PART I: CHAPTER 4 - TEXTILE MENTION DATABASE ANALYSIS
4.5 Patterned silks in regional exchange
A number of different kinds of patterned silk textiles, known to us by both name and description, were extensively documented in written sources. The quantity of information about luxury textiles in Islamic and Genizah texts is extensive. The following summary conveys a perspective on the variety and types of weaves explicitly associated with
Byzantium. Most of the textiles described below have been translated as brocade, which is a general word for any richly figured textile, and by extension, is applied to any textile with a woven pattern.306 An important qualification is that the term is non-specific and does not refer to a particular weave structure, so is not used in technical textile analyses.
a. Sidonia and sendal
Sidonian fabrics are mentioned twice in the Vita Basilii. In both instances, the term referred to variegated colours.307 The meaning of the term is ambiguous and reflects long use.
In the Iliad, Homer referred to the cloth brought from Sidon by Paris.308 It appeared in the first-century Periplus Mari Erythraei as a term for linen, but was used elsewhere as a term for fine cotton garments.309 The Vita Basilii provided a rare and informative view of changing textile terminology in a brief digression: ‘richly variegated sidonian fabrics that are now called sendais their name seemingly having been corrupted through the ignorance of the many’.310 In his analysis of the text, Runciman did not consider the possibility that sidonia
306 CIETA 2006, 8. The term βορκαδίων was used twice in the Imperial Expedition treatise B.
109 and C.491. The terms was translated by Haldon as brocade, but he qualified this interpretation in his notes. See Imp Exp, 197 n. (C) 124.
307 V. Basilii, 74.31-37; 84.13.
308 Iliad, 6.288-295. See Scheid and Svenbro 1996, 18, 177 n. 41.
309 Periplus, 249, 292-293; Jacoby 2004, 459, 32.
310 V. Basilii, 74.31-37. For a summary of literature discussing sendes and sidonia, see Imp Exp, 214 n. (C) 222; 215 n. (C) 222.
referred to silk, but its confusion with sendal suggests that it did.311 According to Jacoby, σενδές was derived from the Arabic word sundus, which appeared in several literary works.312 Serjeant defined the term as a generic word for silk cloths, sheets, or hangings.313 The word was also used in some works to describe a kind of green brocade.314
Although the word sendal was used nine times in the BOC, it appeared only in the chapter describing preparations for the reception of ambassadors.315 Among these, two mentions referred to sendal pennons (banners) woven with gold carried by the hetaireia, a unit of the emperor’s bodyguard. Other pennons were described as all gold with gold stripes.316 In seven instances, lengths of sendal were cited as decorations. The cloths were used to make an arcade in the Magnaura and embellished with polished bronze chains.317 The eparch was responsible for fitting out particular areas with cloths including blattia and
sendal.318
b. Dībādj
Dībādj is one of the most common textile names found in Islamic sources, and was mentioned in nearly every reference to luxury textiles, particularly for products of Byzantium.
In a reference book of terms, al-Muṭarrizī (1144-1213) defined dībādj as a cloth with a warp and weft of ibrīsm-silk.319 Usage patterns suggest that the word was a general term for
311 Runciman 1940, 426-427.
312 Jacoby 1991-1992, 459 n.34.
313 Serjeant 1972, 159 n. 29
314 Serjeant 1972, 159 n. 29.
315 BOC, Reiske, II: 15, 571-573, 576-577.
316 BOC, Reiske, II: 15, 577, 3-4; see BOC, Moffatt, 577 n. 1.
317 BOC, Reiske, II: 15, 571, 9, 13, 17.
318 BOC, Reiske, II: 15, 572, 9, 16, 21.
319 Muṭarrizī, I.173; tr. from Serjeant 1972, 41 n. 9.
brocade. Dībādj appeared in such a wide variety of contexts and uses that more specific interpretation is not possible.
In writing about references to silk in Genizah letters, Gil observed that dībādj was the term used most frequently, providing another perspective on broad availability and use.320 He pointed to the origin of the term in Arabic as a Persian loan word with the root meaning to shine or glare.321 Collective consideration of the sources suggest that dībādj was used in a generic sense to refer to a variety of cloths that shared the common feature of pattern woven designs, but were not necessarily complex representational figures.
