gems, color science, dyes, textiles, Near East, Syria, Egypt

To the large number of colored textiles bequeathed to us by Egypt from the first centuries of our era, a much smaller, it is true, but nonetheless noteworthy group of fabrics recently found in Syria has now been added. It has thus become possible to gather reliable information about the dyes used and even about the techniques employed, and it seemed worthwhile to compare the results of dye analysis with the written documents that, from the same period, deal with these subjects. In fact, there are three known compilations containing recipes related to the dyeing of wool. The Leiden Museum preserves twenty-four papyri written in Greek, purchased in 1829—along with many other Egyptian antiquities—by the Dutch government from I. Anastasy, the Swedish consul in Alexandria. These papyri were published by C. Leemans (Vol. I in 1843, Vol. II in 1885); of these, Papyrus X (published in 1885) contains a large number of chemical formulas, ninety of which relate to metals, while eleven concern the dyeing of wool. Marcellin Berthelot studied this papyrus in detail, and it may rightly be said to form the foundation of his major work on the Greek alchemists. Berthelot was particularly drawn to the formulas concerning metals, which he considered “the most numerous and the most interesting,” and he devoted detailed commentary to this section. […]