page_title: Smuggling of silkworm eggs into the Byzantine Empire
section_title: Impact
hierarchical_section_title: Smuggling of silkworm eggs into the Byzantine Empire / Impact
caption_attribution_description: English: Pseudo Kufic script in medallion on Byzantine shroud of Saint Potentien 12th century; rotated to show phoenixes and griffins right-side-up.
context_page_description: In the mid-6th century AD, two monks, with the support of the Byzantine emperor Justinian I, successfully smuggled silkworm eggs into the Byzantine Empire, which led to the establishment of an indigenous Byzantine silk industry. This acquisition of silk worms from China allowed the Byzantines to have a monopoly of silk in Europe.
context_section_description: Shortly after the expedition there were silk factories in Constantinople, Beirut, Antioch, Tyre, and Thebes. The acquired silk worms allowed the Byzantine Empire to have a silk monopoly in Europe.  The acquisition also broke the Chinese and Persian silk monopolies. The resulting monopoly was a foundation for the Byzantine economy for the next 650 years until its demise in 1204.  Silk clothes, especially those dyed in imperial purple, were almost always reserved for the elite in Byzantium, and their wearing was codified in sumptuary laws. Silk production in the region around Constantinople, particularly in Thrace in northern Greece, has continued to the present.
caption: Byzantine silk
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