L’industria tessile a Herakleia di Lucania e nel territorio tra III e I secolo a.C.

Abstract

The present paper focuses on the role of Herakleia and Metaponto in textile production during the Hellenistic period.
The analysis of thousands of loom weights from several houses in the so-called Quartiere occidencate in Herakleia
provides new insight into textile production during the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC. The fact that some households possessed
two looms and were able to produce textiles of outstanding quality has led to the hypothesis that urban households
produced textiles for exportation, as also indicated by epigrams attributed to Leonidas of Taras. On the other hand, the author argues that textile production in the rural hinterland was focused on self-supply, and that the surplus was sent to the urban center where it was processed by professional labourers.