Among Islamic sources, many cities are mentioned as locations notable for their manufacture of dībādj, including Baghdad, Basra, Tustar, and many others in Persian provinces.322 In his ca. 1037 expository text on the specialties of different lands, Tha‘ālibī referred to Byzantine brocades as a standard for comparison with products manufactured elsewhere: ‘Tusta, which produces splendidly-embroidered and costly brocades, worthy to be mentioned in the same breath as those of Rūm’.323 Comparing the abundance of specialties found in India with those of Byzantium, he observed: ‘the Greeks only have the following:
dībādj, gum mastic, terra sigillata, and sundus which is called buzyūn, and various different kinds of garments’.324
Dībādj was conspicuous in gift exchanges and displays of wealth and power. Among the 106 accounts of gifts recorded in the Book of Gifts and Rarities at least 20% specifically mentioned valuable gifts involving dībādj. These are described as brocade covers with
320 Gil 2002, 32.
321 Gil 2002, 32.
322 For various examples, see Serjeant 1972, 245.
323 Tha'ālibī, Bosworth, 126. For a reading of brocade rather than satin, see Serjeant 1972, 43.
324 Tha'ālibī, de Jong, 125; tr. from Serjeant 1972, 217 and Tha'ālibī, Bosworth, 139.
designs, multi-coloured cloths, velvet, thin brocade with woven animal figures, and cloths with embroidered borders.325 In ca. 912, Miskawayh reported that the mother of the Abbasid Caliph al-Muḳtadir (908-932) had many boxes containing embroideries and the brocade of Rūm and Tustar, heavily adorned with gold, carpets of leather, striped silks, and brocade.326 In 917, the Caliph received the Byzantine ambassador in his palace. A splendid display was arranged to impress the envoy:
The number of gold curtains of dībādj with magnificent gold embroideries, with figures of cups, elephants, horses, camels, wild beasts, and birds, and large Baṣinnā, Armenian, Wāsiṭ, and bahnasā curtains….327
c. Buzyūn
According to Lombard, the Arabic term buzyūn was derived from the Greek bussinon or bussion to describe a kind of Byzantine silk brocade.328 Alternatively, Goitein placed the derivation of the name from a city by the name Buziyān located near Herat in north-eastern Iran.329 The cloth was included in a list of special products described by Djāḥīẓ:
The best and most expensive drapery is the crimson Armenian goat hair kind with a double woof, then the striped silk, then the brocade of the khusrawani (royal) Rūmī manufacture, then the khazz-silk brocaded like Maisani, then buzyūn-silk;
whatsoever of those varieties is woven with gold is finer and fetches a higher price. All those kinds are sometimes woven with gold, except the Armenian and Maisani, and buzyūn silk.330
As compared with dībādj, mentions of buzyūn are infrequent and used only in association with brocades from Byzantium or Armenia. Ibn al-Fakīh, a ninth-century geographer, cited rūmī buzyūn brocade among a list of special products obtained only from
325 Gifts, 99-102.73-74.
326 Miskawayh, I, 244; tr. from Serjeant 1972, 42.
327 Salmon 1904, 52, French tr.: 135; English tr. from Serjeant 1972, 22.
328 Lombard 1978, 244-245.
329 Goitein 1977, 85 n. 37.
330 Tidj̲āra; tr. from Serjeant 1972, 60.
certain lands through merchant ventures.331 Writing in the mid-tenth century, the geographer al-Iṣṭakhrī mentioned buzyūn among the products of Armenia including kermes dyestuffs, carpets and other kinds of cloths.332 Ibn Ḥawḳal, his direct continuator, expanded on the products of Armenia to say ‘From it much buzyūn brocade is brought; there are many varieties similar to it in Rūm, though it is itself exported.333
The context of mentions and frequent association with other high value and exclusive items suggests that buzyūn was a costly product available only to elite members of society.
However, there were also mentions of the material in the Cairo Genizah in ways that indicate that the material was imitated and cheaply reproduced for purchase by people with more modest incomes.334 In a Karaite ketubbā dated 1028, a modest trousseau list included a sofa of buzyūn with a value of only 2 dinars, equivalent to the cost of a dress or robe.335 Another marriage contract written about 1090 included a buzyūn mattress with cushions that was also valued at 2 dinars.336
d. Sigillatos
The textile type known in Greek as sigillatos has a long and complicated history, much debated by textile scholars, and serves as an example of the evolving nature of textile
terminology.337 Munro’s comprehensive analysis traces the meaning of the Greco-Roman term as either a circular robe or a woolen or linen textile decorated by seals or rings.338 The word entered Persian and Arab lexicons as siqlātūn where it evolved to mean a fine cloth of
331 al-Faḳīh, V, 50; tr. from Serjeant 1972, 202, 213; Lombard 1978, 244.
332 Iṣṭakhrī, 188; tr. from Serjeant 1972, 64.
333 Ḥawḳal, 244; tr. from Serjeant 1972, 65.
334 Goitein 1967-1993, IV, 452 n. 46.
335 Goitein 1967-1993, IV, 305, 316; Goitein 1977, 81-86; ULC Add. 3430.
336 Goitein 1967-1993, IV, 452 n. 46; ENA 2727, f. 8,1. 18.
337 See Koutava-Delivoria 1990.
338 Munro 1983, 22.
wool or linen, and later silk.339 In addition to the large quantity of brocades mentioned above, Emperor Romanos I Lekapenos’ gift to Caliph al-Radi bi-allah included many siqlātūn cloths.340
In the textile trade of the time, it became known as an ornately decorated heavy silk interwoven with threads of gold.341 An administrative text written in Baghdad in the early eleventh century stated that the weight of gold and silk should be equal in the manufacture of siqlātūn.342 It was also mentioned in several Geniza letters including a ketubbā written in Tyre in 1054.343 It was reportedly produced in a number of different centres including Tabriz, Baghdad, Antioch, Armenia, and Spain, but was also described in debased forms as well.344
e. Geographic references
In addition to naming specific textile types, some mentions in Arab sources include specific geographic information. Mas’ūdī (ca. 896-956) included numerous references to trade with Byzantium in his history, Muruj al-Dhahab. Discussing the Black Sea trade, he
described Trebizond as a place ‘where every year several markets frequented by a large number of Muslim merchants, Roman, Armenians, and others, besides those who come from the countries of Circassia’.345 Describing trade in silk, al-Iṣṭakhrī wrote:
They have a place of entry into Byzantium, known as Tarabazunda (Trebizond), where merchants assemble to enter the land of Rūm for the purpose of trading. All
339 Munro 1983, 20-21.
340 Gifts, 99-101.73; see chapter 4 fn. 288.
341 For the origin of the word, see Lombard 1978, 242.
342 Cahen 1951, 27.
343 Gil 2002, 35, K 128.
344 Lombard 1978, 243.
345 Masʻūdī, Barbier de Meynard, II, 3.
the brocade, buzyūn brocade, and garments of Rūm which come to these parts, are from Trebizond.346
Masʻūdī also relayed a complicated story (ca. 944) concerning a plot to kidnap a Byzantine patrician. The account conveyed first-hand observations of shipping traffic in the Bosphoros.347 The story revolved around the valuable Islamic textiles ordered by a patrician and allegedly delivered for his inspection.348 Compiled in 982/3, the anonymous geographic work known as the Hudūd al-Alam reported that Byzantium ‘produces in great quantities brocades (jāma-yi dībā), sundus textiles (of silk), maysānī, carpets, stockings, and valuable trouser-cords’.349
f. Patterned silks in regional exchange summary
As demonstrated above, a wide variety of luxury textiles are discussed in the sources considered in this work. The general picture is one of a cosmopolitan and diverse textile economy with Byzantine producers and consumers actively participating in a dynamic regional trade network. Representational figured silks were only one of a number of valuable textile types in the empire and elsewhere. The frequent mention of Byzantine ‘brocades’, both as exported products as well as those made elsewhere in the same style, demonstrate that patterned silks had a distinctive and recognisable identity. Although we lack precise
descriptions, Byzantine figured silks appear to have been influential in the material cultures of neighbouring countries.
346 Iṣṭakhrī, I, 152; tr. from Serjeant 1972, 63.
347 Masʻūdī, Lunde, 320-324.
348 Masʻūdī, Lunde, 322-323.
349 Hudūd, 41, 2.
4.6 End Use and Consumer Analysis