Herodotus states that certain people who lived near the Caspian Sea could, by means of leaves of trees which they bruised and steeped in water, form on cloth the figures of animals, flowers, etc., which were as lasting as the cloth itself. This statement is more suggestive than instructive.
Persia was much famed for dyeing at a very early period, and dyeing is still held in great esteem in that country. Persian dyers have chosen Christ as their patron; and Bischoff says that they at present call a dye-house Christ's workshop, from a tradition they have that He was of that profession. They have a legend, probably founded upon what Pliny tells of the Egyptian dyers, "that Christ being put apprentice to a dyer, His master desired Him to dye some pieces of cloth of different colors; He put them all into a boiler, and when the dyer took them out he was terribly frightened on finding that each had its proper color."
This or a similar legend occurs in the apocryphal book entitled "The First Gospel of the Infancy of Jesus Christ." The following is the passage:
"On a certain day also, when the Lord Jesus was playing with the boys, and running about, He passed by a dyer's shop whose name was Salem, and there were in his shop many pieces of cloth belonging to the people of that city, which they designed to dye of several colors. Then the Lord Jesus, going into the dyer's shop, took all the cloths and threw them into the furnace. When Salem came home and saw the cloth spoiled, he began to make a great noise and to chide the Lord Jesus, saying: "What hast Thou done unto me, O thou son of Mary? Thou hast injured both me and my neighbors; they all desired their cloths of a proper color, but Thou hast come and spoiled them all." The Lord Jesus replied: "I will change the color of every cloth to what color thou desirest," and then He presently began to take the cloths out of the furnace; and they were all dyed of those same colors which the dyer desired. And when the Jews saw this surprising miracle they praised God."
Tin.—We have no positive evidence as to whether the ancients used oxide, or the salts of tin, in their dyeing operations. A modern dyer could hardly produce permanent tints with some of the dye drugs named without tin salts. We know that the ancients used the oxides of tin for glazing pottery and painting; they may therefore have used salts of tin in their dyeing operations. However, they had another salt—sulphate of alumina—which produces similar results, although the moderns in most cases prefer tin, as it makes a more brilliant and permanent tint.
Alum.—This is what is termed a double salt, and is composed of sulphate of alumina and sulphate of potash. The process of manufacturing it in this country is by subjecting clay slate containing iron pyrites to a calcination, when the sulphur with the iron is oxidized, becoming sulphuric acid, which, combining with the alumina of the clay, and also with the iron, becomes sulphate of alumina and iron; to this is added a salt of potash, which, combining with the sulphate of alumina, forms the double salt alum. Soda or ammonia may be substituted for potash with similar results; the alum is crystallized from the solution. That the ancients were acquainted with this double salt has been disputed, but we think there can be no doubt of its existence and use at a very early period. A very pure alum is produced in volcanic districts by the action of sulphurous acid and oxygen on felspathic rocks, and used by the ancients for different purposes. Pliny mentions Alumine, which he describes as white, and used for whitening wool, also for dyeing wool of bright colors. Occasionally he confounds this salt with a mixture of sulphate of alumina and iron, which, in all probability, was alum containing iron, the process of separation not being perfect; and he mentions that this kind of alumen blackens on the application of nut-galls, showing that iron was in it. Pliny says of alumen, that it is "understood to be a sort of brine which exudes from the earth; of this, too, there are several kinds. In Cyprus there is a white alumen, and another kind of a darker color; the uses of these are very dissimilar, the white liquid alumen being employed for dyeing a whole bright color, and the darker, on the other hand, for giving wool a tawny or sombre tint." This is very characteristic of a pure aluminous mordant, and of one containing iron. He also mentions that this dark alumen was used for purifying gold. He must be referring here to its quality of giving gold a rich color. The liquid of this iron alumen, if put upon light-colored gold, and heated over a fire, gives it a very rich tint; a process practiced still for the same purpose. So far, however, as the application to dyeing is concerned, it is unnecessary to prove that the ancients used our double salt alum. Probably the alumen referred to by Pliny, as exuding from the earth, was sulphate of alumina, without potash or soda, a salt not easily crystallized, but as effective, in many cases more effective, in the operations of dyeing, as alum, which is attested by the preference given to this salt over alum for many purposes at the present day. Pliny says that alumen was a product of Spain, Egypt, Armenia, Macedonia, Pontus, Africa, and the Islands of Sardinia, Melos, Lipara, and Strangyle, and that the most esteemed is that of Egypt. And Herodotus mentions that King Amasis of Egypt sent the people of Delphi a thousand talents of this substance, as his contribution toward the rebuilding of their temple. Notwithstanding considerable confusion in Pliny's account of this substance, our belief is, that it refers to different salts of alumina, and whether or not they were all used in the processes of dyeing, they were used for manufacturing purposes, and thus gives us some insight to the advanced state of the arts in those times.
