The two monks were most insistent – they had to see the emperor. They had, they said, a valuable secret to impart, and had travelled all the way from China to Constantinople (modern Istanbul) to reveal it to the court.
The year was about AD 550 and the emperor, Justinian I, was the ruler of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire. The monks’ secret was well worth Justinian’s attention. They offered to bring him the means of making silk as the Chinese made it.
Some of the soft, luxurious fabric was made on the little Greek island of Kos, from local wild silkworms which fed on oak leaves. But it did not compare with the Chinese silk, made from cultivated silkworms which fed on the leaves of the white mulberry. The Eastern Romans bought Chinese silk from traders who carried it more than 3000 miles (4800km) along the dangerous Silk Road through central Asia, from Luoyang on the Huang river to the eastern Mediterranean. The journey took eight months.
By the time the silk reached Europe it was worth, literally, its weight in gold. And it was getting more expensive and difficult to obtain because the Silk Road ran through war-ravaged lands. Justinian had been trying to import it through Ethiopian merchants who traded with China by sea.
The monks were Persians who had been preaching Christianity in China for many years, and had learned the secrets of silk cultivation. Now they put a proposition to Justinian: it was obviously impossible to keep silkworms alive on such a long journey, but the tiny eggs were another matter. Just 1oz (28g) of those eggs is enough to produce 36,000 silkworms.
Justinian loaded the monks with gifts and promised them rich rewards. The two men returned to China and acquired a supply of silkworm eggs. Then, leaning on stout bamboo canes, they made the long walk back to the West, with the precious eggs hidden in the canes.
On their return the two monks taught the Eastern Romans how to incubate the eggs and hatch the silkworms that were used to make Europe’s first fine silk. Some silkworms were kept to mature into moths for breeding and a silk industry was born. But despite the monks’ efforts, the silkworms still prefer the Chinese white mulberry, and Europe still imports some of its raw silk from China.
Picture Credit : Google
