The olive-tree was of great importance, as yielding
the staple product of the island, and the fig-tree seems also to
have been in general cultivation, and was held to be sacred; but,
strangely enough, though wine must have been in constant use, as
is shown by the vessels for its storage and service, there is only
one representation of the vine, and even in that case the identity
of the object depicted is doubtful. Weaving was an art in which
the Minoans were well skilled, to judge from the fabrics which
are represented in the frescoes. As in Penelope's time, it was a
domestic art, and probably almost every household had its loom,
where the women turned out the materials for ordinary wear. In
many of the houses have been found the loom-weights, mostly of
stone or clay, which took the place of the more modern weaver's
beam in serving to keep the threads taut; and there are also numbers
of the stone discs which were attached, in spinning, to the foot of
the spindle, to keep it straight and in motion. These loom-weights
and spindle-discs are frequently ornamented with spiral incisions.
But the arts in which the islanders were supreme were those of the
potter and the metal-worker, the chief evidences of whose skill
have been already discussed. The reputation of Crete as a centre
of metal-working became legendary in ancient times, and, in all
likelihood, the bronze-worker and his fellows, the gold- and
silver-smiths, attained the height of their skill before their
brethren the potters, since, as we have seen, many of the finest
pottery specimens are obviously designed on bronze, or, at all
events, on metal models, the resemblance even going so far as the
copying of the seams and rivets of the metal originals.
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