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Bible Dictionaries
Silk
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or Silk, the fibrous substance produced by the mulberry silk-moth of China, is mentioned (Revelation 18:12) as part of the costly merchandise of ‘Babylon’ (Imperial Rome). The Chinese name of the silk-worm is si, Korean soi; to the Greeks it became known as σήρ, the people supplying it being the Σῆρες, and the fibre itself σηρικόν, whence Lat. sericum, Fr. soie, Ger. Seide, Eng. silk. The silk-worm is first mentioned in Western literature by Aristotle (de Anim. Hist. v. 19). The silken textures of the East began to be imported into Italy in the early days of the Empire. At first they fetched fabulous prices, and their use by men was deemed an unpardonable extravagance. At a meeting of the Senate, in the time of Tiberius, ‘much was said against the luxury of the city by Quintus Haterius, a man of consular rank, and by Octavius Fronto, formerly praetor; and a law was passed “against using vessels of solid gold in serving up repasts, and against men disgracing themselves with silken garments” ’ (Tac. Ann. ii. 33). The trade, however, grew. Elagabalus was the first Emperor who wore robes of silk. Aurelian complained that a pound of it cost 12 ounces of gold. Under Justinian the Western world at last received from China a supply of silk-worms’ eggs (E. Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, iv. [1902], ch. xl 3).
James Strahan.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Silk'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/s/silk.html. 1906-1918.
