SILK AND GOLDEN TEXTURES OF THE ANCIENTS.
HIGH DEGREE OF EXCELLENCE ATTAINED IN THIS MANUFACTURE.
Manufacture of golden textures in the time of Moses--Homer--Golden
tunics of the Lydians--Their use by the Indians and
Arabians--Extraordinary display of scarlet robes, purple, striped with
silver, golden textures, &c., by Darius, king of Persia--Purple and
scarlet cloths interwoven with gold--Tunics and shawls variegated with
gold--Purple garments with borders of gold--Golden chlamys--Attalus,
king of Pergamus, _not_ the inventor of gold thread--Bostick--Golden
robe worn by Agrippina--Caligula and Heliogabalus--Sheets interwoven
with gold used at the obsequies of Nero--Babylonian shawls intermixed
with gold--Silk shawls interwoven with gold--Figured cloths of gold
and Tyrean purple--Use of gold in the manufacture of shawls by the
Greeks--4,000,000 sesterces (about $150,000) paid by the Emperor Nero
for a Babylonish coverlet--Portrait of Constantius II.--Magnificence of
Babylonian carpets, mantles, &c.--Median sindones 84