Smith College Museum of Ancient Inventions: Distaff (2024)

FAQs

Smith College Museum of Ancient Inventions: Distaff? ›

Distaff, Worldwide, deep antiquity

The distaff, or roc, used in spinning was the medieval symbol of women's work. In many European cultural traditions, women resumed their household work after the twelve days of Christmas. Women of all classes would spend their evenings spinning on the wheel. During the day, they would carry a drop spindle with them.

Chaldean Sundial, Greece, 320 BCE

The inventions of the hemispherium and the hemicyclium are attributed to Berosus (356-323 BCE), a Chaldean priest and astronomer who brought these types of sundials to Greece.

They devised the time system we use today with its 60-second minutes and 60-minute hours. They also described the circle as having 360 degrees. Their understanding of astronomy and ability to predict movements of heavenly bodies sparked what some have called the first scientific revolution.

The Breeders' Cup Distaff is a Weight for Age Thoroughbred horse race for fillies and mares, three years old and up.

The staff for holding a bunch of flax, tow, or wool, from which the thread is drawn in spinning by hand. 2. (n.) Used as a symbol of the holder of a distaff; hence, a woman; women, collectively. I'm sure you've all heard the term "old spinster".

World's oldest known sundial, from Egypt's Valley of the Kings (c. 1500 BC), used to measure work hours.

Although the Muslims learned the basic principles of designing sundials from the Greeks, they increased the variety of designs available through the use of trigonometry. For example, they invented the now-ubiquitous sundial with the gnomon parallel to the polar axis of Earth.

The oldest known sundial was made in Egypt in 1500 BC. It was L-shaped. The top of its vertical leg cast its shadow on the horizontal leg.

They are a semitic ethnic group native to the fertile crescent that predate the arrival of the arabs by millenia. Most Chaldeans can speak arabic because most chaldeans are born in arabic countries, but it's not their native language. Their native language, chaldean is closely related to aramaic.

Why are Chaldeans so rich? ›

While some were lured by Henry Ford's famous $5-a-day working wage, in true Chaldean fashion entrepreneurial endeavors quickly took hold—particularly mom and pop food markets. Today, nearly two-thirds of Chaldean households own one business and 39% own two or more.

We believe in Jesus Christ.

We believe that Jesus walked here on earth, just like you and me. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and was born of the Virgin Mary in a humble manger in Bethlehem. We believe in the Incarnation - that God was made man without ceasing to be God. Thus He is true God and true man.

The word distaff in time took on the meaning "women's work" and later "woman." The noun distaff is rarely used in this way today, but the female members of a family are still referred to as the distaff side.

As an adjective, the term distaff is used to describe the female side of a family. The corresponding term for the male side of a family is the "spear" side.

A woman's hands are important and valuable. They are for more than carrying a diamond ring. They are for more than regular manicures. They are for more than holding while walking in the park. They are for manual labor, and a virtuous woman is willing to use them diligently and skillfully.

Erinna (flourished 4th century bc) was a Greek poet of the Aegean island of Telos, known in antiquity for “The Distaff,” a hexameter poem of lament for a friend, written in the local Dorian dialect. Surviving fragments of her work include three epigrams. She is said to have died at the age of 19.

The Distaff Stakes is a Grade III American Thoroughbred horse race for fillies and mares that are four years old or older at a distance of seven furlongs on the dirt run annually in early April at Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park, Queens, New York.