Koische silk

Pistachio moth ( Pachypasa otus )

Koische silk , also Koisches fabric (Latin coa vestis , plural coae vestes ), was an ancient cloth that was named after its place of origin, the island of Kos .

It was made of silk of the bead of the pistachio spinner ( Pachypasa Otus ), one on the Dodecanese -based Wollraupenspinnerart prepared (Lasiocampidae). It is described as transparent in Roman scripts. The material was considered to be precious and was mainly used for erotic-looking women's clothes, which were mainly worn by hetaerae . The Koische silk is first mentioned by Aristotle in the 4th century BC. Chr.

The elder Pliny reports that Pamphila of Kos, the daughter of the Plateau, discovered the secret of silk making.

From the 1st century it was gradually replaced by Chinese imports . The Chinese silk is purer and thinner.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Aristotle, hist.an. 5.19. 551b 13ff.
2. ↑ Pliny the Elder, Naturalis historia 11, 26.

literature

• Walter Hatto Gross : Coa vestis. In: The Little Pauly (KlP). Volume 1, Stuttgart 1964, column 1235.