A visual history of the safety pin

Summary

A Visual History of the Safety Pin Antiquity In Homer’s Odyssey, Antinous, (one of the unscrupulous suitors of Odysseus’ wife Penelope) presents Penelope with a gift of jeweled pins in an attempt to seduce her: Then Antinous said, “Queen Penelope, daughter of Icarius, take as many presents as you please from any one who will give them to you; it is not well to refuse a present; but we will not go about our business nor stir from where we are, till you have married the best man among us whoever he may be.” The others applauded what Antinous had said, and each one sent his servant to bring his present. Antinous’s man returned with a large and lovely dress most exquisitely embroidered. It had twelve beautifully made pins of pure gold with which to fasten it and gleamed like sunlight… Herodotus’s Histories mention the long, dagger-like pins Athenian women used to fasten their tunics, and recount the murder of an Athenian soldier by a group of angry women who stabbed him to death with their cloak pins. A law was passed forbidding the wearing of the Athenian-style tunic. Ancient Roman Fibula The Latin Fibula is an ancient precursor to the safety pin, used in the ancient and early medieval world to keep togas, cloaks, hoods, and other kinds of clothing fastened in place, replacing the straight pins used in the Neolithic period and the Bronze Age. Most fibulae are made of bronze or iron, but some were encrusted with jewels, decorated with enamel, glass, coral or bone. Anatomy of the Fibula The four parts of a Fibula are the Body, the Pin, the Spring, and the Hinge. The Body The Body of the Fibula was generally one of two types, either long and narrow, referred to as a “Bow,” or flat and wide, called a “Plate.” Bow type Fibulae appeared in the late Bronze Age, using simple forms, at first a low flat arch, and later, by the 6th Century BC, a more rounded, higher arch. Decorative variations developed, using spirals, oval, and diamond shaped forms. In the Roman Era in the 1st C...