Respecting the cost and durability of the Tyrian purple, it is related that Alexander the Great found in the treasury of the Persian monarch 5,000 quintals of Hermione purple of great beauty, and 180 years old, and that it was worth $125 of our money per pound weight. The price of dyeing a pound of wool in the time of Augustus is given by Pliny, and this price is equal to about $160 of our money. It is probable that his remarks refer to some particular tint or quality of color easily distinguished, although not at all clearly defined by Pliny. He mentions a sort of purple, or hyacinth, which was worth, in the time of Julius Cæsar, 100 denarii (about $15 of our money) per pound.
Since, according to our modern researches into this dye, one fish, the common Purpura lapillus, produces only about one drop of the liquor, then it would take about 10,000 fish to dye 1 lb. of wool, so that $160 is not extravagant.
Spinning and weaving in ancient times were principally performed by women; indeed, the words woof, weaving, and web are allied to the word wife. However, in ancient Egypt and in India men also wrought at the loom. Probably nothing could be simpler or ruder than the looms used by ancient weavers. Were we to compare these with the looms and other weaving apparatus of the present day, and reason therefrom that as the loom so must have been the cloth produced thereon, we would make a very great mistake. There are few arts which illustrate with equal force our argument in favor of the perfection of ancient art so well as this of weaving. It would appear that our advancement is not so much in the direction of quality as in that of quantity. There are few things we can do which were not done by the ancients equally perfect. Rude as were their looms in ancient Egypt, they produced the far-famed linen so often mentioned in Scripture and the writings of other nations. In order to show that this is not to be regarded as a merely comparative term applicable to a former age, we will here quote from G. Wilkinson respecting some mummy-cloths examined by the late Mr. Thomson, of Clithero:—"My first impression on seeing these cloths was, that the first kinds were muslins, and of Indian manufacture; but this suspicion of their being cotton was soon removed by the microscope. Some were thin and transparent, and of delicate texture, and the finest had 140 threads to the inch in the warp." Some cloth Mr. Wilkinson found in Thebes had 152 threads to the inch in the warp, but this is coarse when compared with a piece of linen cloth found in Memphis, which had 540 threads to the inch of the warp. How fine must these threads have been! In quoting this extract from Wilkinson to an old weaver, he flatly said it was impossible, as no reed could be made so fine. However, there would be more threads than one in the split, and by adopting this we can make cloth in our day having between 400 and 500 in the inch. However, the ancient cloths are much finer in the warp than woof, probably from want of appliance for driving the threads of the weft close enough, as they do not appear to have lays as we have for this purpose. Pliny refers to the remains of a linen corselet, presented by Amasis, king of Egypt, to the Rhodians, each thread of which was composed of 365 fibres: "Herodotus mentions this corselet, and another presented by Amasis to the Lacedæmonians, which had been carried off by the Samians. It was of linen, ornamented with numerous figures of animals worked in gold and cotton. Each thread of the corselet was worthy of admiration, for though very fine, every one was composed of 360 other threads all distinct." No doubt this kind of thread was symbolical. It was probably something of this sort that Moses refers to when he mentions the material of which the corselet or girdle of the high priest was made—the fine twined linen. Jewish women are represented in the Old Testament as being expert in the art of spinning.
Ancient Babylon was also celebrated for her cloth manufacture and embroidery work, and to be the possessor of one of these costly garments was no ordinary ambition. It is not to be wondered at that when Achan saw amongst the spoils of Jericho a goodly Babylonish garment he "coveted it and took it." The figure represented on the ancient seal of Urukh has, says Rawlinson, fringed garments delicately striped, indicating an advanced condition of this kind of manufacture five or six centuries before Joshua. It may be mentioned, however, that such manufactures were in ancient times, especially in Egypt, national. Time was of little importance, labor was plentiful, and no craftsman was allowed to scheme, or plan, or introduce any change, but was expected to aim at the perfection of the operation he was engaged in, and this led to perfection every branch. Every trade had its own quarters in the city or nation, and the locality was named after the trade, such as goldsmiths' quarters, weavers' quarters, etc. This same rule seems to have been practised by the Hebrews after their settlement in Palestine, for we find such names in Scripture as the Valley of Craftsmen. We also find that certain trades continued in families; passages such as the following are frequent—"The father of those who were craftsmen," and "The father of Mereshah, a city, and of the house of those who wrought fine linen;" and again, "The men of Chozeba, and Joash, and Saraph, who had the dominion of Moab and Jashubalahem, these were potters, and those that dwelt among plants and hedges, and did the king's work." In ancient Egypt every son was obliged to follow the same trade as his father. Thus caste was formed. Whether this same was carried out in Babylon, Persia, and Greece, we do not know; but certainly, in these nations there were in all cases officers directing the operations, and overseers, to whom these again were responsible, so that every manufacturing art was carried on under strict surveillance, and to the highest state of perfection. As the possession of artistic work was an object of ambition amongst the wealthy or favored portion of the community, it led to emulation among the workers. Professor Rawlinson, in his "Five Ancient Monarchies," speaks of the Persians emulating with each other in the show they could make of their riches and variety of artistic products. This emulation led both to private and public exhibitions. One of those exhibitions, which lasted over a period of six months, is referred to in the Old Testament; so when we opened our Great Exhibition in 1876 we were only resuscitating a system common in ancient times, the event recorded in the Book of Esther having happened at least 2,200 years before: