BOETHIUS, CL., A. D. 510
Nor honey into wine they pour’d, nor mix’d
Bright Seric fleeces with the Tyrian dye.
De Consol. Philos. ii.
The Tyrians are chiefly known to us in commercial history for their skill in dyeing; the Tyrian purple formed one of the most general and principal articles of luxury in antiquity: but dyeing could scarcely have existed without weaving, and though we have no direct information respecting the Tyrian and Sidonian looms, we possess several ancient references to their excellence, the less suspicious because they are incidental. Homer, for instance, when Hecuba, on the recommendation of the heroic Hector, resolves to make a rich offering to Minerva, describes her as selecting one of Sidonian manufacture as the finest which could be obtained.
The Phrygian queen to her rich wardrobe went
Where treasured odors breathed a costly scent;
There lay the vestures of no vulgar art—
Sidonian maids embroider’d every part,
Whom from soft Sidon youthful Paris bore