.<br>
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Dan <p></p><i></i>

[Anonymous]

Let's see a picture! <p></p><i></i>

[Anonymous]

It is an amazing image! In regard to the article, there were several statements which seem a bit biased. For example: "The styles of empire were markedly different: Rome's economy relied on slavery, for instance, while Han prosperity rode mainly on the backs of free peasants" Almost sounds like justification to me; "Yes, the Han elite lived an extravagant lifestyle purchased by the unrelenting toil of poor peasants, but at least they didn't profit from large scale slavery...unlike those awful Romans."<br>
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Here's another: "In many fields Han workers were far ahead of their Roman counterparts."<br>
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I do not at this point know enough about Roman social and economic history to say with any authority that these statements are true or false, but such generalities, no matter who is being spoken of, bother me.<br>
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BTW, I will try to post an image of the tapestry portrait. <p></p><i></i>

[JRSCline]

Great subject, wrong forum, unless the tapestry had a military context. Going to OT.<br>
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Cheers,<br>
Jenny <p></p><i></i>