The Craft of Zeus

The fundamental gesture of weaving in "The Craft of Zeus" is the interlacing of warp and woof described by Plato in "The Statesman"-an interweaving signifying the union of opposites. From rituals symbolizing-even fabricating-the cohesion of society to those proposed by oracles as a means of propitiating fortune; from the erotic and marital significance of weaving and the woven robe to the use of weaving as a figure for language and the fabric of the text, this lively and lucid book defines the logic of one of the central concepts in Greek and Roman thought-a concept that has persisted, woof and warp crossing again and again, as the fabric of human history has unfolded.