oh, thank you, my dear mr bingley! i speculated above that ancient cables might have been made from linen. I know (well i read the works of those who do know) linen was cultivated in ancient times by the eygptions, --as was cotton. secondly, linen's property of being strong when wet would, as well as its ability to resist rotting make it a natural choice for cables, or any thing for boat (sails, etc).

Hemp was also available to the old world, and its a good choice too, but i don't know how long hemp has been cultivated.

still, having the words related leads me to beleive that i was right to speculate that linen might have been the fiber used!


my other obsession