Silk
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Silk in the Old and New Testament
Proverbs 31:22 She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk(8336) and purple.
Ezekiel 16:10 I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers' skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk(8336).
Ezekiel 16:13 Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver; and thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk(4897), and broidered work; thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil: and thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom.
Revelation 18:12 The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk(4596), and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble,
Some translations of the Bible use silk for the Old Testament Hebrew words pronounced meh-shee and shesh-ee, which actually may have meant very fine Linen. The one certain mention of silk in the Bible is in the New Testament Book of Revelation to translate the Greek word which literally means silk, the root of which is also the Greek word for China, where much of the world's silk was and is produced.
Strong's Number: 8336
Transliterated: shesh
Phonetic: shaysh
Text: or (for alliteration with 4897) shshiy {shesh-ee'}; for 7893; bleached stuff, i.e. white linen or (by analogy) marble.
Strong's Number: 4596
Transliterated: serikos
Phonetic: say-ree-kos'
Text: from Ser (an Indian tribe from whom silk was procured; hence the name of the silk-worm); Seric, i.e. silken (neuter as noun, a silky fabric): --silk.
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Silk in the Quran
18:31 Those, they shall live in the Gardens of Eden, underneath which rivers flow. They shall be adorned with bracelets of gold and arrayed in green garments of silk, and brocade, reclining therein on couches; how excellent is their reward and how fine is their resting place!
22:23 Allah will admit those who believe and do good works to gardens underneath which rivers flow. They shall be adorned therein with bracelets of gold and with pearls, and their garments shall be of silk.
35:33 They shall enter the Gardens of Eden, where they shall be adorned with bracelets of gold and with pearls, and there, their robes shall be of silk.
44:53 dressed in silks and brocade, set face to face.
76:12 and recompense them for their patience with a Garden, and robes of silk.
76:21 Upon them there will be garments of green silk, rich brocade, and they will be adorned with bracelets of silver. Their Lord will give them a pure beverage to drink.
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History of Silk
A SECRET OUT TO THE WORLD
In spite of their secrecy, however, the Chinese were destined to lose their monopoly on silk production. Sericulture reached Korea around 200 BC, when waves of Chinese immigrants arrived there. Silk reached the West through a number of different channels. Shortly after AD 300, sericulture traveled westward and the cultivation of the silkworm was established in India.
It is also said that in AD 440, a prince of Khotan ( today's Hetian)--a kingdom on the rim of Taklamakan desert -- courted and won a Chinese princess. The princess smuggled out silkworm eggs by hiding them in her voluminous hairpiece. This was scant solace to the silk-hungry people of the West, for Khotan kept the secret too. Why share it with the westerners and kill a good market?
Then around AD 550, two Nestorian monks appeared at the Byzantine Emperor Justinian's court with silkworm eggs hid in their hollow bamboo staves. Under their supervision the eggs hatched into worms, and the worms spun cocoons. Byzantium was in the silk business at last. The Byzantine church and state created imperial workshops, monopolizing production and keeping the secret to themselves. This allowed a silk industry to be established in the Middle East, undercutting the market for ordinary-grade Chinese silk. However high-quality silk textiles, woven in China especially for the Middle Eastern market, continued to bring high prices in the West, and trade along the Silk Road therefore continued as before. By the sixth century the Persians, too, had mastered the art of silk weaving, developing their own rich patterns and techniques. It was only in the 13th century—the time of the Second Crusades—that Italy began silk production with the introduction of 2000 skilled silk weavers from Constantinople. Eventually silk production became widespread in Europe.
SILK AND ITS TRADE
Silk became a precious commodity highly sought by other countries at a very early time, and it is believed that the silk trade was actually started before the Silk Road was officially opened in the second century BC. An Egyptian female mummy with silk has been discovered in the village of Deir el Medina near Thebes and the Valley of the Kings, dated 1070 BC, which is probably the earliest evidence of the silk trade. During the second century BC, the Chinese emperor, Han Wu Di's ambassadors traveled as far west as Persia and Mesopotamia, bearing gifts including silks. A Han embassy reached Baghdad in AD 97, and important finds of Han silks have been made along the Silk Road. One of the most dramatic finds of Tang silks along the Silk Road was made in 1907 by Aurel Stein. Some time around 1015, Buddhist monks, possibly alarmed by the threat of invasion by a Tibetan people, the Tanguts, sealed more than ten thousand manuscripts and silk paintings, silk banners, and textiles into a room at the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas near Dunhuang, a station on the Silk Road in north-west Gansu.
From about the fourth century BC, the Greeks and Romans began talking of Seres, the Kingdom of Silk. Some historians believe the first Romans to set eyes upon the fabulous fabric were the legions of Marcus Licinius Crassus, Governor of Syria. At the fateful battle of Carrhae near the Euphrates River in 53 BC, the soldiers were so startled by the bright silken banners of the Parthian troops that they fled in panic. Within decades Chinese silks became widely worn by the rich and noble families of Rome. The Roman Emperor Heliogabalus (AD 218 - 222) wore nothing but silk. By 380 AD, Marcellinus Ammianus reported, "The use of silk which was once confined to the nobility has now spread to all classes without distinction, even to the lowest." The craving of silk continued to increase over the centuries. The price of silk was very hight in Rome. The best Chinese bark ( a particular kind of silk) cost as much as 300 denarii (a Roman soldier's salary for an entire year!). Many sources quote that Roman citizens' demand for imported silks was so great as to be damaging to the Roman economy.
http://www.silk-road.com/artl/silkhistory.shtml