the same as Siloam, Neh. iii, 15; Luke xiii, 4; a fountain under
the walls of Jerusalem, toward the east, between the city and the brook
Kidron, perhaps the same with Enrogel. Near this was a tower, Luke xiii,
4.
שריקות SILK, משי. As the word which is rendered “silk” in our version
more probably meant cotton, or rather muslin, it is doubtful whether
silk is mentioned expressly in the Scripture, unless, perhaps, in Isaiah
xix, 9, where we find the Hebrew word שריקות, from שרק, _yellowish_,
_tawny_; which is generally the natural colour of raw silk; hence the
Latin sericum: or it may be from the Seres, a nation whence the Greeks
and Romans first obtained the article silk. Calmet remarks that the
ancient Greeks and Romans had but little knowledge of the nature of
silk. The Seres communicated their silk to the Persians, from whom it
passed to the Greeks, and from them to the Romans. But the Persians and
orientals for a long time kept the secret of manufacturing it among
themselves. Silk was first brought into Greece after Alexander’s
conquest of Persia, and came into Italy during the flourishing times of
the Roman empire; but was long so dear in all these parts as to be worth
its weight in gold. At length the emperor Justinian, who died in the
year 365, by means of two monks, whom he sent into India for that
purpose, procured great quantities of silk worms’ eggs to be brought to
Constantinople, and from these have sprung all the silk worms and all
the silk trade that have been since in Europe, See FLAX.
the walls of Jerusalem, toward the east, between the city and the brook
Kidron, perhaps the same with Enrogel. Near this was a tower, Luke xiii,
4.
שריקות SILK, משי. As the word which is rendered “silk” in our version
more probably meant cotton, or rather muslin, it is doubtful whether
silk is mentioned expressly in the Scripture, unless, perhaps, in Isaiah
xix, 9, where we find the Hebrew word שריקות, from שרק, _yellowish_,
_tawny_; which is generally the natural colour of raw silk; hence the
Latin sericum: or it may be from the Seres, a nation whence the Greeks
and Romans first obtained the article silk. Calmet remarks that the
ancient Greeks and Romans had but little knowledge of the nature of
silk. The Seres communicated their silk to the Persians, from whom it
passed to the Greeks, and from them to the Romans. But the Persians and
orientals for a long time kept the secret of manufacturing it among
themselves. Silk was first brought into Greece after Alexander’s
conquest of Persia, and came into Italy during the flourishing times of
the Roman empire; but was long so dear in all these parts as to be worth
its weight in gold. At length the emperor Justinian, who died in the
year 365, by means of two monks, whom he sent into India for that
purpose, procured great quantities of silk worms’ eggs to be brought to
Constantinople, and from these have sprung all the silk worms and all
the silk trade that have been since in Europe, See FLAX.