Tracing the history of sea silk is difficult in part because the word
byssus originally referred to fine fabric made of linen or perhaps cotton, and in the
Middle Ages, also to that made of silk. The first written mentions of sea silk date to the 2nd century AD, and the oldest piece of sea silk that has been found dated to the 4th century AD; a fragment was discovered in a grave in
Budapest in the remains of
Aquincum. However, the fragment was lost during
World War II. The oldest surviving sea silk object is a knit hat from the 14th century, which was found in a waste pit near
Paris.
Egypt The Greek text of the (196 BC)
Rosetta Stone records that
Ptolemy V reduced taxes on priests, including one paid in
byssus cloth. This is thought to be fine
linen cloth, not sea silk. In
Ancient Egyptian burial customs,
byssus was used to wrap
mummies; this was also linen and not sea silk. Sea silk has been suggested as an interpretation of the nature of the
Golden Fleece that was sought by
Jason and the Argonauts but scholars reject this hypothesis.
Roman Empire The early Christian
Tertullian (c. 160–220 AD) mentions it when justifying his wearing a
pallium instead of a
toga: Nor was it enough to comb and to sew the materials for a tunic. It was necessary also to fish for one's dress; for fleeces are obtained from the sea where shells of extraordinary size are furnished with tufts of mossy hair. Several sources mention
lana pinna ("pinna wool"). Emperor
Diocletian's (301 AD)
Edict on Maximum Prices lists it as a valuable textile. The Byzantine historian
Procopius's c. 550 AD
Persian War, "stated that the five hereditary
satraps (governors) of Armenia who received their insignia from the Roman Emperor were given
chlamys (or cloaks) made from
lana pinna. Apparently only the ruling classes were allowed to wear these chlamys."
Middle East The
Arabic name for "sea silk" is ("sea wool"). The 9th-century Persian geographer
Estakhri notes that a sea-wool robe cost more than 1000 gold pieces and records its mythic source: At a certain period of the year an animal is seen running out of the sea and rubbing itself against certain stones of the littoral, whereupon it deposes a kind of wool of silken hue and golden colour. This wool is very rare and highly esteemed, and nothing of it is allowed to waste. Two 13th-century authors,
Ibn al-Baitar and
Zakariya al-Qazwini, repeat this inaccurate "sea wool" story. The city of
Tinnis on the
Nile Delta was known for its garments made of sea silk, called from , the Greek name of the
byssus mollusc.
China Beginning in the
Eastern Han dynasty (25–220 AD), Chinese histories document importing sea silk.
Chinese language names include "cloth from the west of the sea" and "silk knitted by mermaids". The 3rd century AD
Weilüe or "Brief Account of the Wei", which was an unofficial history of the
Cao Wei empire (220–265 AD), records
haixi ("West of the Sea") cloth made from
shuiyang ("water sheep"): They have fine brocaded cloth that is said to be made from the down of "water-sheep". It is called
Haixi ("Egyptian") cloth. This country produces the six domestic animals [traditionally: horses, cattle, sheep, chickens, dogs and pigs], which are all said to come from the water. It is said that they not only use sheep's wool, but also bark from trees, or the silk from wild silkworms, to make brocade, mats, pile rugs, woven cloth and curtains, all of them of good quality, and with brighter colours than those made in the countries of Haidong (
East of the Sea). The c. 5th century AD
Hou Hanshu ("Book of the Eastern Han") expresses doubt about "water sheep" in the "Products of
Daqin" section. "They also have a fine cloth which some people say is made from the down of 'water sheep,' but which is made, in fact, from the cocoons of
wild silkworms". The historian
Fan Ye (398–445 AD), author of the
Hou Hanshu, notes this section's information comes from the report that General
Ban Yong (son of General
Ban Chao, 32–102 AD) presented to the Emperor in 125. Both Bans administered the
Western Regions on the
Silk Road. Hill considered it likely that the original reports correctly referred to sea silk, and later cloth that was examined in China was made of the similar-looking
wild silk, leading to earlier reports being dismissed. The (945 AD)
Tang shu "Book of Tang" mentioned
Haixi cloth from Folin (
Byzantine Syria), which
Emil Bretschneider first identified as sea silk from Greece. "There is also a stuff woven from the hair of sea-sheep, and called
hai si pu (stuff from the western sea)". He notes, "This is, perhaps, the
Byssus, a clothstuff woven up to the present time by the Mediterranean coast, especially in Southern Italy, from the thread-like excrescences of several sea-shells, (especially
Pinna nobilis)." The early 6th century AD
Shuyiji ("Records of Strange Things") mentions silk woven by
Jiaoren, "
jiao-dragon people", which
Edward H. Schafer identifies as sea silk: In the midst of the South Sea are the houses of the
kău people who dwell in the water like fish, but have not given up weaving at the loom. Their eyes have the power to weep, but what they bring forth is pearls. This aquatic type of raw silk was called
jiaoxiao, with the first character meaning "shark" and the second a form of raw silk, although it was also described in some sources as a high-quality
muslin or
chiffon. In
Jules Verne's 1870 novel
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas, the crew of the
Nautilus wear clothes made of byssus (alternately translated as "seashell tissue" or "fan-mussel fabric"). The sea silk industry in
Taranto grew somewhat, beginning in the 1920s, with the advent of a private school run by Rita del Bene; however, it disappeared there with the onset of
World War II, and it did not return after the war. As it has declined so dramatically, the sea silk industry has almost disappeared, and byssus is difficult to come by; since 1992, it is illegal to harm or harvest living
Pinna nobilis. The art is now preserved only by a few women in Sant'Antioco. Maeder has accused Vigo of creating a false historical narrative about sea silk. Vigo says she has a method to harvest bysus without harming the shells by trimming from the beard, although Scales expressed skepticism that this would produce the amount of byssus Vigo says she takes ( per year; the intact beards of fifty shells produce 30 grams). A few other women also still produce and work with byssus in Sant'Antioco, such as the sisters Assuntina and Giuseppina Pes, who were taught the art by Efisia Murroni. Murroni, who was a pupil of Diana, died in 2013 aged 100. The sisters use vintage byssus that has been donated to them, and the byssus of
Atrina pectinata, a shell in the same family, has been used by Arianna Pintus in her workshop in
Tratalias as a substitute for
Pinna nobilis. ==See also==